Working life

Page one of the preparation materials refers to academic writing as a tightrope. Can you explain this concept in your own words?

How many questions did you get right on the quiz on page two, and were there any answers that surprised you?

Can you explain the difference between plagiarism and poor academic practice?

The preparation tasks focussed on understanding the main idea and supporting details of a text in order to be able to paraphrase it properly. Take thirty seconds each to summarise the points you can remember from the article. The bravest person is to go first! Other than that there is no judgement here. Do your best to remember what you can without reading the text.

After looking at the examples of good and less-good paraphrases on page nine, how confident do you feel that you could write your own paraphrase?

Describe working trends in your home country. What are considered 'normal' working hours?

The text was written in 2012. To what extent do you think the data would still be valid?

We've looked at problems of plagiarism and poor academic practice caused by not properly paraphrasing or acknowledging sources. In your opinion, does using technology to help improve your writing count as plagiarism?

• Is there any difference between using a spell-checker, language enhancement applications such as Grammarly or machine translation? Are they all equally un/acceptable?

We're going to try some on-the-spot paraphrasing and at the same time try and find something interesting and entertaining to read outside of class. Go to the Waterstones website (other book retailers are available) and click on a book cover that you think looks kind of interesting. Take two or three minutes to read the blurb (the short written summary) and then tell the class, in your own words, what the book is about.

• Add your recommendations to the Padlet we started last week.