Assignment Code: BEGS-183/TMA/2022-23

Course Code: BEGS-183

Assignment Name: Writing and Study Skills

Year: 2022-2023

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Max. Marks: 100

Answer all questions in this assignment.

SECTION A

I. Write short notes on the following: 5x5=25

Q1) How are new words formed through affixation and compounding? Give examples of both.

Ans) The following are how new words formed through affixation and compounding:

Affixation

By modifying the underlying word with prefixes and suffixes, we can create new words in English. For instance, we can add the prefix im to the word mortal to create the word immortal, and we can add the suffix -ise to get the term immortalise. Similar to how agree can become disagree by adding the prefix dis-, disagreement can become disagreement by adding the suffix -ment.

When prefixes like im-, dis-, or multi- are used with a root word, the meaning of the word changes. For instance:

1. Un: uncommon, unable

2. In: inconvenient, injustice

3. Dis: disadvantage, disagree

4. Il: illegal, illegible

5. Ir: irregular, irrelevant

6. Im: impossible, impatient

7. Multi: multilingual, multifaceted

8. Fore: forenoon, forewarn

Here are some suffixes:

1. -age: bag-baggage, post-postage

2. -dom: kind-kingdom, star-stardom

3. -hood: state-statehood, boy-boyhood

4. -ism: hero-heroism, Hindu-Hinduism

Compounding

Two or more elements, which can also exist alone as words, make up a compound. These distinct words are merged to create other new terms, each of which has its own definition and entry in the dictionary.

1. Blackboard

2. Flowerpot

3. Armchair

Q2) Describe the various steps involved in the process approach to writing.

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

The Pre-writing Stage

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.

Q3) Explain with suitable examples, how diagrams can be used to organize notes.

Ans) Notes may also be made diagrammatically. Read the passage below:

Information can be obtained by students in a variety of ways. Their instructors deliver lectures, run tutorials, and hand out materials. They can learn from other professionals by reading books from the library, listening to the radio, or watching TV. Through lectures or casual interactions, they can learn information from other students. They can also educate themselves independently by reflecting on the topic when they are alone themselves.

Diagramming is another word for the note-presentation method used in the job above. Diagrams come in many different forms, including trees, pie charts, graphs, tables, and histograms. Such a graphic presentation is easy to understand and helps with retention. Most writers in academics use this type of diagrammatic or visual presentation. For instance, a king's family tree or the labelling of the digestive system.

The phrase "Information Transfer" refers to the translation of spoken information into nonverbal form or the opposite.

Q4) What aspects should be considered while writing a process analysis?

Ans) The aspects to be considered while writing a process analysis are as follows:

1. You must fully comprehend the procedure you are outlining, and if at all possible, test it out for yourself. This will enable you to prepare for any potential problems.

2. Inform your readers of any unique equipment or supplies required for the task. These could be listed up front in a section like "Tools Required" or "Materials Required." This will allow the reader to begin by having all of their resources at hand.

3. Remind your readers to exercise caution while doing actions that call for exact time or measurement.

4. Inform your readers of any potentially hazardous procedures or substances. Let your readers know, for instance, if any additional ingredients are combustible before they get to that stage.

5. If you think it will help people understand your directions, use examples. Instructions can be made simpler with illustrations by using fewer words to convey ideas. Instead of reading about the numerous components of the device or equipment, you will be able to concentrate on the stages that make up the instructions.

6. Use transitional terms to indicate the order in which events or process phases occur.

Q5) How can cohesive devices be used to bring about coherence in a paragraph? Give suitable examples.

Ans) Coherence in a paragraph is achieved by using cohesive devices, signal words, or signposts between or at the beginning of phrases. These words and phrases will assist you in writing sentences that flow into one another and demonstrate logical relationships between them. The following example explains it:

For four key reasons, man has been able to colonise such a large portion of the world. He is a terrestrial animal, meaning that forests are not his only habitat. Second, he is able to cross any terrain, including mountains, deserts, and water. He can also eat a fairly diverse range of foods. The ability to construct garments and start a fire has allowed him to survive in conditions where he would otherwise perish, which is the most significant development of all. He possesses many of these benefits in common with monkeys. They can also travel on unfrozen ground. Since they can swim, they can also cross various types of natural barriers. They can also digest a variety of foods. Thus, from Dakar in the west to Ethiopia in the east and south all the way to the Cape of Good Hope, a single species of baboon has colonised Africa. Macaques have performed at least as well. The rhesus macaque is one species that may live in a forest, open fields, or densely populated cities.

You can see from the aforementioned example that coherent devices function as signposts in a paragraph. By using words to connect one idea to another, they let us follow the writer's progression of thinking. The words/phrases First, Second, Moreover, and Most Important of All in the sample above denote the four primary reasons why humans have been able to colonise such a large portion of the globe. The evidence that some factors are more significant than others is the most crucial. shows how the macaques and baboons are related in a similar way.

SECTION B

II. Answer the following in around 150 words each: 10x4 = 40

Q1) What strategies would you adopt to become a critical reader?

Ans) The strategies I adopt to become a critical reader are as follows:

1. Annotating: This involves writing down your responses to a text, your interpretation, and any questions you have as you read.

2. Taking Inventory: Your annotations should be listed and categorised to help you identify important trends.

3. Outlining: Stating the essential points or the essence of the material.

4. Summarizing: Capturing the essence or essential points of a text.

5. Synthesizing: Combining your own thoughts with the knowledge acquired from outside sources.

6. Contextualizing: Establishing the historical and cultural background of the reading material.

7. Explaining the Significance of Figurative Language: The use of metaphors, similes, and personification to evoke emotions is examined at this point.

8. Reflecting on Challenges to our Beliefs and Value: This is in reference to texts that might go against some of your fundamental beliefs and views.

9. Evaluating the Topic of an Argument: This requires determining if the writer's ideas are convincing and sufficiently substantiated.

10. Recognizing Emotional Manipulation: Knowing whether the content is unfairly misleading you based on inaccurate or inflated claims is doing this.

11. Judging the Writer’s Credibility: This entails determining if the author represents many points of view and has adequate knowledge of the subject at hand.

Q2) What are the probable hard-spots in English Grammar, for those who learn English as a second language?

Ans) The probable hard-spots in English Grammar, for those who learn English as a second language are as follows:

The first conditional is an open condition, meaning that what is stated within could pertain to either the present or the future. For instance:

1. If we hurry, we will get the tickets for the morning show.

a) Syntactical Structure

i) Conditional Clause: If + present tense

ii) Main Clause: will + infinitive + consequence

A hypothetical condition, sometimes known as an implausible or unreal circumstance, is the second conditional. While the verb in the main phrase is either would or should, the verb in the conditional clause is in the simple past tense. For instance:

1. If I were you, I would ask a doctor for some advice.

a) Syntactical Structure

i) Conditional Clause: If +Past Tense

ii) Main Clause: could/would + infinitive

Third Conditional: In these kinds of sentences, we're contemplating the outcome of hypothetical or fictitious situations. For instance:

1. If you had studied harder throughout the term, you would have done much better in the examinations.

a) Syntactical Structure

i) Conditional Clause: If + past perfect, ...

ii) Main Clause: would/could/might + have + past participle

Q3) How is persuasive writing different from argumentative writing? Illustrate your answer with examples of both.

Ans) The differences between argumentative writing and persuasive writing are:

Argumentative essays are a genre of writing that attempts to convince the readers to accept the writer’s idea as true, by using statistics, facts and figures, etc. while persuasive essays are a genre of writing that attempts to convince the readers to agree with the writer, by using emotions, personal ideas, etc. In other words, an argumentative essay is based on logic and reasons while a persuasive essay is based on emotions and personal opinions. The style of an argumentative text is strong, convincing, and impactful. The style of a persuasive text is personal, passionate, emotional, and aggressive. When it comes preparations, before writing an argumentative essay, the writer needs to do a thorough research on the subject but does not need to have the knowledge about the audience. On the other hand, the writer can write a persuasive essay even without doing much research, but he should have certain knowledge about the audience.

Q4) Briefly describe the three major types of study skills and show how they help us to become better learners.

Ans) The three major types of study skills and show how they help us to become better learners are as follows:

Gathering Skills

These abilities help students find and access pertinent information. These abilities include knowledge of sources and reading techniques like scanning and skimming. Together, they give the student the resources needed to locate information sources.

Reference Skills

The dictionary is a crucial source of knowledge for teaching or learning ESL. The majority of our students utilise a bilingual dictionary and refer to it whenever they run into trouble understanding a word's meaning. A dictionary can be used for many purposes, including checking the meaning, which is a legitimate application.

Skimming and Scanning

Training in skimming and scanning, two reading sub-skills that need a distinct reading pace and style depending on the reader's objective, is necessary to supplement reference abilities. Let's go over what we mean by "skimming" and "scanning" once again. Skimming entails seeking for a text's important ideas by reading the beginning and last paragraphs, or by looking for the topic sentences in each paragraph, while taking note of additional organisational cues like the author's use of semantic markers or summaries. Since the goal of reading is to determine the overall tone of the text, skimming does not involve reading every word.

SECTION C

QIII. 1) Write a paragraph of about 150 words on the topic given below. Underline the topic sentence after writing the paragraph. “Protecting our cultural heritage: aspects to be considered.” 15

Ans) Protecting our Cultural Heritage: Aspects to be Considered

One important way that regular people may help is to work to support and strengthen heritage preservation legislation on a local and national level, particularly when heritage is threatened by urban growth or resource extraction. Education about the costs and effects of the international trade in antiquities should be incorporated into school curricula and university syllabi, as well as through local outreach in community organisations, libraries, churches, and other public places. This is one of the most significant ways to address the issue of the ongoing loss of the world's cultural heritage. Recognizing that protecting local sites that have significance for local people is just as important as protecting well-known, museum-worthy ancient sites is important if the goal of cultural heritage protection is to preserve the items and locations that give people's lives meaning and connect them to their histories and heritage. Governments can strive to create better laws, prioritise better enforcement, increase money, and vigorously pursue offenders, but as long as there is a demand for recently looted antiquities, they will continue to show up on the market.

QIII. 2) Write a well - developed composition on the topic given below: “Importance of providing skills training to students in Indian higher education .” Your composition should have a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. 20

Ans) For any nation, knowledge and skills are the main drivers of social and economic development. The economy currently needs more managers and entrepreneurs, as well as a larger pool of "skilled" workers, than is being produced each year, creating a demand-supply imbalance in the nation. Knowledge and skills are needed in the higher education sector for a variety of employment needs in the services, education, health care, manufacturing sector, etc. All members of the workforce, including those just joining the labour force, those working in both the organised and unorganised sectors, could potentially be included in the target population for skill development. Along with the full-time vocational degree / diploma programmes and add-on courses being offered through Community Colleges, B.Voc, and Deen Dayal Upadhyay centres for Knowledge Acquisition and Development, the integration of skills in higher education under the National Skill Qualification Framework and incorporation of skills and ability enhancement courses through the Choice Based Credit System are also advocated.

Every nation creates its own educational framework to express and promote its distinct sociocultural and economic character, as well as to confront the difficulties of the modern world and take advantage of available opportunities. India requires an educational system that is of high quality, is inexpensive, adaptable, and relevant to the people, economy, and society as a whole in order to fully capitalise on the demographic dividend. Therefore, it is urgent for the government and educational institutions to explore beyond the conventional routes of education, employability, and employment in order to empower and enable India's youthful population to sustain a livelihood throughout their life. The improvement of skill development and its connections to entrepreneurship, the expansion of entrepreneurship outside of cities and towns and into rural regions, and the provision of pathways from vocational to higher education are all directions that hold great potential. Utilizing the demographic dividend through effective skill development initiatives will give the country the chance to become more inclusive and productive while also reducing the global talent shortages. The Planning Commission's 12th Five Year Plan Document recommends the establishment of community colleges to meet a variety of needs, including I training and education programmes for local employers; (ii) career-oriented education and skills to students interested in entering the workforce immediately; and (iii) high-touch remedial education for secondary school graduates who are not yet prepared to enrol in traditional colleges, giving them a path to transfer to three or four year institutions. Additionally, according to the Plan Document, Community Colleges will be situated in areas that will make them accessible to students from disadvantaged backgrounds. These colleges may be founded as fully autonomous or affiliated colleges of universities. Numerous Sector Skill Councils representing various industries have been established or are in the process of being established under the National Skills Development Corporation.

India needs to tap into the demographic potential of its young population if it is to start benefiting from the apparent burden of its enormous population. Youth education and skill development must be supported by an ecosystem that fosters entrepreneurship, employment, and self-employment options. As the majority of our people still lives in rural regions, rural youth must play a crucial role in the outreach. The New Education Policy, which will soon be implemented, might provide clear guidelines for integrating skills into higher education and providing academic equivalents for skill-based courses. As the top regulatory agency, the UGC has undertaken numerous measures to transform higher education into a skill-based system to improve employability and capitalise on the nation's demographic dividend.