Bailey.Academic_Writing
Bailey.Academic_Writing
Bailey.Academic_Writing
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1.6 Selecting Key Points 23<br />
century were comparable with the extinctions of earlier<br />
periods, evidence of which is found in the fossil record.<br />
5. When preparing to write an essay you may be concerned with<br />
only one aspect of a text, so that your key points relate only to<br />
the topic you are examining.<br />
a) You are planning to write an essay on ‘Marketing – art or<br />
science?’ Read the text below and underline the sections<br />
relevant to your essay.<br />
BOTTLED WATER UNDER ATTACK<br />
The Water Companies Association (WCA) has claimed<br />
that bottled water costs 700 times more than tap water,<br />
but is often of inferior quality. The chief executive of the<br />
WCA pointed out that although bottled water advertising<br />
often associated the product with sport and health there<br />
was no truth in this link. The reality, she said, was that<br />
the packaging of bottled water was environmentally<br />
damaging, since millions of empty bottles had to be<br />
disposed of in rubbish tips. 2% of samples of bottled<br />
water failed a purity test conducted by the Drinking Water<br />
Inspectorate, while only 0.3% of tap water samples failed<br />
the same test. Labels on bottled water often referred to<br />
‘spring’ and ‘natural water’, which were meaningless<br />
phrases. In addition, bottled water was imported from as<br />
far as Korea and Kenya, which was a waste of resources.<br />
These criticisms, however, were rejected by the British<br />
Soft Drinks Association, which argued that bottled<br />
water was a successful business founded on giving the<br />
customers choice, quality and convenience.<br />
b) You are preparing an essay on ‘The application of DNA<br />
research to the development of vaccines’. Read the text and<br />
underline the relevant sections.<br />
NEW LIGHT ON THE PLAGUE<br />
The plague, which first struck Europe in the sixth century,<br />
was one of the great disasters of history. In the fourteenth<br />
century it became the Black Death, when it may have<br />
killed one-third of the entire population. The microbe that<br />
causes the disease lives on rats, and is passed on to<br />
humans by the bite of a flea. It still survives today, though<br />
outbreaks are less deadly: the World Health Organization<br />
receives reports of 3,000 cases annually. Scientists<br />
believe that the microbe was originally a stomach<br />
infection, but evolved into a more lethal disease about<br />
1,500 years ago.<br />
Now the genetic code of the plague bacterium has been<br />
‘read’ by scientists; a total of 465 million ‘letters’ of DNA.<br />
They believe that this will help in the development of