ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY, ISLAMABAD
(Department of English Language & Applied Linguistics)
WARNING
1. PLAGIARISM OR HIRING OF GHOST WRITER(S) FOR SOLVING THE ASSIGNMENT(S) WILL DEBAR THE STUDENT FROM AWARD OF DEGREE/CERTIFICATE, IF FOUND AT ANY STAGE.
2. SUBMITTING ASSIGNMENTS BORROWED OR STOLEN FROM OTHER(S) AS ONE’S OWN WILL BE PENALIZED AS DEFINED IN “AIOU PLAGIARISM POLICY”.
Course: Academic Reading & Writing (1424) Semester: Spring, 2011
Level: BA/BS Total Marks: 100
Pass Marks: 40
ASSIGNMENT No. 1
(Units 1–4)
Q.1 The following questions are based on unit 1. Read the unit carefully and then answer the following questions briefly.
i. What is “Academic Writing”? Define it briefly. (05)
ii. What is the “Descriptive” kind of essay? (05)
iii. You have learned how to do “brainstorming” to narrow down a general or broad topic such as “My Family”. Have you done exercise 2 in your tutorial session? If not, here is a chance to do it.
Read point no. 2, “Write an essay on media”. We have asked you to narrow down this broad topic. In your assignment make a brainstorming diagram similar to the ones we have given in the unit. (10)
iv. Now select one narrow topic from the brainstorming diagram that you have drawn and write a 250 word essay on that topic. Your essay should be of three (3) paragraphs divided into the following parts: (15)
a. An Introduction Paragraph.
b. A Body Paragraph.
c. A Concluding paragraph.
Q.2 Read unit 2 “Sequence” carefully and then answer the following questions or solve the following exercises that are given in the unit.
i. Read the text “A Day in the Life of a Nurse”. Do exercise 8 that is given in the unit. In this exercise you have to write the daily routine of Nurse Sarah in a proper sequence. Write only in form of sentences, DONOT write a paragraph. Follow the example: (10)
· Sarah arrives at the nurses’ room at 7 a.m.
ii. Read the text “The Evolution of Computers”. Do exercise 12 in which you have to list the transition signals or sequence markers that are used to show sequence in the text. Make a list of at least 5 sequence marks. (05)
iii. Answer the 5 questions given at point no. 2 in the same exercise
(Exercise 12). (10)
Q.3 Read unit 3 “Classification” carefully and then answer the following questions or solve the following exercises that are given in the unit.
i. What is “Classification” technique of writing? Read the first 2-3 pages of the unit and then define the term “Classification” very briefly. (10)
ii. Have you done exercises 2 and 3 in the unit? We want you to do both these exercises in this assignment which will give you practice in understanding how to classify things.
Exercise 2 asks you to fill in the tree diagram about the “Types of Computers”. (05)
Exercise 3 asks you find the general words and then make a classification or tree diagram as given in the example. (10)
Q.4 Read unit 4 “Cause & Effect” carefully and then answer the following questions or solve the following exercises that are given in the unit.
i. In exercise 2 you are asked to identify or write which statement is a “Cause statement” and which an “Effect statement”. Do only 10. (05)
ii. Do exercise 5 in your assignment. Complete the 5 sentences by writing suitable effects. (10)
ASSIGNMENT No. 2
(Units 5–9)
Total Marks: 100 Pass Marks: 40
Q.1 Read unit 5 “Comparison & Contrast” carefully and then answer the following questions or solve the following exercises that are given in the unit.
i. In the beginning of the unit, certain words are given that are used to show comparison and contrast. Read the two lists that are given on page 148 and then choose any 5 words from both the lists and write the words and sentences as given in the example below. Please do not write the same sentences as given in the unit. You must write different sentences. (05)
Words Sentences
Both Both assignments are same.
ii. Exercise 5 of unit 5 asks you to read the short texts and then answer questions based on them. Read only the first text about “lions and cats” and then answer the two questions that follow the text. For your ease, here are the two questions that you have to answer. (10)
a. How are lions similar to cats? In what ways?
b. How are lions different from cats? In what ways?
iii. Exercise 8 asks you to write about the similarities and differences between the two seasons; autumn and spring. Read the table given in the unit carefully and then write 5 sentences comparing and contrasting the two seasons. Use appropriate transition words. (10)
Q.2 Read unit 6 “Academic Reading” carefully and then answer the following questions or solve the following exercises that are given in the unit.
i. In the beginning of the unit, we have tried to explain that there are number of ways to guess the meanings of difficult words through context. We have also explained that writers use definitions, restatement, examples, contrast, etc. to help us find out or guess the meaning of a word. Please read these explanations carefully and then do: (10)
· Exercise 2 (definition)
· Exercise 3 (restatement)
· Exercise 4 (examples) and
· Exercise 5 (contrast)
v Note: there are total 10 sentences in all the 4 exercises that you have to work on.
ii. In exercise 8 of unit 6, there is a picture given. Look at it closely and write your prediction.
a. Write 2 predictions/guesses about the picture. (in sentences) (02)
b. Write 3 words that come to your mind about the picture. (03)
c. Write a short 50-70 word paragraph describing the picture. (05)
iii. In exercise 11 of the unit, you are given a list of reading texts and asked to write why, for what reasons or purposes we read these kinds of texts. Can you solve this exercise in your assignment and write the purposes of reading these texts? (10)
Kinds of Texts Reasons for Reading
Signboards
Continue………………..
Q.3 Read unit 7 “Implied Meaning & Making Inferences” carefully and then answer the following questions or solve the following exercises that are given in the unit.
i. Can you briefly define the word “Inference”? Read the first 3 introductory pages of the unit to answer this question. (05)
ii. Write answers of exercise 1 of the unit in your assignment. In this exercise you have to read 6 short texts and then choose the correct option or infer the correct answer. (10)
iii. Write answers of exercise 4. Infer the names of the people. (05)
Q.4 Read unit 8 “Denotation & Connotation” carefully and then answer the following questions or solve the following exercises that are given in the unit.
i. Read the explanation about the terms Denotation and Connotation in the unit (pages 249 – 252) and write very brief 2-3 line definitions of these two terms: (05)
a. What is meant by denotation?
b. What is meant by connotation?
ii. Do exercise 6 of unit 8 in your assignment. Choose any 10 words and then write whether the word has a positive, negative or neutral meaning or connotation. (10)
Q.5 Read unit 9 “Reading Newspapers” carefully and then answer the following questions.
i. What is the structure of a newspaper? Write about the different sections or parts that a newspaper has. (10)
1