Advanced English for Academic Purposes

Advanced English for Academic Purposes

AEAP

IELTS WRITINGTask Two

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Task 2: Argument Essay

Six Types of Argument Essays:• Agree / disagree

• Discuss two opinions

• Advantages & disadvantages

• Causes (reasons) & solutions

• Causes (reasons) & effects

• Problems & solutionsNot every essay will fit one of these patterns, but many do. The golden rule is to ALWAYS read the question very carefully to see exactly what you are being asked to do.

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Task 2: Argument Essay

Four Types of Argument Essays:

1. Opinion

2. For & Against

3. Comparison & Contrast

4. Cause & Problem & Solution

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Opinion

Sample TaskYou should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Present a written argument to an educated reader with no specialist knowledge of the following topic:

The prison is not a cure for crime.To reduce crime in the long term, courts should significantly reduce prison sentences and focus on education and community work to help criminals not to re-offend.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?

You should write at least 250 words.Use your own knowledge and experience and support your arguments with examples and relevant evidence.

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For & Against

Sample Task

Some people regard animals as the source of food or clothes, and others think that they should be treated like pets.

State you opinion from both sides.

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Comparison & Contrast

Sample Task

Compare the advantages and disadvantages of three of the following as media for communicating information. State which you consider to be the most effective.

books，radio，television，film，theatre

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Cause & Problem & Solution

Sample Task

What are the effects of global warming? Suggest some recommendations to minimize these effects.

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Rules for essay writing

Not every essay will fit one of these patterns, but many do. The golden

rule is to ALWAYS read the question very carefully to see exactly what

you are being asked to do.

Now let us have a go.

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How to compose a task 2 essay

1. Identifying the Topic

2. Identifying the Task

3. Brainstorming and Planning

4. Ideas for IELTS

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How do you identify the topic?

• Remember, in IELTS writing, you are usually presented with some issue or problem that is currently affecting society and you need to discuss it.

• So you need to read the question carefully and identify what the issue is. You will normally only be looking for one or two key words.

• Have a look at the following question. What is the issue?

The crime rate among teenagers has increased dramatically in many countries.

Discuss some possible reasons for this increase and suggest solutions.

crime teenager

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In this case, the question specifically wants you to address the issue of TEENAGE crime.

When you identify the topic, always look carefully to see if it is being narrowed down to a particular area that you need to focus on.

crime teenager

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• Once you have identified the topic for your essay, you need to identify the task.

• The ‘task’ is the part of the question that tells you what you have to do to answer it.

• This is one of the most important things you will have to do when you analyze the essay question.

• Because 25% of your grade for the essay is based on ‘Task Response’ - how you have responded to the task.

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• The task - or ‘what you have to do’ - is usually at the end of the prompt.

• As you can see, you are being told to ‘Discuss some possible reasons for this increase and suggest solutions’.

• It’s very common in task 2 IELTS essay questions to get asked to do two things, and this question is a good example of this:

Why teenage crime has increased

Ways to solve this problem

• You MUST discuss both those things to ensure you have fully answered the question and you must write roughly equal amounts about each part.

reasons solutions

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Doing any of the following things will reduce your score for task response, and hence may reduce your overall score:

• Only writing about reasons or only solutions

• Writing most of your essay about reasons and only a small part on solutions (or visa versa)

• Writing about the reasons and solutions for crime in general, and not referring to teenage crime (the topic)

• Writing about neither reasons nor solutions

This is why it is so important to spend some time at the beginning making sure you identify the task so that you know what you have to write about.

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2. Identifying the Task-A Practice

• Advances in technology and automation have reduced the need for manual labor. Therefore, working hours should be reduced.

• To what extent do you agree?

1. What do you need to write about?

2. Write your ideas down, and then share with someone around you.

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You have to:

1) say whether you agree or disagree with working hours being reduced

2) say how much you agree or disagree ("to what extent").

3) discuss the reasons why you agree, and the reasons why you disagree if looking at both sides of the issue. Or put another way:

The advantages of reducing working hours

The disadvantages of reducing working hours

If you find more reasons to agree than disagree, then you can write more about this side of the argument, or visa versa.

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• The rising levels of congestion and air pollution found in most of theworld cities can be attributed directly to the rapidly increasing numberof private cars in use. In order to reverse this decline in the quality oflife in cities, attempts must be made to encourage people to use theircars less and public transport more.

• Discuss possible ways to encourage the use of public transport.

a. Why people have been using cars more and public transport less

b. How to get people to use public transport morec. The causes of increasing congestion and air pollution.b. How to get people to use public transport more

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• As global trade increases, many goods including those we use on a

daily basis are produced in other countries and transported long

distances.

• Do the benefits of the trend outweigh the drawback?

a. (a) The benefits of this (b) The disadvantages of this (c) Your opinion on whether it is more beneficial or notb. (a) The benefits of this (b) Your opinion on whether is is more beneficial or notc. (a) The disadvantages of this (b) Your opinion on whether it is more beneficial or not

a. (a) The benefits of this (b) The disadvantages of this (c) Your opinion on whether it is more beneficial or not

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• Unemployment has become an increasing problem in the recent past.

• What factors contribute to an increase in unemployment and what

steps can be taken to solve the problem?

a. (a) The causes of increasing unemployment (b) How to solve this problem

b. (a) The problems with increasing unemployment (b) How to solve this problem.

c. (a) The reasons why unemployment is increasing.

a. (a) The causes of increasing unemployment (b) How to solve this problem

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• The crime rate among teenagers has increased dramatically in many countries.

• Discuss some possible reasons for this increase and suggest solutions.

3.1 Developing Focus Questions

For this question, you need to write about reasons for the increase in teenage crime and solutions.

In order to make sure you fully answer the question it is a good ideas to develop some focus questions i.e. questions that will help you focus on what you need to write.

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These are possible focus questions for this essay question:

Focus question 1: Why has teenage crime increased?

Focus question 2: What can be done about it?

• You then need to brainstorm answers to these questions:

Why has teenage crime increased?

• Breakdown in the nuclear family

• Lack of things to do

What can be done about it?

• Government - Provide better support for families & stricter punishments

• Individuals – take responsibility

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However, you now need to think about how your are going to extend and support those ideas you have brainstormed. In other words, you need to ask yourself further questions about each of your ideas. For example:

Why has there been a breakdown in the nuclear family?What is the effect of this?What is a good example of it?

Answering questions like these will make sure you have fully supported and explained all your points. For example:

Why has there been a breakdown in the nuclear family?- high divorce ratesWhat is the effect of this?- no male role model; boys go astray & may commit crime

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Model Answer

Over the last decade there has been a massive rise in the level of crimecommitted by teenagers in a number of countries. It is important toestablish why this has happened and to look at ways to solve the problem.

One reason is the breakdown in the nuclear family. The high divorcerates have meant many children have been brought up in one-parentfamilies with no father to act as a role model which is detrimental to theirdevelopment. This is particularly important for boys, who without thisguidance are easily led astray by bad influences such as drugs andcrime. Another factor is the lack of things to do for the young. Forexample, in the UK, many television programs about this issue haveshown that teenagers hang around in the evenings with little todo. When this happens, the boredom means they will find their ownentertainment, which is often crime.

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Model Answer

There are, however, ways to tackle these problems. Firstly,the government should provide more support for families. They could,for instance, invest more into building and staffing youth centers whichwould provide guidance through the youth workers and also enableteenagers to focus their attention on sport and other activities. Parentsshould also be encouraged to take more responsibility for theirchildren. Ultimately, the onus is on them to ensure their children arebrought up in a loving environment which would make them less likely toturn to crime. They could, for example, find a male relative to act as a role

model.

Therefore, it is clear that there are various reasons for this rise in crime,but solutions are available. If we begin to tackle the issue now, we maybe able to prevent the situation from declining further.

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Comment and reflect

• Comment the sample answer.• Task Achievement (25%)• Coherence and Cohesion (25%)• Lexical Resource (25%)• Grammatical Range and Accuracy (25%)

• Reflect the following question: How does task two in IELTS writing relate to our academic study?

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A Reflective task

1. How to Plan an Essay

• Writing an essay without a plan is like trying to put IKEA furniture together without any instructions. You will get half way through it, get lost and frustrated and you will lose control of your entire essay.

• A good plan should be like a map that guides you through the essay and makes sure you get to where the examiner wants you to go. Every sentence should have purpose, if you are just writing for the sake of writing then it won’t be a very good essay. Less is more in many cases and a good plan makes sure that every single sentence has a purpose.

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A Reflective task

1. How to Plan an EssayParagraph 1- Introduction

Sentence 1- Paraphrase Sentence

Sentence 2- These Statement – advantages outweigh disadvantages

Sentence 3- Outline Statement – Advantages- happiness Disadvantages- technology

Paragraph 2- Why advantages are strong

Sentence 4- Topic Sentence – happiness

Sentence 5- Explanation – death causes unhappiness and longer lives lead to happiness

Sentence 6- Example –Okinawa and Sardinia

Paragraph 3- Why disadvantage are weak

Sentence 7- Topic Sentence – technology

Sentence 8- Explanation – technology can solve any of the drawbacks

Sentence 9- Example – GM crops and renewable energy

Paragraph 4- Conclusion

Sentence 1- Summary of main points

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A Reflective task

2. How to Paraphrase

• Paraphrasing is simply re-writing a phrase or sentence so that it has the same meaning, but with different words.

• Paraphrasing is one of the most important skills to learn before doing your writing in English. It is most important for writing and speaking, but will also help you in the reading and listening.

• In other words, if you know how to paraphrase you are more likely to success in your academic career you need.

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A Reflective task


• Let’s look at an example.

• Example: Paraphrasing is one of the most important skills to learn before doing your IELTS test.

• Paraphrased: Prior to taking the IELTS test, mastering paraphrasing is one of the most crucial things to do.

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A Reflective task


• Method Number 1: Using SynonymsSynonyms are different words that have the same meaning. For example, ‘humans’ is a synonym of ‘people’ and ‘attractive’ is a synonym of ‘beautiful’. This method simply replaces words with the same meaning in order to produce a new sentence.

For example:

• My car needs petrol.

• My vehicle requires fuel.

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A Reflective task


• Method Number 2: Change the Word OrderChanging the word order also allows us to effectively paraphrase a sentence, but again, we have to be careful.

• Question: As languages such as Spanish, Chinese and English become more widely used, there is a fear that that many minority languages may die out.

• Paraphrased by changing word order: There is a fear that many minority languages may die out, as languages such as Spanish, Chinese and English become more widely used.

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A Reflective task


• Method Number 3: Change the Form of the WordThere are many different forms of words including nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Changing the form of a word allows us to paraphrase effectively.

• Question: Longer life spans and improvements in the health of older people suggest that people over the age of sixty-five can continue to live full and active lives.

• Paraphrased by changing word form: Longer life spans and improvements in the health of older people are suggesting that people over the age of sixty-five can continue living full and active lives.

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A Reflective task


• Method Number 4: Change from Active to PassiveThe passive voice is often used in academic writing

• We often use the passive voice in academic writing when we don’t want to say it is our opinion.

• Example active: People say that global warming is caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

• Example passive: Global warming is said to be caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

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A Reflective task

3. Coherence and Cohesion

• How to create coherent and cohesive paragraph?

• Unity

• Coherence

• Transition

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What is the definition of a paragraph?

A paragraph is a group of related sentences that discuss

one (and usually only one) main idea.

There are three criteria of a good paragraph: Unity

Coherence

Transition

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Unity

• Definition: unity means a paragraph discuss one and only one main idea from the beginning to the end; every supporting sentence must directly explain or prove the main idea.

• Note:

• To achieve unity you must: 1. Discuss only one idea in a paragraph.2. Always stay on the topic in the supporting sentences.

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How do you think of the following paragraph?

Adventure travel is the hot trend in the tourism industry. Ordinary peopleare no longer content to spend their two weeks away from the office restingon a sunny beach in Florida. More and more often, they are choosing tospend their vacations rafting down wild rivers, hiking through steamy rainforests, climbing the world's highest mountains, or crossing slipperyglaciers. People of all ages are choosing educational study tours for theirvacations.

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Coherence

Definition: for coherence in writing, the sentences must hold together; that is, the movements from one sentence to the next must be logic and smooth; there must be no sudden jumps.

• Four ways to achieve coherence:1. Repeat key nouns.2. Use consistent pronouns3. Use transition signals to link ideas.4. Arrange your ideas in logical order.

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1) Repeat the key noun

English

English has almost become an international language. Except for Chinese,more people speak it than any other language. Spanish is the officiallanguage of more countries in the world, but more countries have it as theirofficial or unofficial second language. More than 70 percent of the world'smail is written in it. It is the primary language on the Internet. In internationalbusiness, it is used more than any other language, and it is the language ofairline pilots and air traffic controllers all over the world. 'Moreover,although French used to be the language of diplomacy, it has displaced itthroughout the world, Therefore, unless you plan to spend your life alone ona desert island in the middle-of the Pacific Ocean, it is a useful language toknow.

The key noun is never repeated.

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2) Consistent pronouns

• Use the same person or number throughout the paragraph

• Don’t change you to he or she

• Don’t change he to they

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3) Transition

Transition signals are expressions such as, first, finally, and

however, or phrases such as in conclusion, on the other hand, and as a

result. Other kinds of words such as subordinators (when, although),

coordinators (and, but), adjectives (another, additional), and

prepositions (because of, in spite of) can serve as transition signals.

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3) Transition signals

Transition signals are expressions like:

• Words: first, however……

• Phrases like in conclusion, on the other hand or as a result.

• Subordinators (when, although),

• Coordinates (and, but ),

• Adjective( another, additional)

• Prepositions( because of, in spite of )

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4) Logical order

• Chronological order

• Logical order of division of ideas

• Comparison / contrast

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A Reflective task

4. How to write a paragraph?

• Topic Sentence

• Supporting Sentence

• Conclusion Sentence

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What is a paragraph?

• A group of related sentences that discuss one (usually one）main idea.

• A paragraph can be as short as one sentence, or as long as ten sentences, but it should develop the main idea clearly.

• The first word should be indented about a half inches from the left margin.

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The topic sentence1. Functions: indicating the topic and controlling ideas of a paragraph.

2. Constituents: the topic and controlling ideas.

3. Requirements:

• A topic sentence is a complete sentence with a subject and a verb.

• It doesn't neither too general nor too specific.

4.Position: usually the first sentence of a paragraph.

• Experience writers sometimes put the topic sentence in other locations , but the best spot is usually right at the beginning.

• Sometimes it comes at the end. In this case, the paragraph often begins with a series of examples. Other paragraphs may begin with a series of facts, and the topic sentence at the end is the conclusion from these facts.

AEAPHow to identify a topic sentence?

• A complete sentence. (contains at least one subject and one verb.)

• Contains both a topic and a controlling idea. (names the topic and then limits the topic to a specific area.)

Examples of good topic sentences.1. Driving on freeways requires skill and alertness.2. Registering for college classes can be a frustrating experience for new students.3. The rise of indie film is due to several factors.

• The most general statement and does not give any specific details. Examples The Arabic origin of many English words is not always obvious.× The slang expression so long (meaning “good-bye”) is probably a corruption of the Arabic salaam. (too specific)× English has been influenced by other languages (too general)

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Supporting Sentences

• Definition: Explain or prove the topic sentence. (Students need to use specific details to be thorough and convincing.)

• Types: examples:

1. It can be form your own knowledge and experience.2. Make your writing interesting and lively.3. Example phrases: for example, for instance, such as.

• Statistics• quotations

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Concluding Sentences

Purposes:1. It signals the end of the paragraph.2. It leaves the reader with the most important ideas to remember.

Ways to conclude: 1. By summarizing the main points of the paragraph.2. By repeating the topic sentence in different words.

Note: Concluding sentence is not necessary to a multiparagraph essay.

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The Concluding Sentence

Singles:

1. Followed by a comma:

• Finally, lastly, in brief, in conclusion, indeed, in short, therefore, thus, to sum up

2. Not followed by a comma:

• The evidence suggests that, there can be no doubt that, these examples show that, we can see that

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The Concluding Sentence

Notes:

1. Many writing teachers think in conclusion and in summary are overused and so will not want to use them.

2. Don't use at last as an end-of-paragraph signal.

• At last means at the end of a long period of a time.

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Advanced English for Academic Purposes