Confronting Pseudohistory in Academia and Beyond

2018-10
WEEK 1
UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES - LENG1156 1

On the Perils and Pleasures of Confronting
Pseudohistory
Learning outcomes
- Can infer what will come next in an unstructured text by using contextual, grammatical
and lexical cues.
- Can distinguish between the main idea and supporting ideas in a linguistically complex
academic text.
- Can guess the meaning of unfamiliar words from context in a linguistically complex
academic text.
-
Before Reading
We have just read about famous archaeological places around the globe. Now, let’s take a
look at another side of archaeology and science.
A. Read the following text. Some words have been deleted. Try to use grammar and the
general context to find the words that are missing.
If one flips through the channels today, they _________ find that there are several sensationalized
____________that appear to be uncovering “hidden truths” about archeology. There are shows
___________ _______ Ancient Aliens that purport aliens had a direct hand in our past.
Additionally, there are shows _________ TV that talk about the same ideas such as Stargate* that
are merely works of fiction. Being able to tell the difference ____________ pseudoscience and
fiction is important because the __________ is all fun and games, but the ____________ could be
dangerous to one’s ability to have an accurate view of the world and one must consider the ways
they can debunk such claims.
Stargate: is a military science fiction and media franchise.

Pseudoscience – Fact or Fiction? (2014, April 1). Retrieved June 24, 2017, from
http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp203h-ss14/2014/04/01/pseudoscience-fact-or-fiction/
B. Now, let’s reflect on the strategies you used to infer the missing words. Did you use
grammar cues? Vocabulary? The general context? Discuss these questions in pairs.
Predicting
A. Do you think that it is possible that there has been alien presence in our planet? Why or
why not?
B. Can the idea of alien influence in human history be considered science? The text mentions
the word pseudoscience. Do you know what this means? Take a look at the meaning of its
prefix and try to guess its meaning.
Pseudo: word-forming element meaning "false; feigned; erroneous; in appearance only;

resembling," from Greek pseudo-, comb. form of pseudes "false, lying; falsely; deceived," or
pseudos "falsehood, untruth, a lie," both from pseudein "to deceive, cheat by lies."

Reading
On the Perils and Pleasures of Confronting

Pseudohistory
1. Pseudohistory is not confined to quirky theories about lost fleets belonging to Alexander the
Great, or Mongol raiders or Irish monks visiting the Americas. Those are just a few of the
many varieties of pseudo-history. Atlantis is a perennial pseudohistorical favorite. Ancient
astronauts, myths of the Ten Lost Tribes, catastrophic events altering ancient history,
occult and spiritualist accounts of prehistory, various racist cosmogonies, pyramidology,
lost civilizations in the Earth’s core or under the Antarctic or deep within the Amazon
jungles—all are expressions of pseudohistory, tinged with pseudoarchaeology and
buttressed by pseudoscience.
2. As pop culture shows us, these ideas fascinate people. They form the premises of movies,
television series, novels, and video games. They provide fodder for hours of fantastic chat
on late night radio and drive legions of faithful audiences to weekend conferences devoted
to the latest hot idea. Pseudohistory can be fun, just like a Star Trek convention or a
Renaissance fair can be fun—as long as your pockets are deep enough and your
skepticism sufficiently submerged.
3. But there is a dark side. Adherents of Heaven’s Gate* killed themselves so they could join
god-like aliens on their approaching spaceship. Followers of the Nation of Islam killed each
other in power struggles over the movement’s money and property. Identity Christians
killed enemies, particularly if they were Jewish, African-American, or representatives of the
United States government, which they viewed as under the control of Satan. In each of
these examples, pseudohistorical beliefs provided the justification for atrocious actions.
And like all pseudohistory, these beliefs were mistaken and wrong—dead wrong. It is a
situation that amply justifies research, study, and analysis.
4. Students and the general public ask questions about pseudohistorical and pseudoscientific
ideas, and they deserve answers based on research and facts, not simply condescending
dismissals of their questions. They need to be shown the difference between history and
pseudohistory. They need reliable facts and unbiased narratives so they can see for
themselves why genuine history is based on valid, verifiable knowledge, while pseudohistory
is raised up on false knowledge masquerading as history.
5. Historians need to confront and refute any and every expression of pseudohistory when
they engage students in the classroom, when they speak to the public, when they write
books and articles, and when they publish on the Internet. Yes, there is a lot of
pseudohistory out there. A lot of people are peddling it for reasons ranging from the naive
to the nefarious. Historians should help expose this high strangeness to the light of
reasonable discourse and contribute to explaining the appearance and persistence of the
phenomenon.
6. Pseudohistory can suicide and even genocide. It is well known that Nazism based its
ideologies on beliefs about the human past that are distinctly pseudohistorical. Millions of
people died in the Second World War and the Holocaust. Today’s neo-Nazis, however,
give us ample and current evidence that some people have learned nothing from the
carnage created by Hitler and his followers. Incredibly, despite the magnitude of the
Holocaust, some people have denied that it occurred, an act of pernicious pseudohistory
with adherents who launched the voice of denial virtually days after the death camps were
closed with the defeat of Nazi Germany.
7. Confronting pseudohistory and pseudoscience can be a tricky enterprise. While a carefully
researched and lucid argument is essential, it is only a beginning. Scholars also need to

approach the fringes of discourse with diplomacy and without condescension. Adherents of
pseudo knowledge tend to have a fortress mentality about their ideas. They have
experienced a lot of negativity in espousing their beliefs, so they tend to take a defensive
stance almost immediately. Authors promoting pseudohistorical and pseudoscientific ideas
often take advantage of this fortress mentality. They complain that mainstream scholars are
elitists and tools of the establishment seeking to suppress the real truth about history and
science. They frequently allege that there is a vast conspiracy to prevent their ideas from
having a fair hearing with the public. This circumstance allows various fringe scholars to
form alliances, even though their individual theories often stand in stark contradiction to
one another. It is sufficient in their beleaguered arena to find solidarity in the shared stance
against commonly accepted ideas and the theories of mainstream scholars about the
human past.
8. Scholars attempting to refute pseudohistory and pseudoscience face an uphill battle. The
primary building blocks of academic knowledge are supposed to be facts and reason.
Those commodities are in short supply and heavily discounted in the realm of fringe
scholarship. In that world, opinion masquerades as respectable theory or even proven fact.
Bias, prejudice, or a quest for large royalty checks are the primary motivators, not an
objective search for the truth.
9. Another problem for academics who debunk fake and spurious knowledge is the
uncertainty about the nature and methods of history that have arisen out of postmodernism.
One reviewer of my book Invented Knowledge commented that it “proffers a dubious ideal
of authentic scholarship: it’s not true, as he claims, that real history and science always
proceed from evidence to hypothesis.” First, I am pretty sure that I did not make that claim.
What I did write was that “objective scholars with an honest agenda view evidence without
bias or preconceptions, or at least they try hard to guard against them as far as is humanly
possible.” A few lines later, I state that “objective, classically trained historians try to look at
all the available evidence and seek to develop an interpretation or analysis that
encompasses the entire body of evidence in all its complexity.”
10. In retrospect, I probably should have stated more explicitly that professional historians
sometimes write history as poorly as pseudohistorians write pseudohistory. I also must
accept that use of the word “objective” is instantly controversial since objectivity is
impossible in a universe of relative truths and many-faceted facts. How can I view the
attainment of absolute truth as anything other than a futile quest? Okay, I agree that
objectivity and truth are elusive goals, but so is the search for an end to poverty and the
realization of peace on Earth. That does not mean the quest should be abandoned. As
Polybius said over 2,000 years ago, “If history is deprived of the truth, we are left nothing
but an idle, unprofitable tale.” Too often we are left with pseudohistory.
* Heaven’s Gate: American UFO religious group.
Taken and adapted from: Fritze, R. (2009, November). On the Perils and Pleasures of Confronting
Pseudohistory. Historically Speaking, 10(5), 2-5.
A. Distinguishing the main idea from supporting ideas
To be able to understand and find out what the main idea of a text is and its related ideas, let’s take
the following steps in order to infer the main idea from the reading On the Perils and Pleasures of
Confronting Pseudohistory.
1. Step 1: Know the topic

What’s topic? It is what the text is about, its subject. The topic is normally expressed in just one
word or a short phrase.
What’s the topic of the reading? ______________________________________________

2. Step 2: Identify all the specific ideas related to the topic and underline them.
These specific ideas explain or prove the main idea. They are called supporting ideas. Write
those supporting ideas in the lines provided:
 ______________________________________________________________________
 ______________________________________________________________________
 ______________________________________________________________________
 ______________________________________________________________________
 ______________________________________________________________________
 ______________________________________________________________________
 ______________________________________________________________________
 ______________________________________________________________________
3. Step 3: Infer the main idea.

What is the main idea? It is a complete sentence or statement expressing the most important
thing about the topic. It answers the question: what is the main thing said about the topic?
Now, analyze the supporting ideas. How do these sentences relate?

What is the author saying between lines? This implies two things. One that the main idea is
what the author wants readers to understand as important across the text, not in some parts of
it. Second, that sometimes the main idea is not stated directly or explicitly in the text, so you
have to infer it.
So what is the “big idea” or point made in the reading about pseudohistory?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
B. Guessing the meaning of unfamiliar words using context clues
Contextual clues are the syntactic (related to grammar structures) and semantic (linked to the
meaning of words) clues that can help the reader understand the meaning of unknown words. They
are words, phrases, or sentences that surround a word and are helping hints to save time and to
learn the different shades of meaning of the unknown words.
Syntactic clues are linked to the grammar or the sentence structure of the text. For example, in the
section Before Reading, in the sentence If one flips through the channels today, one will find that…
the syntax or the structure of this conditional sentence indicates that the verb in the second clause
must be will.
As for the semantic clues, these refer to the accumulated meaning of the sentence. In the sentence
Being able to tell the difference between pseudoscience and fiction is important because the latter is
all fun and games. Semantics limits the possible words in the blank since the sentence refers to two
elements, and the word latter refers to the last one mentioned: fiction.
There is another general classification of context clues:

1. Synonyms: words that have a similar meaning; they can be seen as a repeated context clue as
in this example from paragraph 2: Adherents of Heaven’s Gate* killed themselves so they
could join god-like aliens on their approaching spaceship. Followers of the Nation of Islam
killed…
2. Antonyms: words with the opposite meaning that can be seen as a contrast context clue. They
are commonly introduced by contrasting words or phrases such as however, but, in contrast, yet,

while, etc, as in this example from paragraph 4: […] they can see for themselves why genuine
history is based on valid, verifiable knowledge, while pseudohistory is raised up on false
knowledge masquerading as history.
3. Examples: words given that help define the term, such as in the following ideas from paragraph
6: Pseudohistory can suicide and even genocide. It is well known that Nazism based its
ideologies on beliefs about the human past that are distinctly pseudohistorical. Millions of
people died in the Second World War and the Holocaust.
4. General sense of the sentence or the passage: readers can deduce meaning from the
information available in the sentence or passage.
Working with the reading
Using context clues for help, write the letter of the best meaning for each italicized word or
words. Try not to use your dictionary.
1. They need reliable facts and unbiased narratives so they can see for themselves why
genuine history is based on valid, verifiable knowledge, while pseudohistory is raised up on
false knowledge masquerading as history. (P4, L4)
a. impartial b. deceiving c. unfair
2. This circumstance allows various fringe scholars to form alliances, even though their
individual theories often stand in stark contradiction to one another. (P7,10)
a. odd b. unconventional c. typical
3. They have experienced a lot of negativity in espousing their beliefs, so they tend to take a
defensive stance almost immediately. It is sufficient in their beleaguered arena to find
solidarity in the shared stance against commonly accepted ideas and the theories of
mainstream scholars about the human past. (P7, L6,12)
a. opinion b. belief c. viewpoint
4. Another problem for academics who debunk fake and spurious knowledge is the
uncertainty about the nature and methods of history that have arisen out of postmodernism.
P9,L1)
a. reveal b. reject c. discredit
5. If history is deprived of the truth, we are left nothing but an idle, unprofitable tale.” (P10, L8)
a. useless b. unlikely c. sad

Writing
Learning outcomes
- Can paraphrase information from a simple text, if guided by questions.
Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing is an important skill in the academic world since it implies restating or explaining
another person’s ideas whether they are written or spoken. This means paraphrasing helps you
avoid plagiarism. Normally, a paraphrase includes main ideas and supporting information, so the
purpose of a paraphrase is not necessarily to reduce the information. At times, a paraphrase is
longer than the original.
Remember, the most important thing is not to alter the meaning of the original source at all.
There are several techniques to writing a good paraphrase. It is very important that you use
more than one.
1. Replace vocabulary using synonyms:

Confined = restricted
2. Change the part of the speech
…after the death camps were closed... (Verb to be + past participle)
…after the closure of the death camps… (Noun)
3. Rearrange clauses or phrases
As pop culture shows us, these ideas fascinate people. (Dependent clause+
Independent clause)
These ideas fascinate people as pop culture shows us. (Ind. Clause+ Dep. Clause)
The comma is not necessary.
4. Switch from active to passive or vice versa
...these ideas fascinate people.
People are fascinated with these ideas.
5. Add or combine sentences
Yes, there is a lot of pseudohistory out there. A lot of people are peddling it for reasons
ranging from the naive to the nefarious.
Yes, there is a lot of pseudohistory out there since a lot of people are peddling it for
reasons ranging from the naive to the nefarious.
A. Answer the following questions trying to use a combination of strategies for paraphrasing
while being careful to not write exact words from the text. Do not simply summarize ideas;
paraphrase them by reorganizing the specific information into a new sentence.
1. Why does pseudoscience fascinate people?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

2. What is the negative side of pseudoscience?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3. What are the primary motivations of a “pseudoscientist”?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
B. Based on the reading, summarize the main characteristics of pseudoscience and

science. Complete the table with those characteristics.
Pseudoscience Science
References:
Brinks, R., & Sippell, K. (1012). Four Point: Reading and Writing. The University of Michigan Press.
Context Clues. (2004, June). Retrieved June 26, 2017, from
https://www.engageny.org/file/.../la_guide-context_clues.pdf.
Fritze, R. (2009, November). On The Perils And Pleasures Of Confronting Pseudohistory.
Historically Speaking, 10(5), 2-5.
Langan, J. (2010). (Fifth Ed.) Ten Steps to Advancing College Reading Skills. West Berlin, NJ:
Townsend Press.
Oshima, A., & Hogue, A. (2014). Longman Academic Writing Series 3 (Fourth ed., Ser. 3). White
Plains, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.

WEEK 2

Atlantology and the Classical Tradition
Learning outcomes
- Can identify the main line of argument in a linguistically complex academic text.
- Can identify different types of supporting details in an academic text.
- Can scan a linguistically complex academic text to find specific information.
Before Reading
In the previous unit we discussed the dangers of believing in pseudoscience. Now, let’s take a
look at a specific case, Atlantis.
What do you know about the story of Atlantis?
Read this short paragraph about the TV program In Search of Aliens. Read it and answer the
questions below.
In Search of Aliens, hosted by Tsoukalos (contributor to and producer of Ancient Aliens)

seems to be challenging the viewer to examine his own perspective on different topics and
think outside the box, although each individual episode of this program is much more
specific in its focus. Episode one followed Tsoukalos around the Mediterranean in search of
the lost city of Atlantis. Described in detail by the Greek philosopher and mathematician
Plato in a pair of early works, the Atlantis civilization supposedly was enormously wealthy
and extremely technologically advanced, but it disappeared virtually overnight and its exact
location has never convincingly been pinpointed. Tsoukalos’ quest for the truth behind the
Atlantis legend takes him from Greece (where the story originated) to a potential location
in Silves, Portugal and back to the Greek island of Santorini. During this journey, Tsoukalos
interviews several experts who offer up their explanations of where Atlantis actually was
located and what happened to it, and he also examines some interesting relics – including
a so-called “Cosmic Egg” in Portugal. This huge stone was carved thousands of years ago,
and may feature the design of a double-helix DNA strand on it – but if so, how did ancient
people know about genetics at all? Questions like this lead Tsoukalos to an obvious
explanation of Atlantis: the civilization was actually an alien craft that was misinterpreted as
a city by ancient humans unaware of alien technology.
Adapted from: Armageddon, A. (2014, July 29). Giorgio Tsoukalos Explains Everything: IN SEARCH OF
ALIENS. Retrieved June 26, 2017, from http://www.veryhelpful.net/2014/07/in_search_of_aliens/
1. How seriously do you take this explanation of Atlantis?
2. Do you think that Atlantis should be studied scientifically?

Reading
Atlantology and the Classical Tradition

1. Atlantis is most certainly a legitimate area of interest for the student of the classical
tradition. Nonetheless, when Martin Freksa's Das verlorene Atlantis first arrived, the
reviewer was unsure if such a scholarly journal as IJCT was the appropriate vehicle for
commenting upon a book so speculative in its argument. However, the last four years have
seen an outpouring of new productions, publications, and discussions about Atlantis,
confirming its continuing vitality as a popular element in the classical tradition. These range
from mass media events to scholarly convocations. At the one end, there is Walt Disney's
box office smash hit Atlantis, released in June 2001. At the other end of the scale, the
annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) in January 2002 devoted a
workshop to "Combating Pseudoarchaeology." "Books promoting Atlantis and its variants"
headed the list of miscreants. Freksa's book and Andrew Collins's Gateway to Atlantis both
fall into that category. By contrast, Richard Ellis's Imagining Atlantis and Paul Jordan's The
Atlantis Syndrome offer searching and, at times, scathing critiques of the
pseudoarchaeology of Atlantis.
2. Martin Freksa's Das verlorene Atlantis is a model example of what worried the AIA
workshop. It is in the mainstream of Atlantology, "a discipline that combines literature,
philosophy, geology, oceanography, archaeology, ancient history, mythology, art history,
mysticism, cryptography, and fantasy". Like almost every Atlantologist, Freksa starts from
the conviction that Plato's story of Atlantis is derived from historical facts. More than 5000
years ago, Freksa tells us, the earth was home to a highly developed culture, stretching
from the Atlantic Ocean to India. Atlantis was part of this world. Culturally and
technologically, that civilization stood on a level with our own. Atomic weapons were known
and, unfortunately, used by the political powers of the Atlantean civilization. The result of
such nuclear war was the destruction of civilization itself. Atomic weapons caused a rift in
the earth that set forth the great flood recounted in the Bible and other sources. Freksa
gives the date of c. 3100BC. Atlantis was overwhelmed by the sea. Thus the human race
had to begin all over again, making its long way back to where we are today: poised again,
in Freksa's words, upon the verge of nuclear annihilation.
3. Must it be said again? The story of Atlantis is an invention of Plato himself. There is no
historical kernel to it.
4. However, to call Das verlorene Atlantis nonsense is not to label it unworthy of study. Quite
the opposite is true. This book is a compelling proof of the mythopoetic power of Atlantis. It
far surpasses El Dorado and Prester John in its hold over the human imagination. It is a
mechanism by which succeeding generations express their hopes and aspirations, their
fears and failures. Freksa finds in Atlantis the archetype for one of the great fears of the
twentieth century: a nuclear holocaust.
5. Works on Atlantis fall into three categories: the fantastic, the pseudo-historical/
archaeological, and studies of Atlantis as a theme in the classical tradition. The last is a
legitimate scholarly endeavor. The first two are more dubious.
6. Freksa's book belongs to the fantastic, as does the Walt Disney film Atlantis: The Lost
Empire. Like Freksa, the film uses archaeology to legitimize the search for Atlantis. It is

hard to find anything pernicious in this or worth combating, in the pugnacious words of the
Archaeological Institute of America workshop. The film uses the story of Atlantis to convey
simple moral truths, useful to the young and, perhaps, old alike.
7. Less benign is the pseudo-historical/archaeological approach to Atlantis. The preeminent
example remains John Luce’s 1969 book Lost Atlantis: New Light on an Old Legend. This
is the work of a distinguished academic, determined to show that Minoan Crete was the
historical kernel of Plato’s Atlantis. Luce’s book is a double exercise in mythopoeism:
Plato’s fantasy of Atlantis is set astride Sir Arthur Evan’s fantasy of a Minoan
thalassocracy*. The travesty of Atlantis as Minoan Crete was debunked at length in the
reviewer’s essay “Atlantis and the Minoan Thalassocracy.” There, I called it “a tissue of
fabrications.” But it is a tissuework of remarkable resiliency, kept alive by more than the
commercial instinct of the owners of gift shops and hotels on Santorini and Crete.
8. But why would any of this interest a classicist or student of the classical tradition? Because
it allows us to witness and evaluate the continual process of myth making in our own day
out of the materials supplied by the classical past. This makes Atlantis a legitimate field of
scholarly inquiry. Plato's story is one of the most enduring and best-known legacies of
classical thought. This legacy needs to be treated in its own right. A step in this direction is
Richard Ellis's 1998 book Imagining Atlantis. Ellis is a marine artist and popular scientific
writer, whose books on whales, dolphins, and the Atlantic Ocean led him to Atlantis. His
book is well researched, cogently argued, and written with verve and wit. He surveys the
"quacks and lunatics" as well as the earnest scientists who have gone in search of Atlantis.
Even this reviewer was surprised to learn that Rachel Carson, of Silent Spring fame,
believed that Atlantis lay beneath the ocean's waves. Ellis spends perhaps too much space
disproving the idea that Minoan Crete was Atlantis. His chapter on "Atlantis in Fiction and
Film" could be expanded into a book itself. However, he has written the best single book on
Atlantis; and his conclusion is right on target: "[Atlantis] is Plato's story, and his alone, and
no amount of mysticism, reinterpretation, scuba diving, or archaeology will ever change
that".
9. Moving beyond Plato, the goal of the desired study of Atlantis and the classical tradition
should not be to ridicule theories about Atlantis. Such a book needs to be a real exercise in
intellectual history, a sympathetic analysis of these theories as statements of the
intellectual, political, and social climate of their time.
10. The task of surveying the intellectual and popular history of Atlantis grows ever more
daunting. Books like Martin Freksa's Das verlorene Atlantis, Richard Ellis's Imagining
Atlantis, Andrew Collins's Gateway to Atlantis, and Paul Jordan's The Atlantis Syndrome
occur perhaps on a yearly basis. Colin Wilson, The Atlantis Blueprint: Unlocking the
Mysteries of a Long Lost Civilization is the entry for 2002. But daily the Internet feeds the
popular imagination about Atlantis, ensuring that - barring nuclear annihilation - Plato's
myth will survive into the next millennium.
* Thalassocracy: a state with primarily maritime realms, an empire at sea or a seaborne empire.
Taken and Adapted from: Fears, J. R. (2002). Review: Atlantology and the Classical Tradition.
International Journal of the Classical Tradition, 8(3), 394-398. Retrieved June 22, 2017, from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/30224224

A. Identifying the main line of argument
In an argumentative text, a text that intends to persuade readers by relying on reason, writers offer
statements or arguments in order to convince. They may organize their texts in a number of ways to
serve this purpose.
Let’s read a definition of line of argument:
Line of argument
noun
Line of argument is defined as the reasoning and thought pattern you use to make a specific point
or to try to convince someone of something.
Example: When you want to convince your parents to let you study abroad, an example of a line
of argument you can use is the reasoning that studying abroad will make you more culturally-
aware.
Line of Argument. (n.d.). Retrieved June 29, 2017, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/line-of-argument
In other words, the line of argument is the logical organization of a text. This ‘thread’ guides the
reader while it maintains the coherence and logic of the text. The line of argument is also in part
created by the use of logical connectors (transitions) such as therefore, however, and for instance.
These words are indicators of the writer’s organizational patterns. They create a line of argument.
Lines of argument may follow one or more of these common logical patterns:
 Generalization - Illustration
 Cause - Effect
 Comparison - Contrast
 Process
 Chronology
 Listing
Taking the above points into account, read the text and answer the following questions to
guide you through the study of the main line of argument in the text Atlantology and the
Classical Tradition.
A. Choose the best answer according to your understanding of the text:
1. What is the main purpose of this text?

a. To entertain the readers with fantastic stories of Atlantis
b. To make a critique of some books written about Atlantis
c. To describe different books and movies about Atlantis
2. What is the author’s opinion about Atlantis as a scholarly topic?

a. It’s too trivial a topic to deserve any serious academic studies on it.
b. It’s based on false assumptions and weak arguments, and therefore should only be
used for entertainment.
c. It’s worth studying academically because it allows us to observe and assess the
possibility of making myths from the classical past.

3. Tick the ideas that are true according to the author’s view of Martin Freksa's Das verlorene
Atlantis.
a. _____ the book combats pseudoarchaeology.
b. _____ it belongs to the discipline of Atlantology.
c. _____ it is not based on factual information.
d. _____ it is a fantasy, but at the same time addresses a powerful myth.
4. Which of following way(s) does the author use to support his argument?
a. He gives causes and effects in the development of the topic.
b. He lists several cases and describes them in some detail.
c. He compares and contrasts some elements in order to prove his point.
In conclusion:
What the author wants to prove is his /her point.
1. What does the author want to prove in the text Atlantology and the Classical Tradition?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
How he/she chooses to prove it is his/her line of argument.

2. What pattern(s) of organization does he choose to prove his argument? Choose from the
following list:
a. Generalization - Illustration
b. Cause - Effect
c. Comparison - Contrast
d. Process
e. Chronology
f. Listing
3. Which one is the main one?

________________________________________________________________________
B. Identifying different types of supporting details

Supporting details are the sentences that explain or prove the supporting ideas of a text.
There are different ways that writers can prove their points in more detail. These will make the text
more credible and better supported. They can be:
1. Examples: “The stone tools consist of a collection of very simple choppers, scrapers, and
flakes.”
2. Statistics: “The gap was increased further in 1990 when the figures rose to 10.5 years and
3.5 years respectively.”
3. Quotations: They may be of two kinds:

Direct Quotation: “Saltzberg and Chrisler believe that beauty ‘cannot be quantified or
objectively measured; it is the result of the judgment of others’”.
Indirect Quotation: He asserted the field was just too filled with drug users.
4. Facts: However, the last four years have seen an outpouring of new productions,
publications, and discussions about Atlantis…

In the text Atlantology and the Classical Tradition, some supporting details are given.
Classify them into: examples (E), statistics (S), quotations (Q) and Facts (F)
1. At the other end of the scale, the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of
America (AIA) in January 2002 devoted a workshop to "Combating
Pseudoarchaeology." (P.1) _________
2. Atlantology, "a discipline that combines literature, philosophy, geology, oceanography,

archaeology, ancient history, mythology, art history, mysticism, cryptography, and
fantasy". (P.2) ____________
3. More than 5000 years ago, Freksa tells us, the earth was home to a highly developed
culture, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to India. (P.2) __________
4. "[Atlantis] is Plato's story, and his alone, and no amount of mysticism, reinterpretation,
scuba diving, or archaeology will ever change that". (Para. 8) __________
5. Books like Martin Freksa's Das verlorene Atlantis, Richard Ellis's Imagining Atlantis,
Andrew Collins's Gateway to Atlantis, and Paul Jordan's The Atlantis Syndrome occur
perhaps on a yearly basis. (P.10) __________
C. Scanning a text for specific information
Scanning is a technique readers use when they rapidly view a text in search of key terms, phrases or
information (e.g. figures, names, dates) or to get an initial impression of whether a text is suitable for
a given purpose. In other words, it involves moving your eyes quickly down the page seeking specific
key words and phrases. For example, looking for a word in the dictionary, you would scan because
you are interested in the word, not in getting a general idea of the text.
Complete the statements with specific information from the reading.

1. The review Atlantology and the Classical Tradition was written by ___________________
2. Freksa’s book about Atlantis is called _________________________________________
3. According to Freksa, Atlantis submerges in the ocean around the year _______________
4. The categories of the works on Atlantis are: ____________________________________ ,
_________________________________ and ___________________________________
5. Name of the book that has been the best book on Atlantis so far __________________

Writing
Learning outcomes
- Can write a basic paragraph containing a topic sentence and related details if provided
with a model.
- Can write the concluding sentence or sentences of a basic paragraph, given a model.
Model Paragraph
Zombies
There are two main reasons why zombies have become so popular in mass media
nowadays. First, zombies have become a recurring theme in mass media in different series, films
and even video games. Series and films such as The Walking Dead and Resident Evil show the
proliferation of the idea of zombies, reaching audience rating of 5.6 million viewers as in the case of
The Walking Dead in 2013. A second reason why zombies are so popular, according to experts, is
because they symbolize “the shadow” and represent all the things humans are afraid of, but they
have a hard time fighting, such as terrorism and pandemics. Daniel Drezner, a professor of
international politics, states that “zombies thrive in popular culture during times of recession,
epidemic and general unhappiness.” Those, perhaps, are the hopeless times humanity witness in the
modern era of terrorism and uncertainty. In conclusion, zombies are a very popular modern myth
reflecting the fears humans have.
1. What is the paragraph about? Zombies

2. What is the main point about the topic? They have become popular in mass media
3. What evidence is provided to prove the main point?
a. They have become a recurring theme in series, games and even video games.
b. They symbolize “the shadow” and represent all the things humans are afraid of
4. Does it conclude or summarize ideas in a closing statement? Yes, it does.
Paragraph Elements:
1. A paragraph is a group of sentences developing one topic. A well-structured paragraph contains

the following elements:
Generally, the first sentence stating the main idea of the paragraph is called the topic sentence.
This sentence contains the main idea of the paragraph.
The topic sentence is neither too general nor too specific.

The topic sentence is usually the first sentence of the paragraph.
What is the topic sentence of the model above? There are two main reasons why zombies have
become so popular in mass media nowadays.
2. The sentences expanding the main idea are called supporting ideas. The example paragraph
about zombies has two supporting sentences. Each one proves the truth of the topic sentence by
giving two examples of the popularity of the existence of this myth.
3. These supporting ideas are expanded using examples, statistics, quotations and facts. They are
referred to as supporting details.
List the supporting details of the paragraph:

a. Examples + Statistics: Series and films such as The Walking Dead and Resident Evil show
the proliferation of the idea of zombies, reaching audience rating of 5.6 million viewers as in
the case of The Walking Dead in 2013.

b. Expert’s Opinion: Daniel Drezner, a professor of international politics, states that “zombies
thrive in popular culture during times of recession, epidemic and general unhappiness.”
4. The main points of a paragraph are normally summarized in a last sentence or concluding
sentence. This sentence may also include a final comment on the topic.
Writing Practice
In this unit, we have been talking about some myths, popular beliefs and pseudoscience. Write
a 70-90 -word paragraph responding to the following question:
From your point of view, what is the most popular myth/urban legend of popular
culture/mass media?
 Give at least TWO reasons why you think it is so popular.

 Do some research to answer this question.
 Use the graphic organizer to help you and the model paragraph to guide you.
Choose from these ideas, or come up with your own:
1. Bermuda Triangle - An area where unexplained events, like disappearances of ships and
airplanes, have occurred
2. Cryptozoology - The search for Bigfoot, Yeti, the Loch Ness monster, El Chupacabra and
other creatures that biologists believe do not exist
3. Mythical Creatures - The belief that fairies, elves, mermaids and gnomes exist.
4. Scientific Racism - A belief that certain races are inferior to others due to scientific
evidence
5. Other creatures and characters on TV- Zombies, werewolves, ghost hunters programs (the
paranormal)
6. Religious beliefs. Santa Claus?
7. Urban legends: ‘stories of unusual, humorous or scary events that contain themes related
to the modern world, are told as something that did or may have happened, variations of
which are found in numerous places and times, and contain moral implications’
Taken from: DiFonzo, N., & Bordia, A. (2007). Rumor, Gossip and Urban Legends. doi:DOI: 10.1177/0392192107073433

Graphic organizer
Most popular myth/legend/urban legend in mass media or popular culture:

Topic sentence*:
Reason 1 Reason 2
Evidence 1 Evidence 2
Concluding sentence*:
 Summarize topic sentence
 Add a final thought about this myth
*A sentence follows the pattern: Subject+Verb+Complement
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

Self-editing checklist: - Paragraph structure: use the following checklist to assess
your paragraph.
EDITING CRITERIA: YES NO

Mechanics
I put a period, a question mark or an exclamation mark after every yes no

sentence.
I used capital letters correctly. yes no
I checked my spelling. yes no

Content and Organization
My paragraph fits the assignment. yes no

My paragraph has a topic sentence. yes no
The topic sentence has both a topic and a controlling idea. yes no
My paragraph contains several specific and factual supporting yes no
sentences, including at least one example.
How many supporting sentences did I write? # ____
My paragraph ends with an appropriate concluding sentence. yes no
All of my sentences are directly related to the topic. yes no
References
Armageddon, A. (2014, July 29). Giorgio Tsoukalos Explains Everything: IN SEARCH OF ALIENS.
Retrieved June 26, 2017, from http://www.veryhelpful.net/2014/07/in_search_of_aliens/
Brinks, R., & Sippell, K. (1012). Four Point: Reading and Writing . The University of Michigan Press.
Fears, J. R. (2002). Review: Atlantology and the Classical Tradition. International Journal of the
Classical Tradition, 8(3), 394-398. Retrieved June 22, 2017, from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/30224224
Langan, J. (2010). (Fifth ed.) Ten Steps to Advancing College Reading Skills. West Berlin, NJ:
Townsend Press
Line of Argument. (n.d.). Retrieved June 29, 2017, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/line-of-
argument
Oshima, A., & Hogue, A. (2014). Longman Academic Writing Series 3 (Fourth ed., Ser. 3). White
Plains, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.

WEEK 3

Fight against malaria: Mutant fungus genetically
engineered with spider and scorpion venom
could be a lifesaver
Learning outcomes
- Can get the gist of specialized articles and technical texts outside their field.
- Can take effective notes on a complex and unfamiliar text.
- Can understand cause and effect relationships in a linguistically complex academic text.
Before Reading
A. Based on the title, what kind of vocabulary do you expect to find in the text? Make a list
of 10 words: five verbs and five adjectives.
B. What is malaria? How can it be prevented? How do people get infected?
Reading 1
Fight against malaria: Mutant fungus genetically

engineered with spider and scorpion venom
could be a lifesaver
By Conor Gaffey 
1. Malaria remains one of the biggest killers in Africa and increasing pesticide resistance among
mosquitoes carrying the deadly virus is posing a conundrum for scientists and health workers.
2. But a study by the University of Maryland has pinpointed a potential, if strange, means of
tackling the issue: Using the toxins from scorpion and spider venom to genetically engineer
fungi, which can then be used to kill off malaria-carrying mosquitoes or stop them from biting.
3. In the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports on Tuesday, researchers used a

genetically engineered version of the Metarhizium pingshaensei fungus—which occurs
naturally in China—in tests conducted in Burkina Faso, a sub-Saharan country in West Africa.
4. The fungus is already a natural mosquito killer: When its spores, or reproductive cells, come
into contact with a mosquito’s exoskeleton, they penetrate through into the insect’s internal
organs to kill it from the inside out. But high concentrations of the spores are required to kill the
mosquitoes.
5. From the venom of scorpions and spiders, researchers isolated genes that express
neurotoxins—chemicals that disable the nervous system—and engineered these genes into the
fungus’s DNA. The team also included a genetic failsafe that ensured that the toxins only

activated when they came into contact with insect blood. So if another animal or human ingested
the fungus, for example, the poison would not take effect.
6. The scientists found that the mutant fungus killed insecticide-resistant mosquitoes more
quickly and efficiently than the unaltered fungus. Before killing the insects, the mutant fungal
spores also stopped the mosquitoes from feeding, effectively disabling them as vectors of
malaria even before they died.
7. “Controlling the mosquito is currently the best way of reducing malaria and dengue and
chikungunya and all those other diseases which mosquitoes carry,” Raymond John St. Leger, a
professor of entomology at the University of Maryland and the study leader, tells Newsweek.
8. Malaria is a parasitic disease that is passed to humans through the bites of

infected Anopheles mosquitoes. Symptoms appear around two weeks after the insect bite and
include fever, headache and chills. If not treated within 24 hours, the parasite can result in severe
illness or death.
9. There were around 212 million cases of malaria in 2015, with 429,000 deaths from the
disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Africa bears a disproportionate
burden of malaria cases: Ninety percent of malaria infections and 92 percent of fatalities
occurred on the continent in 2015.
10. There have been substantial gains in the fight against malaria in recent years; the incidence
of the disease fell by more than a fifth between 2010 and 2015. But the WHO has warned that
increasing resistance to insecticides among malaria-carrying mosquitoes is threatening to
reverse those gains: Since 2010, some 60 countries have reported resistance to at least one
type of insecticide among mosquitoes: Some 98 percent of mosquitoes in Burkina Faso are
insecticide-resistant, according to St. Leger.
11. St. Leger says that the most effective toxins used in the study—one of which was derived
from the North African desert scorpion, the other from the Australian Blue Mountains funnel-web
spider—are both approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as safe for field use
and would not poison birds, mammals and other insects, like bees. The fungus doesn’t pose a
risk to humans either, says St. Leger, as it would not survive in the human body.
12. In the study, researchers smeared a black sheet with the mutant fungus and left it inside a
house; mosquitoes tend to feed and rest after a blood meal inside. They found that the mutant
fungus was far better at tackling the insecticide-resistant mosquitoes: The toxins block mineral
channels in the mosquitoes’ body that are required for the transmission of nerve impulses and
dull the insects’ appetite, meaning they are less likely to feed. Also, far fewer of the mutant
spores are required than with the regular fungal spores. “We can get to one spore killing one
mosquito in a few days,” says St. Leger.
13. He says that the research team is continuing with trials in Burkina Faso and has no time
frame for when the technique might become widely available; the researchers want to consult
local people and medical professionals on how it might be used before deciding how to proceed.
St. Leger suggests that one method would be to smear mosquito bed nets with the mutant
fungus.
Gaffey,Conor (2017). Newsweek.com: Tech & Science, http://www.newsweek.com/malaria-africa-genetic-engineering-625697

A. Getting the gist
Reading for gist or Skimming involves taking a quick look at a text to know the topic and its general
idea. There is no need to understand and read the text completely, which means that details are not
relevant. One way of getting the gist is by reading the first or the last line of every paragraph.
Readers can also focus their attention on chunks of information from different paragraphs. It is
suggested that you read for gist before reading a text completely because it provides an overview
of the content and facilitates comprehension.
For example:
Read the following sections of these three paragraphs and answer the questions. Use
your own words and do not copy entire sections from the text.
1. Malaria remains one of the biggest killers in Africa xxxxxxxxx xxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxx.
2. But a study by the University of Maryland has pinpointed a potential, if strange,

means of tackling the issue:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
3.Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx—in tests conducted in Burkina Faso, a
sub-Saharan country in West Africa.
What is the topic of paragraph 1?
After reading the first words, we know the answer is Malaria. The rest of the
paragraph is not needed to answer this question.
What kind of information do we find after issue in paragraph 2?
The exact way to tackle the issue. It is not necessary to read all the paragraph. That
can be done after skimming all the text.
Where were the tests conducted?
By simply reading the last section of paragraph 3, we are able to find the answer:
Burkina Faso.

1. Skim the text and answer the following questions.

a. What is the University of Maryland’s approach tackling malaria?
__________________________________________________________________________.
b. How does this new approach work?
__________________________________________________________________________.
c. What has been gained from the fight against malaria?
__________________________________________________________________________.
2. Complete the following statements with the correct information.

a. According to St Leger, a high percentage of _______ in Burkina Faso are ______________
b. People catch malaria through ___________________________
3. Are the following statements true or false? Mark your choice.

TRUE FALSE
a. The best way of reducing malaria and other diseases is by
controlling the mosquito population.
b. People may die within 48 hours if the parasite is not treated.

c. The fungus is not harmful to human beings.
d. One spore of the fungus can kill up to three mosquitoes.

B. Taking reading notes effectively
It is common to forget what we have read. The best way to retain information after reading any
text is by taking reading notes. One way of taking notes is by copying important sentences
directly from the text, such as definitions and key phrases. Readers can also identify important
ideas, words and phrases and write them using their own words.
For example:
Living in a big city in the 21st century can be stressful: noise, rush, traffic jams,
intrusive commercials, bad ecology, high prices, and other factors do not contribute
to one’s calmness and inner harmony. Additional stresses such as hard work,
fatigue, family problems, taxes, and so on only multiply and increase the existing
stress. No wonder that in such conditions, people living in cities often develop
various psychological conditions that can hardly be called healthy. Depression and
nervous breakdowns have become as common in recent decades as the flu. One
such condition is anhedonia —a dangerous condition that can be generally
described as an inability to have fun and feel pleasure. But what causes it?
The key phrases of this paragraph have been underlined.
Of course, this is not the only method to take notes. The type of text and the kind of
information the reader considers to be important must be taken into account when taking
reading notes. Another method of taking notes is to write the important information using
the reader’s own words, that is, paraphrasing.
For example:
It is stressful to live in a big city…

There are several circumstances that affect one’s calmness…
People who live in cities usually show mental problems.
Sometimes, it is also useful to write your own explanations. However, the notes may
be a little longer than the content of the text.

1. Read the following paragraph and write the most important ideas. You can copy them
directly or use your own words.
Currently, there exist several approaches to understanding the reasons behind anhedonia; these
approaches refer to both physiological aspects of one’s mental health (such as biochemistry)
and mental ones. One of the most common theories relates to social learning as a method that
might be possibly triggering anhedonia. Experts believe a child’s psychological development
proceeds normally when he or she has an opportunity to watch the behaviors, emotional
reactions, actions, and manners of people surrounding them; children repeat what they see, and
receive feedback, positive or negative. This feedback is what teaches a child to do or not to do
something. However, when a child has fewer opportunities to learn from other people, or
receives limited to no feedback (and, therefore becomes deprived of the accompanying
emotions), he or she might later be more prone to developing anhedonia. The same works in
the case of mentally-impaired children. Thus, one cause of anhedonia might be the lack of
experiences and emotional feedback (positive or negative) in childhood.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

C. Understanding cause and effect relationships
In a cause-effect relationship, one event (the cause) makes another event happen (the effect).
Recognizing cause-effect relationships helps readers to understand why things happen. It is
important to remember that the cause always occurs before the effect, and sometimes one
cause can have several effects. Let’s have a look at the definition of these two terms:
Cause: a person, event, or thing that makes something happen.
Effect: a change that is caused by an event,  action,  etc.
http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary
Examples:
Since the hardware store was already closed, we couldn’t buy a new hammer.
Cause Effect
Owing to misbehavior, the security forces are sometimes implicated in criminal acts.
Identifying cause-effect relationships
Authors usually present this kind of relationship by using words such as due to,
since, because (of), on account of, as a consequence, consequently, as a result,
results in, so, leads (led) to, therefore, thus, accordingly, hence, owing to, to be
responsible for, for this reason. When reading a text, you can also ask what
happened? Or why did this happen? It is essential to locate the specific part of the
text where these words may appear and read that section carefully in order to
understand how the ideas are related.
Example:
Mental illnesses such as schizophrenia can cause anhedonia; however, it would be a

mistake to think only mental conditions lead to this condition. Sometimes, a common
fatigue or sickness can deprive a person of positive emotions for some period of time.
Cause: Schizophrenia
Effect: Anhedonia
Cause: A common fatigue or sickness.

Effect: Depriving a person of positive emotions for some period of time

Read the first paragraph of the reading below and notice cause-effect relationships and
how they are marked in the text:
Living in a big city in the 21st century can be stressful: noise, rush, traffic jams, intrusive
commercials, bad ecology, high prices, and other factors do not contribute to one’s calmness
and inner harmony. Additional stresses such as hard work, fatigue, family problems, taxes,
and so on only multiply and increase the existing stress. No wonder that in such conditions,
people living in cities often develop various psychological conditions that can hardly be called
healthy. Depression and nervous breakdowns have become as common in recent decades
as the flu. One such condition is anhedonia —a dangerous condition that can be generally
described as an inability to have fun and feel pleasure. But what causes it?
The key phrases signaling causes and effects in this paragraph have ben underlined.
Reading 2
Reasons for Anhedonia

1. Living in a
big city in the
21st century
can be
stressful:
noise, rush,
traffic jams,
intrusive
commercials,
bad ecology,
high prices,
and other
factors do not
contribute to
one’s
calmness and
inner
harmony.
Additional
stresses such
as hard work,
fatigue, family problems, taxes, and so on only multiply and increase the existing stress. No
wonder that in such conditions, people living in cities often develop various psychological
conditions that can hardly be called healthy. Depression and nervous breakdowns have
become as common in recent decades as the flu. One such condition is anhedonia—a
dangerous condition that can be generally described as an inability to have fun and feel
pleasure. But what causes it?
2. Currently, there exist several approaches to understanding the reasons behind anhedonia;
these approaches refer to both physiological aspects of one’s mental health (such as
biochemistry) and mental ones. One of the most common theories relates to social learning as
a method that might be possibly triggering anhedonia. Experts believe a child’s psychological

development runs normally when he or she has an opportunity to watch the behaviors,
emotional reactions, actions, and manners of people surrounding them; children repeat what
they see, and receive feedback, positive or negative. This feedback is what teaches a child to
do or not to do something. However, when a child has less opportunities to learn from other
people, or receives limited to no feedback (and, therefore, becomes deprived of the
accompanying emotions), he or she might later be more prone to developing anhedonia. The
same works in the case of mentally-impaired children. Thus, one cause of anhedonia might be
the lack of experiences and emotional feedback (positive or negative) in childhood.
3. Another cause of anhedonia is depression. In fact, anhedonia is often a symptom of major

depressive disorder or clinical depression. Most people who have such mental conditions
usually develop high levels of anhedonia. At the same time, a research study of Faith Brynie
conducted in 2009 shows that even in the case of depression, pleasure and positive emotions
can be experienced in full capacity—but only during a short period of time. This results in the
lack of motivation or interest in engaging in activities, and thus a person deprives themselves
of possible positive experiences.
4. There are also many other reasons leading to anhedonia. Among them, one should point
out such conditions as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, schizoid personality disorder,
and other mental disorders. However, anhedonia is not always necessarily caused by only
mental conditions. A common physical illness or fatigue can also lead to a short-term
anhedonia. Spinal cord injuries, hyperprolactinemia, or low levels of testosterone also put a
person at risk of developing anhedonia. In some cases, this can be a result of the use of SSRI
* drugs.
5. Anhedonia is a mental condition characterized by a person’s inability to experience pleasure

and positive emotions. Although research studies in 2009 showed that depressed people can
also experience pleasure, this pleasure does not last long, which causes the lack of motivation
to engage into potentially pleasant activities, thus forming a cycle of anhedonia. Mental
illnesses such as schizophrenia can cause anhedonia; however, it would be a mistake to think
only mental conditions lead to this condition. Sometimes, a common fatigue or sickness can
deprive a person of positive emotions for some period of time. In any case, the first symptoms
of anhedonia are already a reason to visit a doctor.
* Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are antidepressants that affect serotonin levels in the brain. Serotonin is a chemical
neurotransmitter. For many people, SSRIs are the first choice of depression selected by health care professionals for the treatment of
depression or anxiety.
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/ssris_and_depression/article_em.htm
Taken on June 19 2017 from

https://academichelp.net/samples/academics/essays/cause-effect/anhedonia-causes.html
Image: retrieved from: https://pixabay.com/p-62326/?no_redirect CCO public domain
A. Write the cause and the effect for each statement.

1. However, when a child has fewer opportunities to learn from other people, or receives
limited to no feedback (and, therefore, becomes deprived of the accompanying emotions), he
or she might later be more prone to developing anhedonia.
Cause: ___________________________________________________________________

Effect: ___________________________________________________________________
2. Another cause of anhedonia is depression. In fact, anhedonia is often a symptom of major

depressive disorder or clinical depression.
Cause: ___________________________________________________________________
Effect: ____________________________________________________________________
3. ...that even in the case of depression, pleasure and positive emotions can be experienced in
full capacity—but only during a short period of time. This results into the lack of motivation or
interest in engaging in activities, and thus a person deprives themselves of possible positive
experiences.
Cause: ___________________________________________________________________
Effect: ____________________________________________________________________
Effect: ____________________________________________________________________
Effect: ____________________________________________________________________
B. Identify the cause-effect relationships from paragraph 4.
Cause Effect

Reading 3
Taking Flight: Commercial drones are the fastest-

growing part of the market
1. Last year around 110,000 drones (technically known as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs)
were sold for commercial use, according to Gartner, a consultancy. That figure is expected to
rise to 174,000 this year and the number of consumer drones to 2.8m. Although unit sales of
commercial drones are much smaller, total revenues from them are nearly twice as big as for
the consumer kind.
2. In “Drones Reporting for Work”, published in 2016, Goldman Sachs, a bank, argued that
drones are becoming “powerful business tools”. It predicted that of the total of $100bn likely to
be spent on both military and civilian drones between 2016 and 2020, the commercial segment
would be the fastest-growing, notably in construction (accounting for $11.2bn), agriculture
($5.9bn), insurance ($1.4bn) and infrastructure inspection ($1.1bn). Oppenheimer, another
bank, predicts that the commercial market “will ultimately contribute the majority of UAV
industry revenues”.
3. The rise of commercial drones was made possible by three developments. First, fierce
competition in the consumer market has made the machines much cheaper, more reliable and
more capable than they were just a few years ago. “These are not military products that were
downsized—these are consumer technologies that got better,” says Brendan Schulman, head
of policy at Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI), the Chinese firm that dominates the consumer-drone
industry. DJI’s bestselling Mavic, which costs $999, can hold its position in light winds, detect
obstacles and land automatically. At a company office in Shenzhen, Shuo Yang, one of the
engineers who worked on the Mavic, proudly demonstrates that it can even respond to hand
gestures to follow its owner around or snap a “drone selfie”. And it folds up to fit into a
backpack.

4. In many ways modern consumer drones are more advanced than far more expensive
military systems, says Adam Bry of Skydio, a consumer-drone startup that is developing a rival
to the Mavic. The best consumer models are now being redeployed for commercial use, often
with little or no modification. As previously happened with smartphones, the fastest innovation
is taking place in the consumer market and then being adopted by companies. And just as with
smartphones, people who enjoyed playing with consumer drones realised it made sense to
take them to work too, says Jonathan Downey of Airware, a startup that makes drone-
management software. Even military users are beginning to pay attention to developments in
the consumer market.
5. Second, the proliferation of consumer drones in America prompted regulation from the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which had repeatedly delayed introducing rules for
commercial drones. “The flood of consumer vehicles forced the regulators to allow commercial
use,” says Chris Anderson of 3D Robotics, another drone startup. (Mr Anderson is a former
editor-in-chief of Wired, and previously worked at The Economist.) A set of rules known as
“part 107”, issued by the FAA in August 2016, specifies the conditions under which drones can
be used commercially; previously commercial use had been allowed only with a special waiver
that was costly and time-consuming to obtain. The default thus switched from “commercial use
is illegal” to “commercial use is legal under the following conditions”. Many other countries
follow the FAA’s regulatory lead, so this cleared commercial drones for take-off not just in
America but worldwide. Still, “the technology is moving so fast that the regulatory and legal
frameworks are having a hard time keeping up,” says Astro Teller of X, Google’s semi-secret
research laboratory.
6. Third, the industry underwent a shake-out as a crowd of jostling startups came to be

dominated by DJI. Based in Shenzhen, where the world’s technology firms go to develop and
manufacture hardware, DJI outperformed both local and foreign rivals and now has about 70%
of the consumer-drone market. It is valued at around $8bn and has established itself as a
global, premium brand with a reputation for quality and reliability, defying the stereotype of
Chinese firms. Its consumer drones generally cost $999 to start with and are subsequently
discounted as new models appear. DJI also makes slightly heftier models specifically for
commercial use; a fully equipped Inspire 2 costs around $6,000.
7. Several rival drone makers, including Autel, GoPro, Parrot and Yuneec, have announced
lay-offs in recent months. Lily, a consumer-drone startup that attracted thousands of pre-
orders, shut down in January. 3D Robotics laid off 150 workers and stopped making hardware
altogether last year after its Solo drone failed to dent DJI’s market share. Many drone startups
concluded that instead of competing with DJI on hardware, it makes more sense to
complement its products by providing software and services for commercial users. “Everyone
is moving to a model where we let DJI control most of the on-board stuff and we move all our
innovation up the stack to the cloud,” says Mr. Anderson.
Taken and adapted from The Economist (2017) Technology quarterly: http://www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21723003-
most-drones-today-are-either-cheap-toys-or-expensive-weapons-interesting
A. Reading for Gist.

1. The topic of this text is _________
2. Some characteristics of the Mavics are: __________________________________

3. What are Autel, GoPro, Parrot and Yuneec? __________________________
4. The general idea of the text is: ______________________________________
B. Identify the cause-effect relationship of the developments that made the rise of commercial
drones possible.
a. Cause: _______________________________________________________
Effect: ________________________________________________________
b. Cause: _________________________________________________________
Effect: _________________________________________________________
c. Cause: __________________________________________________________
Effect: ___________________________________________________________
C. Match each cause on the left with its corresponding effect on the right. One effect will
not be used. Write the letter in the space. Identify the paragraph where you can find
the information next to each cause.
Cause Effect
a. People noticed it was a good idea to use

___ The appearance of new models. ( )
them at work.
___ Technology advances at such a great b. The FFA created new laws.
speed. ( )
___ The use of drones for enjoyment. ( ) c. The price of consumer drones goes down.
___ Adoption of the FAA regulations. ( ) d. Drones market world expansion.

Writing
Write a short paragraph that describes a cause-effect relationship. You may want to choose a
specific topic or event, or you can also examine why something has happened or exists. Try to
use some of the following cause-effect markers: Due to, since, because (of), on account of, as
a consequence, consequently, as a result, results in, so, leads (led) to, therefore, thus,
accordingly, hence, owing to, to be responsible for, for this reason. In the following paragraph,
the sentence containing the topic has been underlined, as well as cause-effects markers.
Example:
It is shocking that in today’s technological and scientific era most people continue to
believe in ghosts, elves, fairies, extrasensory perception and the like. People believe
in extraordinary things because they usually lack understanding of how Mother
Nature works. Think about cave men; they had no idea about the process of rain;
therefore, they probably believed the phenomenon was due to some sort of mystery or
that there was something or someone evil making water fall from the sky. Another
reason why people believe in imaginary creatures has to do with what they were
taught at home by their parents. As a consequence, when children grow up they will
end up seeing ghosts or spirits, which coincidentally appear only at night time in their
bedrooms.
Suggested topics:
- What causes sibling rivalry?

- What are the social effects of everyone on the planet having cell phones?
- What are the effects of school bullying on children?
- What potential dangers do earthquakes bring?
- Your own topic
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WEEK 5

Nature Conservation Programs
Learning outcomes
- Can understand the writer's purpose in a linguistically complex academic text.
- Can understand the writer’s tone in a linguistically complex academic text.
- Can understand the use of quotes in an academic text.
- Can identify the sources of information in a linguistically complex academic text.
Before Reading
Discuss the following questions with a partner:
1. Can you name any nature conservation areas in Colombia? Think of at least two ways
that protected areas help wild animals survive.
2. Look at the title. What do you think this text will be about? Why do you think this text
was written?
Reading
Read an excerpt from the following essay about the beginning of nature conservation in Great
Britain. Notice how direct quotations and citations are used to support the author’s ideas.
The Origins of Nature Conservation in Britain:

A Short Introduction
By K. Jan Oosthoek
1. The origins of public

interest in nature conservation
in Britain go back to the early
19th century when Wordsworth
wrote about the Lake District
that it is a “sort of national
property in which every man
has a right and interest who
has an eye to perceive and a
heart to enjoy”1. Systematic
conservation efforts only
th
started in the latter half of the 19 century and are reflected in legislation such as the first
Wild Birds Protection Act of 1872 and the Ancient Monuments Act of 1882, which enabled

the state to take care of monuments of historic significance, including landscapes.
2. But there were also private efforts such as the creation of The National Trust for Places of
Historic Interest and Natural Beauty. This organization was the brainchild of Canon
Hardwick Rawnsley, a vicar in the Lake District and seasoned countryside campaigner who
founded the Lake District Defense Society in 1876 in response to the Manchester
Corporation damming Thirmere. In 1883, his efforts to prevent the construction of a railway
to carry slate from the quarries above Buttermere brought him into contact with social
reformer Octavia Hill and Sir Robert Hunter, solicitor to the Commons Preservation Society.
They combined forces and started to campaign for the creation of a National Trust, and as
a result of their efforts the trust was established in 1895.
3. The trust’s aims were described as follows in the National Trust Act of 1907:
To promote the permanent preservation, for the benefit of the nation, of lands and
tenements (including buildings) of beauty or historical interest; and, as regards land, to
preserve (so far practicable) their natural aspect.2
4. There was also a growing sense of the finiteness of native flora and fauna and the
vulnerability of their habitats. The Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves was
formed in 1912 and gave an impetus to the National Trust’s acquisition of woods, downs
and cliffs as well as historic houses.
5. An additional concern was the protection of birds, and in 1889 the Royal Society for the
Protection of Birds (RSPB) was created. That organization was established in response to
the dissatisfaction over the 1872 Bird Protection Act. The Efforts of the RSPB led to a
series of measures culminating in the Bird Protection Act of 1954.
6. The RSPB originated as a middle class suburban movement with some wealthy and
influential backers. The British middle classes loved birds and there was a kind of a bird
craze growing, and this was reflected in the increase of its membership. By 1900 the RSPB
had 25,000 members.
7. The main aims of the society (as stated in the charter) include:
a) Encourage better conservation and protection of birds.
b) Discourage the wanton destruction of birds by wearing feathers and killing game birds
for sport.3
8. The charter also contained a new idea regarding sanctuaries or nature reserves. This idea
had originated on the other side of the Atlantic in the United States, and was known as a
system of national parks. However, in Britain the public was not yet ready to accept this
concept. It took another 25 years before the RSPB acquired land for a reserve and again
another 25 years before the first national park would be established in the Lake District in
1954. Scotland even had to wait until 2002, when a national park was established in the
Trossachs (made famous by Sir Walter Scott in his Lady of the Lake). Today the RSPB
supervises more than 182 nature reserves and is the largest wildlife conservation charity in

Europe, with more than a million members.
9. During the Interwar Period, the British public was not only focused on birds, but also on the
impact of changes in the landscape on the natural world. Therefore, the main thrust of
conservation efforts was focused on the preservation of scenic and historic landscapes. In
addition, reforestation efforts led by the Forestry Commission amounted to the single
largest land change in Britain during the 20th century. Millions of hectares were planted with
conifers to create a timber resource for the nation.4
10. During the 1920s and 1930s, a whole host of Scottish organizations comparable to its
English counterparts were set up, including the National Trust for Scotland (1931) and the
Association for the Preservation of Rural Scotland (1926).
Other Countries
11. In other countries similar efforts can be observed. In 1872 the United States established
the Yellowstone National Park, the first of its kind in the world. Some have called the
National Parks “America’s best idea”5, and it is certain that the model of the Yellowstone
National Park and the National Parks Service (established in 1912) has been followed all
over the globe. In 1892, twenty years after the creation of the first national park, the Sierra
Club was formed. The objective of this organization was to protect landscapes against
human development and preserve it for future generations.
12. In 1905 the Society for the Preservation of Nature Monuments in the Netherlands
(Vereniging tot Behoud van Natuurmonumenten in Nederland) was established in response
to plans of the Amsterdam City Council to use a nearby wetland as a rubbish dump for the
expanding city. The society bought the wetlands and saved it from destruction. This was
the first grassroots environmental effort in the Netherlands.6 Today “Natuur Monumenten”
is one of the largest landowners in the Netherlands, protecting over 100,000 hectares of
nature reserves and parks.
13. The modern environmental movement began in the 1960s and was much concerned with
air and water pollution as well as habitat loss. The modern environmental movement was a
response to the increasing impact of humans on the environment caused by increasing
industrialization, use of chemicals in agriculture and increasing numbers of cars. Many
regard Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring as the starting point of these modern concerns.
In this book, she highlighted the dangers of the use of chemicals in agriculture and its
impacts on bird populations.
14. After the emergence of global environmental concerns such as global warming, acid rain
and ozone depletion, the focus of environmental organizations became broader in scope to
include all landscapes, environments and human activities throughout the world.

Notes and Further Reading
1 William Wordsworth, Guide Through the District of the Lakes in The North of England (Kendall: Hudson and
Nicholson, 1835, 5th edition), p. 88.
2 National Trust Act 1907, Paragraph. 2, Downloaded from National Trust site, 24 July 2015.
3 Introduction digitized catalogue Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, National Archives, GB 1418 RSPB, p.
ii.
4 See: K. Jan Oosthoek, Conquering the Highlands. A History of the Afforestation of the Scottish Uplands
(Canberra: ANU Press, 2013).
5 Alan MacEachern, Who had “America’s Best Idea”?, NICHE, 23 October, 2011.
6 Jokks Janssen, “Protected landscapes in the Netherlands: changing ideas and approaches, Planning
Perspectives 24 (2009) 4, 435-455, pp. 337-339.
Source: K. Jan Oosthoek (2015), The origins of nature conservation in Britain – A short introduction.
https://www.eh-resources.org/origins-nature-conservation-in-britain/ Accessed: 21 June 2017. The original work
has been edited for educational purposes.
Image: retrieved from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aix_galericulata_-

Richmond_Park,_London,_England_-pair-8_(1).jpg licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
Generic license.
The Author’s General Purpose
 Did you correctly predict what the text was about from the title?
 Why do you think the author wrote this text: to persuade, entertain or inform the
reader?
A. Author’s General Purpose
Below are some techniques for quickly finding the main purpose of a text. Answer the following
questions to decide what the general purpose is.
Guiding Questions:
 Look at the title. What does it suggest about the purpose of the text?
 Does this text appear to mostly be written “for fun”, to entertain the reader with a story?
 Is the text mostly trying to persuade us about a point of view?
 Is the text mostly trying to inform (tell) us about something that occurred?

Exercise 1:
Here are some clues you can use to decide what the general purpose of a text is. Look at
this selection from paragraph 8. Underline all VERBS, then decide if the verbs are used
mostly to persuade, entertain, or inform. The first one has been underlined for you.
8. The charter also contained an idea, in the form of sanctuaries or reserves that came from the other
side of the Atlantic: National Parks. However, in Britain this was too far ahead of their times. It took
another 25 years before the RSPB acquired land for a reserve and again another 25 years before
the first national park would be established in the Lake District in 1954.
Verbs: ________________________
What do you think is the purpose of this selection? (Circle one.)

a. To persuade
b. To entertain
c. To inform
Do the verbs you underlined mostly support the purpose you predicted? ( yes / no )
B. General Tone of the Text
The author’s tone in a text refers to the general attitude shown toward the subject of the text. This
can often be found by looking at the types of adjectives and verbs that are used.
Below are adjectives used to describe tone in a text. Match each word in the box with the correct
definition. Draw a line from the word to its definition in the right column. You may use a dictionary.
The first one has been done for you.
1. accusatory a. Author attempts to educate or instruct the reader

2. apathetic
b. Learned, polished, scholarly
c. Ridiculing, making fun of something

3. didactic
4. erudite d. Communicating thoughts and emotions about events or ideas
e. Indifferent due to lack of energy or concern

5. earnest
f. Intense, a sincere state of mind
6. derisive
g. Charging someone with doing something wrong
7. reflective h. Using the imagination

8. fanciful

Which pair of words above (1,2)(3,4)(5,6)(7,8) both best describe the tone of this text? _(___)_
B. Which 1 of the following 4 phrases is NOT a good example of the tone of the text?
a. The origins of public interest in nature conservation in Britain go back many years.
b. In other countries similar efforts can be observed.
c. We think that the environment is totally awesome.
d. They combined forces and started to campaign for the creation of a National Trust.
Which option above is NOT a good example of the tone of the text: ___
Which characteristics make the phrase you selected different? ________
C. Author’s Purpose in Selecting a Quotation
Referring to and citing the work of others is a good way to strengthen your writing.
In some cases, a paraphrase or reference will be appropriate. In other cases, a direct quotation
of another person’s words is necessary. A quotation is an exact reproduction of another
speaker's or writer’s words that is used to support ideas in a text. A direct quotation is often
useful in the following circumstances:
C. Using a new idea or concept in a specialized way

According to Sameulson, the generation born between 1982 and 2000 are called “millennials”.
D. Explaining a rule or written standard

State education law says students should be in the “least restrictive environment”.
E. Referring to unique phrasing of ideas used by another author or speaker

When Martin Luther King said, “I have a dream” his words inspired many people.
Exercise 1: What purpose does the quotation below serve in the paragraph? Decide
whether the purpose is closer to #1, #2 or #3 above.
(Paragraph 11) In other countries similar efforts can be observed. In 1872 the United
States established the Yellowstone National Park, the first of its kind in the world.
Some have called National Parks “America’s best idea”5, and it is certain that the
model of Yellowstone parks and the national parks service established in 1912 has
been followed all over the globe.
1.1 Why did the author choose to use a direct quotation? Write either # 1, 2 or 3. ___
(Paragraph 3) The trusts aims were described as follows in the National Trust
Act of 1907:

To promote the permanent preservation, for the benefit of the nation, of lands and
tenements (including buildings) of beauty or historical interest; and, as regards land, to
preserve (so far practicable) their natural aspect.2
1.2 Why did the author choose to use a direct quotation, reason # 1, 2 or 3? ____
D. Identify Sources of Information
Many verbs can help you to identify the sources of information being cited or referred to in a text.
You may see some of the following verbs used to indicate who said a quote.
Example:
The author __ (asserts, argues, sustains, proposes, indicates, affirms, suggests, writes)
__ that national parks are important.
With a partner, try saying the sentence above with a few different verbs in bold.
Find and underline the verb being used to introduce the quote in the following text:
1) The origins of public interest in nature conservation in Britain go back to the early 19th
century when Wordsworth wrote about the Lake District that it is a “sort of national
property in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive and a
heart to enjoy”1.
a. Verb: __________________
b. Who originally said the quote above? (First and Last name)
_______________
c. What is the title of the original text that it appeared in, and when was it
published? _____________________

Writing
Learning outcomes
- Can write a basic paragraph containing a topic sentence and related details if provided
with a model.
- Can write the concluding sentence or sentences of a basic paragraph, given a model.
Review: Writing Paragraphs in English
When writing in English, it is important to use good paragraph style so your ideas can be
understood easily.
Topic sentence: This defines what you will say and how you plan to approach the
issue. A topic sentence usually has a general topic, then a controlling idea that
includes a more specific perspective about the general topic.
The topic is in bold. Examples:
 Rice is an important food for most Colombians.

 There are several different types of wildlife sanctuaries in Colombia, and all of them work
together to preserve wildlife.

Review: Writing Paragraphs in English
Both supporting ideas and a concluding sentence are essential for creating a well-formed
paragraph.
Supporting ideas: Usually, these are 2-4 sentences that add more detailed ideas
to complete the perspective on the topic you introduced.
Some phrases used to show addition of information: for example, furthermore, in
addition, (the) first, second, finally, moreover
Concluding sentence: This restates the topic and controlling idea of the
paragraph in a new way, and makes it clear that it is the end of the paragraph.
Some phrases used to begin the conclusion sentence are: in conclusion, to sum
up, therefore, as a result, over all.
Example:
[Topic] Rice is an important food for most Colombians because it is an inexpensive and
versatile food. [Support 1] First, it is inexpensive because it can be purchased in large bags
and used over a long period of time. Uncooked rice can be stored without affecting the taste.
[Support 2] In addition, it is versatile because it has a neutral taste and can be eaten with
almost any type of protein or vegetable. Many Colombian dishes include rice because it can
be prepared in many different ways. [Concluding sentence] As a result of these features,
rice is an important and delicious staple of Colombian cuisine.

Writing
Write a paragraph in response to the following question:
What do you think are some advantages of nature preserves, both for humans and
animals?
[Be sure your paragraph has a topic sentence with a controlling idea, supporting sentences,
and a concluding sentence. When you are finished, check with a partner to be sure all the
elements are present.]
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WEEK 6

The Technology Age Gap in Global Perspective
Learning outcomes
- Can understand contrasting ideas in a linguistically complex academic text when
signaled by discourse markers.
- Can recognize the organizational patterns within a complex academic text.
Before Reading
Discuss the following questions with a partner:
1. Can you imagine a world without the internet or computers and mobile phones?
2. How does knowledge of technology and its use shape your personal, student, and work
life?
3. How do you handle the differences between your knowledge of technology and your
parents’?
Reading

By Rob Salkowitz
1. The spread of networks, digital culture, and mass collaboration affect young and old alike.
However, there is a fundamental difference between those who established the habits of
learning, participation, personal relationships, and work in the pre - digital world, then
adapted the new technologies to fit their existing worldview, and those whose expectations
and experiences are rooted exclusively in the networked digital world. While the former
group tends to look at technology as a problem to be solved or a new tool to integrate into
an existing framework, the latter starts with an inherent grasp of the possibilities of networks
and data.

2. For Millennials, PCs, the Internet, mobile phones, digital music, videogames, and social
networks are not novelties or innovations: They are part of the furniture. They represent the
default modes of communicating, collaborating, and accessing information, against which
others are judged. The linear, formal, analog processes of older generations typically strike
younger people as less convenient and engaging than ones they can access instantly
through networks and social channels.
3. Millennials have more experience using the technology than they have in the workplace or
as participants in civic society, so a number of questions occur to them rooted in their
personal understanding of what’s possible, versus what they observe as business as usual
in the workplace and the world around them.
 Why construct artificial barriers between your personal life, your professional work and
your social goals, when in fact all these things are connected and reinforce each other?
 Why go through layers of management and organizational structure when it’s possible
to connect immediately and directly with an expert or decision - maker?
 Why work in an office when you can work just as productively from home or a coffee
shop?
 Why commit to the larger goals of an employer or a government, when evidence is
everywhere that institutions never live up to their stated principles?
 Why do I have to settle for my lot in life when so many other possibilities are open to
me?
4. Pre - digital generations never considered these questions because there were no
alternatives. This was true in the industrial - age developed world, and even more so in
the traditional cultures that predominate in many emerging economies. Now young
people confront these choices and questions on a daily basis — and wherever in the
world they live, they are coming to many of the same conclusions.
5. Old World Challenge: Generation Blend. In mature economies, the aspirations of the
Net Generation* represent a challenge for established institutions, be they cultural,
political, or commercial. This vibrant, engaged, impatient, and energetic generation is
emerging in the context of societies dominated by increasing numbers of older people
living longer and pressing their claims for continued resources and relevance.
Organizations need to balance the desire to accommodate the new and unfamiliar
behavior of Net Generation workers and consumers with established ways of doing
business, legacy investments, and traditional attitudes.
6. It’s a delicate negotiation. Pre - digital generations tend to view digital technology and
digital culture as disruptive — for good or for ill. Change is a problem to be solved.
Digital generations accommodate pre - digital processes primarily out of courtesy to
their elders; below it all, they suspect that their own methods would produce better
results if not for the need to keep contact with the laggards who insist on following old
rules that don’t fit the current situation. Contrary to the suggestions of some
observers, Millennials are indeed “backward compatible” with traditional work cultures
and work practices, especially when job opportunities are scarce, but organizations
that find ways to empower them in full digital - native mode tend to get greater
productivity, engagement, and loyalty in return.
7. In politics and business, the Old World is moving across the technology age gap in fits
and starts, and it will not truly reach the tipping point of Net Generation influence until
well into the 2020s, when the grip of pre - digital elders on resources and authority
finally loosens. The implications for the rest of the world of how aging societies handle
this transition are not certain, as we will explore later.

8. Young World: Rising Expectations. The digital age gap also exists in the Young World,
but it is far less of a problem for three important reasons. First, other gaps, such as
economics, education, and literacy, are far more salient. Second, older people are
more likely to reside in poorly served rural communities and less likely than younger
people to be literate — an important precondition to the use of information technology.
Young people, by contrast, tend to gravitate toward cities in search of better economic
opportunities and consequently come into contact with relatively better
communications infrastructure and more densely wired populations. Those under age
30 are more likely to have been exposed to information technology at school, in their
communities, or through peers. Members of the more prosperous classes own and
use technology at roughly the same rates as their counterparts elsewhere in the world
and display many of the same preferences and behaviors.
9. And most importantly, as we’ve seen from the demographic data, the third reason is
that there simply are not enough older people relative to younger ones to make a
difference. With the exception of a very narrow stratum of elites, they don’t figure into
the knowledge economy in the same way that their peers do in more developed
countries, where senior executive ranks of large organizations are dominated by 40 -
and 50 - somethings.
10. This is not exactly breaking news. Observers of the relationship between youth and
technology have been shouting “The Net Generation is a global generation!” from the
rooftops for at least 10 years. However, it has an interesting corollary for countries
where the steepest increases in connectivity have taken place in the past five years,
rather than the last two decades: The spread of ICT turns Millennials into full - fledged
members of the Net Generation. As critical mass builds in countries with high
populations of young people, changes in behavior, society, and culture accelerate.
Because countries that are relatively late arrivals to the online age also tend to be
ones with more traditional cultures and/or isolated political systems, the incumbent
predigital institutions and leadership are least equipped to deal with the kinds of
change that open communication brings.
11. A case in point is the Twitter Revolution that swept Iran in the aftermath of the
country’s controversial presidential elections in June, 2009 and shook the regime to its
foundations. Iran is a young, well - educated country with a high degree of Internet
utilization, albeit within the social and political limits imposed by the ruling religious
authorities. It also experienced a surge of new connectivity in the years leading up to
the uprising. From 2005 to 2008, mobile phone subscriptions in Iran grew by more
than 375%. By 2008, six of every 10 Iranians were mobile subscribers. All of these
phones have SMS capabilities, and some have data access, providing their users with
a conduit to the wider world that authorities could not control.
12. Large numbers of reform - minded youth responded to President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad’s suspicious claims of electoral victory with an outpouring of dissent on
social media outlets such as Facebook, blogs, and Twitter. The authorities attempted
all kinds of draconian measures to prevent these conversations, from blocking IP
servers to shutting off mobile phone service to physically destroying computers in
students’ dormitories. The protesters were able to keep a step ahead of them,
publishing an ongoing stream of compelling words and images primarily through
Twitter, where they reached the ears of the international community and, more
importantly, connected the resistance within Iran.
13.The openness, immediacy, and collaborative quality of social computing on the
Internet was able to undo the intensive socialization of young people into the religious,
cultural, and political attitudes of Iran’s conservative religious leaders. The raw outrage
carried in those 140 - character posts to Twitter untethered the political discourse from
its moorings and, through its own momentum, conjured up the possibility of a more
secular democratic Iran that was unthinkable even at the extremes of acceptable

political opinion within the country less than a week before. In the end, it took the full
might of one of the world’s most oppressive governments to suppress the uprising.
14. The implications of open communication and collaboration technology on totalitarian
political systems are obvious beyond the need for additional elaboration, but they have
nearly as much disruptive potential in the world of business and economics. The ideals
of democracy, communicated via the Internet, raise the expectations that young
people hold for their political leaders. The ideals of entrepreneurship — both
commercial and social — raise their expectations for their own potential impact. Every
day, all over the world, little revolutions are taking place that overthrow old habits of
mind and old limits on the potential of people to succeed and make an impact through
their own enterprise and initiative.
15. As young people get connected, they start to understand what’s possible. They start
to see role models for themselves from outside their own cultures, and templates for
success that did not — indeed could not — previously occur to them. Suhas
Gopinath, in Bangalore, India, took inspiration from Bill Gates (a global celebrity, to be
sure), 10,000 miles away in Seattle, Washington. Even today, a 14 - year - old in Brazil
or Nigeria might be taking inspiration from Suhas Gopinath, whom they read about on
a Web site. One of the most important efforts taking place along these lines focuses
on empowering young women in traditionally patriarchal cultures, providing them with
not only the skills but also the confidence to participate fully in the tech - driven
business environment.
*Net generation: a worldwide cohort born after 1980 also known as Millennials that has grown up in
tandem with the spread of the Internet and digital media.
*Suhas Gopinath: a young Indian entrepreneur who was named the world’s youngest CEO in 2013 when
he was 17 years old. He is currently the CEO and President of a Bangalore-based IT solutions
company, Globals Inc.
Taken from:
Salkowitz, R. (2010). Young World Rising: How Youth Technology and Entrepreneurship Are Changing the World from the
Bottom Up. Chapter 1. Series: Microsoft Executive Leadership Series. Hoboken, N.J. Wiley. p. 35-39
Retrieved from:
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=321577&lang=es&site=ehost-live
Image: retrieved from: https://pixabay.com/p-844258/?no_redirect public domain

A. Recognizing contrasting ideas in a linguistically complex academic text when
signaled by discourse markers.
As we have seen before, authors may have different purposes when they write. One of these
purposes can be to clarify a concept or help the reader make an informed choice. For these and
other purposes, he/she may need to contrast or point to the differences between two elements.
Contrast words signal differences. Authors use contrast transitions to show that the
second idea is different from the first one in some way. Contrasts may help understand a
concept more clearly in relation to another, and be able to distinguish apparently similar
or confusing elements.
Some contrast words are:
But, yet, however, although, nevertheless, still, instead of, in contrast, on the
other hand, on the contrary, conversely, opposite, in spite of, despite, as opposed
to, rather than, albeit, difference, different(ly), different from, unlike, while, less,
more, etc.
Read paragraph 1 from the text above:
1. The spread of networks, digital culture, and mass collaboration affect young
and old alike. However, there is a fundamental difference between those who
established the habits of learning, participation, personal relationships, and work in the
pre - digital world, then adapted the new technologies to fit their existing worldview, and
those whose expectations and experiences are rooted exclusively in the networked
digital world. While the former group tends to look at technology as a problem to be
solved or a new tool to integrate into an existing framework, the latter starts with an
inherent grasp of the possibilities of networks and data.
a. Can you tell what two ideas are being contrasted with the help of the words
“However”, “difference” and “While”?
The words “However”, “difference”, and “While” are contrasting the idea that
even though the fast growth of technology affects all ages, people who were born
in the pre-digital era act and think differently about technology from people who
were born in the networked, digital world.
Identifying contrast words can help you read better and understand necessary
distinctions that the authors make.

1. In paragraphs 2 and 3, contrasts are signaled by comparatives with “less” and “more”
and other contrast words. Highlight these discourse markers in the paragraphs, and
then paraphrase the information to check your understanding of the contrasts made.
Then compare your answers with your partners’, and then, check with the teacher.
a. Paragraph 2. Contrast words: _________________________________

Paraphrased contrast: _______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________.
_______________________________.
b. Paragraph 3. Contrast words: _________________________________
Paraphrased contrast: _______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________.
2. Pair work. Speaking. Read the rest of the text and find more contrast words in different
paragraphs. Take turns paraphrasing the contrasted information with your partner. Then
check with the teacher and the class as a whole.
3. Bonus. (Speaking). There are other less evident ways to contrast information. Notice,
for example, the bullet points in paragraph 3. The author uses a repeated expression in
all the points to make a contrast. What expression is this? What is being contrasted?

B. Recognizing the organizational patterns within a complex academic text
Transitions or connectors show the relationships between ideas in sentences. In the same way,
patterns of organization or organizational patterns show the relationships between supporting
details in paragraphs, essays and chapters. It helps to recognize the common patterns in which
authors arrange information. You will then be better able to understand and remember what you
read. The following are some of the most common in academic reading and writing:
List of items: a list of items refers to a series of reasons, examples, or other details that
support an idea. The items have no time order, but are listed in whatever order the author
prefers. Addition words are often used in a list of items to tell us that other supporting
points are being added to a point already mentioned.
Some addition words are: one, first (of all), second(ly), third(ly) to begin with, also, in
addition, next, other, another, moreover, further, last (of all), finally
Time order: authors usually present events and processes in the order in which they
happen, resulting in a pattern of organization known as time order. In addition to time
transitions such as before, previously, now, immediately, when, whenever, while,
during, until, frequently, eventually, later, after, finally etc, signals for the time order
pattern include dates, times, and such words as stages, series, steps, and process. This
pattern may be used for one or all of the following purposes:
 To explain the history of an event or a topic
 To tell a story or relate an experience
 To explain how to do or to make something
 To explain the steps in a process
Order of importance: in persuasive writing, most essays move from the least to the
most important point, and the paragraphs are arranged in an effort to build the essay’s
strength. Sometimes, however, it is necessary to begin with your most important
supporting point, such as in an essay that contains a thesis that is highly debatable.
When writing a persuasive essay, it is best to begin with the most important point
because it immediately captivates your readers and compels them to continue reading.
This pattern is best used for the following purposes:

• Persuading and convincing
• Ranking items by their importance, benefit, or significance
• Illustrating a situation, problem, or solution.
Comparison- contrast: this pattern shows how two things are alike, or how they are
different, or both. When things are compared, their similarities are pointed out; when
they are contrasted, their differences are discussed.

Recognizing the organizational patterns within a complex academic text
Comparison words signal similarities. Authors use a comparison transition to show

that a second idea is like the first one in some way. Some comparison words are: (just)
as, (just) like, both, equally, resemble, likewise, in like fashion, in a similar
manner, in the same way, alike, same…
Contrast words signal differences. Authors use contrast transitions to show that the
second idea is different from the first one in some way. Contrasts may help understand
a concept more clearly in relation to another, and be able to distinguish apparently
similar or confusing elements.
Some contrast words are: But, yet, however, although, nevertheless, still, instead
of, in contrast, on the other hand, on the contrary, conversely, opposite, in spite
of, despite, as opposed to, rather than, difference, different(ly), different from,
unlike, while, less, more, etc.
This pattern can be used to

 Help the reader make an informed decision
 Clarify a concept
 Persuade the reader that one way of thinking about something is better than
another.
Definition-example: Often, academic paragraphs begin with a definition, and other
sentences in it clarify this meaning by giving examples. Good textbook authors want to
help readers understand the important ideas and terms in a subject—whether it is
psychology, sociology, business, biology or any other fields. Such authors then usually
take time to include key definitions, and one or more examples to explain and clarify
them.
The definitions are signaled by such words as: is, are, is called, is known as and
refers to. Examples are signaled by words like: such as, for instance, for example,
illustrated by, etc.
Cause and effect:

Cause and effect words signal that the author is explaining the reasons why something
happened or the result of something happening.
Cause and effect words include: therefore, thus, because, as a (consequence),

consequently, due to, so , as a result, results in, leads to, since, owing to, effect,
cause, if…will, affect, because (of), reason, explanation, accordingly

Recognizing the organizational patterns within a complex academic text
Illustration: illustration patterns indicate that an author will provide one or more examples to
develop and clarify a given idea.
Illustration words include: (for) example, (for) instance, such as, including, specifically,
to be specific, (as an) illustration, to illustrate, one, once
Description: a description is a “word picture.” When writers need to describe their topic so
that it becomes clearer and the reader can understand how it looks, works, or feels, they use
descriptive words such as adjectives.
A final point!!: Keep in mind that a paragraph or passage may often be made up of more
than one pattern of organization.
Example: what would be the pattern(s) of organization of the following paragraph from the text?
9. And most importantly, as we’ve seen from the demographic data, the third reason
is that there simply are not enough older people relative to younger ones to make a
difference. With the exception of a very narrow stratum of elites, they don’ t figure into the
knowledge economy in the same way that their peers do in more developed countries,
where senior executive ranks of large organizations are dominated by 40 - and 50 -
somethings.
The most prevalent patterns of organization as signaled by transitions in this paragraph could
be: Order of importance, listing, and cause-effect.

1. Read paragraphs 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, and 12, and establish which organizational pattern(s)
they follow. Often, a paragraph will use more than one pattern, with one as the central
pattern, and elements of other patterns supporting it. Underline the phrases or
expressions that help you see the patterns.
a. Paragraph 2:
Pattern(s): _________________________________________________________
b. Paragraph 3:
Pattern(s): _________________________________________________________
c. Paragraph 4:
Pattern(s): _________________________________________________________
d. Paragraph 6:
Pattern(s): _________________________________________________________
e. Paragraph 8:
Pattern(s): _________________________________________________________
f. Paragraph 11:
Pattern(s): _________________________________________________________
g. Paragraph 12:
Pattern(s): _________________________________________________________

Writing
Learning outcomes
- Can express a personal opinion in a simple academic text.
- Can write a basic paragraph containing a topic sentence and related details
- Can write the concluding sentence of a basic paragraph
Writing a personal opinion in a paragraph
Points to consider:
• Before you start writing your paragraph, make sure you brainstorm possible opinions
on the matter, and then choose one. You should also make a list of the ways you are
going to support your opinion. (Planning).
• The paragraph should start with a topic sentence that states your opinion clearly.
• Present the reasons for your opinion in logical order.
• Do not use informal style (e.g. short forms, colloquial language, etc.) or strong
language to express your opinion. Rather, express your opinion in a non-emotional way
(e.g. It seems that, I therefore feel, etc.)
• Well-known quotations relevant to the topic you are writing about might make your
composition more interesting. For example, if you are writing an essay on education, a
quotation you may include is: "Education is a progressive discovery of our own
ignorance." (Will Durant).
• When you express your opinion in writing, you may support your reasons with
examples and details from personal knowledge and experience. However, your writing
will become stronger and more convincing if you can also include facts, ideas and
quotes from one or more other sources. These might include information from journal
articles, websites and reference books.
http://academicwriting.wikidot.com/for-and-against-essays
Opinion signals
When you state an opinion, you should indicate that it is an opinion by using an opinion
signal such as one of these:
In my opinion,… (with a comma)

In my view,… (with a comma)
I believe (that)… (without a comma)
I think (that)…(without a comma)
Source signal
To give information from an outside source, (a book, a newspaper, another person), use
According to X, with a comma.

Writing exercise:
Express your opinion in a 70 to 90–word paragraph answering ONE of the following
questions:
a. In your opinion, should older generations make an effort to interact more with
technology?
b. In your opinion, should younger generations depend less on technology?
After you have finished writing your paragraph, use the checklist below to edit it for mechanics,
content, and organization.
Writing a personal opinion in a paragraph
Self-editing checklist: - Paragraph structure: use the following checklist to assess

your paragraph.

Mechanics
I put a period, a question mark or an exclamation mark after every yes no

sentence.
I used capital letters correctly. yes no
I checked my spelling. yes no

Content and Organization
My paragraph fits the assignment. yes no

My paragraph has a topic sentence. yes no
The topic sentence has both a topic and a controlling idea. yes no
My paragraph contains several specific and factual supporting yes no
sentences, including at least one example.
How many supporting sentences did I write? # ____
My paragraph ends with an appropriate concluding sentence. yes no
All of my sentences are directly related to the topic. yes no

References
Hogue, A. (2014). Longman Academic Writing Series. Pearson Education, Inc. NY. p. 165.
Hogue, A. (2003). The Essentials of English, a writer’s handbook. Pearson Education N.Y. p.284-285
Langan, J. (2010). (Fifth Ed.) Ten Steps to Advancing College Reading Skills. West Berlin, NJ:
Townsend Press.
Oshima, A; Hogue, A (2006). (4th Ed). Writing Academic English. Pearson Education. NY. P.317

WEEK 7

Objectives
- Can distinguish between fact and opinion in complex formal contexts.
- Can distinguish between different viewpoints in a linguistically complex academic text.
- Can recognize the writer’s point of view in a linguistically complex academic text.
Reading
In this part of the unit, you are going to continue working and reading the same text as in the
previous lesson but this time, with the objectives above.

By Rob Salkowitz
Refer to the text in the previous lesson to study the following strategies:
A. Distinguishing between fact and opinion in complex formal contexts
FACT VERSUS OPINION
OPINION
An opinion is a belief, judgement, or conclusion that cannot be objectively proved true. As a result, it
is open to question.
FACT
A fact is information that can be proved true through objective evidence. This evidence may be
physical proof or the spoken or written testimony of witnesses.
As we have seen before, an author’s purpose can influence the kind of information he or she
chooses to include. Thinking about the reason an author produced a source can be helpful to you
because that reason was what dictated the kind of information he/she chose to include. Depending
on that purpose, the author may have chosen to include factual, analytical, and objective information.
Or, instead, it may have suited his/her purpose to include information that was subjective and
therefore less factual and analytical. The author’s reason for producing the source also determined
whether he or she included more than one perspective or just his/her own.

Fact – Facts are useful to inform someone or make an argument.
Examples:
 The United States was established in 1776.

 The pH levels in acids are lower than pH levels in alkalines.
 Beethoven had a reputation as a virtuoso pianist.
Opinion – Opinions are useful to persuade or to make an argument.
Examples:
 That was a good movie.

 Strawberries taste better than blueberries.
 The death penalty is wrong.
 Beethoven’s reputation as a virtuoso pianist is overrated.
https://osu.pb.unizin.org/choosingsources/chapter/fact-or-opinion/
Value words, (ones that contain a judgement) often represent opinions. Here are examples of these words:
Some examples of value words
best great vibrant

worst terrible bad
better energetic good
worse inappropriate prosperous
Value words usually express judgements—they are generally subjective, not

objective. While factual statements report on observed reality, subjective
statements interpret reality.
Other words that signal opinions: The words should and ought to often
signal opinions. Those words introduce what people think should or ought to
be done. Other people will disagree.

Distinguishing between fact and opinion in complex formal contexts
Example:
Read the following statements from the text and decide if they are facts (F) or opinions (O).
1. Organizations need to balance the desire to accommodate the new and unfamiliar behavior of Net
Generation workers and consumers with established ways of doing business, legacy investments,
and traditional attitudes. (P. 5) ______
2. First, other gaps, such as economics, education, and literacy, are far more salient. (P. 8) ______
3. This is not exactly breaking news. (P. 10) _____
4. Iran is a young, well - educated country with a high degree of Internet utilization, [ ] (P. 11) _____
ANSWER KEY:
1. O. The idea expresses the author’s suggestion about what organizations must do.
2. F. This can be confirmed by looking up the information in public records.
3. O. This is the author’s judgement about the information that he will provide. Other
people may see it as a novelty.
4. F. This information contains value words but they can be checked in public
records.
NOTE: In each case, ask yourself: Can this information be confirmed by looking it up in public
records, or experts’ work? Then, it can be seen as a fact. If the information is an interpretation of
reality expressing judgements, then, it is an opinion.
Finally, remember that much of what we read and hear is a mixture of fact and opinion. The
reality is that most of what matters in life is very complex and cannot be separated into simple fact
and opinion.
1. Practice recognizing facts and opinions. Read the following statements from the
text and decide if they are facts (F) or opinions (O) according to the text.
a. Millennials have more experience using the technology than they have in the workplace
or as participants in civic society, [ ] (P. 3) _____
b. From 2005 to 2008, mobile phone subscriptions in Iran grew by more than 375%. (P. 11)
_____
c. Why construct artificial barriers between your personal life, your professional work and
your social goals, when in fact all these things are connected and reinforce each other?
_____ (P.3)
d. With the exception of a very narrow stratum of elites, they don’t figure into the
knowledge economy in the same way that their peers do in more developed countries,
where senior executive ranks of large organizations are dominated by 40 - and 50 -
somethings. (P.9) _____
e. In the end, it took the full might of one of the world’s most oppressive governments to
suppress the uprising. (P.13) _____

B. Distinguishing between different viewpoints in a linguistically complex academic
text.
Writers sometimes present different points of view on the issue being discussed. They might
present a point of view held by many people or by specific groups of people, while at the same time
presenting their own point of view.
Here is a definition of point of view, or viewpoint:
viewpoint
noun
1. the mental attitude that determines a person's opinions or judgements;
point of view.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/viewpoint
How can you identify when the author is expressing points of view?
Here are lists of some commonly used view markers to guide your reading:
View markers: verbs View markers: nouns

to accuse to consider suggestion conclusion
to argue to criticize analysis criticism
to assume to doubt argument opinion
to believe to perceive assumption impression
to claim to think belief thought
to conclude to view claim view
Let’s take paragraph 6 from the text as an example:
6. It’s a delicate negotiation. Pre - digital generations tend to view digital technology and
digital culture as disruptive — for good or for ill. Change is a problem to be solved. Digital
generations accommodate pre - digital processes primarily out of courtesy to their elders; below
it all, they suspect that their own methods would produce better results if not for the need to
keep contact with the laggards who insist on following old rules that don’t fit the current
situation. Contrary to the suggestions of some observers, Millennials are indeed “ backward
compatible” with traditional work cultures and work practices, especially when job opportunities
are scarce, but organizations that find ways to empower them in full digital - native mode tend
to get greater productivity, engagement, and loyalty in return.
In this paragraph, the author combines his point of view with that of millennials and pre-
digital generations.

Exercise
According to the information in the text, fill in the following chart with the viewpoints
of people from pre-digital generations and millennials about the aspects on the left.
Paraphrase your answers as much as possible.
CRITERIA PRE-DIGITAL MILLENNIALS

GENERATIONS
Views about technology
Views about modes of

accessing information
and interacting with
others
Views about hierarchy in
the workplace
Views about attendance

to the workplace
Follow up & Writing
After you have read the text for viewpoints, locate those paragraphs or ideas where you
can “hear” the author’s voice, and his opinions. How would you express that point of
view?
Write the author’s point of view in a few sentences below: You can use expressions
such as the following: The author claims, perceives, concludes, argues that… etc.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________.

References
Hogue, A. (2003). The Essentials of English, a writer’s handbook. Pearson Education N.Y.
p.284-285
Hogue, A. (2014). Longman Academic Writing Series 2: Paragraphs. (3rd Ed.) Pearson
Education, Inc. NY. p. 165.
Langan, J. (2010). (Fifth Ed.) Ten Steps to Advancing College Reading Skills. West Berlin, NJ.
Townsend Press.
Oshima, A; Hogue, A (2006). (4th Ed). Writing Academic English. Pearson Education. NY.
P.317
Pakenham, K.J., McEntire, J., Williams, J. (2013). Making Connections Skills and strategies for
Academic Reading 3 (3rd Ed.) Cambridge University Press NY.

Confronting Pseudohistory in Academia and Beyond

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Confronting Pseudohistory in Academia and Beyond

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2018-10

UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES - LENG1156 1

Stargate: is a military science fiction and media franchise.

Pseudo: word-forming element meaning "false; feigned; erroneous; in appearance only;

UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES - LENG1156 2

On the Perils and Pleasures of Confronting

UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES - LENG1156 3

A. Distinguishing the main idea from supporting ideas

1. Step 1: Know the topic

UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES - LENG1156 4

3. Step 3: Infer the main idea.

Now, analyze the supporting ideas. How do these sentences relate?

B. Guessing the meaning of unfamiliar words using context clues

There is another general classification of context clues:

UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES - LENG1156 5

Working with the reading

UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES - LENG1156 6

1. Replace vocabulary using synonyms:

1. Why does pseudoscience fascinate people?

UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES - LENG1156 7

3. What are the primary motivations of a “pseudoscientist”?

B. Based on the reading, summarize the main characteristics of pseudoscience and

UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES - LENG1156 8

UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES - LENG1156 9

What do you know about the story of Atlantis?

In Search of Aliens, hosted by Tsoukalos (contributor to and producer of Ancient Aliens)

1. How seriously do you take this explanation of Atlantis?

2. Do you think that Atlantis should be studied scientifically?

UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES - LENG1156 10

Atlantology and the Classical Tradition

UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES - LENG1156 11

UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES - LENG1156 12

Let’s read a definition of line of argument:

Line of Argument. (n.d.). Retrieved June 29, 2017, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/line-of-argument

Working with the reading

A. Choose the best answer according to your understanding of the text:

1. What is the main purpose of this text?

2. What is the author’s opinion about Atlantis as a scholarly topic?

UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES - LENG1156 13

How he/she chooses to prove it is his/her line of argument.

3. Which one is the main one?

B. Identifying different types of supporting details

3. Quotations: They may be of two kinds:

UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES - LENG1156 14

2. Atlantology, "a discipline that combines literature, philosophy, geology, oceanography,

C. Scanning a text for specific information

Working with the reading

Complete the statements with specific information from the reading.

UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES - LENG1156 15

1. What is the paragraph about? Zombies

1. A paragraph is a group of sentences developing one topic. A well-structured paragraph contains

The topic sentence is neither too general nor too specific.

List the supporting details of the paragraph:

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 Give at least TWO reasons why you think it is so popular.

Choose from these ideas, or come up with your own:

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Most popular myth/legend/urban legend in mass media or popular culture:

*A sentence follows the pattern: Subject+Verb+Complement

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EDITING CRITERIA: YES NO

I put a period, a question mark or an exclamation mark after every yes no

3. In the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports on Tuesday, researchers used a

Effect: a change that is caused by an event,  action,  etc.