Unit 1c Summaries & abstracts; source evaluations; not.docx

Unit 1c
Summaries & abstracts; source
evaluations; notes & outlines;
progress report; quotation
SUMMARIES & ABSTRACTS .............................................
2
Summaries ..................................................................... 2
Abstracts ..................................................................... 4
informative abstracts ................................. 4
descriptive abstracts ................................. 4
EVALUATING YOUR SOURCES ................................. 6
NOTE TAKING & OUTLINING ................................. 10
Note taking ..................................................................... 10
Outlining ..................................................................... 13

PROGRESS REPORT ............................................. 16
Example ..................................................................... 19
APA QUOTATION ......................................................... 22
Short quotations ......................................................... 22
Long quotations ......................................................... 23
Changing the original words ................................. 24
Other changes ......................................................... 25
Academic & Professional Communication T132 2
The 214 Major Report:
1c: Summaries, evaluations, notes, outlines, progress report,
quotation
SUMMARIES & ABSTRACTS
Summaries
You will already be familiar with the idea of a summary from
your English 102 course, in

which you had to summarize the articles you found for your
term report. In addition,
summarizing can be an important part of note taking. (See pp.
10 to 12.)
To re-iterate, the essential purpose of a summary is to re-state
concisely the main ideas of
an article, book, or report in order to save the reader the time
and trouble of reading the
original full-length document. Summaries, in fact, can also be
made for a variety of
media including PowerPoint presentations, business meetings,
lab experiments, audio
files and TV programs. In the world of work, employees are
often asked by managers to
produce summaries of lengthy reports that the manager himself
does not have the time to
read.
The length of a summary varies according to the complexity of
the original and the
specific needs of the audience, but, generally, they are between
5% and 20% of the length
of the original. Given the large amount of content to be omitted,

it is important that
summarizers select all, and only, the significant information
contained in the original.
Include:
he original
Exclude:
author’s biographical
details
-of-article bibliography
To summarize an article for a source evaluation, follow these
steps:

1. In a first reading of the article, focus on its specific purpose,
its organization and its
intended audience, and look also at any conclusions or
recommendations. In this initial
run-through, you may be helped by headings and sub-headings,
typographical clues such
as boldface and italics, lists, and informative side bars.
Remember also that good articles
and reports follow certain widely accepted formats. Knowing
where the various parts of a
document can be found will help you to find and summarize
them. However, not all
articles—for example those found on websites—will provide
you with information that is
easily accessible.
As you proceed step by step through the whole process, you
may find it helpful to work
with a hard copy—a photocopy or print-out—which you can
annotate and mark with

underlining and highlighting.
2. Having obtained an overall idea of the article and its
audience, read it again at least
twice more looking for the main ideas and any essential
supporting detail. Well-
written articles will provide you with informative topic
sentences and a logical, coherent
presentation of content. Also, pay particular attention to linking
words that, for example,
enumerate (another, secondly), compare (similarly, both),
contrast (however, whereas),
show importance (principally, crucial), and so on.
3. Gather your text annotations and notes into an outline to
guide your writing.
Summaries are generally expected to follow the sequence of the
original but, if the
original organization is weak or repetitive, your outline will
show where deletions can be
made without altering the basic meaning of the original. If you
are summarizing a report
rather than an article, you may find that the table of contents
can be used as a substitute

for your own outline.
4. With a usable outline, write the first draft. Try to paraphrase
and to be as concise as
possible. At this stage, it does not matter if the draft is wordy or
contains some source
wording. A more important aspect is the accuracy and
completeness of the content.
5. Finally, revise and edit your first draft to make an acceptable
final version. Delete
irrelevant or repeated information to make your writing more
concise; condense ideas and
combine sentences; paraphrase any source wording; make your
writing coherent by
supplying logical links between ideas. Refer continually to the
original article or report to
confirm that your summary is fair, complete and accurate.
Finally, supply a reference for
the original document so your reader knows what text your
summary is based on.
Your goal is to produce a summary that will tell your reader
everything of importance

that he needs to know. If the task is done well, the reader can
rely on your summary
without having to read the original document—the summary
should be able to stand
alone without reference to the original document. In the world
of work, such summaries
are often referred to as “executive summaries.” Typically, they
aim to save the busy
manager time by summarizing the contents of a lengthy report
and presenting him with a
list of recommendations to help him make an informed decision.
In English 214, your source evaluation summaries will help you
to better understand your
source, and they will help your teacher by giving him the
essential details of the original
article without his having to spend considerable time reading it
himself.
Abstracts
See also Successful Writing at Work pp. 324-25, 339.

The terms “summary” and “abstract” are often used
interchangeably but this is only
partly correct. There are in fact two types of abstract: an
informative abstract and a
descriptive abstract. Only the informative abstract is
comparable to a summary.
informative abstracts
The description of a summary given above broadly applies to
informative abstracts as
well. The main difference between them is that informative
abstracts tend to be shorter,
usually only a paragraph or two long, whereas summaries,
especially executive
summaries, can stretch to a couple of pages. Like summaries,
informative abstracts aim to
give readers a concise, accurate and complete re-statement of
the original document by,
for example, describing what research was carried out, the
conclusions that were arrived
at, and any recommendations for further action.

You will find an example of an informative abstract on page
339 of Successful Writing at
Work (and it is also re-printed on the next page). Like all
abstracts, it is placed early in
the report—on or immediately after the cover page—and begins
with the overall idea of
the original document that it is summarizing. Like a typical
summary, it aims to give the
reader the substantive facts of the report so that the reader does
not have to read the full
report himself. (One weakness of the abstract on page 339 is
that the writer uses the
words “we” and “our” instead of the more objective third
person. This could, however, be
defended on the grounds that the report and abstract are both
meant as internal
communication only.)
descriptive abstracts
A descriptive abstract typically consists of only two or three
sentences, perhaps fifty
words in total. Unlike an informative abstract, which can be
regarded as a substitute for

the original document, the aim of a descriptive abstract is to
help the reader decide if he
should read the original document or not. Descriptive abstracts,
therefore, state what an
article contains without providing any specific detail. For
example, while an informative
abstract will explicitly state any recommendations contained in
the original document, a
descriptive abstract is more likely merely to mention that “the
article contains a set of
recommendations.” If the reader wants to know what these
recommendations are, he must
read the original document.
Descriptive abstracts are commonly found at the start of most
journal articles and in
special books of abstracts (such as Chemical Abstracts and
Information Science
Abstracts) which are indispensable to researchers all over the
world. It should be pointed
out, however, that the distinctions between descriptive and
informative abstracts are not
always maintained in these publications: often, an academic
abstract in a journal article

will have the characteristics of both descriptive and informative
abstracts.
You will write a descriptive abstract on the cover page of your
English 214 major report.
Compare the two abstracts below. They are both based on the
model long report in
Successful Writing at Work (pp. 338 – 354), titled “Adapting
the RPM Workplace for
Multinational Employees.”
Example of an informative abstract.
Abstract
This report investigates how U.S. businesses such as RPM must
gain
a competitive advantage in today’s global marketplace by
recruiting
and retaining a multinational workforce. The current wave of

immigrants is in great demand for their technical skills and
economic ties
to their homeland. Yet many companies like ours still operate
by policies
designed for native speakers of English. Instead, we need to
adapt
RPM’s company policies and workplace environment to meet
the
cultural, religious, social, and communication needs of these
multinational workers. To do this, we need to promote cultural
sensitivity
training, both for multinationals and employees who are native
speakers
of English. Additionally, as other U.S. firms have done, RPM
should
adapt vacation schedules and daycare facilities for an increasing
multicultural workforce. Equally important, RPM needs to
ensure,
either through translations or plain-English versions, that all
documents
can be easily understood by multinational workers. RPM might
also offer
non-native speakers of English in-house language instruction

while
providing foreign language training for employees who are
native
speakers of English. (197 words)
Example of a descriptive abstract.
Abstract
This report investigates how U.S. businesses such as RPM must
gain
a competitive advantage in today’s global marketplace by
recruiting
and retaining a multinational workforce. It states the current
problem
and offers a solution. The report then sets out a number of
recommendations to achieve this solution. (47 words)

Begin the informative abstract with the
purpose (overall idea) of the original
document.
After the initial topic sentence, do not mention
“this report” or “this article” again. Rather, give
the information without further reference to the
original document.
The problem is stated.
The solution is stated.
Specific recommend-
ations are given.
This is not a composition; there is no
need for a conclusion.
Note the use of connectors
like “Instead,” “Yet,” “To
do this,” “also,” “Equally

important,” “Additionally.”
Like the other abstract, the descriptive
abstract begins with the overall idea of
the report or article.
A descriptive abstract can often be completed in about 50
words.
This type of abstract refers explicitly
to the original article or report.
It gives the main ideas of
the report, but without
specific details. This type
of abstract cannot stand
alone.
If the reader wants to know about the
solution or recommendations, he must
read the original report.

EVALUATING YOUR SOURCES
Whenever you find a potential source, you must evaluate it
before you can start using it
to write your report. Using effective search terms will increase
your chances of finding
relevant sources but many of the sources you find which look
useful at first glance may
turn out to be irrelevant after you have read them critically. The
following points set out
the criteria that will help you evaluate your sources.
1. Does the source meet your teacher’s requirements?
There is no point in using a source if it does not meet the
requirements laid
down by your teacher regarding length, newness,
bibliographical
completeness, and so on. So always check this first.
2. Is the source relevant?

You cannot judge a source simply by its title; you have to read
it first. For
example, an article titled “The Three Gorges Dam Electric
Power Plant”
may look relevant to your topic about the environmental
impacts of a dam
but it may turn out to be a highly technical description of the
turbines with
little or no useful information for your report. Your chances of
finding
relevant sources will increase if you use specific search terms
related to your
focused topic. For example, using “Three Gorges dam
environmental
impacts” is likely to yield more relevant sources than simply
using “Three
Gorges dam.” In order to write your source evaluation, you will
need to be
able to connect specific information in the source with the
corresponding
topics in your evolving plan. If you can’t, then your source is
not relevant.
3. Is the source written at an appropriate level?

Your search may turn up some sources that are too difficult to
understand or
others that are too simplistic. For example, an experimental
article in a
journal is likely to have been written on a very narrow aspect of
the general
topic with high-level information appropriate for academics and
specialists.
At the other extreme, plenty of websites are designed for high-
school
students at lower and intermediary levels, where the tone is
conversational
and informal and the ideas simplified and generalized for the
benefit of the
target audience.
4. Is the article biased?
A biased article is written from one particular point of view and
so does not
give a balanced or objective account of an issue. Often the bias
is subtle and
hard to detect; at other times, it is explicit and unmissable.
Articles in

reputable journals will typically be peer-reviewed and
consequently reliable
and objective. This is not the case for the vast amount of
information
contained in websites, particularly business websites and single-
issue
activist websites or blogs. Read carefully to see if opposing
views are
included, and included fairly; check if the tone is formal,
professional and
objective, or jokey and sarcastic; click on the “About us” link to
find out
what you can about the purpose and motives of the website.
Apart from the actual content, the writer of an article is often an
important
clue to bias. Take, for example, two articles entitled “Villagers
evacuated to
make way for dam reservoir,” one appearing on an activist
environmental

website and the other in an official Chinese government press
release. How
would you expect bias—if any—to be expressed in both
articles? If you
detect bias in an article, you may still be able to use the
information in your
report but introduce such ideas as opinion rather than fact: for
example, “the
environmental group claims that ... .”
5. Is the author competent?
An author could be one or more individuals, a government
department, an
organization, an online action group, and so on. Often, online
sources and
even certain reputable magazines like The Economist publish
anonymous
articles. We have seen above that authors can sometimes be
biased; they can
also be incompetent, disorganised and unintentionally
misleading. As a
general rule, it is always better to use reputable sources with
named authors.

Sometimes, the source will include a short biography of the
author which
will indicate his expertise and reliability; if it doesn’t, you may
be able to
google the author yourself and uncover his background. Is he an
expert in
the field or simply someone with an interest in it? Has he
published before
in this field? How long has he worked in this field? Is he well
known? These
are some of the questions that will help you determine if the
author is
competent. If he is, the article is more likely to be credible and
reliable.
6. Does the source deal in facts or opinions?
Facts are pieces of information that can be proved to be true.
For example,
“the installed capacity of the Three Gorges Dam make it the
biggest power
station in the world” is a fact that can be verified by
government statistics
and academic research. On the other hand, opinions are ideas or
beliefs

about a particular topic, such as “The Three Gorges Dam project
is an
environmental disaster.” An opinion is not necessarily wrong
but, to be
credible, it must always be supported by solid evidence. So read
your
sources critically to see if the author is providing facts or
opinions. If it’s the
latter, then he must also provide sufficient evidence to support
his opinions
and make them credible.
7. Currency
“Currency” refers to the relevance of information based on its
date of
publication. Students sometimes find sources which contain
apparently
useful information but which is already out of date. For

example, a 2012
source might mention an international conference to be held the
following
year to discuss the environmental impacts of the Three Gorges
Dam. The
source sounds promising. However, since that conference has
already taken
place—in 2013—it makes more sense to find a newer article
from late 2013
or 2014 that deals with the actual outcome of that conference.
Take care,
therefore, with older sources; always try to be current with your
information. If the article has no date, be suspicious.
Writing a source evaluation
You must use at least six sources to write your major report and
you must write a source
evaluation for at least three of them. An example of a typical
source evaluation is given
on the following page. Notice that it contains three parts:

First, briefly explain how you found the source, including any
search
terms, databases or search engines you used. Secondly, provide
complete
bibliographical information in the form of an APA reference.
Read the whole article and then write a summary of about 100
words. This
is a summary paraphrase so you must use your own words.
Begin with the
overall idea of the source, followed by its main points.
This is the most important section. Explain in about 100 words
why you
chose the article. Address some of the criteria mentioned above.
Try and
link the content of the article to the topics on your outline.

ENGLISH 214 SOURCE EVALUATION # 1
NAME: Ali Al-Ali ID: 201112340 SEC/SN: 99 / 28
REPORT TITLE (Provisional): The Effects of the Chernobyl
Nuclear Disaster
1. THE SOURCE
How long is your source? 3 pages.
How did you find the source?: I typed in “Chernobyl
nuclear disaster effects” into the Summon search
engine. This article was the third on the list.
Write a complete APA reference for your source:
Day, A. (2013, November 18) Cleaning up the Chernobyl
mess.
Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/123BD33

2. SUMMARY OF THE SOURCE
In about100 words, summarize the main points of your
source.
This article discusses the main effects of the Chernobyl
nuclear explosion that
happened in Ukraine in 1986. It firstly explains the main
cause of the disaster,
human error, and then discusses the main effects both in the
local area and in
Europe as a whole. It gives statistics on the number of
people who became ill
with cancer over the following 20 years and it describes how
farming in Europe
was severely affected for several years. It concludes with the
methods used to try
and clean up the radioactivity that had fallen in Europe.
3. EVALUATION:
In about 100 words, explain why you chose this source for
your report.
Relevance: connect relevant parts of the source with your
outline.
Article: what level is it? How up-to-date is the
information?

Publication / website / author: are they reputable, unbiased
and knowledgeable?
I chose this article because it is relevant to the main parts of
my report. First, it
contains information about the type of nuclear plant, which
fits in my Background
Section and it has some brief information about the reasons
for the explosion,
which belongs in the Causes section of my report. Most of
the article, however, is
concerned with my main idea, which is the effects of the
explosion and the problem
of cleaning up.
The BBC is a reliable website and the level of the article is
aimed at the average
reader. The article is quite new, less than six months old, so
it has the latest
information about the disaster. I googled the author, Agnes
Day, and she has been
the BBC’s science editor for the past 15 years so is
knowledgeable on this subject.

NOTE TAKING
With a workable rough plan and a source that has passed a
thorough evaluation, you are
ready to start taking notes. Note taking is simply a way to
record the information you
have read so you won’t forget it. There are a number of ways to
do this ranging from
short annotations in the margins of sources to large-scale copy
& paste techniques on a
computer and the use of special note-taking applications such as
Evernote and Google
Notes. Your teacher will instruct you in whichever method he
prefers.
However, regardless of the method that is eventually used, all
students are expected to be
familiar with one very common method of note-taking: note
cards.

The advantage of using the card method is that it allows
information to be manipulated
easily. As you obtain new information, you can add cards to the
pack, remove cards from
it, or re-arrange the cards in a better order. To do this
efficiently, every note card based
on a source must contain a reference to the topic of the note and
to the author and source
page number.
The notes you make will mainly consist of information
extracted from a source, which is
then summarized, paraphrased and condensed into its essential
meaning using numbers,
symbols, abbreviations, and so on. This type of note is often
referred to as a “condensed
extract.” Notes could also include quotations, statistics, simple
illustrations, and
reminders to yourself of work that needs doing. For a report of
1500 words or more, a
student should have a minimum of 60 note cards.
A typical note card contains information on one topic only, is
written on one side only,

and contains three pieces of information: the topic, the source
and the note:
Topic Source
Habitat loss: deforestation (Jackson, 2013, p.11)
30% of Amaz r-forest lost in last 20 yrs.
wood used for furniture exports
Note
As a general rule, it is better to take more notes than you think
you will need. It is only
through ongoing research that you sharpen your focus and cover
your topic completely so
that notes that once seemed relevant may later become
unimportant. So, take lots of
notes, but be prepared to discard many of them.

The topic
Each information card must contain a note on a single topic.
Indicate this topic using two
or three words at the top left of the card. Ideally, these topic
indicators should correspond
to your outline topics. In general, notes should only appear
together on the same card if
they will appear together later in the same paragraph or section
of your report. If it is
clear that two notes on the same general topic will be used in
different parts of the report,
they should be written on different cards. A single note need not
be restricted to the space
available on one card; if necessary, continue the note on another
card.
When you have finished note taking, the topics you wrote top
left will help you to
rearrange your cards according to your evolving outline. Later
on in this note-taking
stage, you can also add some outline notation (e.g. II.B.1) to
each topic, showing exactly

where each information card belongs in relation to your outline;
however, this is only
advisable if you are working with the final version of your
outline.
The source
Write a short bibliographical reference at the top right of each
note card to indicate the
source of the information. Write the author's name or, if the
article has no author, the first
couple of words of the title in quotation marks, together with
the relevant page number,
section heading or paragraph number. If you enclose these
source details in parentheses
(round brackets), and include the year of publication, then your
card will already show
the documentation you will need when you expand the note later
in the first draft, for
example (Jackson, 2013, p.4).
The note
You cannot rely on your memory when you have so many

sources to read so note taking
will provide the essential link between reading and writing. As
you summarize,
paraphrase and condense the original idea onto your card, take
care to record the idea
accurately. If you are quoting, record the quotation and the
accompanying bibliographical
information exactly.
Examples
When you select a useful piece of information from a source,
try to formulate the
essential idea in your own mind. Summarize this—in your own
words as far as
possible—in condensed form on your note card. Use
indentations, spacing, numbers,
abbreviations and symbols to speed up the process, but be sure
that the notes you take
will still be intelligible later when you come to write the first
draft.

Condensed extract
Solar ponds: basic principle (Sale, 2013, p. 127)
Heated freshwater at bott. of pond ↑
then loses heat to atm.
But, saline layer at bott. more dense than FW above
so cannot rise
remains at bottom,
temp. ↑ to 100 deg.C
This heat can be used for elect. prod.
Original source
Thanks to solar ponds, the salt in the
Colorado River could be put to
beneficial purposes. Normally, when
water at the bottom of a freshwater
pond is heated, it rises to the

surface, where it loses heat to the
atmosphere. However, a pond with a
layer of saline water at the bottom
works differently. It warms up and
attempts to rise, but cannot because
the salt is much denser than the
freshwater above. So, it remains
trapped and continues to heat up to
boiling point. The heat harnessed
from such ponds is able to generate
electricity.
Quotation
Occasionally, you may want to record a quotation on your note
card but, first, find out
what restrictions your teacher has placed on the number and
length of the quotations that
he will allow in your report. Select your quotations carefully:
writers quote other writers

in order to support their ideas and the quotations used are often
chosen because they
express an idea particularly succinctly or memorably. Never
quote original wording
simply because you do not know how to paraphrase the idea.
In the example card below, notice how the quotation is enclosed
in quotation marks and
the identity of the original speaker is given. If you need to
change the original wording,
follow the rules outlined later in this unit.
Original
Geologists have direct evidence that sea-floor
spreading and plate tectonics have shaped the
Earth's surface for the past 200 million years.
Indirect evidence for plate tectonics goes
back a billion years, but the oldest continents
are much more ancient, 2.5 billion years old.
What forces shaped that ancient Earth?

Eldridge M. Moores, a geologist at the
University of California at Davis, suggests
that it may have been a different form of
plate tectonics, producing terrain that in
some ways resembles modern Venus
Topic Source Note
Form. of E's surface: PT (Erdmann, 2013, p.65)
Eldridge M. Moores, geologist, U of C at Davis:
"a different form of plate tectonics, producing
terrain that . . . resembles modern Venus."
Original speaker
context
quotation
source topic

OUTLINING
When you first start taking notes on your sources, you may have
only a very basic outline
to guide you. The more you read, however, the more
information you will obtain and so
you will gradually be able to modify that first rough outline.
Parts of that outline may
need to be deleted while other parts can be retained with some
minor adjustments.
Mainly, however, you should be able to expand and fill the gaps
in that initial plan.
As your initial plan grows, the relationships between the parts
will become more
numerous and complex and so it will become necessary to
produce a more formal outline
using indentations and standard outline notation. During the
research stage of report
writing—while you are finding sources, reading them and taking
notes—your teacher
will require from you an evolving formal two-level topic
outline.

The following points illustrate some general characteristics of
outlines.
Informal and formal outlines
Outlines can be informal or formal. Those written for the writer
alone can be quite
informal, with little attention paid to the various outlining
conventions. Informal
outlines—also referred to as rough or scratch outlines—are
typically the starting-point of
a piece of writing. However, outlines that are also written for
other readers—like those
you write for your English teacher or those which are intended
to form the plan for longer
pieces of writing such as reports—should follow certain
accepted standards of formatting.
These are formal outlines.
Topic and sentence outlines
Formal outlines can be topic outlines or sentence outlines. As
the names suggest, topic
outlines consist of “topics,” usually consisting of just a few
words, while sentence

outlines convey the ideas in full sentences.
In this English 214 course, you will use only topic outlines. In a
formal topic outline,
headings consist of single words, phrases or clauses, and they
should begin with a capital
letter. Full sentences should not be included, except for the
initial thesis statement that
precedes the outline. All headings on the same level should be
grammatically parallel
with one another, that is, they should all be nouns or noun
phrases, all verbs or verb
phrases, or all clauses.
Traditional and numerical outlines
Formal topic outlines require a consistent system of outline
notation. Your teacher will
ask you to use either the traditional (“alphanumeric”) method or
the numerical
(“decimal”) method.

Formal outline notation, together with consistent indentation,
explicitly shows the
relationships between the ideas in your outline. Ideas are
organized by levels. With the
traditional outline method, main (first-level) headings are
indicated by capital Roman
numerals (I, II, III, IV), second-level headings are indented and
indicated by capital
letters (A, B, C, etc.), and third-level headings are indented still
further and are indicated
by numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.). Logically, every subdivided topic
must have at least two
headings: if there is I, there must be II; if there is A, there must
be B, and so on. Outline
notation is not used for introductions or conclusions.
With the numerical method of notation, main headings are
shown by numbers (1, 2, 3,
etc.); second-level headings add a further number after a
decimal point (1.1, 1.2, 1.3,
etc.); and third-level headings have a third number after a
second period (1.1.1, 1.1.2,

1.1.3, etc.). As with the traditional method, indentations help
clarify the relationships
between ideas.
In this English 214 course, you may use either system of outline
notation though we
recommend the traditional method.
Outline Levels
EXAMPLE 1: Traditional topic outline
Thesis
Introduction
I. First-level heading
A. Second-level heading
B. Second-level heading
1. Third-level heading

II. First-level heading
A. Second-level heading
B. Second-level heading
Conclusion
Thesis: Man influences the water cycle in two ways.
Introduction
I. Diversion of runoff
A. Cause: man-made canals and dams
B. Effects

1. Water flow blocked
2. Water removed from cycle
II. Reduction of water held in soil
A. Cause: destruction of vegetation
B. Effects
1. Flooding from increased runoff
2. Insufficient minerals for plants
Conclusion
EXAMPLE 2: Numerical topic outline

Thesis
Introduction
1. First-level heading
1.1 Second-level heading
1.2.1 Third-level heading
2. First-level heading

Conclusion
Thesis: Man influences the water cycle in two ways.
Introduction
1. Diversion of runoff
1.1 Cause: man-made canals and dams
1.2 Effects
1.2.1 Water flow blocked
1.2.2 Water removed from cycle
2. Reduction of water held in soil
2.1 Cause: destruction of vegetation
2.2 Effects

2.2.1 Flooding from increased runoff
2.2.2 Insufficient minerals for plants
Conclusion
After you reach the end of the note-taking stage and just before
you start the first draft of
the report, your teacher will ask to see a clear, coherent three-
level topic outline
showing the range and sequence of information in your report.
At this stage, you also need to rearrange your note cards—if
you have been using this
method—to make them correspond to your revised outline. As
you look through your
note cards, throw away those that you no longer need. At the
same time, look carefully to
see if there are information gaps that might require further
online or Library research.
When you are sure that your outline is complete, that you have
all the information you
need, and you have sequenced your note cards according to the

outline, you will be ready
to start writing the first draft. (See Unit 1d for information on
drafting, revising and
editing.)
THE PROGRESS REPORT
The purpose of a progress report is to inform the reader of the
current status of a
particular project. This type of report is common in both study
and work environments
and may take many forms, for example a short informal
telephone call, a letter or email,
an internal memorandum or a lengthy report. The readers of
such reports are managers,
company clients, work supervisors and course instructors. In all
cases, they are especially

interested in knowing the following:
problems were solved;
work remains to be completed together with a
schedule for completing
it.
In English 214, you submit a progress report for your major
report at about the half-way
stage of your research project. It is written as a memorandum
addressed to your teacher
and consists of the following four sections:
I. Introduction
II. Work Completed
III. Problems &
Solution
s
IV. Work to be Completed

At the top of your memorandum page, write the identification
details: the recipient’s
name and title; your name, major, ID number, section number
and serial number; the
subject of the memorandum; and, finally, the provisional title of
the report. If you are
sure that you will not modify this title, you can omit the word
‘provisional.’
I. Introduction
Your introduction should be between 100 and 150 words. Here,
you start with the
specific purpose statement that informs the reader why you are
writing the report. Most

likely, your purpose will be to discuss a problem in which you
focus on the causes,
effects or possible solutions. Your purpose could also be to
present an argument or to
make a detailed comparison. It is a requirement that, like your
provisional title, your
purpose statement (a) shows a narrowed, focused topic and (b)
clearly links your major
with the theme of the semester.
The introduction is also the place to provide your reader with
some background about
your topic such as any necessary definitions or historical and
theoretical description. You
should also explain why your topic is an important one
specifying, for example, who
would most benefit from your research—individuals (eg

personal health strategies),
companies and other organizations (eg the protection of
sensitive commercial data),
countries (eg fighting inflationary pressures) or perhaps even
the world in general for
topics of global significance like pandemics or climate change.
II. Work Completed
The Work Completed section of your progress report informs
the reader what you have
accomplished so far in the major tasks of your project. The
reader wants to know that you

are on schedule to complete the assignment within the
prescribed time limits. Your
progress report provides him with a written record of your
achievements to date. The
research tasks basically involve your sources and your outline.
Explain how many
sources you have found so far and how you found them;
mention the source evaluations
you have written for them, and the notes you have taken.
Supply proof of your claim by writing a working bibliography
of the sources found so
far. At this mid-point stage in the research project, your teacher
will expect to see three or
four sources on your list (though you may not necessarily have
read, taken notes on, or
evaluated all of them).

Provide your reader next with a logical, coherent two-level
topic outline that sets out the
main sections of your report. This outline is still evolving. As
you find and read
additional sources, and gather more information, your outline
will change accordingly.
Your outline must also of course agree exactly with the purpose
statement and topic
description you gave in the introduction and with the
provisional title you gave in the
subject line of the memorandum.
III. Problems &

Unit 1c Summaries & abstracts; source evaluations; not.docx

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