CENTRE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF LANGUAGE COMPETENCE

FINAL EXAMINATION
Third Semester of 2019/2020

SET A

COURSE NAME : ACADEMIC WRITING

CODE : PIE2412

PROGRAMME : ALL

DATE : 2 OCTOBER 2020

TIME : 2000 - 2200 DURATION : 2 HOURS

INSTRUCTIONS :

1. Answer the questions in the answer sheet.

2. DO NOT PLAGIARISE IN ANY FORM. IF DETECTED, THIS EXAM WILL SCORE ZERO.
3. Do not share or disseminate the question paper. This question paper is confidential.
4. Turn in the completed question paper on Edmodo BEFORE the exam time is up.

This paper consists of 6 pages including the front page.

@ UPM All rights reserved

This paper consists of 12 pages including the front page.

 UPM-CALC/SEM3/2019-20/FE/PIE2412/SET A

SECTION A
[18 Marks]

ITEM 1
Fill in the blanks with consistent pronouns to achieve coherence in the paragraph below.
Write your answer in the answer sheet provided.

Marcus Aurelius was a Roman emperor ruling in the second century AD. (1) _____

was known as ‘the philosopher king’ due to his wise outlook on life and his just rule. Marcus

was the author of Meditations, a book detailing (2) _____ thoughts from 170 - 180 AD. The

book is praised by many as one of the definitive works of stoic philosophy as (3) _____

espouses several stoic virtues like moderation and wisdom.

During his reign, Marcus did not rule alone. From 161-169 AD, he ruled together with

his co-emperor, a man called Lucius Verus. Together, (4) _____ ruled over a vast amount of

territories from modern Spain to modern Egypt. During (5) _____ reign, Rome went through

several devastating wars and plagues. However, despite the challenges faced by (6) _____,

they managed to keep the empire in a relative peace.

However, the stability did not last long. Lucius Verus died in 169 AD and Marcus

(7) _____ succumbed to an illness in 180 AD. After his death, Marcus was succeeded by

(8) _____ son Commodus. Unlike his father, (9) _____ was unworthy to be the emperor of

Rome. His bodyguards took it upon (10) _____ to assassinate him and brought an end to

his rule.

(10 marks)

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ITEM 2
Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate transition signals to achieve coherence in the
paragraph below. Write your answer in the answer sheet provided.

In the past, most women stayed at home to take care of domestic chores such as

cooking or cleaning (1) _____ men dominated the work force. In today’s contemporary

society, women are playing an almost equal role to men in terms of work. This has brought

significant consequences to the family; (2) _____, by improving the quality of life and

increasing children's sense of independence. (3) _____, improved quality of life is one of the

most important consequences of this paradigm shift. By helping to maintain a steady income

for the family, the pressure on the husband is considerably reduced, hence improving both

the couple’s emotional wellbeing. (4) _____, the purchasing power of the family will also be

raised. This means that the family can afford more luxuries such as foreign travel and a

family car. (5) _____ positive effect on the family is the promotion of independence in the

children. Some might argue that having both parents working might be damaging to the

children because of a lack of parental attention. (6) _____, such children have to learn to

look after themselves at an earlier age, and their parents often rely on them to help with the

housework. (7) _____, the situation indirectly teaches the children important life skills.

(8) _____, the increasing number of women at work has brought about some important

changes to family life, including improved quality of life and increased independence for

children which will create a better society.

(8 marks)

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SECTION B
[10 Marks]

ITEM 3
In the paragraphs below, identify and correct sentences with the following errors: Subject-
Verb Agreement, Fragment, Run-on and Comma Splice. Write the number of the sentence
which contains the stated sentence error. Then write the correct sentence in the answer
sheet provided.

1
Adequate physical activity is important for 2- to 5-year-old children’s physical
growth, cognitive development, and later academic competence. 2Physical activity can also
influence development of motor skills at this age, it can translate into physical fitness in
adulthood. 3Despite the importance of physical activity, only about half of children ages 3 to
5 years meets the current physical activity recommendation for preschool-age children. 4The
current recommendation for this age group is three hours per day of any physical activity.
5
Another important guideline for young children is no more than one hour of screen time per
day such as watching television, using a computer, or playing video games. 6However, a
recent cross-sectional study of 3- to 4-year-old Canadian children report that only 24.4% of
7
young children met this guideline. Early screen time in toddlerhood was negatively
associated with social skills in kindergarten age in a longitudinal study of 251 children.
8
Therefore, this excess amount of screen time may hinder physical activity engagement and
its benefits.

9
Indeed, parents’ behaviours can positively influence their young children’s physical
activity screen time previous qualitative studies have found that mothers of 2- to 5-year old
children felt there were many barriers to physical activity. 10Specifically, mothers felt that they
had limited time to engage in physical activity with their children due to household demands
11
and safety concerns, hence limiting physical activity opportunities. It may be hypothesised
that this opportunity for physical activity may be replaced with screen time as another
qualitative investigation of mothers of children ages 2 to 4 years found that relied on screen
12
time to entertain their children so that they could accomplish household chores. Cross-
sectional evidence has also found that parents are more comfortable with their children
playing outside and being physically active at their childcare centre or early care and
13
education (ECE) centre, rather than at home. Thus, working with parents and ECE
providers together may provide an opportunity to enable physical activity and lower screen
time in young children.

Adapted from Young Children’s Screen Time and Physical Activity: Perspectives of Parents and Early
Care and Education Center Providers (2019)

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SECTION C
[21 Marks]

ITEM 4
Paraphrase the excerpt below on Colour Therapy. Include an in-text citation according to
the APA style and the given citation format. Write your answer in the answer sheet provided.

Colour is one of the major considerations in therapy where patients paint with certain colours
to help them deal with their problems. Therapists leave the patients with colour paints and
study what colours they choose. Patients’ use of the colour orange might be an indication
that they suffered from sexual abuse while the colour grey indicates depression and
hopelessness.
Source Book
Author Amy Farrah Fowler
Date of publication July 2015
Title Healing through Chromotherapy
Citation format Within the sentence
(9 marks)

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ITEM 5
Summarise the excerpt below on the Health Benefits of Coffee. Include an in-text citation
according to the APA style and the given citation format. Write your answer in the answer
sheet provided.

Coffee has many nutritional properties. One of the benefits of drinking coffee is it can
improve physical performance. Caffeine from coffee can stimulate nervous system,
signaling fat cells to break down body fat and making free fatty acids available as fuel.
Coffee also increases epinephrine levels in blood. This hormone prepares the body for
intense physical exertion. With this benefit, it is unsurprising that caffeine can improve
physical performance by 11–12%. Therefore, having a cup of coffee half an hour before
exercising is highly recommended.

Coffee is also believed to prevent Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia. Alzheimer's

disease is a neurodegenerative disease and the leading cause of Dementia. There are
several precautionary methods in preventing the disease. This includes eating healthy and
exercising, but drinking coffee may be incredibly effective as well. Studies have shown
that incorporating coffee in daily meals have lowered the risk of getting Alzheimer's
disease by 65%.

Being a mood booster has become the main reason for coffee intake in the world. Mental
health disorder is a serious issue that causes a significantly reduced quality of life. It is
very common, and about 4.1% of people in the US currently meet the criteria for being
diagnosed with clinical mental disorders. A Harvard study has found that women who
drank four cups of coffee per day had a 20% lower risk of being diagnosed with a mental
disorder. Another study in 208,424 individuals found that those who drank four or more
cups per day were 53% less likely to die by suicide.

Source Journal Article

Author Sheldon Lee Cooper
Date of publication November 2019
Title Coffee from a Nutritional Perspective
Citation format At the end of the sentence
(12 marks)

THIS IS THE END OF THE QUESTION PAPER.