EXERCISE 1 Read the excerpt below and summarise Warner’s idea on Writing Successfully in a University. Add an in-text citation according to the APA style. Source : Article Author : Morley Warner Date of publication : February 2011 Title : Academic Writing: A Guide to Writing in a University Context To write successfully in a university, students need to have a sense of what the final product should look and sound like. If possible read model assignments, or if these are not available, study the way in which journal articles have been written in their field of study. These articles maybe lengthy and some may be based on research rather than discussion issues, but from them they will get a sense of how academic writing ‘sounds’, that is, its tone and how respected writers in their field assemble information. This will enable the students to build their writing skills. Morley Warner (2011, February) writes about student guide for academic writing in her article Academic Writing: A Guide to Writing in a University Context. Warner recommends that students do a lot of reading related journal articles to help student gain their writing skills and able to examine how to write correctly. EXERCISE 2 Read the excerpt below and write a summary on The Toxic Danger of New Cars. Add an in-text citation according to the APA style. Source Author : : Online article The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Australia (CSIRO) Date of publication Title : : January 2010 Toxic Danger of New Cars The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Australia (CSIRO) warned drivers and passengers of new cars that danger lies within their brand new vehicles. It is not the soft fabric or leather, the shining new dashboard or the designs of the sporty steering wheel that harbour the danger. It is the reassuring smell of the new car that spells danger. The odour actually contains high levels of toxic air emissions that can make the driver and passengers ill. CSIRO conducted a comprehensive research on three cars. Drivers were asked to keep logs on how they felt and reacted to the luxurious interiors of their cars. The researchers also carried out observations on the reactions of the drivers and at the same time interviewed them. Evidence was therefore carefully gathered and analysed. The results revealed that the very smell of a new car that captivates the new owner contains high levels of toxic emissions. What is even more alarming is the fact that these toxic emissions are present in cars even after 6 months or longer of leaving the showroom. The study also revealed that drivers were becoming ill when they drove their new cars. The toxic emissions contain many chemicals such as benzene that can cause cancer and lung failure. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Australia (CSIRO) (2010) conducted a research that discovered the danger of new cars The new cars emit high levels of toxic air caused the people in the car ill Even more worse, the toxic air contaminated in the new car until 6 months or more. In addition, benzene in toxic air emission can cause cancer and lung failure. EXERCISE 3 Read the excerpt below and write a summary on The Impact of Cultural Diversity in the Workplace. Add an in-text citation according to the APA style. Source : Journal Article Author : Gillian Coote Martin and Mary Robinson Date of Publication : December 2014 Title : The Effects of Cultural Diversity In The Workplace Cultural diversity in the workplace has grown as a trend over the passage of time with the increase of globalisation in the world. A positive effect of cultural diversity in the workplace is that employees belonging to different cultures usually have different ways of thinking and can thus analyse a matter at hand from a variety of perspectives. This is hard to achieve when employees belonging to the same culture are asked to analyse the same matter. Employees coming from different cultures have different experiences which can be beneficial by providing the organisation with a sound and vast knowledge base. For example, a study conducted on the impact and scope of cultural diversity in organisations in the UAE showed that most of the workers agreed that group work with culturally diverse people helps to overcome cultural differences through shared experiences when working within a team. Another positive effect of cultural diversity in the workplace is the increased tendency of organisational personnel to overcome culture shock as the business expands in other countries and becomes international. This is a very important benefit derived from cultural diversity of the employees because many modern companies have global expansion on their corporate agendas. With expansion into other countries comes a range of obstacles including, but not limited to, gathering information about local customs and laws in the foreign country, assessing risks and designing strategies to overcome those risks. When an organisation has a culturally diverse workforce, it can use the information and knowledge of the individual workers to achieve these objectives and overcome the aforementioned obstacles. For example, an American company trying to expand its business in India can draw information about the Indian federal and provincial laws that apply to the business, insurances required and applicable tax regulations from its workforce of Indian nationality. 8 In addition, a culturally diverse working environment in organisations can drive business growth and improve customer service by involving a diverse workforce. This means making use of language skills, cultural information, knowledge of the business networks and knowledge of the business market of the employees’ home countries. With these key assets, organisations will have competitive advantages in marketing goods and services to a growing migrant community as well as to the global market. The Avon Company, for example, was able to turn around its unprofitable inner city markets in the United States by putting African-American and Hispanic managers in charge of marketing to these populations. Just as ethnic minorities may prefer to work for employers who value diversity, they may also prefer to buy from such organisations. Martin and Robinson (2014) discussed about the impact of cultural diversity in workplace in their article "The Effects of Cultural Diversity in Workplace". They claim that the impact is that an organization can look over a matters from different perspective. Moreover, an organization can control themselves from getting culture shock if their business expand worldwide. Lastly, variation in culture can lead to business development and improve client assistance. 8
