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1 Analytical Writing
Prof. Higgins receives a letter from Belinda. He opens it and reads it. The letter runs thus: Dear professor, I thank you for giving me information on how to approach critical reasoning questions. I am able to crack those questions successfully. I request you to give me some information on how to approach analytical section of the GRE test. I request you to send the information through mail, for I am unable to meet you in person. Thank you, Yours obediently, Belinda (Higgins goes to his table, takes a paper and a pen, starts writing a letter to Belinda. Dear student, I am happy that you are benefiting out of my counsel. I will give you some information on how to approach the analytical section of the GRE test. The Analytical Section of the GRE test tests your ability to think, gather information from your past readings, organize ideas and present them in a coherrent way. The Analytical Section consists of two tasks: The Issue Task and the Argument Task. The issue task tests your ability to organize and present your thoughts on an issue. The Argument Task tests your ability to analyze and evaluate an argument. How to approach the Issue Task? In a GRE Issue Task, two issues are presented as statements. You are asked to choose one of those issues and write an essay. Example Directions: You will be given a brief quotation that states or implies an issue of general interest and specific instructions on how to respond to that issue. You have to plan and compose a response in which you develop a position on the issue according to the specific instructions. A response to any other issue will receive a score of zero. 1. The considerable increase in the number of working women in India has begun to have a serious impact on the family system. Write an essay in which you take a position on the statement above. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true.

A Systematic Approach to doing the Issue Task Step 1 While choosing a topic, choose the topic for which you can have more number of reasons and examples to substantiate your view point. Spend enough time while choosing the topic but do not waste time. Step 2 Ask the following questions before writing the essay: 1. What is the issue about (subject)? 2. What is the main statement presented? 3. Do I agree or disagree with the statement? And why? Step 3 Gather points on what you think of the issue, and what the reasons for your stand are. Then proceed to writing an essay. Step 4 Present your points clearly if you agree or disagree. Provide enough information to defend your stand. Your essay should be vivid, well organized, and logically presented. How to approach an Argument Task? In an argument task, only one topic is presented. You will be asked to analyze and evaluate an opinion. The only difference between an issue task and an argument task is that: in an issue task you are asked to present your opinion, whereas in an argument task you are asked to analyze and critique an opinion. Example Directions: You will be given a short passage that presents an argument, or an argument to be completed, and specific instructions on how to respond to that passage. You have to plan and compose a response in which you analyze the passage according to the specific instructions. A response to any other argument will receive a score of zero. More than a third of US consumers are considering replacing their vehicles with more fuel-efficient cars because of high gasoline prices, according to a survey by Consumer Reports. Of the 37 percent of respondents who said they were considering replacing their cars, 55 percent said they were planning on buying a smaller car. Alternative fuels were also popular: 50 percent said they were considering buying a gasoline/electric hybrid vehicle while 38 percent said they were

considering flexible-fuel or diesel vehicles. Hybrids currently make up just one percent of vehicle sales as they cost an average of 3,000 dollars more than the standard version and it can take years to recover that cost in savings at the pump. Less than one in 20 of those surveyed said they were considering buying a luxury sedan or large sport-utility vehicles while only a fifth were considering buying a family sedan or a small sport-utility vehicle. "High gas prices are not just an inconvenience anymore," Robert Gentile, director of Consumer Reports' Auto Prices Services said in a statement. "They are forcing people to reconsider what and how they drive, even the way they live their lives." Write a response in which you examine the arguments unstated assumptions, making sure to explain how the argument depends on the assumptions and what the implications are if the assumptions prove unwarranted. How does an issue task differ from an argument task? S. No. 1. 2. 3. Issue Task Your opinion is required You can present your feelings. Present your opinion and substantiate it. Argument Task Your opinion is not required You should not present your feelings. Analyze and evaluate the given opinion

A systematic approach to do an Argument Task. Step 1 Ask the primary question: Is the argument logical and sound based on the information presented? Your essay should revolve round this main question. You should organize your ideas and present them. Step 2 Read the argument. Find out the evidence, assumptions, suppositions, explicit statements, possible inferences. Make your judgement base on the information that you get and make a logical argument. Questions to be asked while gathering information. 1. What is the argument? 2. What are the important features of the argument? 3. Can I simplify the argument into a phrase? 4. After finding out the evidence and assumptions, ask how well these support the conclusion. 5. How can the argument be made stronger or weaker? 6. Will the argument remain true for other similar assumptions?

Step 3 Organize your ideas and present your response. Analytical Writing practice book Issue Task 1 Television is an idiot box Write an essay in which you take a position on the statement above. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true. Issue Task 2 Children are the mirrors of their parents Write an essay in which you take a position on the statement above. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true. Issue Task 3 No one is born intelligent Write an essay in which you take a position on the statement above. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true. Issue Task 4 A successful man works when others sleep, and he works hard when others work. Write an essay in which you take a position on the statement above. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true. Issue Task 5 Nothing is impossible Write an essay on the above topic throwing light on the over-optimistic tone of the statement.

Issue Task 6 Students do not consider education as an advancement in life, but they consider it as a means to advancement in life. Write an essay to substantiate this statement. Issue Task 7 Philosophy starts with wonder Write an essay in which you take a position on the statement above. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true. Issue Task 8 The greatest disasters in the history of mankind are often caused by the smallest human errors. Write an essay in which you take a position on the statement above. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true. Issue Task 9 Reform is rarely brought about by people who are preoccupied with their own reputation and social standing Write an essay in which you take a position on the statement above. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true. Issue Task 10 A good movie is one that reflects its contemporary social condition. Write an essay in which you take a position on the statement above. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true. Issue Task 11 To become popular is to create controversies

Write an essay in which you take a position on the statement above. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true. Issue Task 12 Experience is the name given to mistakes. Write an essay in which you take a position on the statement above. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true. Issue Task 13 Successful people are those who not only made use of the opportunities but who were fortunate to have got those opportunities. Write an essay in which you take a position on the statement above. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true. Issue Task 14 "Educational institutions should be encouraged to offer programs on popular music, film, and television, for contemporary culture has greater relevance for students than the arts and literature of the past." Write an essay in which you take a position on the statement above. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true. Issue Task 15 "In all walks of life, people who are practical are more successful than people who are idealistic Write an essay in which you take a position on the statement above. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true. Argument Task 1 Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument.

Trimming carbohydrate intake results in healthy improvements in blood fat levels, even if a person doesn't lose an ounce, a new study shows. "In the case of low carbohydrates, people shouldn't be so quick to throw that away and move on to the next diet. Limiting carbohydrates can be beneficial even if people aren't successful at losing weight." says Dr Krauss . Scientists now believe that carbohydrates, especially simple sugars, can cause unhealthy changes in blood fats by causing fat to collect in the liver -- just as it does on one's thighs or belly. These fats eventually find their way into the bloodstream, Krauss explained. Cutting down on these fat deposits by cutting carbs reduces fat levels in the blood, and may also boost the body's ability to break down fats that do reach the bloodstream. So a person with a high blood cholostrol, if he decides to have a low carbohydrates diet, he can increase his intake of fats. Argument Task 2 Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. The amount of heat received during the summer season has a significant effect on the amount of rainfall received during the monsoon season. The time of the beginning of the monsoon season, to some extent, is also dependent on the preceding summer. Statistics for the past five years show that the above hypothesis is true. Now meteorologists, based on the relationship, are trying to predict the time of the beginning of the monsoon season and the amount of rainfall. Argument Task 3 Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In a survey that was taken among the college lecturers, it was found that the number of female lecturers are considerably higher than the number of male lecturers. In the case of schools, this difference is still more and on an average, the survey found that for every seven female there was one male in the teaching profession. This shows that women are more successful as teachers than men. Argument Task 4 Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. A recent study in autoaccidents shows that among 6500 highway accidents that happened in the year 2005, male drivers were involved in 95 % of the accidents and only in 4% of the accidents, female drivers were involved. Despite the fact that women do not prefer to drive long distances, the overwhelming difference in the statistics show that women are more cautious than men.

Argument Task 5 Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. The number of students who have the habit of reading regularly is alarmingly decreasing. Students prefer watching TV to reading books. In a recent survey that was taken among the college students who read books regularly, it was found that about 83 % of students read novels, 7 % read only newspapers, and the rest read all books including standard publications and scholarly journals. The study concluded that those students who read regularly consider reading as a pastime and do not consider it as a means to enrich their knowledge. Argument Task 6 Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. The following appeared in a newsletter about education policy. 'The average annual earnings of high school dropouts are significantly less than the average annual earnings of high school graduates. To address this problem, the state governor has proposed that the state should establish free vocational training programs for high school dropouts. But the availability of such programs would probably encourage some students who would otherwise have graduated to drop out in order to pursue vocational training. Hence the proposed programs would lower, not raise, the average earning potential of young people. Therefore, the state should not establish the vocational training programs but should instead focus on improving academic programs in our high schools.' Argument Task 7 Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. The following appeared in a memo from a member of the New York city college Board. "Martin Institute of Technologies and Applied Sciences is faced with a shortage of library space. At the same time, we find students spending most of their time in the cafeteria . Therefore, we should convert part of the cafeteria into library space and extend the library . It is possible as the library is adjacent to the cafeteria. The institute will gain the additional space for the library without the cost of extending the building and can use the time that students would have spent in the cafeteria, for the cafeteria would be crowded . This plan will lead to improvements in students' using the library. Argument Task 8 Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. An article on health reported that a recent study found a correlation between high levels of iron in the diet and an increased risk of heart disease. Further, it is well established that there is a link

between large amounts of red meat in the diet and heart disease, and red meat is high in iron. On the basis of the study and the well-established link between red meat and heart disease, we can conclude that the correlation between high iron levels and heart disease, then, is most probably a function of the correlation between red meat and heart disease. Argument Task 9 Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. "Of the two leading real estate firms in our town Adams Realty and Fitch Realty Adams is clearly superior. Adams has 40 real estate agents. In contrast, Fitch has 25, many of whom work only part-time. Moreover, Adams' revenue last year was twice as high as that of Fitch, and included home sales that averaged $168,000, compared to Fitch's $144,000. Homes listed with Adams sell faster as well: Ten years ago, I listed my home with Fitch and it took more than four months to sell; last year, when I sold another home, I listed it with Adams, and it took only one month. Thus, if you want to sell your home quickly and at a good price, you should use Adams."

Argument Task 10 Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. "The decline in the numbers of amphibians worldwide clearly indicates the global pollution of water and air. Two studies of amphibians in YosemiteNational Park in California confirm my conclusion. In 1915 there were seven species of amphibians in the park, and there were abundant numbers of each species. However, in 1992 there were only four species of amphibians observed in the park, and the numbers of each species were drastically reduced. The decline in Yosemite has been blamed on the introduction of trout into the park's waters, which began in 1920 (trout are known to eat amphibian eggs). But the introduction of trout cannot be the real reason for the Yosemite decline because it does not explain the worldwide decline." Argument Task 11 The following news article appeared on CNN U.S. is an impatient nation, poll finds Americans get antsy after 5-minute phone wait The survey found older people to be more impatient than younger people. Average time people wait in line in a store or office before losing patience: 17 minutes. Average time they wait on the phone before losing patience: 9 minutes.

GENDER Average time women were willing to wait in line before losing patience: 18 minutes. Men: 15 minutes. EDUCATION AND INCOME College graduates and people with household incomes of $75,000 a year or more said 15 minutes -- on average. Those with some college and incomes of $50,000 to $75,000 said 19 minutes on average. URBAN VS. SUBURBAN City dwellers can wait an average of 15 minutes before getting cranky Suburbanites get irritated after 18 minutes on average. -- Source: From a March 28-30 poll of 1,003 adults by Ipsos, an international polling firm. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points. Write a response to the above argument analyzing the given statistics, its authencity and sufficiency. Argument Task 12 Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. Drinking lemonade could help prevent painful kidney stones, new research shows. Regular consumption of the refreshing drink -- or even lemon juice mixed with water -- may increase the production of urinary citrate, a chemical in the urine that prevents the formation of crystals that may build up into kidney stones. So conclude two studies presented at the American Urological Association annual meeting in Atlanta. Kidney stones develop when minerals from urine crystallize and build up on the inside of the kidney. In most people, urine contains a chemical that prevents crystal buildup, but that chemical does not work in people prone to kidney stones. When the body tries to remove the crystallized deposits through the narrow tubes of the urinary tract, a person may feel pain and burning. In the study led by Kristina Penniston, an assistant scientist in the Department of Surgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, researchers retrospectively examined the medical records of 100 patients who had been prescribed lemonade therapy after seeking treatment for calcium oxalate kidney stones. Calcium oxalate stones are the most common type of kidney stones.

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"We'd been recommending lemonade therapy for about 10 years, but within the last five or six years, we really noticed that people on lemonade therapy have extremely high urinary citrate concentrations," Penniston said. "We knew people were seeing results in urine biochemistries, and [lemonade therapy] was fairly well-tolerated." in another study presented at the conference, conducted by researchers at Duke University, 12 patients with mild-to-moderate hypocitrauria -- a condition that causes a person to produce low levels of urinary citrate -- drank 120 milliliters of lemon juice mixed with two liters of water throughout the day. After the researchers compared the people treated with lemonade therapy to patients taking potassium citrate, results showed that 11 of the 12 patients had increased urinary citrate levels during lemonade therapy. The kidney stones of the people taking lemonade therapy also decreased in size and number during the course of the treatment, which lasted an average of 41 months. Although the results of these two studies indicate that lemonade therapy may offer a simple alternative treatment to people with kidney stones who can't tolerate taking potassium citrate, much more research needs to be conducted, both study authors concluded. Argument Task 13 Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. The following appeared in a newsletter about health. "The proportion of children in the United States who are overweight is greater now than ever before. Obesity rates among children have been increasing since the 1970's and, during that same time period, the proportion of children living in suburbs has increased. Whereas children in rural areas tend to have outdoor active chores and children in cities often walk to school or other places they need to go, children in suburbs are typically driven everywhere. Thus the increase in childhood obesity is probably due mainly to the suburbanization of America and the associated decrease in the opportunities children have for exercise." Argument Task 14 Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument.

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Women who put on extra pounds raise their risk of getting frequent heartburn or making symptoms worse even if they aren't overweight, a new study found. Compared to women whose weight didn't change, a moderate gain doubled the chances of heartburn and acid reflux. Shedding the pounds cut the risk by about 40 percent, according to the report in a New England Journal of Medicine. The research published used data from the long-running Nurses' Health Study. Previous research that showed a connection between weight and heartburn focused on the overweight and obese. Jacobson and his colleagues also looked at normal-weight women and studied how weight change over 14 years affected symptoms. About 1 in 5 of the 10,545 nurses who filled out questionnaires said they had heartburn at least once a week, with about 60 percent describing symptoms as moderate to severe. Their bodymass index was calculated from earlier reports on their height and weight. The researchers concluded there was a strong link between weight and frequent heartburn, with the risk rising along with body-mass index in both normal-weight and overweight women. Argument Task 15 "Given that the number of people in our country with some form of arthritis is expected to rise from 40 million to 60 million over the next twenty years, pharmaceutical companies that produce drugs for the treatment of arthritis should be very profitable. Many analysts believe that in ten years Becton Pharmaceuticals, which makes Xenon, the best-selling drug treatment for arthritis, will be the most profitable pharmaceutical company. But the patent on Xenon expires in three years, and other companies will then be able to produce a cheaper version of the drug. Thus, it is more likely that in ten years the most profitable pharmaceutical company will be Perkins Pharmaceuticals, maker of a new drug called Xylan, which clinical studies show is preferred over Xenon by seven out of ten patients suffering from the most extreme cases of arthritis." Write a response to the above argument analyzing the given statistics, its authencity and sufficiency.

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