TSL014

FUNDAMENTALS OF ACADEMIC READING

ARTICLE ANALYSIS

TITLE OF ARTICLE
HOW THE PLASTIC BOTTLE WENT FROM MIRACLE CONTAINER TO
HATED GARBAGE

Name & Student ID 1. ATHIRAH UMAIRAH BINTI MOHD AKMAL

(2023617538)
2. ROSAALIYA DINI BINTI ROSAIDI (2023619746)
3. NUR MAISARA BINTI ABDULLAH (2023619478)
4. MUHAMMAD FARID BIN ASHAARI (05081080665)
Group PI020T06
Lecturer’s Name MISS HAYATI SYAFINA BINTI AMARUDDIN
Date of Submission 17TH NOVEMBER 2023
Marks (for lecturer’s use)
 TSL014 – Fundamentals of Academic Reading
Article Analysis
Answer Template

PART A: Identifying Information

Instructions: Fill in the template below by identifying the items listed. Your answers can be
provided in bullet form but in complete sentences.

Criteria /
Information
Guiding Questions

1. Authority Laura Parker

• Who is/are the author(s)?
(Name of Individual(s) /
Organisation)
2. Date/Year of publication 24th August 2019
• When was it published?

3. Source National Geographic (website):

• Where did you find the https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article
information: website, blog, /plastic-bottles
book, journal, etc.?
• URL (for online sources)

BODY PARAGRAPH 1

1. Topic of paragraph Plastic bottles and bottle caps

• What is the topic of the
paragraph?
2. Main idea (stated/implied)
• What is the author’s main
idea? (If it’s not stated, the
implied main idea must be
formulated).
(Stated main idea)
3. Supporting details
• What are the author’s
supporting details? (Include
citations, if available)
• What type(s) of supporting
details does the author use
for this body paragraph?
Plastic bottles and bottle caps rank as the third and
fourth most collected plastic trash items in the Ocean
Conservancy’s annual September beach cleanups in
more than 100 countries.
• MAJOR DETAIL: Activists are zeroing in on the
bottle as next in line for banning, after plastic
shopping bags.
(Type of supporting details: Observation)
• MINOR DETAIL: The tiny towns of Concord,
Massachusetts and Bundanoon, Australia
already have banned bottles, as have numerous
public parks, museums, universities, and zoos in
Europe and the United States.
(Type of supporting details: Example)
• REMARKS: The author managed to utilized
many supporting details in his or her writing to
strengthen the main point in which consist of
observation type for supporting detail 1 and
example type for supporting detail 2.

1. Topic of paragraph
• What is the topic of the
paragraph?
2. Main idea (stated/implied)
• What is the author’s main
idea? (If it’s not stated, the
implied main idea must be
formulated).
3. Supporting details
• What are the author’s
supporting details? (Include
citations, if available)
• What type(s) of supporting
details does the author use
for this body paragraph?
BODY PARAGRAPH 2
Consumers drinking bottled beverages
Early plastic bottles showed promise as a lightweight
alternative, but they leached chemicals and failed to
contain carbonated
drinks.
(Stated main idea)
• MINOR DETAIL: Consumers have been drinking
bottled beverages for more than a century, first
in glass bottles, then in steel and, later,
aluminium cans.
(Type of supporting detail: Historical
data)
• MINOR DETAIL: Early plastic bottles showed
promise as a lightweight alternative, but they
leached chemicals and failed to contain
carbonated drinks.
(Type of supporting detail:
Observation)
• MINOR DETAIL: If the bottle didn’t explode, the
carbonation fizzled.
(Type of supporting detail: Explanation)
• MAJOR DETAIL: It wasn’t until the 1970s when
a miracle plastic known as PET came along
and changed the game.
(Type of supporting detail:
Historical data)
• REMARKS: The author has utilised multiple
types of supporting detail to strengthen the main
point. Observation type for supporting detail 1,
explanation type for supporting detail 2 and
historical data type for supporting detail 3.

1. Topic of paragraph
• What is the topic of the
paragraph?
2. Main idea (stated/implied)
• What is the author’s main
idea? (If it’s not stated, the
implied main idea must be
formulated).
3. Supporting details
• What are two of the
author’s supporting details?
(Include citations, if
available)
• What type(s) of supporting
details does the author use
for this body paragraph?
BODY PARAGRAPH 3
After bottles become trash
After bottles become trash, they can be made into
something new.
(Implied main idea: Formula 3)
• MAJOR DETAIL: Once bottles have become
trash, entrepreneurs around the world are
turning them into printer ink cartridges, fence
posts, roofing tiles, carpets, flooring, and boats,
to name only a few items.
(Type of supporting detail: Examples)
• MINOR DETAIL: Even houses have been
constructed from bottles.
(Type of supporting detail: Observations)
• MINOR DETAIL: The latest is a three-story
modern on the banks of the Meteghan River in
Nova Scotia, promoted as able to withstand a
Category 5 hurricane. It only took 612,000
bottles.
(Type of supporting detail: Observations)
• COMMENT: The author uses example type for
supporting detail 1 and observation type for
supporting detail 3.
PART B: Analysing Information

Instructions: Based on the information extracted in Part A, fill in the template below in one
(1) short paragraph for each criterion. Explain your answers.

Criteria / Information
Guiding Questions

From our observation, we agreed that the main ideas

1. Comprehensiveness of
information
• Are the main ideas well-
supported?
• Can they be further
elaborated?
are well supported because they consist of all the
information we need in order to understand the whole
paragraph. We also agree that they can be further
elaborated, as there are many other examples that
could be taken into consideration since the topic covers
a wide range of possibilities.

From our analysis, we noticed the author rarely did use

2. Organisation of information discourse markers to link the ideas but, the author
• Does the author use managed to convey the information clearly albeit the
discourse markers to link readers need to have a good contextual skill to
ideas? understand the text.
• Is there a logical
sequence to the points
provided in the text?
• The language used is moderate but still
3. Use of Language comprehensive.
• Is the language used
easy, moderate, or • There are some unfamiliar words from the
difficult to understand? articles:
• Are there many unfamiliar -ubiquitous (paragraph 2)
words used in the article? -burgeoning (paragraph 5)
Did you have to use any -glut (paragraph 5)
of the following skills to
understand the meaning • We had used contextual analysis skills to
of a word: understand the meaning of the words listed
o Dictionary skills above:
o Word structural
analysis • Ubiquitous means something to be everywhere;
o Contextual very common. Using inference clues, it can be
analysis reasonably explained the meaning of the word if
we look at the phrase ‘consumerism is the sheer
speed’. We can make an intelligent guess that
the meaning of the word ubiquitous is that it is
increasing in number.
 • Burgeoning means beginning to grow or develop
rapidly. Using experience clues, the 'crisis of
plastic waste’ is a general knowledge and that
the crisis is known to be growing in size.

• Glut means having more than enough of

something. Using inference clues, we can make
an intelligent guess by the phrase ‘discarded
bottles clogging waterways’ it would need a huge
amount of discarded bottles to clog a waterway.

PART C: Evaluating Information

Instructions: In your opinion, as a reader, what are the article’s strengths and
weaknesses based on the following criteria?

a. Comprehensiveness of information
b. Organisation of information
c. Use of language
 Elaborate your answer in 150-200 words.

In our opinion, as a reader, the articles’ strengths and weaknesses based on the
comprehensiveness of information is that the topic is general which makes it possible to cover
a lot of aspects about the usage of plastic bottles. The article also discusses beverage
companies' efforts to improve recycling and reduce their environmental impact on nature. The
historical information that has been included in the article makes it interesting to read.

Moving on to the next point, which is the organization of information. The whole article
is easy to understand but there are no discourse markers to indicate new ideas. This may
cause the readers to be confused if the paragraphs are talking about the same or a new idea.

Last but not least, the final aspect which is the use of language. There are several
minor mistakes and incorrect use of certain phrases that could be identified in the article. One
of the examples is in paragraph 8, the sentence is written as is getting out ahead of the
problem instead of is getting ahead of the problem.

To sum up, this article is suitable for people of all ages. However, it still needs some
improvements with the error that we have stated.
(211 words)

(211 words)