IN-SESSIONAL ACADEMIC WRITING (EPS): SEMESTER 1 WEEK 5

WRITING DEFINITIONS

Definitions

This session covers giving definitions, outlining classifications and giving

examples. There is a review of the use of relative clauses and practice in
writing definitions.

1 Discuss the following questions.

 What is a mineral?
 Which minerals are found in the body?
 Which minerals are good for the body and which are not?

2 Read the text overleaf and complete the diagram.

T_____ Minerals

Def: ____________
__________________

__________ __________
__________
eg ________ eg ________
________ ________

In-sessional Academic Writing 1 University Language Centre

(EPS) Sem 1, Week 5 University of Manchester
Scientists first started to analyse the chemicals in the body at the beginning of the
twentieth century. However, their equipment was not sensitive enough to accurately
measure all the chemicals they found. Therefore, when scientists detected a particular
mineral in the body, but could not find enough to measure, they called it a ‘trace
mineral’. Thus, the official definition of a trace mineral is one that makes up less than
0.01% (1/10,000th part) of the total body weight.

The trace minerals group comprises over fifty chemical elements. It is divided into
three categories, on the basis of how useful the minerals are to the body. The first
category is ‘essential’ trace minerals, which are necessary in a person’s diet for that
person to be fully healthy. These minerals include zinc, copper, selenium, chromium,
manganese, molybdenum, iodine, fluoride and cobalt.

The second category of trace minerals is ‘toxic’ trace minerals. These are minerals
that cause toxicity problems when there is too much of any of them in the body
because, for example, there is too much in the environment. This category includes
three from the first category of essential elements: arsenic, cadmium and lead. Small
quantities of these are necessary for the health of the body, but they become toxic
when they are present in the body above certain levels. Other toxic minerals are
mercury and tin.

The third class of trace minerals is comprised of all trace minerals not found in the
first two groups, i.e. those which are present in the body, but are neither essential to
the body, nor cause any toxicity.

3 Underline the phrases or structures in the text which are used to:

 Give definitions
 Outline classifications
 Give examples

4 Can you think of any other phrases or structures which could be used?

In-sessional Academic Writing 2 University Language Centre

(EPS) Sem 1, Week 5 University of Manchester
5 Rewrite the following sentences using the word or phrase given.

(i) The official definition of a trace mineral is one that makes up less than
0.01% of the total body weight.

may / define
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

(ii) The trace minerals group comprises over fifty chemical elements.

compose
______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

(iii) Trace minerals are divided into three categories, on the basis of how
useful the minerals are to the body.

classify / according
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

(iv) The first category, essential trace minerals, includes zinc, copper and
selenium. These are necessary in a person’s diet for that person to be
fully healthy.

such as / which
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

6 Can you think of any other ways to phrase these sentences?

In-sessional Academic Writing 3 University Language Centre

(EPS) Sem 1, Week 5 University of Manchester
7 Relative Clauses

Underline the relative clauses in the following sentences:

(i) The official definition of a trace mineral is one that makes up less than
0.01% (1/10,000th part) of the total body weight.

(ii) These are minerals that cause toxicity problems when there is too
much of any of them in the body because, for example, there is too
much in the environment.

(iii) The first category is ‘essential’ trace minerals, which are necessary in a
person’s diet for that person to be fully healthy.

(iv) Their equipment was not sensitive enough to accurately measure all
the chemicals they found.

a) What is the function of these clauses?

b) How does (iii) differ from (i) and (ii)?
c) What do you notice about the punctuation?
d) What is different about (iv)?
e) Can we remove the relative pronoun from any of the other
sentences?
f) Is it possible to use either which or that in all of the sentences?

In-sessional Academic Writing 4 University Language Centre

(EPS) Sem 1, Week 5 University of Manchester
8. Complete the following sentences1 with words from the box.
Add commas as needed.

that which where in which

i. Systems _________ give detailed prompts appear to be very helpful to

the inexperienced user.

ii. Arsenic _________ is an extremely toxic substance is sometimes

used as an insecticide.

iii. The waves are transverse ____________ means that the direction of
oscillation has to be perpendicular to the direction of the motion of the
wave.

iv. A load-bearing wall is a wall ____________ supports a vertical load as

well as its own weight.

v. The mine ___________ has extracted diamonds since the 19th century
will be closed in two years.

vi. The folding bicycle ____________ they designed at their workshop in

York is selling very well.

vii. This involved an apparatus ___________ pairs of protons are

produced.

viii. Farmers were slow to see management as an area __________

training could help.

1 Sources: (i)-(iii) and (vii-viii) Academic corpora in Biber et al (1999) Longman Grammar of
Spoken and Written English. Harlow: Pearson Education; (iv-v) Brieger, N and Pohl, A
(2002)Technical English Vocabulary and Grammar. Oxford: Summertown pp88-89; (vi)
Paterson, K with Wedge, R Oxford Grammar for EAP. Oxford: OUP p194

In-sessional Academic Writing 5 University Language Centre

(EPS) Sem 1, Week 5 University of Manchester
9 Writing Practice

A Select three important terms from your subject area and write
definitions for them, giving examples where possible.

1_______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

2_______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

3_______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

B Outline an important categorisation in your subject area, giving

examples where possible.

________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

In-sessional Academic Writing 6 University Language Centre

(EPS) Sem 1, Week 5 University of Manchester