77  Explore, apply, reflect

For this exercise, we have taken the paragraphs from the introduction sections of two published articles and have arranged these in a random order.

Examples

Instructions

Step 1: Functional summaries

Write a one-sentence summary of each paragraph. Your summary should describe the purpose of the paragraph in the context of an introduction, rather than the specific topic.

Examples for introduction paragraphs

Content-Specific Summary (Avoid)	Functional/Abstract Summary (Do This)
“The author says many people are using TikTok for news these days.”	Establishes the real-world importance or prevalence of the broad topic.
“This paragraph explains that previous studies on TikTok only looked at Gen Z.”	Identifies a specific “gap” or “niche” in the existing research.
“The author defines ‘algorithmic literacy’ as the ability to…”	Clarifies a key theoretical concept or term necessary for the study.
“In this study, we test if age affects how people trust TikTok news.”	Explicitly states the current study’s research questions or hypotheses.

Step 2: Reconstruct the flow

Attempt to arrange the paragraphs in the correct order.

Solutions

You can find the correct orders and suggested labels for the paragraphs in the file below. We will tell you the password for the file after the exercise.