Essay Writing Worksheet Stage 1: Understanding the Topic The first step in essay writing is to analyze the statement of the essay which tells you what the topic is and also gives an indication of what kind of things you are expected to say about the topic. Essay topics have three components: ● The instruction words telling you what to do such as “define”, “describe”, “argue”, “explain” etc. ● The key words indicating the topic. ● The words restricting the topic, indicating what aspects of the topic you are asked to focus on. Note: If you are asked to describe something, then your essay will mostly present facts and not opinions. However, if you are asked to discuss something, then your opinion is being asked for, and you are usually expected to evaluate something, or to argue for or against something. Q: Read the given statements carefully. Examine the instruction words, key words and restricting words and fill out the table below for any ONE of them. Present a written argument to an educated reader with no specialist knowledge of the following topics: a) “We are surrounded by advertising. Some people think that this is good because it gives us a choice as consumers, but others argue that it makes people selfish and greedy for more and more goods.” To what extent, do you agree or disagree with this opinion? You should use your own ideas, knowledge and experience to support your arguments with examples and relevant evidence. b)” The increasing role of English in the world today means that the learning of other languages is being neglected. This will have serious results for the continued use of these languages and their cultures.” To what extent, do you agree or disagree with this opinion? You should use your own ideas, knowledge and experience to support your arguments with examples and relevant evidences. Instruction Words: Argue. Key Words: Selfish, greedy , consumers, choice Restricting Words: Surrounded. Stage 2: Brainstorming Ideas 1- Jot down all the concepts and ideas that come into your head associated with the topic of your choice, in note form or in a random order. 2- After jotting down all the ideas, eliminate the ones which you think are too broad or too specific or too far off from the main idea to be relevant. Brainstorming The Ideas 1) Positive aspects of advertisements: Expansion of market Increased sales. Promotes competition. Elimination of middlemen. Reduction in prices of newspapers and magazines. 2) Negative aspects of advertisements: Develop materialistic feelings and tendencies. Give rise to unrealistic beauty standards and cause low self-esteem. Stealing of private data by social media companies for advertisement purposes. Corruption in youth. Impulsive buying. Eliminating The Ideas 1) Positive aspects of advertisements: Increased sales. Promotes competition. Elimination of middlemen. Reduction in prices of newspapers and magazines. 2) Negative aspects of advertisements: Develop materialistic feelings and tendencies. Give rise to unrealistic beauty standards and cause low self-esteem. Stealing of private data by social media companies for advertisement purposes. Corruption in youth. Impulsive buying. Stage 3: Write the Purpose and Introduction Of Your Essay The purpose of the introduction is to let the reader know about: ● The topic ● The aspect of the topic being dealt with ● The stance (attitude) taken by the writer to the topic Q: Follow the structure of the introduction for an essay, and write an introduction for the topic you brainstormed. Introduction: Part A a) The first sentence typically makes a general statement about a situation. The advent of advertisement has undoubtedly had substantial effects on our daily lives, but the positivity or negativity of these effects remains questionable. b) The next statement narrows down the topic to a specific aspect that you will deal with. Second sentence often contains words like, “but” and “however”. Advertisement has caused some positive effects, but its cons have certainly outweighed its pros Introduction: Part B (Thesis Statement) c) To write an effective thesis statement, identify the following parts: Effects of advertisement on society. Your Topic Your Stance Three Ideas to Support Your Stance The advent of advertisement has proved detrimental for the society. 1) Associating happiness with consumerism. 2) Promoting unrealistic beauty and life standards. 3) Stealing of private data by social media giants for advertisement purposes. c) Organize your thesis statement in one sentence. Advertisement has wreaked havoc on the society, It has made people associate happiness with consumerism and caused depression in teens and young adults due to unrealistic beauty and life standards and if left unchecked, Advertisement will continue to cause more grave issues. Check the given box if you think your thesis statement is specific, if not rephrase. Stage 4: Make an Outline Of the Topic You Chose (Sentence Form) ● Refer to the brainstormed ideas. ● Pick 3 different ideas and rank them in the order of importance. ● Make an outline in the sentence form following a proper format. ● Use proper symbols and indentation. I) II) III) Advertisement causes people to associate happiness with consumerism: 1) Advertising media employs vast emotionally and psychologically manipulative techniques to coerce you into buying their products. First, they show you what the ideal life is supposed to be like, and then they compare your actual life to it, So you feel unworthy and inadequate. So, to make yourself feel better, you would end up buying their products. 2) Research findings have also confirmed a direct link between advertisement and depression. Promotes unrealistic beauty and life-standards: 1) Advertising media also uses other cunning tactics. They advertise a perfect human with having the perfect face, physique , hair and what not. When they are done making you feel ugly. They would then sell you the same fairness cream that would make your face completely smooth. 2) Furthermore, research and statistical findings have confirmed depression to be on the rise in teens and young adults due to the increase in advertising media. Social media giants selling data for advertisement purposes: 1) Social media giants such as Google and Facebook sell the private data of their users to big advertisement companies so that targeted and more relevant ads may be shown to the users. Whilst, at the same time completely disregarding the personal privacy and trust of their users.
