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Websites of non-commercial organizations usually have a .org suffix. Cite widely known and respected organizations, such as the United Nations.

      

Be wary of other organizations set up to promote a particular view or cause. They may be biased so indicate this possibility in your essay if you cite them.

      

Exercise 3

      A student searching the internet for texts for the essay: Is generosity an innate human trait? came up with the search results below. Which of the items should be treated with caution? Why?

1 Is altruism a genetic trait?: Scientific American http://www.scientificamerican.com
2 BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Altruism ‘in-built’ in humans http://news.bbc.co.uk
3 Evolution of morality – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org
4 The natural selection of altruistic traits http://courses.washington.edu
5 Altruism essays http://www.megaessays.com

       Choosing up-to-date materials

      It is generally preferable to use up-to-date source materials, ideally published within the last five years. However, what ‘up-to-date’ means in practice depends on your topic. If you are researching a topic that is changing rapidly, for example topics related to science, engineering and information technology, books and articles even a few years old may no longer be relevant.

       Glossary

      seminal A seminal work is an important and influential work.

      Sometimes, on the other hand, it may be acceptable or even necessary to refer to older source material, for example, if you are referring to a seminal work or if you are giving a historical overview of what scholars have said about your topic.

       Recognizing academic texts

      From time to time you will come across texts which appear to be written by authors with academic credentials but which are still not appropriate for use in your essay because they have not been written for a scholarly audience. It is therefore important to be able to recognize whether a text is appropriate by looking at the way it is written.

      

Exercise 4

      Read the text below. Do you think it has been written for an academic audience? Why or why not?

      ‘We’ve all had experience of generous behaviour – people helping others without expecting something in return. We naturally assume that altruism is a virtue that we learn from our parents when we are children. ‘Share your toys … Be nice … Let your little brother go first …’ But science says that altruism is probably instinctive.

      Fascinating studies of the chimp, our closest relative, have produced evidence that altruism is a genetic trait. Chimps don’t teach their offspring to be generous, but scientists Felix Warneken and Michael Tomasello from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany have discovered that chimps do give other chimps a hand, even ones they don’t know, without expecting a reward.’

      When authors write in an academic style for an academic audience, they are more likely to:

      

support opinions with evidence

      

refer to other authors by surname (for example, ‘Davis’ rather than ‘John Davis’ or ‘Mr Davis’)

      

give bibliographic information about works cited (for example, ‘Davis (2009: 24) states that …’

      

use ‘objective’ language (for example, ‘It is often said that …’ rather than ‘We often say that …’

      

use formal language (for example ‘numerous’ rather than ‘lots of’)

      

use precise language

      

use noun phrases rather than verbs (for example, ‘excessive alcohol consumption’ rather than ‘drinking too much alcohol’)

       Glossary

      noun phrase A noun phrase is a noun or pronoun, or a group of words based on a noun or pronoun.

      and less likely to:

      

make claims that are not backed up by evidence

      

make exaggerated claims or categorical statements, that is statements that do not have exceptions (for example ‘everyone likes to have fun’)

      

refer to other authors by their full names or first names, or use titles such as ‘Dr’ or ‘Mrs’

      

use emotive words, for example ‘fantastic’, ‘dreadful’

      

use personal pronouns ‘I’ and ‘you’

      

use slang or informal expressions

      

use contractions such as ‘isn’t’ or ‘won’t’

      

begin sentences with ‘and’ or ‘but’

      

use certain punctuation marks such as the dash (-) or the exclamation mark (!).

      

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