What's the key to social mobility? Being creative. (Given-New Principle)

Students got stuck into the second and third forums of the Hong Kong Outstanding Students' Association's Hong Kong Youth Summit 2015 (HKYS 15) this month at the University of Hong Kong.

a. Vocabulary

b. How is the “Given – New Principle” applied throughout the section entitled 'Creativity can lead to success'?

Understanding the Given-New Principle can help you in Paper 1 as well. For example, it can help you answer the following types of questions.

• Reference:
  • The Given-New Principle relies heavily on referencing to avoid repetition.
  • Being familiar with the Given-New Principle will help you appreciate the importance of tracking references.
  • Don't fall into the trap of not knowing what you don't know.
    • You know when you don't know a difficult word but do you know when you don't know a reference?
    • You fall into this trap when you skip over seemingly easy words like "it", "this", "that", "they" etc.
    • Make sure you trace references as you read.
• Vocabulary:
  • The Given-New Principle relies heavily on synonyms, umbrella words (hypernyms) and examples to avoid repetition.
  • Understanding this will allow you to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words, especially if they appear at the beginning of a sentence.
• Development of arguments:
  • Awareness of the Given-New Principle should help you understand the importance of understanding a text as a whole.
  • It should also help you figure out gaps in your understanding since good writers don't have giant leaps in logic.
  • The ability to follow the development of an argument builds on the skills of referencing and guessing the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary.