by The Open University
Available in 34 free installments
Owner:
| Element | Purpose | Description |
|---|---|---|
| title | attracts the reader's attention | explanatory of the content, concise and relevant |
| abstract | gives a brief summary | short paragraph clarifying the scope of the report and the main findings |
| introduction | gives the purpose of the investigation being reported | explains why the investigation was undertaken and gives essential background information |
| main text | describes how the study was conducted | the ?meat? of the report containing, for example (depending on the discipline): |
| gives results of the study | ? method of investigation/ approach taken and why | |
| interprets results | ? record of observations or measurements | |
| ? references to appropriate theories | ||
| ? discussion | ||
| ? unique or distinctive facts and explanation of how these relate to the broader context or body of evidence | ||
| conclusions | describes what the study has shown | includes the meaning of the results of the investigation, what has been demonstrated and any recommendations for action |
You need to assemble and order your material, perhaps under a set of headings (which can be added to or sub-divided). Your plan will help you to include material that is relevant and to the point.
Carefully read the following short essay. Try to identify its strengths and weaknesses in terms of planning. Take your time, but don't think you need to be familiar with the content, you are trying to find what provides the writing's framework.
Then try to answer the questions that follow in Activity 13.
Government bodies and the universities are committed to a policy of widening access to higher education. In the attempt to develop a trained, educated workforce, there is greater flexibility in terms of entrance requirements and routes to a degree. If you are 21 or over and do not have conventional qualifications you may be given credit for your life and work experience.
An Open University lecturer wrote that teaching mature students:
? is sometimes an unnerving experience: at a lecture on Dickens's Hard Times I suddenly realised that I was explaining the rigour of industrial work ? to ex-steel workers. Everyone of them knew more than I did and indeed they all knew more than Dickens about the lives of workers in heavy industry.
(Philippa Gregory, 1994)
