An Intermediate Guide to Writing in English for

University Study

What is academic
writing?
Extracts

1. A newspaper article: ‘Let’s talk about f ood waste’

I would like you to imagine something next time you pop down to the Co -op, Sainsbury’s, Asda, or Tesco
to do your average weekly shop. I’d like you to take half of the salad you just bought, and toss it in the bin.
Take half of that loaf of bread, two of your bag of f ive apples, a couple of bananas, and a quarter of your
bag of grapes, and chuck those too. Or you might even consider not bothering with going to the shop at all
– just take a f iver f rom your wallet and throw it away. Repeat every week. Sound ridiculous? It’s more
accurate than you think.

A recent report f rom Tesco has highlighted the extent of f ood waste in Britain today, and the statistics are
shocking. Of all the bagged salad produced in the UK, 68% never makes it onto our plates, with 35% of
that being wasted by us – the consumers. Bakery products are the next most wasted sector, with 47% of
total production wasted, and 25% by us. That’s nearly one in two loaves of bread being thrown away overall,
and nearly one in f our being thrown away by the consumer at a time of growing concerns over f ood poverty.

2. A real academic essay submitted as part of coursework: ‘Describe the key issues related to f ood waste in
Europe and evaluate the ef f ectiveness of methods to reduce f ood waste.’

Introduction
In Europe, f ood waste is considered a major nutritional and environmental problem. It also detrimentally
af f ects the stability of the whole f ood chain. According to a recent report, 90 million tons of f ood is wasted
every year in European countries, on average, 180 kg per person (Europe Commission, 2011).

Food waste has many sources which include households, manuf acturing, f ood service and retail. The
European Commission (2011) estimated that the proportion of f ood waste at the retail stage is abo ut 5%
of total f ood depletion in the EU, accounting f or approximately 4.4 million tons of f ood. Food waste has
several extensive yet harmf ul ef f ects on f ood security, f ood quality, and also f ood saf ety. Even economic
development and the environment can be negatively impacted by f ood waste (Gustavsson et al, 2011).
Although at the retail stage f ood waste may be considered small in comparison with the amount of food
waste overall, it is still an issue which can lead to signif icant economic loss as well as env ironmental and
social problems. However, if this waste can be recycled ef f ectively, it can potentially have huge value
economically, environmentally and socially. This essay will demonstrate this potential, by explaining the
values of f ood waste and introducing some methods f or recycling f ood waste.

List of references
European Commission, (2011). Industry, Preparatory Study on Food Waste across EU 27. Publication of
the European Commission, DG Environment, Directorate C, Paris.
Gustavsson, J., Cederberg, C., Sonesson, U., Van Otterdijk, R., Meybeck, A., (2011). Global Food Losses
and Food Waste: Extent, Causes and Prevention. FAO, Rome.
...etc