ALESA Wk 1 Reading for Academic Style

Read the extract from the book Civic life online: Learning how digital media can engage youth about
perspectives on civic engagement and citizenship for young people both online and offline. Answer the
following questions:

Topic: What does the author want to you know about young people as citizens?

It is clear that many young citizens of this digital and global age have demonstrated interests in making
contributions to society. However, now they are not satisfied and disconnected with conventional politics
and government. They turned away from their public life into online friendship networks.

Evidence / reasons: What is / are the main reason(s) that the author gives for his position?

Because of parties attitude to keep them in power at all cost, politics has become a dirty word rather
than a commonly accepted vocabulary for personal expression in the public life. And that caused
disappointment of youth at the politics.

Applying to your life: Can you think of any examples from your life that support the authors view?

Japanese government have called the elections over and over, and in each elections, most of the
candidates argue silly policies. As a result, young people in Japan lost their interests in politics, and voting
rates is becoming lower and lower.

Academic Writing Do you think this is a good piece of academic writing? Why?

I think this is a good piece of academic writing.

This article is published by MIT Press, and it is reliable academic institution. In addition, Bennett, W. L.,
the author, is the professor of political science at the University of Washington; the author is not some
kind of pop journalist and so on.

Now read Generation Z: Who we are. Answer the following questions:

What does the author want to convince you of? Can you see any similarities with Reading 1?

The author want to convince us that Generation Z have big power and can accomplish something great.
There is no similarity with reading 1.

What evidence does the author present?

Generation Z grows up much faster than other generations. Generation Z is realistic.

ALESA Wk 1 Reading for Academic Style

Are there any differences in the language of the two articles?

Reading 2 is easier to read than reading 1 partly because the vocabularies and expressions used in reading
1 are much harder than that of 2.

Which do you think is the better piece of academic writing? Why?

The author of reading 2 is just ordinary teenager, she is not the specialist of anything. Website that she
used is not reliable because anyone can write any articles on the website. In addition, her idea lacks
enough logical grounds.
I think 1 is the better.