Y09W38WR What Ocean Acidification Means for Marine Life
Part 1
How to Write
An informative piece shares knowledge or experience on a topic with readers who need clear, practical understanding. It is written for an audience who expects the writer to know the subject and present it helpfully. The tone is knowledgeable, direct and accessible — not academic or detached.
- Ideas & content: Choose what is most useful for your reader. If drawing on personal experience, focus on what is specific and real rather than general observations.
- Structure & cohesion: Organise ideas into a clear flow — an opening that establishes the topic, a middle that develops it with specific detail, and a close that leaves the reader with something useful.
- Voice & audience: Write as someone who genuinely knows this topic. Stay consistent in tone — confident but not preachy, clear but not simplistic.
- Language choices: Use vocabulary that is precise without being unnecessarily formal. Write in the present tense for ongoing truths and anchor abstract ideas with specific examples.
- Conventions: Spell key terms accurately. Use punctuation to control sentence rhythm — commas and full stops are your most useful tools.
Common pitfalls: Staying too general — specific detail is what makes an informative piece actually useful. Repeating the same point in different words rather than adding new information.
Part 2
Your Task Plan for Today
Question: Write a three-paragraph informative piece explaining what ocean acidification is, what is causing it and what it means for marine ecosystems. Select the most relevant material from the notes, organise it clearly and write entirely in your own words. You will need to decide what to leave out.
Stimulus: The following notes have been gathered from various sources about the ocean and ocean acidification. They are unorganised and contain more information than you will need.
- The ocean covers approximately 71 percent of the Earth’s surface.
- The ocean produces about half of the world’s oxygen through photosynthesis by marine plants and phytoplankton.
- The ocean absorbs around 25 to 30 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activities.
- When carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater it forms carbonic acid, lowering the ocean’s pH - a process called ocean acidification.
- The ocean’s average pH has dropped from 8.2 to 8.1 since the Industrial Revolution, representing a 26 percent increase in acidity.
- Acidification affects the ability of marine organisms such as oysters, mussels, corals and some plankton to form shells and skeletons made of calcium carbonate.
- Coral reefs support approximately 25 percent of all marine species despite covering less than one percent of the ocean floor.
- Coral bleaching occurs when water temperatures rise and corals expel the algae living in their tissues, causing them to turn white and become vulnerable.
- The Great Barrier Reef has experienced multiple mass bleaching events.
- The deep ocean remains poorly understood - a significant proportion of deep-sea species have not yet been identified.
- Ocean currents distribute heat around the planet and affect weather patterns on land.
- Overfishing has significantly reduced fish populations globally.
- Marine protected areas restrict human activity in designated ocean zones to allow ecosystems to recover.
- Plastic pollution affects marine life through ingestion and entanglement.
- Microplastics have been found in ocean water at every depth, including the deep ocean.
Task Analysis: This task asks you to explain something genuinely — not a textbook summary, but what it actually is or how it genuinely works. Your explanation should be clear, well-organised and accessible to readers who want to understand the topic in depth.
Quick Plan
Before you write, plan:
- Your core explanation — what is the single most important thing readers need to understand?
- 2–3 key points that build on each other logically
- One specific example or case study that makes the explanation concrete
- Your closing synthesis — what readers should take away?
Angle / controlling idea
Decide what aspect of this topic genuinely interests you. An effective explanation has a clear focus — it does not try to cover everything, but instead explains one aspect deeply and clearly.
Paragraph focus
Organise your explanation into clear paragraphs, each with a single idea. Each paragraph should build logically on the one before — readers should be able to follow your thinking step by step.
Evidence & examples
Use specific, concrete detail to make your explanation clear. If you are explaining a concept, give a worked example. If you are explaining a process, walk through the actual steps. Make the abstract concrete.
Key terms
If you use technical terms, define them clearly the first time you use them. Your readers may not have background knowledge — explain as if writing for someone intelligent but unfamiliar with the topic.
Tone & voice
Write as a clear, knowledgeable explainer — someone who understands the topic and can make it accessible. Avoid sounding like a textbook or talking down to readers. Be genuine and direct.
Ending strategy
Close by returning to your core idea and showing how all the pieces fit together. Your final paragraph should give readers a sense of completion — they understand what you were explaining and why it matters.
- 选择某一选项会使整个页面刷新。
- 在新窗口中打开。