14 June 2008
ELTE104- FINAL EXAM RESULTS
Below is the results of the final exam (30%): Reading (20%) + Writing (10%)
040810- 13 + 6.5
050001- 11.75 + 6.5
050005- 10 + 6.5
050006- 10.25 + 9.5
050020- 10 + 7
050023- 10 + 6.5
050028- 14 + 5.5
050043- 12 + 7.5
050057- 10.5 + 7
050060- 12 + 7
050063- 11 + 6
054001- 14.75 + 7.5
057008- 8.25 + 6.5
057015- 13 + 7.5
060156- 11 + 6
061524- 3 + 5
064604- 8 + 5
070170- 13.5 + 7
070179- 15 + 8
070180- 15 + 10
070181- 17 + 9.5
070184- 18.75 + 8.5
070191- 9.5 + 8
077105- ...
077115- 6.75 + 7
077119- 6.75 + 6
077130- 8.5 + 4.5
077134- ...
078205- 16 + 10
078206- 12.75 + 7.5
078290- 18 + 8.5
______________________
Average: 17.66
St. Dev: 6.5
12 May 2008
Week12: Citing Sources in text
Here is the document we looked at in class; my feedback on how to cite sources in text. Here you can also find the three websites to look at how to give proper references in the bibliography (according to the APA format).
Thanks
18 April 2008
Week9: Argumentative Writing: Feedback on 1st Drafts - Working while studying
Here is an electronic booklet of the essays drafts you have written on the argumentative topic: Working while studying. In the booklet you will read the essays written by your friends who have kindly posted their essays on the blog. You'll also read the specific feedback and suggestions I have given for each essay.
The electronic booklet will make it easier for you flip through the pages and read the essays comfortably. Just click on the booklet to make it larger and then enjoy reading the essays. Our next discussion topic should be: Does technology make our lives easier :-D
14 April 2008
3 topics
2-Wearing scarf at university
3-Is plastic surgery healthy or unhealthy?
WORKING GOOD OR BAD?
WORKING GOOD OR BAD?
While studying, working in a job is good idea at first sight, But when you think its positive and negative sides, you can see more negative than positive sides. In my opinion, working at a job while studying is not good and it has many negative effects. If you decide to work at a part time job while studying, you will face to face these problems; not to sleep very well, being unsuccessful.
First, if you are both study and work at a job, it will be difficult for you. Because you have many problems but most important one is you can not sleep very well. According to some research; many scientist and doctors say that a person needs sleep at least six hours a day. So, if you work and study at the same time, you can not find a time for sleep and it will harm your body.
Second, if you study and work at the same time you have another difficulty which is being unsuccessful. Because you has to do your homework, projects, and also participate the lesson regularly. But if you work at the same time you can’t anything about lesson. Because you feel tired and sleepless and you can’t participate and sometimes miss the many class. This problem leads to failure and being unsuccessful in school life.
Third, many people who are studying university, think earning money is a good thing for students. In my opinion, earning money is good but not good for students. Because student earns money by working hard but s/he feels tired, faces with many problems and most problematic is not being successful. I think a student’s aim must be finishing the university with success. We will already earn money when we finish our school.
In conclusion, while studying, working at a job is not good idea. First students should finish their school and then they should looking for job and earn money.
12 April 2008
Week 9: A Fresh Start after MIDTERMS!
I hope all your exams went well. Please accept my "gecmis olsun" wishes...
Now it's time to get back to work! Thank you those who've submitted their first drafts online and suggested possible argumentative topics. So far, there are 18 topics suggested in total; some of these topics look too general, some seem okay...
Please look for topics you can take a firm argumentative side, and defend your argument. Please also remember you will have to support your arguments with evidence, and examples, and etc. So think of topics about which you can find support (on the Internet, in books or magazines, etc.).
This week we'll look at how we can write an outline for our essay, so please come to class with some topics in mind (and written somewhere to share with us) and START LOOKING for SUPPORT (online, from the books, newspapers and magazines...
Thanks
ps. You can also look at the 10 Steps to Writing link on the right. Check STEP 5- writing an outline
ps2. Results of the READING section of the midterm exam will be ready on Monday. We'll announce your WRITING results after a standardization procedure in which Nilgun, Elmaz and I will decide on an agreed marking criteria.
11 April 2008
ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY TOPICS
2- Are the exams necessary? Are they aimed at checking our knowledge or just causing stress?
3- Should the animals be used for scientific research? Is it humanly?
10 April 2008
Having a job while studying at university..
Having a job while studying causes some disadvantages, isnt’t it? When a student goes to the university he must take more attention to his lessons than the other things. Because he can develop himself perfecly in these university years.If someone has a job while studying he comes across some inevitable disadvantages, like geting bad marks and sleepless days and nights.
Firstly, I want to talk about geting bad marks. If a student works while studying he can not focus on his lectures effectively. Because while at work he can not he can not think about his homework or something like this. So, working takes the first place of his life. But some people believe that if you can keep the balance you can work while studying. However, this is not easy and nobody can do this even he says I can do it. If I say this sentence to them immediately they say “But I know somebody keeping that balance”. But we are talkig n general so exceptions do not change anything in this topic. I want to say just one thing about geing bad marks. If we get bad marks this shows us we do not know anything aboout out lectures, and this one shows that in the future we will come across a lot of difficulties in our working life.
Secondly, workng while studying at university results in sleepless days and nights. Since if our job at night or at late hours we must not sleep at work and we can not sleep at school as well. So, sleepless days and nights are inevitable. We can see a person who works at night sleeps on his desk at school. Therefore, he can not learn anything and maybe this will be an unsocial life. Some people say that you can choose a job which is suitable for you and you do not have to work at nights. It maybe true but there is no job waiting for us in anticipation and employers are not admite to us. They choose an employee not we. But of course if you do not want to work you don’t.
Shortly, I’m against the idea of having a job while studying at university. I believe that if you do not take care of your real works nothing takes care of you. Lastly, there is a sentence about doing lots of things: “A person who wants to do lots of things can not do anything.”
HATİCE ERARSLAN
06 April 2008
LABOUR STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY
In most universities there are a lot of students who work in somewhere as a part time labour.The student,who works part time,spent half of his/her day at the school,the other half of day at the work.When s/he comes from working,directly will go to bed.But ''who will do your homework? oww common my friend! wake up-wake up!'' as like this his/her roomate/homemate will warn this labour student.So it causes irregular life at the university.S/he absolutely will sleep during lecture or this student will not concentrate on lessons.
Having a job while studying obtains experience to learn how the life is lived.Beside its obtained taking responsibilities for him/her future life and it makes the students manage diffuculties.İf i give a examples,last year i was working in a cafe as a motorbiker.I was earning so much money.I never thougt ma pocket.But when i came to dorm i couldnt stand on my leg.So every day i was in ma bed.When i found a spare time,i tried to study and i couldnt meet with my friend to chat or do something.Because i was a labour student.
Friendships are so important during university life.Working while studying causes to get away from social life and mutual friends in the university life.When a labour student has spare time,s/he can't find a friend to spend his/her time together.it maybe cause to make him/her disappointment.Because student,who works in anywhere,feels alone him/her self .Perhaps it can follow drinking and using drugs.
In conclusion there are more disadvantages of having a job while studiying than advantages.Students shouldnt work while they study at university.they should just think their lessons their friendships and their life.Money is not problem sometimes.there are our parents behind our backs.
WORKING WHILE STUDYING
WORKING WHILE STUDYING
Earning money is a good thing for everyone. If you are a student, it will be more attractive to you because it is very difficult both studying and working. If you both work and study, you will have some difficulty with following lessons, having social activities and having ambition for earning more money.
Firstly, lessons are the most important thing for a student. If student will miss a lesson, s/he has a big lost. When we think of a student who works while studying, s/he will have obscurity in following lessons. S/he will be tired after working. Therefore, s/he doesn’t want to listen about lessons and if s/he has homework, s/he won’t do that. That will affect the student negatively.
Secondly, a working student doesn’t have time for him/herself. So, they won’t do anything except sleeping. Whenever they find any spare time, they will prefer to sleep. So, their life will be monotous.
Last, student will not care about his/her lessons when s/he started to earn her/his own money. When a person earns money, s/he wants more than that money. So, s/he will have ambitious to earn more. With this desire, student will work for full- time job. Also, s/he will spend more money because s/he thinks that I have money and I can spend it wherever I want. As a result of this situation, student may finish his/her student life.
In conclusion, students shouldn’t have work while studying. As we see, it has only disadvantage.
03 April 2008
working while studying
Manynstudents want to have job to earn money.They may be right to want it,because of their school expenditure and lacking of enough financial support from their families.However, if students have hard jobs,they can not follow their lectures,they get tired at work then can't keep up with the lessons.They think they deserve sleeping after long hours hard work. After that the can not concentrate on their lessons.
Secondly,unless they follow their lessons they have difficulty in doing homework because of lacking of necessary information for fulfilling the assessment.the working students are always in rush,so they do their home tasks in rush which means having low grades. this is another disadvantage of working long hours while studying.
Finally, working students can't find time for social activities.If they have extra time,they sleep for relaxing as they are tired of rushing all the time.In addition they become antisocial youngsters who can't have enough fun.then,they get stressed.Yet they may earn only money for short terms but the long term effects can be depressing.
In conclusion,working long hours while studying affects students' academic life in a negative way.they can not follow lessons, they can't concentrate on their assesments and they can't have time for social activities. So it is harmful both for their academic and social life.
HAVING A JOB WHILE STUDYING
Working students think that they able to both work and study. But it is so hard. There are lots of disadvantages about this situation. For example, students are in difficulty to concentrate on lessons. They are tired because of working outside. So they can't be interested to their courses adequately. Also they have no time to do their homework so they can't be succesful on their exams.
In addition that working while studying causes of irregular life for students. They have no time for social activities. They can't spend time with their friends for entertainment. So they can have stress even ba habits. For example; alcohol,drugs...
Finally, these students spend too much due to thinking of earning money themselves. May be, they think that if we work in a part time job,they can live more comfortable. However, their spending money unwisely is absurd. As they work in part time job, they can fail their exams.
In conclusion, students can want to earn money while they are studying. But they can't bu succesful both of them. They should only choose ones. I think that they must prefer studying at university than having a part time job because of being students.
02 April 2008
Having a Job,While Studing
University does not only mean that studing, learning or gaining information ,it also help people to come over the challenges of life.Some people can achive this but some can not.Therefore , people can argue about these challenges.The most popular one is that while you are a student at university, you also work in somewhere.This one can be seen hard and so it is.Besides it also has benefits.Actually there three main advantages and disadvantages for this argument.
The advantages of having a job,while studing at university are that learnning to come over the challenge,getting experince and helping you to be active person.First advantage which is learning to come over challenge, learn the student how to stand on their own feet.Second advantage is in terms of getting experience.For example you gain idea the working life ,you learn something,you meet people.Therefore, in future these experiences can help you.Last one is in terms of helping to be active person.You used to the tempo of working, it is also helpfull for future, because you learn the important of your money.
The disadvantages of having a job,while studing at university are that hard to follow lesson, no time for social activities and stress(bad habits).First disadvantages is that hard to follow lesson. Because you have less time to concantrate on lesson.Second disadvantages is that no time for social activities.You cant go outside ,you are so busy,even sometimes you cannot sleep so big probably your relations with outside cut down.Third one is that stress.Stress is very general term but if the people cannot get over all these ,he/she get into stress.Maybe they can start bad habit such as smoking,drinking.
In conclusion,we see that university has a really big and variety meanings for people’s life.Especially it is very hard to have a job,while studing.But, there are main advantages and disadvantages.I think ,it is hard but every sts should try it and they can learn the life better.
FERİDE MUTLU
057008
01 April 2008
Many students are trying to working a part time job while studying. Part time job is very popular for students who are trying to support themselves. But working may impact their study to do badly.
If a students work as a part time job while studying they will be unable to cope with their studies. They can not spend time their courses or projects. Because no time to do homework or less time to concentrate on lessons. Moreover, they may have difficulties in following the class. They are too tired and do not want to go to class.
A large amount of money in hand may be easily started to use bad habits. That is to say, they can earn a lot of money and then easily involved drug addition and alcoholic. So they can be unconcern to their education.
All students need time to relax after studying. we can easily see them that if they only students and work their courses, they will be very stressful and tired. So that, we shouldn't’t do part time job and have some time to relax. We can join the social activities and play basketball or tennis like this in our free time.
So I think that student shouldn’t do part time jobs while studying
EBRU GÖK-077119
FIRST DRAFT
First of all, it is hard to follow the lessons while working in a job at university. You can't go to classes regularly. If you don't go to the classes, you don't know what the others did at the lesson. This reflects to your grades and you feel disappointed because of the bad marks.
Another disadvantage of it is that you can't find time for social activities/clubs. Even you want to go any sports that you like, you can't go or do it. Almost all of your day passes at work. You can't go anywhere with your friends. Sometimes you can't find any time for you so you may feel exhausted and burned out.
Finally, you can't find time to do homework or even sometimes sleep.If you are given homework, you must do it. It is your resonsibility to do it. You shouldn't forget that you are a student in university. You should do your homeworks on time. Otherwise you can't learn anything.
In short, education and working are diffrent things from each other while yuo are in university. If your aim is to have a good job in the future, you should study your lessons.
University student often look for jobs to make their life easier.Earning money makes them feel strong.They can get whatever they want and even if these things are littlle,they make them happy.However,working as a part time results in a number of problems.When a student works,it causes irregular life at the university,you have less time for social activities and you spend too much money.
Students who work as a part time, have difficulties about following the lesson.They cant concentrate on lesson.They adapt to work and they cant even find time to sleep.Their life become irregular.They are often stereotyped.Students forget about other things.
In addition, too much work reduces the social activity for student.The students start to become passive and because of tiring day,they become unwilling to do some activities.Those students become exhausted and they isolated themselves.They deal with just jop and school.
Finally, teenagers who work alot spend too much money.They think that they earn their own money so, they spend it without thinking or asking for permission from their parents.They feell independence.Therefore they become extravagant.
In conclusion,student can earn their own money and try to stand on their feet,but they must regulate their time according to their lesson,otherwise they feel disappointed about university life...
31 March 2008
Have you ever thought about the impacts of working while studying on university students? Most people are on the opinion that when young people work, they learn more about the real life. Even though working has some benefits, it affects young ones so badly that they have problems related to time, responsibilities and money.
Firstly, I can say that if you work and earn your own money, you will be satisfied with yourself and think that the life is worth-living. But is it easy to succeed? Of course, not! You will pobably encounter difficulties related to time. Since you’ve two things in your mind (one is your school and the other is your job), you have to spend your time only for those. You will have no time for yourself. You may lose your private life. Between school and work you wil feel tired and so ignore your priorities; such as, your family and friends.They will be angry with you because you spend less time with them. In addition, trying to understand who is working in class is so easy, because he is the one sleeping during the lesson. Because of your energetic and tiring life style, you can’t help sleeping at school. This also causes you to have difficulty in following the lessons.Then “failure”appears.
Secodly, young people are the ones who want less responsibility in their life. Schoolwork brings many responsibilities. For example, you have to do lots of homework ,projects,research. Then midterms and final exams come closer. These are all important issues. When there are many essential things you have to think, how can you work productively? As you are trying to deal with all these duties, you may harm your health. How? Because the more responsibilty there is, the more stress it means. Stress is a strong factor that can lead you to both bad habits and depression.
Finally, young people who begin to earn their own money may not solve their problems comletely. At the beginning it makes them feel appreciated. But then they may begin to use their money not wisely. They may become accustomed to a different life style. The desire of earning more and more money may increase and so they may even leave the school and prefer to work only.
In conclion, everything is beautiful when it is its time. Because after guraduation from university, a hard and stressful working life begins undoubtfully. If we make it begin earlier, it will become more difficult. 3 years later we will probably have no time for ourselves so I think that while we are free now, we must realize the value of time. Because time flies.
RABİA KARAKURT
070180
Argumentative essay topics
2)Having a security in dormitory
3)Wearing scraf at university
30 March 2008
Some people think that foreign language teaching should begin after kindergarden such as at primary or secondary school.Because according to them,firstly children should learn their mother language then they can learn another language.
They might be right.Because before learning mother language children cant understand and learn another language exactly.
However,children have more capacity than adult.In their brain there is not full of knowledge and information.They can learn easly at that age.And this will be more permanent than learning at upper age.
deniz kucuktuna
28 March 2008
Week6: Plagiarism Statistics- from Gulsah Cekin
Did You Know???
66% of 16,000 students from 31 prestigious U.S. universities have cheated at least once, says 1991 Rutgers University study. 12% of those reported themselves as regular cheaters. This means nearly seven out of ten students cheat, and at least one of those cheats all the time!!
36% of undergraduates have admitted to plagiarizing written material, says 1997 Psychological Record study.
4 out of 5 high achievers surveyed in 1998 admitted to cheating on school work according to publishers of Who's Who Among American High School Students. More than half of those students said such cheating was "no big deal," and practically none got caught.
Cheating on campus increased an estimated 744% from 1993 to 1997, says University of California-Berkley officials. On the other hand, the University of Saskatchewan released its annual set of statistics on cheating, showing that for the third consecutive year, the number of cases has dropped.University Secretary Lea Pennock announced that between July 2004 and June 2005, the University had 52 cases of academic dishonesty heard by college and university panels. Of these, 47 students were found to be guilty (one student was suspended for a term, none were expelled, and the remainder were penalized with either failure in the class or with a grade reduction in the class).
27 March 2008
Week6: Argumentative- Refuting Counter-arguments
In addition, zoos are beneficial for wild animals because they can be protected more healthily. If they were free, hunters could hunt them. And so wild animals can die out...
Thanks Zeynep, I edited it a little...
26 March 2008
Week6: Argumentative- Refuting Counterarguments2
Some people believe that technology affect our life badly. That is to say, everyone do their work with technological product and they do not put any effort.
We understand that people become lazy day by day. There is no real communication between each other.
However, technology is important part of our life. It has enabled to learn everything. Also the way I can now share or communicate the friends around the site and on site easy way contribute to our view.thus, technology is a big impacts our life.
EBRU GÖK-YELDA ERDİ
25 March 2008
Week 6: Argumentative topics: PLAGIARISM
While searching the Internet on the issue of plagiarism, I found a comprehensive study report on the reasons and possible results of academic plagiarism among university students. The study was carried by Dr. Roger Bennett, a professor in the Department of Business and Service Sector Management at London Metropolitan University. Here is the link to his full paper presenting the results of the study:
http://learning.north.londonmet.ac.uk/bssmstudy/files/plagiarism.doc
The results of the study revealed that the possible factors that may have effect on students to plagiarize could be divided into three major categories:
1. attitude (individual perceptions of the ethicality of plagiarism, fear of penalties if caught, and fear of failing a course)
2. personal traits (goal orientation and academic integration)
3. situational factors (financial, current grades achieved, and how strictly lecturing staff enforced anti-plagiarism rules)
Plagiarism is a strictly forbidden act according to the academic regulations at most universities and the results of it when caught might be harsh. Dr. Bennett says that thanks to plagiarism detection software- which can search through around three billion web pages and two or three thousand journals to check the similarity of a student’s materials with web page sources-plagiarized work can be easily detected, and the penalty the student will be given would result in losing a grade, having to repeat a semester or a year, or ultimately being expelled from the institution.
So this is one issue regarding plagiarism from academic standpoint. I am now expecting you to post here supporting details backed up by statistics, reports and articles from various web sources.
Thanks
22 March 2008
Week5: Online Theft- Erkan's thoughts
However, I don't think the law should intervene in individual cases, like charging individuals with crime of stealing music or movies. Because I believe if a person can access a website and manage to download a couple of mp3s and a movie, and distribute it to a few friends for entertainment, this should not be considered as crime. I think it is the music or recording companies' responsibility, or the responsibility of the website that hosts the product, to protect these material against individual access. If a person can finds a way to access the material even when it is protected by some online security measurement, I think this too should not be considered as crime, because that shows the person's skill to use technology to bypass the security.
On the other hand, if those who break the security codes and download movies and copy and distribute them in lare quantities to make profit out of it, this must be considered crime, as this would be stealing intellectual property for making illegal profit. Such people should definetely be charged with crime for doing it and must be sentenced.
To sum, the law for Internet theft should be enforced to those who intend to gain financial (or any other kind of) profit by stealing others' intellectual property and in doing so cause financial loss to other people.
Deniz K, and Rabia
Thanks again for contributing to the discussion on this matter. I still expect the others to state their opinions on the blogger...
Week5: ONLINE THEFT text- KEY
ONLINE MOVIE THEFT
For the first time a Japanese court has found a man guilty of piracy and sentenced him to a year in jail. Yoshihiro Inoue, 42, downloaded movies off the Internet. He made copies of the movie A Beautiful Mind, and then shared them with others. This is considered a crime in the U.S., Japan, and most other countries in the world. Inoue's case sets a precedent for anyone who distributes films illegally. His crime was stealing intellectual property. This kind of property, which is someone's creative invention, is protected by copyright law.
Today over eighty nations have copyright laws. These laws protect filmmakers, writers, photographers, and other innovative professionals. People who download and copy these works often do not understand or care about the financial loss to many of these artists. To protect artistic works within the U.S., the Copyright Act of 1976 was created. Most recently the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005 was signed into law. In addition, there are treaties and conventions to protect intellectual property between nations. One of these is the Universal Copyright Convention. Without these laws, piracy would go unchecked. Some of the many types of piracy include making DVDs, duplicating VHS tapes, using hand-held video cameras in movie theaters, and even receiving satellite signals without authorization.
Yoshiro Inoue is not the first person to steal intellectual property, but he is the first to be charged with a crime for doing it. The movie industry in Hollywood and Asia are particularly interested in this case because they have a lot to lose. For a number of years the recording industry has pursued anyone downloading music from the Internet. Now the movie industry is following their example because piracy costs them almost $3 billion each year.
A major film costs about $80 million—$55 million to make and $27 million to advertise and market. Although many people believe that the film industry makes enormous profits, almost half of all films do not earn enough money to pay back their investors. If people continue to download movies off the Internet instead of paying to see them, the movie industry will have trouble surviving.
LFP of the text:
2k types: advertise_[1] billion_[1] cameras_[1] copies_[1] copy_[1] crime_[3] earn_[1] entertainment_[1] film_[2] films_[2] guilty_[1] invention_[1] lot_[1] photographers_[1] signals_[1] steal_[1] stealing_[1] universal_[1]
AWL types: convention_[1] conventions_[1] created_[1] creative_[1] enormous_[1] financial_[1] illegally_[1] innovative_[1] investors_[1] major_[1] precedent_[1] professionals_[1] pursued_[1] surviving_[1] tapes_[1]
OFF types: authorization_[1] copyright_[5] distributes_[1] download_[2] downloaded_[1] downloading_[1] duplicating_[1] dvds_[1] filmmakers_[1] hollywood_[1] intellectual_[3] internet_[3] jail_[1] japan_[1] japanese_[1] movie_[5] movies_[2] piracy_[4] satellite_[1] sentenced_[1] theaters_[1] treaties_[1] unchecked_[1] vhs_[1] video_[1]
Task. Brainstorming Vocabulary for Speaking & Writing
Use the chart below to categorize the words and phrases in the text that you think mightt be useful when talking/ writing about the topic.
law | property | computers and technology |
- legal - break the rules - commit a crime - find (someone) guilty of (a crime) - charge (someone) with the crime of ... - use punishment against .. - enforce the law - break the law - with/without authorization - court - case - send/ go to jail - fine - sentence (someone) with (amount of time) in jail/ prison - treaties and conventions - sign into law | - own a copyright - possession - steal/ protect intellectual property - financial - investor - (v/n) copyright - make / lose profit - ... is protected by law | - download - share files - distribute files - program - download off/from the - Internet - invention - innovative - duplicate/ copy - satellite |
21 March 2008
Week5: Online theft- Rabia's thoughts
Rabia,
Thanks for sharing what you think about the issue with us. Nice to see you actually used some of the vocabulary we highlighted in the text (the ones that I highlighted with blue); using the words in context is the best way to learn and retain them...
p.s. Be careful with punctuation and turkish /english characters!..
RABIA KARAKURT
070180
20 March 2008
Week5: Online theft- Deniz K's thoughts
Thanks Deniz for sharing your thoughts on the issue; good argument....
18 March 2008
Week5: New Focus- Argumentative Issues
11 March 2008
Week 4: Effects of Global Warming- Critical Reading
1. What does the most widely cited mean?
2. What are the two negative effects of temperature rise in developing countries?
3. What characteristic of the human being makes Rosenzweig hopeful about the future?
4. What’s the author’s impression about Rosenzweig?
5. What is your impression about Rosenzweig? She talks about winners and losers in her scenario about the future. As someone among the winners (living in a developed country), would she still be optimistic if she were living in a developing country?
Critical Reading
1. Why has this text been written?
2. What is this text about?
3. To whom is this text addressed?
4. How is the topic written about? (formal, informal, informative, report, in academic format)
5. What other ways of writing about this topic are there?
AWL families: adapt_[1] affect_[2] assume_[2] challenge_[1] cite_[1] compute_[2] consume_[1] create_[2] data_[1] decade_[1] economy_[1] energy_[1] estimate_[2] factor_[1] globe_[4] insight_[1] institute_[1] major_[1] negate_[1] panel_[1] parameter_[1] policy_[2] project_[1] research_[1] respond_[1] scenario_[1] sustain_[1] topic_[1]
OFF types: atmosphere_[1] boost_[1] carbon_[1] catastrophe_[1] climate_[6] co_[1] collaborators_[2] credible_[1] dioxide_[1] disrupts_[1] droughts_[1] enthusiasm_[1] feed_[1] greenhouse_[1] huge_[1] humanity_[1] impetus_[1] irrigation_[1] latitudes_[2] levers_[1] optimistic_[1] pessimistic_[2] planet_[2] policymakers_[1] temperate_[1] tropics_[2] vulnerable_[1] worsening_[1] zone
10 March 2008
Week 4: Cause&Effect- Eda's Essay
COMING FAILURES WITH UNIVERSITY LIFE
Each student wants to be successful in their lessons. So, students compete with each other for passing the university exam. After they have entered university, they have many problems like having and wrong friendship. These are most common problems and they may cause to failure at university. [good, clear TS]
First problem is having responsibility. Responsibility is very important and difficult for students especially at university. For most of students live alone, they have to do all their works on their own. For example; they have to cook, clean their house. At the same time, they have to study hard. So, they have to be aware of their responsibility. If a student does not know his/her responsibility, his/her life will become complex and s/he becomes unsuccessful. [good, an if clause used to illustrate cause-effect relation]
Second problem is wrong friendships. University students, especially new comers, want to have a friend. Since they feel lonely, they need to talk with somebody, but some students could be unsuccessful because of bad friendship [you mean bad friends?].They can't understand if they do something which is good or bad because they have few friends [?; not very clear]. So, they do not want to lose them. [and what do they do, and how does this cause them to fail?]
In conclusion, there are many factors which cause to [cause failure, or cause students to failure]failure at university, but most common and most negative factors are having responsibility and wrong friendship. If students will [gr] give importance in having responsibility and
friendship, they will be more successful at university. [maybe you can suggest some advice here about how students should handle responsibility and be careful when choosing friends...]
Eda,
Good essay; clear thesis statement and topic sentences in the body paragraphs... Your paragraphs can be made longer with more discussion of the point and with more examples and evidence. And in the conclusion you could have suggested further advice...
Thanks
ps. You can also chect your essay's LFP (lexical frequency profile) on the lextutor.ca website. would be interesting to see if your essay is lexically rich enough...
Week 4: Cause&Effect- Anil's Essay
UNIVERSITY LIFE AND FAILURES
All students want to go to university because all of them think that being a university student will change their personal status for their future life. I was also thinking like them, but i understood that it is not really like that because university life is the worst life which a person can have. Students at university search for somebody to talk, share, etc…, they have some problems with their house, dormitory, etc… and they have some responsibilities for themselves. [Nice hook and background; where is your TS?, what is the main focus of your essay?]
First, students need somebody to talk or share something with that person. As you know, a person, who is either a student or not a student, needs to share his\her feelings with anybody [somebody?]. So, it is a necessity for people. For a student doesn’t have anybody at university or the place in which university is in there [?; what you mean here is not very clear]. Therefore; people have a feeling to do whatever his\her friends want to do. If they have something which damages the person, even they know it is wrong they continue to do it because their friend(s) do that. So, friendship is very important for a student at university. [Your focus is not very clear in this paragraph; if this is a cause-effect essay, and if this paragraph is the first cause leading to failure, you need to state it clearly with a topic sentence somewhere in the paragraph! So, what is your main point here? So are you saying that being with wrong friends or having no friends to talk to leads to failure?..]
Second, students have many problems for finding a house, dormitory, etc… Even if they find a place to stay, they can still have some problems with that place. If they stay in dormitory, they may have problem with voice, [noise?] etc… For example; Ali has an exam tomorrow and he is studying. However, his neighbour is listening music loudly. This affects Ali negatively. It is a simple example for a student. [ok, good support and examples to what you are saying, but state the factor clearly, like The second factor that may contribute to failure is the problems a student experiences where s/he stays]
Also, students should have their own responsibilty because they don’t have anyone who will help them to cook, clean and so on… While students are in high- school, they don’t do anything for their house. So, they have big problem with their own house. They have to do everything themselves. [again, good examples to illustrate, but what is the main point here? Is it that the weight of responsibility is too much for some sts and they cannot handle it and this causes them to fail their studies...?]
In conclusion, students should really care about themselves. Also, they should think for not only themselves but for their family, relatives and country. They should be interested in only studying hard. Other things should be thought later. By doing this, students can be successful.
Anil,
Good ideas you have, but instead of saying them explicitly, you are expecting the reader to infer what you mean from the examples you give. For a more effective essay, you need to state a clear thesis statement giving the main idea of the essay, and firm topic sentences for each paragraph. Please revise your essay, and post it again.
Thanks
Week4: Cause&Effect- Quiz 1 POSTPONED
The first quiz we were supposed to have on Wednesday has been postponed to next Monday, 2nd hour (March 17 at 9:30) in class.
Thanks.
Week 4: Global warming- Tasks Answer Key
09 March 2008
Week 4: Cause & Effect- CemileGul's Essay
In conclusion, lack of motivation and attitude, lack of educational background and absence of materials are the most important causes of failure. In order to be successful, students should be able to tackle with these types of problems. [how? here is the opportunity for you talk a bit more about what precautions sts can take to tackle these problems; you can suggest further solutions here...]
Cemile,
Nice essay with strong ideas; your essay is also rich in terms of advanced vocab use (as we observed from the Lexical Frequency Profile (LFP) software.
Take my comments into consideration, and please revise your essay. You can post the revised version on the web.
Thanks
08 March 2008
Week 4: Cause & Effect- Ebru's Essay
Every year, a lot of students want to enter university for their future and it is [add article] big dream for many students. When I have [tense!] prepared [add a prep]university exam, I could be [was] stressful and thinking about how can [take this out] my future life. That is [Tense] difficult part of my life. My dreams come [T] true but after the [out] getting in to university, some students courses can [may] failed [Gr; some sts may fail their courses] [subject inconsistency; my dreams and some sts- distorts the cohesion]. I believe that two important factors [that] lead to failure of university students are aware of choices [gr; do you mean not being aware of choices?] and responsibility [?; what leads to failure: responsibility or lack of responsibility?]. [Your intro is good, but be careful with the language: tense and grammar!..]
First of all, many students have not [gr] [art] very clear idea about their future education. To illustrate, when I was [prep] middle school, my family said that you [who?] became [T] a dentist. But I hated that this idea. [prep] End of the high school, I preferred teaching and won [wv] it. but some students [v] not aware of their own goals or aim.in this result [as a result], they can not development [wf; n- v] of themselves and create not [gr] good fields of study [?]. Thus they may not successes [wf; n- v] in their education.
Moreover, a lot of students do not care [prep] discipline. I think discipline means self control. it includes that [?] responsibilities themselves. That is to say, if you are students, you must do own homework or assignment but some students usually spend a minimum amount of time studying. Also , they do not like regularly attend in class and lessons. So they make mistake their homework or in exams.
To sum up, [in the light of] the above of the [out] information, I will say that every student must control themselves. They should care about their courses and responsibilities. thay should only know that what do [out] you [they; cohesion!] want about the future in education and their family or teacher can support theirs ideas.
Ebru,
Your ideas for the essay are good; you need to be more careful with the language to convey the ideas.
Thanks.
Here is your LFP. [you may want to aim at using more academic (AWL) and subject-specific (off-list) words]
Lexical Frequency Profile (LFP):
K1 words (1-1000): 87%
K2 words (1001-2000): 6%
AWL words (academic): 4%
Off-list words (subject-specific, technical, or misspelled words): 3%
2k types: aim_[1] attend_[1] discipline_[2] education_[3] hated_[1] information_[1] lessons_[1] lot_[2] mistake_[1] preferred_[1] regularly_[1] responsibilities_[2] responsibility_[1] self_[1]
AWL types: assignment_[1] aware_[2] create_[1] factors_[1] goals_[1] illustrate_[1] minimum_[1] stressful_[1] sum_[1]
OFF types: dentist_[1] exam_[1] exams_[1] homework_[2] successes_[1] thay_[1]
06 March 2008
Week3- Cause&Effect: Important Feedback
I would like to thank those who have kindly posted their essays on the topic, "factors leading to failure among university students".
The ideas and arguments you have presented are usually good and seem relevant to the factors we discussed in class that affect university student's academic performances and lead to success and failure depending on their presence or absence.
I would like to draw your attention that our main focus is on the causes of university failure; however, some of the essays posted carry the risk of getting off track, that is, some essays read like they are opinion essays, or essays giving advice to the readers about how they should avoid failure and seek success. There are different kinds of essays, and cause-effect is one of them. So when the task requires you to write a cause-effect essay, your main focus should be placed on that.
Thanks, and looking forward to more essays posted on the website.
05 March 2008
Week3- Cause&Effect- NurayK''s Essay
You must have studied hard to get into a university. I think you were a succesful student at high school so that you have come to university. But why students fail to succeed at university[?]. There can be a lot of reasons for that but mainly, difficulty of life, adapting a new environment, friends and boy/girl friends, and lack of motivation are the main factors. [good; TS is clear, explicit, and also shows that this is a cause-effect essay]
First, university students usually go away from [their] families to study and they face a lot of difficulties and have to manage them by [take out] on their own. While they are trying to take this responsibility appropriately, they can’t totally focus on their lessons. This may result in failure. College students have to manage to live by themselves, this is hard for them because they (probably) didn’t have to do this job before [do you mean for the first time in their lives the sts have to face such a challenge?].
Secondly, adapting the new environment can seem better for students. Trying to be popular among friends, students can not keep control. As a consequence they get out of their target. This may bring another responsibility to study harder. I mean failure for some period. [your point is not very clear in this paragraph; what exactly is the factor that impedes students' academic performance?]
Next, we shouldn’t forget that college students are not “kids” so they may have boy/girl friends to go out for (long) hours. However, this also seem good but what if they argue or split up? This may affect a student deeply for this reason, usually [add an article] student does not study and fail. Classmates or other friends are the same as boy/girl friends so they may cause students fail, too. Long long hours chatting, spending long hours in cafes etc. [this clause reads incomplete; link it somehow]
After that college students need to keep up motivation. They need to study. Sometimes harder and harder [change it into a clause linked to the previous clause; i.e. as it is, it looks an incomplete sentence]. I mean difficult exam periods, homework assignments and projects are the obligations which may make students fed up. In short[,] work overload cause failure sometimes, so students should be careful. And [make it part of the clause] keep the motivation with some activities,with having fun and being encouraged by family.
In conclusion, being successful is difficult as a university student. However it is sometimes harder to keep on successfully because difficult life, adapting new environment and lack of motivation are main factors for failure. [some concluding remarks on how sts should overcome these obstacles??]
Nuray,
Good start, but later it seems you've jotted down the essay in a hurry; be careful with incomplete clauses.
The second cause (2nd par) may be written in a more effective way so that it can better explain what you're trying to say..
Revise it and then post again.
Thanks,
Week3- Cause-Effect: DenizK's Essay
In order to be successful, there are some basic rules. On the other hand in order not to be failure [gr] we should avoid doing some kinds of things such as unnecessaryly [sp] spending so much time or sitting in front of the table many hours, not matching the schedule, not choosing suitable friends according to us, not repeating [wrong verb; use revise] the lectures after the school, [add diffculty here] adapting new environment etc.. [revise your thesis statement; you have the same problem as Rabia's (read the feedback I gave her). Your focus in this essay is the causes of failure, so your TS (thesis statement) should clearly indicate this; you can write, like: factors such as difficulty adapting a new environment... may result in failure]
Firstly, friendship is one of the most important factor that lead to failure [is it friendship or choosing the wrong friends that lead to failure?] . lf you are with hardworking people, or not they affect you negative [reads a bit odd; there is a reference confusion, what is it that affects you negatively?]. So we should be careful about it. [revise this paragraph; first clearly state the factor and how it may cause failure, and support it with evidence and examples]
Secondly, when we make a program we should match [wrong verb; use stick to] it. lf you are not loyal to your schedule and you do whatever you want, your schedule get mixed and you have difficulty in following your lectures. In one day we have so much leisure time. We go out with our friends, chatting etc. But when working time comes, we don’t want to study. Normally if we should repeat what we do at school every night, we don’t have any difficulty when our exams start. [again, your focus is a bit distorted here; state what factor leads to failure and then explain with examples how the factor leads to failure]
Leaving from our parents sometimes can create problem for our studying. Adapting new people, new life and new places [may] have [negative] effects on us. We can cope with this problem by looking at the positive sides of new life. But if we can not solve this, it has a big obstacles in front of our studying. [good; this paragraph reads better and is more focused on the cause]
Always studying is not effective also [?]. Sitting on your chair and trying to do something [this is not very clear; do you mean sitting without doing anything?] makes you bored and in the end your working/ studying desire declines. At university both becoming social and hardworking bring success. lf you balance these, you can easyly [sp] become successful. [Start your conclusion with a summary of the factors and how they negatively affect students' academic performances. Then, as part of your suggestions and advice, you can mention how to balance social and academic life, etc.]
Deniz Küçüktuna - 070179
Week3- Cause&Effect- HaticeE's Essay
Does a university help you to be the best? The university has lots of advantages for a person to become successful. But there are some bad things that don’t give you a hand (what are these things and what are they specically responsible for?- identify the cause-effect focus of your essay...).
Firstly, university students need a peaceful family. Their family should support them not only concretely but also abstractly (try different words here, like not only material and financial but also moral and emotional- Refer to tureng.com tr/eng dictionary) . Because a student without a supporter doesn’t have much power. [get rid of the full-stop and link the previous clause with the following] Students can get this power by the help of being happy and relaxed. [you may add more support here explaining how lack of such material and moral support from the family and friends can impair success- and be careful your focus should be on factors leading to failure, not sucess; keep the focus on that]
Secondly, students must be aware of their lectures otherwise failure will be inevitable. Namely, ignoring the importance of the lessons will take the students to the dark [may need to explain what dark specifically mean], A(a) nd this darkness swallow them [how? - too much of implicit reference; be more direct]. In the end they [who?] will be disappeared [Gr- use active voice]. Whethet [sp] they’d [write out] like to study or not the lectures improve them if they take care about. [this part is not very clear! again, remember, your focus is on the factor and you are explaining how it leads to failure]
Finally, university students feel they are free and think there’s no need to take attention about their responsibilities anymore. Yet, it results in collapse. Because responsibilities make people’s life easier. If there is an easy life failure goes away. So, students can be successful ones who make better Works [? like what] in their lives.
In conclusion if students want to be successful their [who?] must support them, they should take care about their lectures and responsibilities. The more students do these the more they get [a better verb here maybe, that collacates with success] success. And the failure wants a place where nobody can find it. [nice concluding remark!]
Hatice,
1. Try to keep your focus more on the causes of failure; keep the suggestions you are giving for success for the conclusion paragraph. This way, your essay would read better on topic ending with a nice conclusion with some personal advice....
2. If you have your thesis statement clearly stating the focus of your essay and implying the content of the body paragraph, it would be easier for the reader to get the gist of each supporting paragraph.
Thanks.
ps. Make the necessary changes and then you can post the revised essay...
Hatice ERARSLAN
070191