Describing trends in line graphs

I left work early today because I was worried that I might not be able to get home safely because of the snow. My Spanish students tell me that in Spain it has also been very cold with snow even in the south!
I am always looking for good resources practising language for talking about line graphs. This is a popular task in the IELTS exam and students are expected to come up with sentences such as:
The rate of unemployment fell dramatically after 1983..
and
The rate of inflation peaked in 1987 before declining gradually…
What you need to think about is not only the verb (fell, declined, rose, increased) but also the adverbs which go with the verbs (slowly, gradually, sharply).
Here’s a page doing just what we want from our old friend Hong Kong Polytechnic University here.

I thought it might be fun to experiment with an English for University. Com Facebook Group so come and have a look if you fancy it!

A paraphrase is usually shorter than the original!

A student asked me the other day about paraphrasing. Her question was “Should the paraphrase be longer or shorter than the original text?” I would say that it is usual for the paraphrase to be shorter because the paraphrase is also a summary of the text. Students often get into difficulties paraphrasing because they don’t do enough work! Here’s an example original source:

It is reasonable to expect the price of oil to increase steadily over the next few years as reserves continue to shrink but demand remains steady.
Smith, J. (2007) The future of oil, London, Penguin

Option 1: You could use the idea by using a direct quote:

Smith (2007) states that “it is reasonable to expect the price of oil to increase steadily over the next few years as reserves continue to shrink but demand remains steady” (p552).

The problem is that you can’t do many direct quotes! It’s too easy and it doesn’t show what you think about the idea.

Option 2: You could use a poor paraphrase:

Smith (2007) believes that it is sensible to believe the price of oil will rise steadily in the future as reserves continue to get smaller but demand stays the same.

The problem with this is that it is too close to the original and you are in danger of being accused of plagiarism.

Option 3: You use a paraphrase which uses the main idea in fewer words, in a different sentence structure, and makes some comment about the idea:

Smith (2007) offers the popular view that demand for oil and its declining reserves will ensure high prices in the long run.

The paraphrase shows a good understanding of the text and how it fits into the general literature on the subject.
The information from the University of Toronto on paraphrasing here definitely deserves a visit!

Writing a paragraph

I have been reading lots of paragraphs lately written by international students. One of the things that I have realised is that students’ paragraph writing can improve a lot after just a little bit of work! The more you write paragraphs, the better your paragraphs are! I’ve also been looking at those great writing resources at La Trobe University. The resources that they have there show the structure of a good paragraph:

TOPIC SENTENCE

followed by

SUPPORTING SENTENCE(S)

followed by

CONCLUDING SENTENCE

When you look at it like this, it looks rather like the structure of a whole essay:

INTRODUCTION

MAIN PARAGRAPHS

CONCLUSION

You just can’t get away from this rigid framework in Academic English! Here’s the example paragraph from La Trobe:

TOPIC SENTENCE: Strategies that ESL students can use to improve their listening include putting themselves in situations where people are speaking conversational English and listening  to radio news on a daily basis.

FIRST SUPPORTING IDEA: Firstly ESL students can go regularly to places where English is spoken. For example on the La Trobe campus students might sit in the coffee shops in the Agora or the Union and discreetly listen in on conversation other native speakers are having. By doing this they are not only being exposed to everyday vocabulary and conversational English, but they are also hearing Australian English pronunciation which may be new to them. Buses, trains or trams are other places to “eavesdrop” or listen in to conversations to help develop listening.

SECOND SUPPORTING IDEA: A second thing students can do to improve their listening skills is to tune into the radio news each day. Many stations provide hourly news bulletins which are often a repeat of the earlier broadcast. This means students get the chance to check what they heard the first time. To assist their comprehension students can also buy a copy of a daily newspaper and see if the news story is covered in print. At first radio news might seem quite difficult. However by listening regularly students will quickly  find they are understanding more and more.

CONCLUDING SENTENCE: These two activities, if practised regularly, should soon help newly arrived ESL students improve their ability to understand spoken English.

Language and Academic Skills, La Trobe University,  Available from http://www.latrobe.edu.au/lasesl/writing.html Accessed: 3/11/09

Put these ideas together into one long paragraph and you have a well developed paragraph: the main idea comes very clearly in the topic sentence and is then supported by the following information, and the whole thing is rounded off by a mini conclusion.

Read the whole excellent unit at La Trobe here.

Writing at university – look at these introductions!

Here’s a joke I heard today which put a smile on my face:

What do you call a man with a rubber toe?

Roberto!

(Say it out loud!)

The best learning resources show you examples of good practice and point out important features which you should incorporate in your own work. The academic writing resources from La Trobe University do exactly this and if you are not familiar with them then you should be!  If you are writing an essay and are wondering exactly how to start your piece of work with an effective introduction then you should be looking at ‘the introduction of an essay’ doc on this page, not to mention all the other stuff here. Bookmark La Trobe because you’ll be back soon. It’s here.