ENVIRONMENT

10.2 Writing Skills

Planning a Problem-Solution Essay

Learning outcomes
This lesson will support the achievement of Course Learning Outcomes: 3 and 7:
• Produce a range of written texts which demonstrate awareness of genre-related features
and established academic conventions.
• Demonstrate critical thinking skills by analysing ideas, evaluating alternative views, making
criterion-based judgments, and searching for well-informed answers to self-generated
questions.

In this lesson learners will:

• learn how to write an essay plan.

Learners should be able to:

• recognise features of textual organisation and demonstrates academic genre awareness;
• make recommendations and make a case for their acceptance.
Reviewing essay structure

In Unit 9.2 you analysed an exemplar of a problem-solution essay.

Task 1

List the 5 paragraphs of the problem-solution essay

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Problem-solution essay exemplar

The following problem-solution essay exemplar was analysed in Unit 9.2

Problem-solution synthesis essay
Academic dishonesty has been a recognized problem in higher education for many decades.
Plagiarism, which is a form of academic misconduct, has become particularly prevalent in recent
years as many universities have moved to blended or online learning. Plagiarism can be described as
the act of copying and presenting the ideas of others without proper acknowledgment. Because of
its potentially serious implications, the need to identify and prevent plagiarism has become a
genuine priority for education professionals in Australia. This essay will examine the problem of
plagiarism and evaluate some practical strategies to address it. It will recommend the provision of
effective preparatory courses in addition to the use of appropriate punitive measures.

There are several factors that are known to contribute to the incidence of plagiarism in Australian
tertiary institutions. Many students, for example, may commit acts of plagiarism unintentionally
simply because they are not fully aware of Australian referencing conventions. This is a view
supported by Kimura (2013) who notes that, in Japanese universities, in-text referencing may not be
necessary if source materials are clearly cited in the bibliographical section. Moreover, despite the
best of intentions, some students may lack the skills required to effectively paraphrase and
synthesise information from original source materials. Very often, they think that making minor
modifications to external work is enough to make their response original. Intentional plagiarism, on
the other hand, is a far more serious issue. It includes the conscious copying of the work of others
and submitting it as the author’s own. According to Jones (2016), it is often a product of study
related stress, the desire to cut corners, and the fear of failure. Regardless of these reasons, the
consequences of plagiarism can be detrimental for all concerned as it undermines academic
integrity and can damage a student’s academic standing. In light of this, appropriate strategies to
address this issue should be considered.

One pragmatic strategy for lowering the incidence of accidental plagiarism is to adopt approaches
that raise awareness and develop proper referencing capacity among students. Promoting clear
referencing guidelines and offering academic literacy training, for instance, may help to achieve this
goal. In support of this, Stevens and McKenzie (2013, p. 52) found that most participants in their
‘Plagiarism Awareness Program’ considered the course “very useful” in addressing the root causes
associated with some forms of plagiarism. Raising student awareness about plagiarism can also be
achieved by designing online academic integrity modules, which can be made compulsory parts of
the courses. According to Belter (2009), after the completion of such modules, the occurrence of

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 plagiarism has been largely reduced. It has to be noted, however, that this strategy requires some
amount of investment. Academic literacy training and integrity modules have to be designed and
then delivered by properly trained staff, which often means additional spending. The outcomes of
these courses, however, may stand to reinforce academic standards and potentially reduce
incidences of plagiarism among well intentioned students.
Another approach to combat deliberate acts of plagiarism may be to establish suitable deterrents
and to enforce penalties when necessary. Punishment for plagiarism commonly occurs at two levels
- teacher-student and student-institution. In general, teacher penalties include verbal or written
warnings or deduction of marks while institutional sanctions range from suspension, expulsion or
even legal penalties (Berlinck 2011). Students should be made aware of the punitive measures that
they are likely to face if found guilty of serious academic misconduct. According to Smith (2007), the
awareness of such deterrents is effective in preventing deliberate acts of plagiarism. Jay (2016, p.
47) suggests that together with penalties for poor referencing, good quality examples of properly
referenced work should be acknowledged and rewarded. In this way, a multifaceted approach based
on deterrents and incentives, could be used to promote higher standards in academic performance
and integrity.
In conclusion, plagiarism is a genuine concern that should be addressed with appropriately targeted
strategies. Adopting an institutional approach to plagiarism where emphasis is on education and
prevention seems crucial to alleviate the problem of academic dishonesty. Preparatory
courses addressing plagiarism and academic integrity modules should be readily available and
mandatory for all students. Failure to develop adequate measures to build academic skills and
reduce incidents of plagiarism will ultimately undermine the quality of the tertiary system in
Australia.

Task 2: Planning a problem-solution essay

This is a partly completed plan for the above essay on the topic of Plagiarism. You will be
required to produce a plan like this for your AES09 essay. Study this plan and complete it by
filling in the missing information.

Problem-Solution Essay Plan

Structure Notes (including potential sources)

Introduction paragraph
• Orientation • Plagiarism increasing due to blended/online learning
Contextualise the topic
within a general trend
• Definition • Copying ideas – no acknowledgement

• Purpose • This essay will examine the problem of plagiarism

statement and evaluate some practical strategies to address it.

• Outline / scope • preparatory courses

• punitive measures

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Body paragraph 1 - Analysis of the problem
• Causes
• Effects
Body paragraph 2 – Solution 1
• Describe solutions
• unintentional acts of plagiarism (Kimara 2013)
• lack of paraphrasing skills
• _________________________________________
• undermines academic integrity
• __________________________________________
• raise awareness and develop referencing capacity
among students (Stevens and McKenzie 2013),
(Belter 2009)

• Evaluate the • high cost, training needs

proposed • positive outcomes outweigh the limitations
solutions

Body paragraph 3 – Solution 2

• Describe solutions
• establish suitable deterrents and to enforce
penalties when necessary

• Evaluate the • awareness of such deterrents is effective

proposed • a multifacted approach could be used
solutions

Conclusion paragraph
• Restate the
• Restate
problem
• Summarise the • Summary
solutions • Future – undermine quality of tertiary system overall
• Make a
suggestion / issue
a warning /
summarise effects

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Incorporating Sources
Task 3: Integrating information from sources

Below are three of the sources that were used in the Plagiarism essay.

1. Locate in-text citations for these three sources in the essay and highlight the sentences
which contain information that was taken from these sources.
2. Compare these sentences with the original sources extracts.
3. Explain how the writer has paraphrased and integrated information from the sources.

Source 1:
Stevens, T & McKenzie, P 2013. ‘Plagiarism prevention: The University of Brighton experience’,
Modern Librarian, vol. 27, p. 52.

Plagiarism Awareness Program

9% feedback data

10%
Very useful Quite useful

23% 58%
Not very useful Not useful at all

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Source 2:
Jones, P 2016, Factors known to contribute to incidence of plagiarism in Australian universities,
accessed 9 November 2016, <www.ausuniversity.edu.au>.

Time pressure
and study
anxiety
Lack of Weak
awareness academic skills

Desire to fear of failing a

reduce work Plagiarism course

Source 3:
Kimura, K 2013, ‘Plagiarism and overseas students: Is it really a product of culture?’ TESOL
Journal International, vol. 7, no. 3, p. 86.

Hence, while one educational practice may consider a certain act as normal, another
educational practice may see the same act as wrong. For example, my experience and my
student’s experience in writing essays in Japanese universities show that it is acceptable for
students to give a full list bibliography at the end of their essays without having to provide
in-text references to the readings they use. This way of presenting ideas is not considered
plagiarism, at least at the undergraduate level, as long as students acknowledge all the
authors whose ideas they have referred to in the bibliography.

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Planning an essay
Task 4: Analysing a question
Identify the Task, Topic and Limiting words in the following question:
Analyse the problem of ocean plastic pollution and evaluate viable alleviation strategies.
Task
Topic
Limiting words

Practice essay writing

In future lessons, you will practice writing an essay in answer to the question in Task 5.
The process will involve input, application, submission and consultation/feedback on the
following essay parts:

• Introduction paragraph
• Problem Analysis paragraph + 2 sources
• First solution paragraph + 1 source
• Second solution paragraph + 1 source

Note the Conclusion paragraph will use a different topic.

This practice will prepare you for your writing assessment AES09.

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Task 5: Brainstorming the topic
Work in a group to brainstorm ideas about the following topic and make notes in the space
provided.
Analyse the problem of ocean plastic pollution and evaluate viable alleviation strategies.

You can refer to ideas from the essay at the end of this lesson. Include the following in your
discussion:
• Current trends associated with this topic
• Causes
• Effects
• Potential solutions (consider both the strengths and limitations of various solutions)

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Analysing and using sources

For the essay you will need to use 4 sources as follows:

Paragraph Number of sources

Problem-analysis 2
Solution 2

You will be provided with 5 sources to choose from.

Consider the following, when analysing the available sources:

• Identify the title, author/s and the author’s purpose

• Identify the key information
• Identify which parts of the essay the key information supports (problem analysis or
solution paragraph)
• If you decide to use information, you will need to paraphrase the information and
reference the author/s.

Task 6: Write a plan

Download the essay template and source material from Moodle.

Write an essay plan using the template and include the in-text citations for 4 sources you intend
to use. The essay plan must be submitted to Moodle by the end of Week 12.

Review Appendix A in this lesson for a description of the plan sections.

References
Gillett, A 2020, Academic writing: Rhetorical functions in academic writing, Using English for Academic
Purposes, accessed 23 June 2020, <http://www.uefap.net/writing/writing-functions/writing-
functions-16-reasons>.

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Appendix 1: Problem-solution essay plan

Introduction paragraph
• Orientation
➢ Introduce the topic of the essay
➢ Contextualise the topic within a general trend
➢ Highlight the central issue
• Purpose statement
o This essay will analyse the problem of X and evaluate viable solutions.
o This essay will evaluate possible solutions to the problem of X.
• Outline / scope
o It will examine / focus on…

Body paragraph 1
• Situational analysis
➢ Identify the causes and effects of the problem.

Body paragraph 2 and 3

• Describe solution / alleviation strategies
o There are a number of viable solutions to combat the problem of X. Firstly…
o A possible alleviation strategy for X may be to…
o X may help to reduce the impact of…
o An alternative approach may be to…
• Evaluate the proposed solution
o A challenge in implementing this approach is…
o The limitation of this strategy may be…

Conclusion paragraph
• Restate the problem
o In conclusion, X is a significant problem facing…
• Summarise the solutions
o X and Y may be effective alleviation strategies because…
• Make a suggestion / issue a warning / summarise effects
o In order to implement these strategies effectively…
o Failure to take action may result in…

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Analyse the issue of ocean plastic pollution and evaluate viable alleviation strategies.
The convenience and low cost of plastic have made plastic products ubiquitous and have led to the
widespread use of plastic packaging and single-use plastic items. These products help keep food and water
fresher for longer and are said to reduce the potential of contamination. However, many of the plastic items
end up in the world’s oceans, where they harm marine animals and ecosystems. There is evidence of plastic
products present in areas far removed from human activities and images of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
attest to the urgency of the problem. This essay will analyse the problem of ocean plastic pollution and
evaluate viable strategies to address the issue. These strategies include developing biodegradable plastic
technologies and legislating to limit single-use plastics.

The increasing amount of marine plastic waste has detrimental outcomes. As plastic is a cheap and
convenient material, its use has grown exponentially in products such as packaging for food and drink. For
example, around one million plastic drink containers are bought each minute, and less than half of these are
recycled (Trowsdale, Housden & Meier 2017). These plastics can end up in the ocean if populations close to
coastlines mismanage their waste processes. In reference to this, Jambeck et al. (2015) report that around 8
million tonnes of plastic enter the ocean annually due to littering and mismanagement. This plastic can
adversely affect marine creatures, which may drown when entangled in plastic debris or become unwell
when ingesting microplastics. As White (2016) points out, these microplastics can then enter the food chain
and cause concerns for human health. For these reasons, solutions are urgently needed to reduce the
damage from plastics in the ocean.

One strategy to address ocean plastic pollution is to invest in research and development of cost-effective
biodegradable or plant-based plastics. This could be achieved by awarding government grants to
researchers working in this area. This would allow for the continued use of highly useful plastic products,
while mitigating their damaging effects. One concern in implementing this strategy is that it does not aim to
change behaviour and may facilitate the continued overuse of plastic items. However, plastic is a useful
material that cannot realistically be eliminated and, as Van Sebille, Spathi and Gilbert (2016) claim, the
current focus should be on creating plastic that decomposes fast in the natural environment. Supporting
research which pursues green plastic alternatives can largely reduce the current negative environmental
impact caused by plastic. Therefore, since plastic will inevitably continue to enter the ocean, technologies
that mitigate the impact of this plastic are needed in conjunction with behaviour change.

In order to achieve this behaviour change, another strategy is to institute legislation that aims to minimise
the use of single-use plastics and fishing lines. The European Parliament (2018) has proposed such a
measure, including the banning of single-use plastics that have alternative material options, such as cotton
bud sticks, cutlery and straws. This legislation should be combined with strict guidelines on the
administration of plastic management processes and harsh fines for non-compliance. Since plastic is a
global issue with ocean currents carrying plastic debris worldwide, the legislation suggested by the EU
should be implemented at the UN level as an international law in order to be effective. It must be
acknowledged that many global legislative decisions require agreement and collaboration of all involved,
which can be lengthy processes. However, since environmental issues have reached international political
agenda with great urgency, there have been considerable efforts to expedite legal processes through
treaties rather than customary laws. This is promising as it can potentially alleviate the problem of plastic
pollution through swift and united global action.

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In conclusion, ocean plastic pollution is pervasive, with serious consequences for global marine
environments. Combining new bioplastic technologies with legislation aimed at reducing plastic use could
help address the problem. Both alleviation strategies require support of government bodies in the form of
funding and legislative procedures. Once implemented, they can not only protect marine ecosystems but
also enhance life quality of future generations. Failure to act promptly will mean the continued degradation
of the world’s oceans, with detrimental impacts for the wildlife and communities they support.
(693 words)

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