Writing week eight

Incorporating in-text citations

Discussion

  • What do you know about referencing and citation in written work, how to do it properly, and why it's important?
  • Why is it important to read before you write, and why don't you have to do this in an IELTS essay?
  • What web page should you have bookmarked by now?
Is maintaining green spaces in urban areas a good use of government money?

Task 1

Read the following paragraph discussing the use of public space, which was written by a student for an essay relating to whether governments should invest in green spaces in urban areas.

  • How many different ways are in-text citations presented?
  • What language is used to connect ideas together?
  • When do you think it is important to give page numbers in the citation?

The availability and use of public space varies from city to city and between countries. In some Asian urban areas such as Bangkok, air pollution prevents widespread use of park land (Chewsuwan, 2018, p. 216). Nevertheless, Thai people generally feel little need to change the use of public space, instead spending free time in shopping malls and commercial areas (ibid.). This image is mirrored in Taipei, where, according to Lin (2018), space shortages restrict availability of green parks for public use. In contrast, Mezhov (2018, p. 54) highlights Moscow’s relatively large percentage of land which is dedicated to outdoor park areas.

One way of solving the problem of incorporating parkland into urban areas could be to implement entry fees for public use in order to pay for maintenance (Maiwala, 2018). Barista argues that such an idea could be transplanted to Istanbul to solve similar problems. However, Izakov (as cited by Lee, 2018, p. 178) contends that access to green public space is a fundamental human right.

Task 2 - Identifying reporting verbs

A reporting verb is what we use to introduce something that someone has said. In fact, the verb say is one of the most common reporting verbs used in day-to-day English (E.g. Dave said he was stuck in the elevator for two days).

  1. What reporting verbs are used in the text above?
  2. Organise the reporting verbs below into three groups based on their meaning. Discuss how the meaning differs between the groups.

argues - states - puts forward - illustrates - highlights

emphasises - contends - reports - points out

Can you match these cities to the names below, and guess how they differ in their use of public space?

Task 3 - Writing a paragraph summarising others' ideas

You are going to put together a short paragraph which summarises the ideas of your peers about the use of public space in towns and cities around the world. Each person will play the role of knowledgeable expert on a place that they're familiar with. So first of all, spend a couple of minutes thinking about somewhere that you know well. This could be your hometown, or a place that you've visited and found interesting. The more distinctive the location the better. Once everyone is ready, walk around the room and interview four or five informants, and make some notes on what they have to say about their chosen city. Here is a template that you can use to record information.

Collecting information

You might want to ask:

  • Is there a 'downtown' area where people congregate? If so, what kinds of activities do they engage in?
  • How popular are shopping and malls, and is this changing due to competition from online retailers?
  • Is it more of an indoors or outdoors city?

Writing up

In groups of three, gather your notes and summarise the thoughts and ideas you've collected in a single cohesive paragraph. One person can act as scribe; the other two are editors. Think about how you will incorporate your references:

  • Is the focus on the idea or the person?
  • Which reporting verb is most appropriate?
  • What lexis will you use to connect the different ideas?

Once you've finished, upload your paragraph to Google Classroom and read the paragraphs from the other groups.

Independent study

For further practice with reporting verbs, please look at Academic Vocabulary in Use - Unit 30: Reporting what others say.

See also the University of Technology Sydney's student help download on reporting verbs.