Academic Writing Assessment 2009.pptVIP

Academic Writing Assessment 2009 Learning Skills Centre University Centre for Teaching and Learning Four main assessment areas expressing your ideas clearly and processing information logically so that the reader can understand your meaning structuring your writing well (this means putting it in the right order) writing in an appropriate academic style in well constructed sentences writing grammatically correct English. Two parts to the assessment Part 1: Reading comprehension Part 2: Writing task Example text Nuclear power stations currently produce about a quarter of Britains electricity. Many are now becoming inefficient and are being closed down. No reactors have been built since the 1980s, as accidents such as the Chernobyl disaster and the problem of disposing of nuclear waste have made them unpopular. If they are phased out, by 2023 only 4% of Britains electricity will come from nuclear power. Soaring oil and gas prices, decreasing fossil fuel reserves and fears of climate change, however, have led to renewed government support for nuclear power. Britain’s top science academy, The Royal Society, is suggesting a new generation of atomic power stations because it believes they will provide a reliable supply of energy while helping to reduce carbon emissions. The Society claims that, without nuclear energy, Britain would have to rely increasingly on fossil fuels, leading to increasing carbon dioxide emissions and global warming. It argues that in the short term the partial replacement of nuclear power stations is essential, for renewable energies, such as wind, wave, and solar power, would not be developed fast enough: there would be a shortfall in supply between the phasing out of nuclear power and the creation of sufficient renewable sources. All parties in this debate agree that Britain needs need to cut down its consumption of oil and gas. Professor Wallace of the Royal Society has warned the government that the country will be unable to