SUMMARISE AND REPEAT YOUR OPINION

Here are my 'main body' paragraphs for last week's question. Notice that it's possible

to put advantages and disadvantages together in the same paragraph. Also, you need

to be careful not to write too much!

Advantages / disadvantages of books:

The main advantage of books is that they are usually considered to be reliable sources

of information. People tend to refer to books when they want to research a subject in

depth, and for this reason they continue to play an important role in education. On the

other hand, books quickly go out of date, and therefore they are not the best medium

for communicating news stories.

Advantages / disadvantages of radio:

Radio is a much more effective medium than books for the communication of up-to-

date information. We can listen to news broadcasts about events as they happen, and a

key benefit of radio is that we can listen to it while doing other activities, such as

driving or working. The main drawback of radio, when compared to books or

television, is that there is no visual element; we cannot see what the broadcaster is

describing.

Advantages / disadvantages of TV, and my opinion:

In my opinion, television is the most effective of these three media because it brings

us closer to reality than a book or radio programme ever can. For example, we can

watch events as they take place on the other side of the world, or we can see the body

language of a politician who is being interviewed. The disadvantages of television are

that programmes tend to be short and interrupted by advertisements, meaning that

information is presented in limited depth.

Many students waste time writing long introductions and conclusions. These two

paragraphs should be short and simple; a long, complex introduction or conclusion

will not give you a high score.

Just make your introductions and conclusions quick and concise, and spend your time

writing really good main body paragraphs.

Here's my introduction and conclusion for the topic of my last two writing lessons:

U

Introduction

^U

There are various benefits and drawbacks of books, radio and television as ways to

convey information. In my view, television is definitely the most effective of these

three media.

U

Conclusion

^U

In conclusion, although books, radio and television each have their advantages and

disadvantages, it seems to me that the impact of television is greater.

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A student sent me this recent exam question:

These days people pay more attention to artists (writers, painters and so on) and

give less importance to science and technology.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

This seems to me to be a perfect question for a "balanced opinion" answer (i.e. both

art and science are given equal importance). However, notice that you need

to disagree with the question statement in order to give this balanced response.

Here's my recommended 4-paragraph essay plan: