Analyze the development of informational passages: set 1
Learn with an example
📢 Read the text.
Ida Wilson Lewis, Lighthouse Keeper
One of the world’s best known lighthouse keepers is Ida Wilson Lewis of the American state of Rhode Island. Over the course of her career, she saved somewhere between thirteen and twenty-five lives, including some soldiers and even a sheep.
Ida Wilson Lewis was born in 1842. In 1853, her father was appointed the first lighthouse keeper at Lime Rock, an island in Newport Harbour, Rhode Island. A few months after his appointment, he was stricken by a paralytic stroke. As a result, Lewis and her mother carried out the lighthouse duties in addition to their everyday household chores.
Performing numerous lighthouse and domestic duties groomed Lewis for her eventual appointment as the official lighthouse keeper of Lime Rock and set her down the path to becoming a renowned rescuer. Lewis was an expert oarswoman and had developed exceptional boat-manoeuvring skills from making countless trips back and forth between the island and the mainland to transport supplies and her four siblings.
Lewis’s first rescue occurred in 1854 when she was just twelve years old. Lewis came to the aid of four men whose small boat had capsized. But it was the 1869 rescue of Sergeant Adams and Private McLaughlin of Fort Adams that made her famous. Because Lewis saved these two men from drowning in the midst of a squall, she was deemed the Grace Darling of America, after Grace Darling, the famed English lighthouse keeper’s daughter who helped save several people from a shipwreck in 1838.
For her bravery, Lewis was awarded a silver medal from the Life Saving Benevolent Association of New York and presented with a new boat by the citizens of Newport. She was featured on the cover of Harper’s Weekly magazine, becoming the only lighthouse keeper ever to receive such a distinction. Lewis received numerous other awards throughout her life, including the Gold Lifesaving Medal (awarded to an individual who attempts rescue at the peril of his or her own life) and the American Cross of Honour.
Ida Wilson Lewis’s career ended only when she died at the Lime Rock Light Station on 24 October 1911 at the age of 69. In 1924, the Rhode Island legislature renamed Lime Rock to the Ida Lewis Rock. The Lighthouse Service then officially changed the light station’s name to the Ida Lewis Lighthouse, the only time an American lighthouse has been renamed for a keeper. The lighthouse was converted to a yacht club in 1928 and is still known as the Ida Lewis Yacht Club.
Many of Ida Wilson Lewis’s personal items, including her Gold Lifesaving Medal, were bequeathed to the Newport Historical Society following her death. And as for that sheep she saved? In 1877, a sheep jumped from the wharf during a gale. Three men attempted to rescue the sheep, but when their boat met with trouble, Lewis rescued all four.
Adapted from the National Archives, ‘Ida Wilson Lewis, Lighthouse Keeper and Fearless Federal Worker’
What is the main focus of the text?
- the legacy of Ida Wilson Lewis, a lighthouse keeper little known in her time
- the education and training of lighthouse keeper Ida Wilson Lewis
- the achievements and honours of lighthouse keeper Ida Wilson Lewis
The text discusses at length the achievements of lighthouse keeper Ida Wilson Lewis, including saving ‘somewhere between thirteen and twenty-five lives,’ as well as the various honours she received during her life and after her death.
So, the main focus of the text is the achievements and honours of lighthouse keeper Ida Wilson Lewis.
📢 Read the text.
Test Anxiety
Anxiety is a basic human emotion characterised by fear and uncertainty that typically appears when an individual perceives an event as being a threat to the ego or self-esteem. In some instances, such as avoiding dangerous situations, anxiety can be helpful. When taken to extremes, however, it may produce undesirable results.
One of the most threatening events that causes anxiety in students today is testing. When students develop an extreme fear of performing poorly on an examination, they experience test anxiety. Test anxiety contributes to a variety of negative outcomes, including psychological distress, academic underachievement, academic failure and insecurity. Many students have the ability to do well on exams but may not do so because of high levels of test anxiety. Because of our society’s emphasis on testing, test anxiety could potentially limit these students’ opportunities at school.
Test anxiety is made up of three major elements: cognitive, affective and behavioural. Students who experience test anxiety from the cognitive perspective may be preoccupied with negative thoughts, doubting their academic ability and intellectual competence. Furthermore, they are more likely to overemphasise the potential negative results of testing and feel helpless during testing situations. Some students may feel the need to answer every question on the test correctly. When they are not able to, they may view themselves as incompetent. These students may be overcome by negative thoughts such as, ‘I knew I was not going to pass this test,’ ‘I know I am going to get a bad mark,’ or ‘Everyone knows I am not clever.’ In order for students to have the best opportunity for academic success, they must minimise or control their negative thinking.
From the affective perspective, test anxiety causes some students to experience physiological reactions such as increased heart rate, feelings of nausea, frequent urination, cold hands, dry mouth and muscle spasms. These reactions may be present before, during and even after the test is completed. In conjunction with the physiological reactions, emotions such as worry, fear of failure and panic may be present. When students are not able to control their emotions, they may experience higher levels of stress, thereby making it more difficult for them to concentrate.
Finally, there’s the behavioural perspective. Students with test anxiety often express that anxiety by procrastinating and having inefficient study habits and test-taking skills. In addition, some students may physically feel tired or exhausted during test administration because they do not maintain a healthy diet, good sleeping habits or routine exercise.
Admittedly, facing test anxiety head-on is no fun. However, students who do so can make strides to reduce the cognitive, affective and behavioural components that test anxiety brings. As a result, they can make their test-taking experiences more successful and less painful.
Adapted from ERIC Counselling and Student Services Clearinghouse, ‘Test Anxiety’
What is the main focus of the text?
- the primary causes of test anxiety
- the main characteristics of test anxiety
- the most common ways to stave off test anxiety
The text says, ‘Test anxiety is made up of three major elements,’ or aspects: cognitive, affective and behavioral. It then discusses each one.
So, the main focus of the text is the main characteristics of test anxiety.
let’s practice!
Maps: The Art of a Science
- The history of civilisation has been illustrated by maps—maps that depict battles, scientific phenomena, and discoveries of new land throughout history. These maps can vary in numerous ways. For instance, by modern convention—and for no scientific reason—modern maps are usually oriented with north at the top. But Al Idrisi’s 1154 world map shows the Arabian Peninsula in the top centre of the map, with south at the top. Different societies in different parts of the world literally have different perspectives, which result from differences in physical geography, language, religion, cultural values and traditions and history.
- Furthermore, maps are made for many reasons, and as a result, there are many kinds of maps. Some made for general purposes may show roads, towns and cities, rivers and lakes, parks, and political boundaries. An example of a general-purpose map, or base map, is a topographic map, which portrays natural and man-made features of an area. Other maps are much more specific, conveying information primarily on a single topic. A map that depicts earthquake occurrences throughout the Pacific Ocean is an example of a special-purpose map, or thematic map. In general, every map is made for a specific purpose.
- A map’s purpose guides its design. In choosing the scale, for instance, mapmakers consider how large an area they want to map and how much detail they want to show. The selection of symbols, which can include lines, patterns and colours, also affects the utility of the map. And of course, there’s the question of what information to feature versus what to omit. For example, scientific maps like Edmund Halley’s 1701 map of magnetic compass variations across the Atlantic Ocean usually show only enough geographic data to orient the user, while emphasising the theme. Likewise, maps created for a completely different purpose include only as much detail as necessary; for example, the 1886 Sanborn Fire Insurance maps include all the details needed for assessing insurance coverage, but nothing more.
- A map’s purpose is usually clear from its title and explanation, but other information—author, date, publisher, source of funding, etc.—hints at why and for whom the map was made. A knowledgeable map reader, recognising that a map is both a simplification and a distortion of reality, will look for clues to the cartographer’s purpose—and even his or her biases. After all, maps are the result of conscious design decisions. Cartographers only show the features they want to show, and they often generalise the data.
- Cartography blends science and art, and the artistic choices affect the experience of the map. A beautiful map may become popular, even though it may be less accurate than a plainer version. Details of cartographic style affect how a map is perceived, and perception varies with perspective. Studying maps shows us that people understand the world differently and express this understanding in different ways.
Adapted from US Geological Survey, ‘Exploring Maps—Information’