经管写作Writing in Business and Economics (full edition)
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Skills for writing in Economics
Reading
This exercise focuses on reading economic theory in texts, understanding it,
and writing in your own words.
In Economics assignments, as in most assignments you do, you need to read
theory in texts and articles. These explain the economics principles that you
will apply to the different contexts or situations represented in your assignment
tasks. To be able to apply theory to new situations in your assignments, you
need to be able to read and understand the economic principles.
Read, understand, and identify key terms
Read the following excerpt from McTaggart, D., Findlay, C and Parkin, M.
Macroeconomics. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Sydney. 1992. Page
66.
Demand
The quantity demanded of a good or service is the amount that consumers
plan to buy in a given period of time. Demands are different from wants. Wants
are the unlimited desires or wishes that people have from goods or services.
How many times have you thought that you would like something 'if only you
could afford it' or 'if it weren't so expensive'? Scarcity guarantees that many -
perhaps most - of our wants will never be satisfied. Demand reflects a decision
about which wants to satisfy. If you demand something, then you've made a
plan to buy it.
The quantity demanded is measured as an amount per unit of time. For
example, suppose a person consumes one cup of coffee a day. The quantity of
coffee demanded by that person can be expressed as one cup per day or
seven cups per week or 365 cups per year. Without a time, dimension, we
cannot tell whether a particular quantity demanded is large or small.
If you were trying to understand "demand" and take notes on it, your next step
would be to identify the key terms about demand in the above excerpt.
Identifying the key terms assists your understanding. You can't separate the
important from the less important information if it is only a mass of words for
you.
1. Can you identify the key terms about demand?
Your key terms
Another way to understand a concept or economics principle is to try to group
key information in note form.
Did you identify these key terms?:
Check your answer
Key terms
Quantity
demanded: Amount consumers plan to buy, over given time period.
Demands:
Different from wants, which are unlimited desires for
goods/services.
Quantity
wanted: Not necessarily quantity actually bought.
Quantity bought and sold called quantity traded.
If quantity demanded more than amount of goods available,
then quantity traded is less than quantity demanded.
Diagramming the concept
Diagramming is another way to consolidate your understanding of the concept.
It helps you to see how the key ideas in the concept are related.
2. Using the key words from Task 1(above), see if you can fill in the detail
on the diagram below.
Demand
Goods/services consumers to buy
Different from unlimited desires
Because of , most wants not
satisfied.
Therefore, demand involves decisions of what to satisfy.
Check your answer
Demand
Goods/services consumers plan to buy.
Different from wants, unlimited desires
Because of scarcity, most wants not satisfied.
Therefore, demand involves decisions of what to satisfy.
Write in your own words
When using an economics concept in your written work, it is important to be
able to write it in your own words (or paraphrase it). This demonstrates to your
examiner that you understand the concept.
You can use the keywords and their relationship from your notes or diagram as
the basis for your paraphrase.
3. Using the framework above, type in below an explanation of 'demand'
in your own words.
Enter here...
Check your answer
Does your paraphrase look something like this?
Demand is concerned with the goods and services that consumers plan to
buy in a given period. It is different from wants, which are unlimited desires.
Because of scarcity of goods or services, most wants are not satisfied.
Thus, demand involves decisions of what to satisfy.
An important note!
Remember: You must always reference through the footnote or the Harvard in
text method whenever you use material from texts and other sources. If you
take the words directly, you need to indicate this by using quotation marks.
When you write the idea from a text in your own words, you still need to
reference it. The Bibliography at the end of your assignment is where you
record full details about the sources that you have used in your assignment.
Applying theory
This exercise focuses on applying economic theory to your Economics
problems and in your written work.
As in most university subjects, this is an important aspect in writing in
