Which of the following statements do you find more believable?
Men are better at maths than women, but as everyone knows, women are better at languages.
Several studies have found that in group averages, men perform slightly better than women on standardised maths tests. Female groups on the other hand tend to outperform men on language tasks.
Read through the article from Walker, and complete the activities below.
The text we've just read was taken from The Guardian, which, as we learnt last week is a broadsheet newspaper. How reliable do you think the information is in the text? Could we use this article for an academic essay?
How does Walker tell the reader where his information has come from?
On page 5 of the preparation materials you were asked to make some notes from the University referencing homepage on key terms that we will use to talk about referencing. First of all, what is referencing? Next, compare your notes on the following terms:
The Harvard system
In-text citations
Reference management software
A reference list
Formatting
How has Jones, the author of Text 2, referenced his claims? How does the style differ from Text 1?
Which article would be more useful if we were writing an essay? Why?
Do you agree that local and national governments should invest in outdoor space within cities?
Would you be prepared to pay more in tax or rent if it meant you could live in a greener area?
Decide which of the following statements would need to be supported by evidence:
It takes two hours to get from London to York by train.
Facebook has over one billion users worldwide.
Social media use has a detrimental effect on student performance.
Smartphones are complex devices that take many different raw materials to manufacture.
Demand for smartphone components has contributed to armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Women are paid less than men.
The most widely spoken language in China is Mandarin.
For the statements you chose as being in need of a supporting reference, what kind of evidence would make you take the claim more seriously? For example, interview data, a quantitative study, field research etc.