新视野大学英语读写教程2

马牧野

目录

  • 1 Unit 1 Language in mission
    • 1.1 Lead in
    • 1.2 Main idea and structure
    • 1.3 Text reading
    • 1.4 practical phrases and critical thinking
    • 1.5 Word building
    • 1.6 Vocabulary practice
    • 1.7 Translation
    • 1.8 Writing
  • 2 Unit 2 College - The ladder to success?
    • 2.1 Lead in
    • 2.2 Background information
    • 2.3 About the pronunciation
    • 2.4 Detailed  reading of the Text
    • 2.5 Structure analysis
    • 2.6 Critical thinking
    • 2.7 Exercises
      • 2.7.1 Words in use
      • 2.7.2 Word building
      • 2.7.3 Banked cloze
      • 2.7.4 Expressions in use
      • 2.7.5 Writing
    • 2.8 An MV
  • 3 Unit 4 Dance with love
    • 3.1 Lead in
    • 3.2 Background information
    • 3.3 New words, the text and the General idea
    • 3.4 Detailed reading of the text
    • 3.5 Writing skills
    • 3.6 practices
  • 4 Unit 5 The money game
    • 4.1 Lead in
    • 4.2 Main idea and the structure
    • 4.3 Detailed reading of the text
    • 4.4 About writing skills
    • 4.5 Other exercises
  • 5 Unit 8 Human rights vs. animal rights
    • 5.1 Lead in
    • 5.2 Main idea & Structure
    • 5.3 Detailed reading of the text
    • 5.4 Writing skills
    • 5.5 Word building
    • 5.6 Exercises
Structure analysis


Read to learn the structure of an advantage / disadvantage essay.

 

In Unit 1, you learned about the structure of an essay that contains introduction, body, and conclusion. Starting from this unit, you will focus on a particular writing method to write about a certain topic. This time you will expect to learn how to write an advantage / disadvantage essay.

 

Generally speaking, the outline of writing an advantage / disadvantage essay falls in one of these three formats: 1) advantages and disadvantages; 2) advantages only; 3) disadvantages only. When you write such an essay, remember that you are giving information, a method that is called exposition or expository writing.

 

Begin your essay by introducing your topic and explaining that you are exploring the advantages or disadvantages of the topic. Mention in your thesis statement the advantages or disadvantages you will discuss in the essay. Use transitions to make your ideas flow smoothly. The following transitional words are very common when writing an advantage / disadvantage essay:

 

 

Close your essay with the summary of the advantages and / or disadvantages. Even though you are not persuading your readers when you write this type of writing, you are required to add your opinion at the end as your final comment on the topic. For example, if you're talking about the advantages of taking courses of the humanities, you may say in your conclusion:

 

To sum up, by taking courses in the humanities, students gain more analytical ability, acquire more critical thinking skills, and deal with things more rationally. Students should be aware of the significance of taking these courses.

 

You can always choose a position when you write about an advantage / disadvantage essay. For instance, you don't have to talk about both advantages and disadvantages of taking natural science courses. Instead, you can only focus on one, the advantages of taking these courses or the disadvantages of doing that.

 

Now, examine how this method of writing is reflected in Text A, specifically Paragraphs 4-10:

 

 

From what is listed in the chart, we can see that writing an essay about the advantages or disadvantages of an issue requires supporting points. If your essay focuses on advantages of studying the humanities, then several advantages should be provided to support your point.