Assignment Code: BEGG-173/TMA/2022-23

Course Code: BEGG-173

Assignment Name: Academic Writing and Composition

Year: 2022-2023

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Max. Marks: 100

Answer all questions in this assignment.

SECTION A

I Write short notes of about 100 words each on the following: 5x5=25

Q1) How is academic writing different from non-academic writing? Give suitable examples of both.

Ans) While non-academic writing is informal and frequently subjective and is targeted at the general public, academic writing is a formal, impersonal style of writing that is designed for a scholarly or academic audience. Academic writing differs from non-academic writing in a number of ways, including its audience, purpose, language, format, and tone. While non-academic writing targets the general audience, academic writing targets academia. Additionally, the major goal of academic writing is to inform the audience using accurate information and strong support. Non-academic writing, however, can have a variety of goals, including informing, entertaining, or influencing the reader.

The style of academic writing and non-academic writing is another distinction. Non-academic writing is personal, impressionistic, emotive, or subjective in nature, whereas academic writing is formal and impersonal. And while the latter employs informal and casual language, the former uses formal language while avoiding colloquialism and slang. Non-academic writing rarely uses cites and references, although academic writing frequently does. Research papers, dissertations, and scholarly articles are some examples of academic writing, whereas newspaper and magazine articles, memoirs, letters, digital media, etc. are instances of non-academic writing.

Q2) Write a short note on what you understand by the term ‘critical thinking’. What are the three essential components of critical thinking?

Ans) Critical thinking is the ability to evaluate things, concepts, and even people in relation to one another. The basis of judgments itself can also be thought about and improved upon throughout time.

The three essential components of critical thinking are as follows:

1. Listening and Observing: Active listening entails both paying close attention to and grasping the spoken word's context. Without strong prejudices or preconceptions, observation entails taking note of the different details that make up any given event or text.

2. Gathering Data: To 'collect' the information and data by which you may make sense of the world, listening and observing are both necessary. When you read a book, the words and sentences, the references and examples utilised, as well as the author's goals and the social circumstances, all make up the data.

3. Organising and Labelling the Data: Finding patterns and deciding how the data can be categorised or labelled will be necessary for data organisation. 

Q3) What aspects should be considered while writing the introductory paragraph of an academic essay?

Ans) The aspects to be considered while writing the introductory paragraph of an academic essay are as follows:

1. The Subject Matter of your Paper: By referencing and/or describing the essential phrases in your research question, the prompt you are responding to, or your entire argument, you can introduce the topic.

2. The Context in which it is to be Read: The context typically identifies the more general disciplinary environment in which your paper was written. Explaining the significance of your article at the time it was written, for the audience it will reach, or for the general reader can all be included in introducing the context.

3. The Sources you have Drawn upon or Scholarship that you Respond to: The introduction is a good place to list your primary sources as well as provide a quick summary of their claims, especially if those claims are relevant to your own research. This can be a good time to cite some of the earlier research that has been done in this field by others to show that you are familiar with them and to situate your own argument in relation to the body of knowledge in that field.

4. The Thesis Statement

Q4) With suitable examples, explain the significance of ‘signposts’ and ‘transitions’ in narrative.

Ans) The significance of ‘signposts’ and ‘transitions’ in narrative is as follows:

1. What the Title Signposts: It provides an introduction to the essay's focus, modern Indian art. Sher-Gil believes that modern art imitates earlier forms, as stated in the subtitle. The purpose of the article will be to describe how the author, a contemporary Indian artist, came to this realisation.

2. Signposts that Invoke Time and Place: “I never began,” “I have always,” “In 1929,” “Before leaving,” “now I am,” “outside” “Paris” “Europe” “Ecole des Beaux Arts” “inner meaning”. In order to demonstrate how modern Indian art is a copy of earlier styles, Sher-Gil provides her own aesthetic viewpoint on how the present has changed over time, as well as references to her travels to and time spent in Paris.

3. Transitions: “It seems to me”- indicates personal opinion; “although”: allows for a logical connection of contradictory ideas; “with this tendency”- makes information in the previous paragraph relevant to the information in the new paragraph.

Q5) Explain, with examples, how narrative writing differs from expository writing.

Ans) The differences between narrative writing and expository writing are as follows:

1. Expository writing is descriptive in nature, but narrative writing is a storytelling genre.

2. Expository writing is factual and contains a lot of information in the form of facts, whereas narrative writing is much more fluid than expository and contains figures of speech.

3. In expository writing, the content is structured chronologically, whereas in narrative writing, the content might be unorganised.

4. Expository content is primarily factual, whereas narrative content can be both fact and fiction.

5. Expository writing is primarily utilised in textbooks, but authors who write novels and short tales prefer to use narrative style.

Section B

II. Write short essays of about 200 words each on the following: 2x10=20

Q1) Discuss the three stages of the process approach to writing.

Ans) The three stages of the process approach to writing are as follows:

The Pre-writing Stage

It can take you a few days to come up with ideas that you are sure about or convinced about because ideation can be a really dynamic process. It's imperative that you talk about your original concepts with someone after writing them down, ideally a colleague or an instructor. The goal of a debate is to find numerous flaws, contradictions, and gaps in your thinking as well as pinpoint any places where your ideation needs to be improved. Now that you have a large stack of notes but no clear idea of how you want to organise them, it could feel a little intimidating to start writing. Select the notes you believe will be most helpful for your essay from all of the ones you have taken and connect the ones you believe are closely related. Now that you have your thoughts and your notes in hand, it will be helpful to create a list of bullet points outlining the order in which you will present your ideas in your essay.

The Writing Stage

Freewriting is a helpful exercise to overcome the hesitation to start writing. Freewriting simply refers to the act of writing whatever comes to mind without stopping to ponder or reflect. Right now, what you've written is really a collection of random ideas. However, by putting ideas in writing, you are essentially clearing your writer's block. Slowly letting the words to come to you, you should start properly composing the essay after you start to feel more at ease. Similar to how you warm up before playing a sport by stretching and running, the freewriting exercise helps you warm up before you start writing an assignment.

The Editing and Revising Stage

A feedback session should normally come before the editing phase. It's important to solicit comments on your first draught from professors, classmates, or subject matter experts. Equal importance should be given to the editing step as to the first two. Once the first draught is complete, you are free to rewrite it as many times as you choose. There may even be a fourth draught! Your writing will get more polished the more revisions you work on.

Q2) What is ‘copyright law’? Why is it important for a writer of academic essays to be aware of copyright law?

Ans) Copyright is a type of intellectual property legislation that safeguards authors' and artists' original works. The rights to information and compensation for content use are protected by copyright laws for content authors, publishers, producers, and distributors. To deal with digital copyright, new laws have been devised. It gives the copyright owner sole authority over the dissemination and replication of that content.

Original works of writing "fixed in any physical medium of expression" are protected under copyright laws. There is not much imagination needed for this. When the work is fixed in some kind of permanent form, protection is granted to the author or authors. Unless it was produced as "work for hire," the author of the work is the one who created it. The employer or other party is automatically regarded in these circumstances as the "author" and is entitled to copyright protection. Each person will be a joint author and have an equal stake in the work as a whole if they contribute content to a work with the intention that it would be combined into a single work.

The rights of a professor who contributes to the work of another professor in an academic setting will vary depending on the situation. The institution is unlikely to view writing for an academic publication as "work for hire," and there is probably no such arrangement between the academics. The issue then becomes whether the conditions for shared authorship are fulfilled. This is a factual query that will be impacted by the rapport between the instructors as well as the kind and volume of contributions made to the work. Research and editing contributions are not covered by copyright regulations.

III. Answer the following question in about 250 words. 15

Q1) What are the defining features of an argumentative essay? With suitable examples, show how argumentative writing differs from persuasive writing.

Ans) The defining features of an argumentative essay are as follows:

1. It presents a writer's point of view on a subject and is backed up with data, statistics, and proof.

2. When a writer has strong feelings about a concept, problem, or event and wants other people to understand them, they may decide to write about it.

3. Usually, the purpose of writing is to persuade readers to accept the author's viewpoints or to become aware of them.

4. It calls for organising your points into a coherent whole, meticulously preparing your paragraphs, and deft presentation.

5. Although not offensive, the tone is forceful and aggressive.

6. It entails research activities including gathering relevant data from surveys, studies, documentaries, etc., conducting interviews, referencing historical facts, etc.

The differences between argumentative writing and persuasive writing are:

While persuasive essays try to persuade readers to agree with the writer by appealing to their emotions and personal beliefs, argumentative essays try to persuade readers to accept the writer's notion as true by utilising data, facts, and numbers, among other things. In other words, a persuasive essay is based on feelings and individual beliefs, whereas an argumentative essay is based on logic and reasons. An argumentative text has a powerful, persuading, and impactful style. A persuasive writing is written in an aggressive, passionate, emotive, and personal manner. Before beginning to create an argumentative essay, the author must conduct in-depth study on the subject, although audience knowledge is not necessary. On the other hand, the writer can still create a compelling essay without conducting a lot of research as long as he is aware of his audience.

Section C

QIV) Write a well-structured composition on the topic: 15

‘Online learning and the higher education scenario in India: issues and possibilities.’ (Your essay should have a clear introductory paragraph, body paragraph and concluding paragraph. You can take hints from Unit 7 to write this answer).

Ans) The development of technology has significantly altered practically every aspect of existence. The educational process has been altered by technology as well. In the past ten years, there has been a notable change in face-to-face schooling. Even while in-person instruction is still the norm, acceptance of online courses is growing in the management and engineering fields. A few factors contributing to the exponential rise of online education are its immediacy, accessibility from any location, self-direction, and mobility. Because it has the potential to expand access to and improve the quality of education, the government is sponsoring online learning in India as part of the Digital India project. SWAYAM is a programme launched by the Government of India in collaboration with the Ministry of HRD with the aim of achieving the three key goals of Education Policy, namely access, equity, and quality. The fundamental goals of this project are to provide everyone, especially those who cannot afford it, with high-quality teaching and learning tools. The SWAYAM programme aims to educate students who are still unable to fully participate in the knowledge economy because they are unaware of the digital revolution that is currently taking place. Through Swayam, about 2000 online courses are provided, and roughly 150 million students worldwide are registered in various courses.

In India, there are many difficulties that people must overcome when pursuing online education. Although the Indian government is taking the lead in developing digital infrastructure, much more work has to be done in this area. The primary issues are a consistent power source and high speed internet. In terms of internet stability and speed, India is ranked 89th globally. There is virtually little direct interaction with the teacher and other students because online education can be accessed from home or any other convenient location. The amount of peer conversation is really low, especially in self-paced courses, claims Dhirendra Kumar. The majority of the conversation happens via email, chat rooms, or discussion groups. No campus atmosphere exists to encourage social contact. Therefore, you are unable to create any social connections that aid in job advancement. Even if the market has begun to acknowledge online degrees, many fake and unaccredited degrees are still being sold online. There are an increasing number of con artists giving phoney certificates devoid of credentials. These frauds undermine not only the validity of online credentials but also the confidence of potential employers in online courses. Some pupils require encouragement to arrive in class. Students who enrol in online courses at their own speed may put off finishing them. In online education, the dropout rate is relatively high. It takes self-discipline and motivation to finish the assignments and upload them on time. You can have trouble in an online programme if you have trouble working alone, staying organised, and completing deadlines. India is a multilingual nation where the vast majority of people live in rural areas. The majority of online courses offer content in English. As a result, pupils who cannot speak English find it difficult to access language materials. Therefore, it is the responsibility of IT experts, educators, administrators, language content producers, and content distributors to come together and provide a workable framework and common solution to the students who only know Indian languages.

If it can be implemented in partnership with business, academic institutions, and the government, online education has the potential to completely transform the educational landscape in the future. To close the gap and ensure that graduates are prepared for the workforce, significant curriculum reforms are needed. Technology needs to be used to change the educational process and make it more useful. Additionally, courses should be developed in several languages to broaden their appeal and provide additional opportunities for young people in rural India. Designing strategies to improve the social skills of online learners requires innovation.

QV) The principal of your college has conducted a meeting to discuss the preparations for the forthcoming College Annual Day. Write a brief report of the meeting. 10

Ans)

ABC Academy

Report: Forthcoming College Annual Day

It has been decided to hold the Annual Day celebrations on the 25th of December 2022 at the College Auditorium. The event shall unfold from 10 AM sharp so that it will finish by 3.30 PM. The principal has decided to invite Shri. Prasad M.N, IAS, as our chief guest. A suitable memento is to be presented to him for his gracious presence in the festivities.

Various ideas have been put forward for showcasing the students talents and to put a great show on for the parents and guests’ benefit. Group, solo, duet or trio dances; songs, from different departments of college will be held. Students interested in group performances and solo performances for dance and songs are invited to give their names to the undersigned. Screening for suitable plays will also be held.

Prizes won for various sports programs organized during Sports Day will be distributed during the inaugural half of the Annual day celebrations. Students who have won prizes on Sports Day are requested to come dressed formally.

There are spots vacant for compeering of the ceremony and the programmes. Screening process to be held for selecting a compere.

Volunteers are required to help arrange, decorate and to superintend smooth conduct of the programmes. A team of volunteers would be responsible for preparing agenda for the Annual day programmes. Interested students are invited to submit their names.

Regards,

Meena

Cultural Head of ABC Academy

Q.VI. i) While writing a review, what aspects would you consider, in order to make it most effective? 5

Ans) Writing a review for anything involves a similar procedure. A review resembles a conversation between the target audience and the work's author. The aspects to consider, in order to make review writing most effective are as follows:

1. A review provides a succinct synopsis of the material and a pertinent explanation of the subject. It need to present the work's general viewpoint or thesis.

2. It ought to provide a critical assessment of the piece. In critical evaluation, a number of factors are taken into consideration, such as (a) what stands out to the reviewer about this particular piece of work (b) the ways in which it contributes to your understanding of the topic or to the information already available on the topic (c) whether it advances new insights or challenges the received wisdom on the topic, and (d) whether the arguments made are sound and convincing.

3. A review ought to propose books that others should read and outline how doing so will benefit them.

Good reviews are generally based on the following structure:

1. The review's subject is unmistakably identifiable and includes all pertinent details.

a) What is it about?

b) Who is involved?

c) Where did it all happen?

d) When did it happen?

This may be done in the introduction, the opening paragraph of the review, or both.

2. A thorough explanation and analysis with the reviewer's thoughts. The plot should be summarised in a book or movie review, but the conclusion shouldn't be given away.

3. The reviewer then comes to a conclusion and either renders a verdict or gives a suggestion.

Q.VI. ii) Write the review of a research article that you read recently in an academic journal. 10

Ans) Coastal Pollution: A Review

The coast is a region or swath of land that stretches from the sea's edge up to the point where the land rises inland. The height of the high tide indicates where it ends. The shoreline serves as the meeting point of land, sea, and air. The verb pollute, which means to render impure, is the root of the word pollution. The World Health Organization describes coastal contamination as follows: "The introduction by man, directly or indirectly, of substances or energy into the marine environment, including estuaries, which results or is likely to result in such adverse effects as harm to living resources and marine life, risks to human health, obstacles to marine activities, including fishing and other legal uses of the sea, impairment of the quality for using sea water, and reduction in amenities." When stable and biodegradable chemicals from soil are added, the chemical and biological features of coastal waters are significantly improved. The world's biological diversity is primarily declining due to human activity, and the issue is made more challenging by the possibility that cumulative human influences could have increased current loss rates to 1000–10,000 times the average rate. Marine life in the seas is under risk from a variety of factors, including overfishing and overharvesting, waste disposal, contaminating species, invasive species, soil recovery, dredging, and climate change. A significant threat to marine life is posed by one of the main human impacts: plastic trash contamination. Therefore, the problem of pollution may be used in the future to analyse natural disasters.

In addition to point and non-point land-based sources such rivers, drainage ditches, underwater outfalls, and coastal cities, pollution in marine coastal zones is also taken into consideration. Plastic is a major pollutant; thus, its usage needs to be limited and recycling needs to be considered. The loss of marine species due to ingesting plastic is great to nature, and the species are disappearing as a result. Plastic use is widespread. Almost every plastic item ever produced is still around in some shape or another. It has been discovered that some of the chemicals in plastic can change hormones or have other potential negative impacts on human health. The largest land-based causes of pollution in the water include motor cars, farms, ranches, septic tanks, oil, soil, and other major sources. Every day, thousands of tonnes of rubbish and waste are dumped into the ocean. Oil is much more detrimental to the ocean than waste and rubbish combined, and it deteriorates it the fastest. Oil spills cause behavioural changes in marine life, a collapse in thermal insulation, and the suffocation death of marine life. A lengthy shoreline or a deep ocean are examples of an area that is affected, and it practically alters the entire ecosystem there. Not only solid wastes like oil, rubbish, and garbage contribute to ocean pollution. Other significant sources of contamination include industrial activity, sewage draining, and the disposal of radioactive waste from nuclear reactors. Water pollution will be caused by offshore activities like installation and material transfer. The qualities of the water may alter as a result of oil and gas leaks or drains, which may potentially have an impact on marine life.

Plastic waste can take up harmful chemicals from ocean pollution, harming everything that eats it. In actuality, one of the gravest dangers to the ocean is plastic pollution. Plastic never completely disappears; instead, it disintegrates into ever-tinier pieces. They then draw in more trash. It seriously endangers the health of all marine life as well as the overall marine ecosystem. In general, plastic is the primary cause of ocean pollution. The compounds are ingested by small creatures at the base of the food chain. The larger animals that devour these little animals in turn increase the chemical concentration by eating them. In comparison to the water, they live in, animals at the top of the food chain have contamination levels that are millions of times greater. The oil is brought to shore along with the surf and tide by waves, water currents, and wind. Once oil waste reaches the shoreline or coast, it interacts with the plants, terrestrial habitats of animals and humans, rocks and boulders, beach sand and gravel, and sediments to cause erosion and contamination. There are already several laws in place. The repercussions of pollution must be made known to the public. They can only obey the law after that. Untreated or inadequately treated sewage water is still released into the ocean in many regions of the world. This may have detrimental effects on both marine and terrestrial species, as well as contribute to eutrophication. Stopping coastal pollution requires dramatic reforms at all societal levels, but prevention is a crucial component.