MODULE 4. DATA COMMENTARY Dr. BENILDA N.

1
VILLENAS

EXERCISES FOR MODULE 4

Name: ____________GILBERT G. LOREDO_________________ Score/Rating:________________

Exercise 1. Fill in the blank with the appropriate preposition.

1. As can be seen in Figure 4, earnings have decreased.

2. As revealed in Figure 2, the lightweight materials outperformed traditional metals.

3. As described on the previous section, there are two common types of abstracts.

4. As defined by section 1, fraud is a form of intentional deception resulting in injury.

5. As described on the previous unit, passives are common in process descriptions.

6. As can be seen in a comparison of the two tables, household income is a more reliable predictor
than level of education.

7. As has been demonstrated previously in materials of this type, small cracks pose a serious
problem.

8. As has been demonstrated by many experiments, these materials have several advantages.

9. As shown in the line of best fit, there is no clear statistical relationship between fiscal costs and
crisis length.

10. As explained on the above discussion, international one-year migrants were excluded from the
sample.
 MODULE 4. DATA COMMENTARY Dr. BENILDA N. 2
VILLENAS

Name: ____________GILBERT G. LOREDO_________________ Score/Rating:________________

Exercise 2. Underline the words or phrases that seem to moderate or soften, or qualify the claims.

A. According to our results, impulsive buying is on the rise. Further, our survey data suggest that
buying goods to improve one’s self-image is probably a motivation that plays some role in most
buying behavior, but it might be particularly important when people make unplanned or “spur of the
moment” purchases. These unplanned purchases may well be regretted later and can lead to financial
difficulty (Dittmar & Drury, 2000).

B. Currently, satellite launches cost approximately $10,000 for each pound lifted into space.
However, this may soon change as a result of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices, which
could greatly reduce the size, weight, power requirements, complexity, of MEMs miniaturization it
may be possible to construct a 1kg satellite that is highly resistant to radiation and vibration and
therefore more reliable than a traditional satellite. Preliminary tests of MEMs subjected to accelerations
over 20,000 times gravitational acceleration have shown promising results (Cass, 2001).

Exercise 3. Underline the verb making the weaker claim.

1. The results (indicate, establish) that there is a link between smoking and lung cancer.
2. Table 9 (suggests, shows) that the number of articles of written and published by nonnative
speakers will continue to increase.
3. The latest series of studies (question, challenge) the conclusions of much previous research.
4. The results given in Figure 4 (validate, support) the second hypothesis.
5. The quantities displayed in the table have been (assumed, shown) to be about 98% accurate.
6. The test results (create, suggest) a basis of product modification.
7. Changes in ambient temperature may have (influenced, distorted) the test results.
8. In their earlier work, (they failed, neglected) to take the ambient temperature into account.
9. As shown in Table 3, the new tax laws have (encouraged, stimulated) industrial investment.
10. Figure 12 (depicts, clarifies) the relationship between these two systems.
 MODULE 4. DATA COMMENTARY Dr. BENILDA N. 3
VILLENAS

Name: ____________GILBERT G. LOREDO_________________ Score/Rating:________________

Exercise 4. Write a data commentary for the following table:

Table 1

Strategies Used by Japanese Scientists When Writing in English

Writing Strategy Percentage

Think mainly in Japanese but write in English 61%
Think in Japanese and English but write in English 16%
Think in English and write in English 23%

Slightly more than three-fourths of the scientists surveyed adopted writing strategies that
involved the use of their first language. Moreover, less than a quarter appear capable of writing
directly in English. Overall, the figures would appear to suggest that most Japanese scientists have
difficulties and frustrations when preparing papers for English-medium journals.

What to do:

Expand the commentary by first starting with a summary statement and then adding a suitable
linking as-clause.

Table 1 lists the methods that Japanese scientists most frequently use while writing articles for
English-language journals. As can be seen, slightly more than three-fourths of the questioned scientists
used their native tongue as a writing technique. In addition, less than 3 out of 10 scientists are
proficient in writing in English. According to the prevalent technique based on the provided statistics,
writing in English is difficult for most Japanese scientists. Therefore, to reduce the challenges and
disappointments, these scientists should often practice writing articles in English. While others can
handle it, it could take some time for certain people to write in English-medium journals effectively.
 MODULE 4. DATA COMMENTARY Dr. BENILDA N. 4
VILLENAS

Name: ____________GILBERT G. LOREDO_________________ Score/Rating:________________

Exercise 5. Writing Data Commentary. Based on the following graph and table, write a data
commentary by applying the basic principles learned in class.

Figure 1. Filipinos attitude toward homosexuality.

Figure 1 depicts Filipinos attitude towards homosexuality from 1973 to 2008. As can be seen,
Filipinos negative perceptions are decreasing while their positive attitudes are somehow increasing.
However, nearly 1-out-of-ten is still undecided on their stand towards homosexuality. Acceptance and
disapproval of homosexuality varied and have consistently found correlates with various
demographic, psychological, and social variables. According to research, heterosexuals who support
homosexuality are more likely to be female, white, young, non-religious, well-educated, politically
liberal, or moderate, and have close personal contact with homosexuals. They are also more likely to
have favorable opinions about other minority groups and to oppose established gender norms. Several
studies have also revealed that heterosexual females' sentiments toward gay men are like those toward
lesbians, but heterosexual males' attitudes toward lesbians are more positive.
 MODULE 4. DATA COMMENTARY Dr. BENILDA N. 5
VILLENAS

Table 1

PNP Firearms Crime Statistics

Total Total firearms (FA) Involving licensed Involving loose
Year
incidents used FA FA
2010 5779 6075 40 6035
2009 4711 4894 27 4867
2008 3303 3489 16 3473
Source: Firearms and Explosives Office (FEO) via newsbreak.ph. The FEO's figures cover the period in
each year between 1 Jan and 30 Sep. There was no explanation given as to why the figures for Oct to
Dec was not included.

The results obtained from the PNP firearms crime statistics, involving both licensed and loose
firearm three-quarters from year 2008 to 2010 are shown in Table 1. As can be seen from the table
above, almost 99% of the gun-related incidents in the first three-quarter of the year were committed
with use of unlicensed firearms, posing a big question mark on the police capability to account for
loose firearms. This increasing number of incidents involving loose firearms is quite alarming. Almost
all types of operations, including those with expired permits, which the PNP already classifies as loose
firearms, and those that have not been registered at all, should be vigorously carried out by the PNP to
account for any loose firearms that the police intelligence community has been monitoring. The PNP
also achieved great progress in the fight against unsecured weapons when police officers carried
delinquent gun owners to their homes and reminded and warned them to renew the permits for their
weapons.