Unit 3
1.2.1 List different opinions on poverty and environmental degradation
Bruntland Commission Report, etc On the one side
Leach and Mearns On the other side
Poverty is a major cause of environmental problems and amelioration of poverty is a necessary and central condition of any effective programmes addressing the environment.
environmental degradation, rapid population growth and stagnant production are closely linked with the fast spread of acute poverty in many countries of Asia.
Poor families who have to meet short term needs mine the natural capital by excessive cutting of trees for firewood and failure to replace soil nutrients
These studies point to demographic, cultural, and institutional factors as important variables in the poverty-environmental degradation nexus. An intricate web of factors plus the existence of feedback loops from environmental degradation to poverty makes the process of identifying causality links, if any, between environmental degradation and poverty a difficult exercise.
1.2.2 Decide how many elements this sample includes and how they function.
Elements
Functions
Element 1
General statements about a field of research to provide the reader with a setting for the problem to be reported
Element 2
More specific statements about the aspects of the problem already studied by other researchers
Element 3
Statements that indicate the need for more investigation
Element 4
Very specific statements giving the purposes/objectives of the writer’s study
Element 5
Optional statements that give a value or justification for carrying out the study, limitation of the study, etc.
2.1.1 Check the reviewing section of sample Introduction and complete the following table.
Questions
How many?
For what purposes?
Are some sentences written in present tense?
Are some sentences written in past tense?discourse
Are some sentences written in present perfect tense?
Which tense is used more? Why do you think this is the case?
17 verbs
3 verbs
5 verbs
 
Present tense
 
Authors mostly use the present tense verbs to show their opinion on another person's research, relate what other authors say or discuss to the literature,
have the discourse role of providing particulars for recounting events, results found or a preceding generalization or the basis for a claim, etc.
The present perfect tense can be used to state that the research results are recent, expressing what has been found over an extended period in the past and up to the present to highlight the direct relevance of previous studies to the writer's own research
2.2.2 Read three extracts on the issue of poverty and crime. Use the verbs above to cite opinions on poverty and crime.
A study by Williams (2005) reports that percentage of poor Americans who are living in extreme poverty has reached a 32-year high. This finding is supported by Holmes (2006) who further states that there are more and more at the link between unemployment, poverty and crime. And the unmistakable characteristic of poverty and crime is that they’re both geographically concentrated in the same areas. This opinion is theoretically explained from an economic perspective of crime that people weigh the consequences of committing crime. They resort to crime only if the cost or consequences are outweighed by the potential benefits to be gained.( Garland, 2008)
Although both these studies focus on the close relation between poverty and crime, they have ignored … according to Leach and Mearns (1995).
3.1 Using references
Information prominent citation
Among the six areas regarding the poverty headcount ratio at $1.25 a day, sub-Saharan Africa constitutes the biggest ratio up to almost 50% of the population. (World Bank, 2012)
Author prominent citation
The World Bank (2012) states that South Asia ranks the second in the chart regarding poverty ratio at $1.25 a day among six areas in the world.
Weak author prominent citation
As a report from the World Bank (2012) indicated, the top two areas of poverty headcount ratio at $1.25 a day were sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, with a population of almost 50 percent and 37 percent respectively.
3.2 Relating literature to your research 
What questions does this literature review answer?
(Key: This literature offers a summary of previous research, so it simply tells the reader what was discovered in previous research.)
What questions doesn't it answer?
(Key: It doesn't evaluate the research it summarizes, nor does it show the relationships between the different theories, views and approaches it describes.)
Which method has the writer used to organize the literature review?
(Key: The writer has organized this literature review around the researchers, and has presented it chronologically (arranging the work by when it was published). Notice that by organizing it around the researchers (the summaries are listed after the names of the people who did the research) and not around the research (e.g. around key concepts) the writer emphasizes the people and not their work.)
Is it a good literature review? Why?
(Key: We don't believe that it is a good literature review. It only gives a summary of previous research but it does not use the literature to explain more about the writer's own research problem. Also, it is not critical: after we read it we still do not know which theories or findings are important, which are inconclusive, what the shortcomings are, etc.

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