Janene van Loon, Arnoud Thüss, Nicole Schmidt and Kevin Haines - Academic Writing in English

1 Introduction to academic writing

Paragraph topic: Health-inhibiting behaviours ■ ■ Decreased consumption of fruit and vegetables Paragraph topic: Macroeconomic vs. microeconomic changes ■ ■ Price increases, taxation, inflation ■ ■ Changes in personal circumstances (income, family, lifestyle) Due mainly to changes in Iceland’s domestic economic landscape and the personal circumstances of its citizens, the global economic crisis of 2008 initiated many perceived changes in the health behaviours of Icelanders. It ushered in positive changes, but it also spurred several formidable challenges to a healthy lifestyle. Overall, it is clear that health behaviour in times of eco nomic insecurity is a multifaceted and complex issue that should be addressed in a public health context.

Body paragraph 2 ■ ■ Transition/Topic sentence ■ ■ Supporting details ■ ■ Concluding sentence Body paragraph 3 ■ ■ Transition/Topic sentence ■ ■ Supporting details ■ ■ Concluding sentence Concluding paragraph ■ ■ Transition/Topic sentence ■ ■ Restate major points in support of your thesis or summarise key points ■ ■ Finally, reflect on the topic of your paper from a wider perspec tive

TASK 9  Expository essay – discussion questions

1 Which of the five approaches mentioned above is used to organise the ex pository essay on health behaviour consequences of the economic crisis in Iceland in 2008 in the chart above? 2 How can you tell that it must be an expository essay?

TASK 10 Below is a list of words that are typically used with each of the five logical or ders for expository essays mentioned above. Match each word with the most appropriate logical order: A Description, B Sequence, C Cause/effect or Prob lem/solution, D Comparison/contrast.

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