Ense3 1A - English and Communication

Written assignment – summarising an article

(Learning Outcome 2: Write a summary of an article in a formal, academic/professional style)

Select and read an article from the collection of four articles from the journal Scientific American
available on Chamilo. Then write a summary of your chosen article.

Requirements
- Length: around 500 words
- Your submission must be written using the Ense_1A_Summary_Template document available
on Chamilo.
- Submit the document in the format required by your teacher.
- Please DOUBLE-LINE-SPACE your work and make sure the grading grid at the end of the
template is fully included in your document.
- You are required to submit your summary via Chamilo (your group – “assignments” - NOT
“documents”).
- DEADLINE: as required by your teacher.
- You must write in paragraphs and use complete sentences.
- The summary must be in your own words.
- It will include only the most essential or significant information.
- It will emphasize the conclusions or recommendations the article makes.
- No new information should appear in the summary.

POINTS TO BE AWARE OF:

• DO NOT adopt the persona of the person writing the article. Scientific American articles are
usually written by the researcher(s) concerned, but you must write from their point of view in
your summary.
• DO NOT write ABOUT the article – no “this article is about…”. Just summarise the content.
• REMEMBER to use formal, written English, as studied in with the essay assignment last semester
(avoid “you”; careful with “we”; no apostrophe abbreviations).

Criteria
Language
- Vocabulary
- Syntax - developed sentence construction appropriate for a formal written text
- Grammar
- Register - Appropriate for formal, scientific, professional writing context

Content
- Content - selection of main ideas of source; appropriate focus; No added material
- Clarity of ideas - selected ideas clearly conveyed
- Organisation of ideas - clear paragraphing, logical progression of information
Here is the list of articles:

• The Attention Economy

Filippo Menczer and Thomas Hills
Scientific American, December 2020, Vol. 323 No. 6, pp 54-61
Understanding how algorithms and manipulators exploit our cognitive vulnerabilities empowers us to fight
back

• Measuring What Matters

Joseph E. Stiglitz
Scientific American, August 2020, Vol. 323 No. 2, pp 24-31.
Obsession with one financial figure, GDP, has worsened people's health, happiness and the environment,
and economists want to replace it

• The Aid Tsunami

Ajay Saini, Simron J. Singh
Scientific American, April 2020, Vol. 322 No. 4, pp 58-65
How disaster relief ravaged an indigenous community

• The H2 Solution
Peter Fairley
Scientific American, February 2020, Vol. 322, No. 2, pp 36-43
Hydrogen energy could make a comeback as an important piece of the all-renewable energy puzzle