Essay writing…hmm. I’ve gotten stuck. The brainstorming time was supposed to help me focus my thoughts but it didn’t. Now what?
Time to start a body paragraph. Skip the topic sentence and just go for a reason. I need to pass this test. And, for my example… a high score is going to help me get into a better school. But, that’s not enough. I actually need to learn English!
How am I ever going to do that? TED.com … On the other hand, perhaps this paragraph should be about money. Scholarships! Sure… just write another perfect essay. But, that’s got to be about me, and what have I got to say that is going to really make my application stand out?
I’ve been writing a standard five-paragraph essay, and the best part is yet to come! The easy thing about writing an application essay is that it’s all about myself… j/k. What can I say about me? OMG, as if this essay hasn’t been challenging enough already!
Practice! I probably should stick to what I know. I could do a little research if I get stuck. But, the most important thing is just to get started. I’ll check my work when I’ve finished. All the spelling and punctuation has to be perfect. Is it long enough? Are my ideas well-connected? Have I used paragraphing adequately?
Yes! That means this is my last paragraph. And it only took me twenty-five minutes. So, just get started and let it flow!
“Some scientists believe that in the future computers will have more intelligence than human beings. While some see this as a positive development, others worry about the negative consequence. Discuss both views and give your opinion.”
This prompt was found on an IELTS preparation blog. A follower of the blog reported that this was the topic they’d received as the Task 2 prompt in July 2020. I made these videos with a free version of Screencastify, which only allowed for recording five-minute segments at a time. I accidentally deleted the first segment in which I had recorded myself typing the introductory paragraph. Oops!
For anyone interested in seeing the commentary on writing process, view the last video. Here also is the full text of my essay, to which I made a change at the end of the third paragraph after completing the videos.
Some believe that artificial intelligence will outperform human intellectual capacity at some point in the future. Although there are clear benefits to working with smarter machines, there are many drawbacks. The greatest benefits include the aid that we as a society will get, but we must neither become overly reliant on the technology nor sacrifice individual liberty for the sake of our non-human counterparts.
As for the drawbacks, we can see how our peers, family members and perhaps, if we are reflective enough, ourselves interact with digital devices. We already employ lots of artificial intelligence in our computing systems, but the likelihood that AI will surpass our intelligence is not far off. The computer, however, is not all-knowing. The real beauty of the intelligence is not in its replication of human ability but rather in the fact that it can learn. We would hope that computers could learn all the positive traits that we possess. However, our best minds do not presently populate the internet with ideas. Hence, as AI attempts to replicate authentic human communication, it has demonstrated the more obnoxious end of the online chat world. This was not such a problem when it was easy to distinguish bots from real users, but it has become harder to pick the two apart in recent years. This, unfortunately, is the most divisive element of the fake posts that have been aimed at political discourse. Our imagination is the limit as to what possible negative outcomes of AI may arise as it gains on us.
The positive aspects of artificial intelligence lie not in the system’s ability to recreate a virtual world, but rather in its implementation in public policy. Using AI to model outcomes and make predictions would help policy makers “see the future.” This does not mean that computers will actually make the decisions, but rather that their human operators will seek their guidance. Again, the machine is not all-knowing but will have greater capacity for knowing without being swayed by intuition or ‘gut feeling.’ The fear of a cold-hearted AI is misplaced, as what we avoid in its implementation are the biases and misconceptions of even the most adept among us in their inherently limited scope. The abilities of high-achieving, powerful businesspeople and technocrats are aided in many ways by teams of assistants and subordinates. Even still, these teams of managers and political operators are prone to error and are swayed by emotion. That is not to say that they are always misguided, but rather that their abilities would be aided by AI to the benefit of all people.
In conclusion, the benefits to the population are outweighed by the drawbacks when we consider the greatest tool AI provides. The technology would seem to grant a supernatural power—the power of seeing the future through modeling and algorithms. Employing this tool at the highest levels of business and government would give us all an upper hand since there would be no need to second guess ourselves. (499 words)
This is the 8-video playlist. At the start of my first video, I am reading my introductory paragraph. Click forward to move to the next video in the playlist.
Here’s an example IELTS Writing Task 2 prompt that combines the question types cause&effect and problem/solution. The question asks for an explanation of causes and solutions to the problem of species loss. I have long enjoyed teaching IELTS preparation because the contents of the exam provide many learning opportunities. Prior to my example essay are four background readings for reference.
Here’s an October 2018 article citing a special UN report on the topic of climate change:
Animal species are going extinct due to human activities on land and sea.What are the reasons and solutions?
Sample Essay:
The Anthropocene, our present era, has brought about the sixth mass extinction. The causes of rapid species loss in this era as opposed to past great extinctions result from human activities on land and spill-over effects in the sea. Any proposed solution must be undertaken rapidly to be effective at preventing the collapse of human society itself.
To list the many causes of rapid species loss would require several pages. But, to highlight the main causes is fairly simple. Modern industrial society is fueled and sustained by dirty energy sources and industrial farming. These two activities in combination have put unprecedented amounts of greenhouses gasses in the air and prevent their reabsorption. The gasses then warm the atmosphere and prevent the cycling of ocean currents. This prevents the oceans from natural cooling. Warming waters acidify and lead to aquatic life die-out. Drought and fires, along with excessive deforestation for farming, have led to species loss on land. However, the decline in biodiversity is not limited to fauna, as the declining numbers of pollinators also leads to the extinction of flora.
Comparatively dramatic solutions are required to address such disturbing problems. In fact, nothing less than the wholesale transformation of industrial society will need to happen. The changes must be undertaken at the global level by nations enacting laws that restrict certain industrial practices. The changes would all be to target a reduction in activities that generate greenhouses gasses. To a large extent these changes would need to be undertaken by major multinational corporations. For instance, in the aviation industry, planes would have to fly at lower altitudes in order to reduce their pollution in the stratosphere. Factories would have to change energy sources from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Petroleum extraction would have to be curtailed, and petroleum use would have to be limited to plastics for certain durable consumer products, not for fuel. In addition, agribusiness must be transformed with the intent of reducing as much as possible mono-cropping and the raising of livestock for meat. Last but not least, all of these changes must be made by the year 2050 in order to have any impact in preventing runaway ecological change resulting from the feedback loops of global warming.
In sum, it is plain to see that the problems lie at the foundation of modern industrial society, and that the great and necessary solutions would be met with substantial push-back from industry.
Task 2 Prompt: “Some people believe that unpaid community service should be a compulsory part of high school programmes.” To what extent do you agree or disagree?
This video features guidelines to composing a successful argumentative essay for the IELTS exam, and a complete model essay.
Some think community service done for free ought to be made mandatory to graduate high school. In addition to benefiting the community, this type of work would boost student self-worth and provide non-traditional learning opportunities applicable to students’ future job prospects. Therefore, mandating community service in high school is undoubtedly beneficial.
Widespread volunteerism would primarily be of great benefit to the community at large. By providing a young, able-bodied work-force to charitable groups that otherwise lack the resources, a high school program of this sort would allow charitable organizations to further meet the needs of the community and perhaps take on more ambitious projects. After all, charities by nature have limited means and tend to collapse under lack of funding or squandering resources. Because human resources are such a large cost to many organizations, the ability to harness the labor capacity of the youth in a positive way would allow charitable groups to focus less on fund-raising and resource management, and more on coordinating labor and meeting the needs of the community.
Secondly, involvement in charitable work would bring a multitude of benefits to the students themselves. Students would develop interpersonal skills that are applicable to future work. Because high schools are age ghettos, community service exposes teenagers to other social demographics which are found in the working world. Moreover, the work experience the high school students obtain could be added to their resumes when they look for that first job. Not only that, but students can also develop their sense of self-worth through involvement in charitable work. While some students may already be involved in collaborative activities which develop their interpersonal skills, others have limited opportunities to participate in groups or clubs that offer such rewarding involvement as community service does. Because of the extent to which technology has replaced outdoor activity and the emphasis placed on high-stakes exams today, working with charities not only provides a respite from study and time away from screens, it gives students the chance to encounter the working world and exposure to professions before they must actually fend for themselves as adults.
In sum, mandatory community service ought to be a component of all high school curricula. (364 words)
