-->
Any words you don't know? Look them up in the website's built-in dictionary .
|
|
Choose a dictionary . Wordnet OPTED both
Discussion essays are a common form of academic writing. This page gives information on what a discussion essay is and how to structure this type of essay. Some vocabulary for discussion essays is also given, and there is an example discussion essay on the topic of studying overseas.
Many essay titles require you to examine both sides of a situation and to conclude by saying which side you favour. These are known as discussion or for and against essays. In this sense, the academic meaning of the word discuss is similar to its everyday meaning, of two people talking about a topic from different sides. For a discussion essay, a balanced view is normally essential. This makes discussion essays distinct from persuasion essays , for which only one side of the argument is given. When writing a discussion essay, it is important to ensure that facts and opinions are clearly separated. Often you will examine what other people have already said on the same subject and include this information using paraphrasing and summarising skills, as well as correct citations .
The following are examples of discussion essay topics.
Although the structure of a discussion essay may vary according to length and subject, there are several components which most discussion essays have in common. In addition to general statements and thesis statement which all good essay introductions contain, the position of the writer will often be stated, along with relevant definitions . The main body will examine arguments for (in one or more paragraphs) and arguments against (also in one or more paragraphs). The conclusion will contain a summary of the main points, and will often conclude with recommendations , based on what you think are the most important ideas in the essay. The conclusion may also contain your opinion on the topic, also based on the preceding evidence.
An overview of this structure is given in the diagram below.
Structural component | Purpose | Stage of essay |
To introduce the reader to the subject of the essay. | ||
Position | To give the opinion of the writer (not always possible). | |
Definition(s) (optional) | To explain any important technical words to the reader. | |
To tell the reader what parts of the topic will be included in the essay. | ||
Arguments for | To explain to the reader the evidence for the positive side of the issue, with support. The most important ideas usually come first. This may be covered in one or more paragraphs. | |
Arguments against | To explain to the reader the evidence for the negative side of the issue, with support. The most important ideas usually come first. This may be covered in one or more paragraphs. | |
Summary | To give the reader a brief reminder of the main ideas, while restating the issue. Sometimes also says which ideas the writer believes have the strongest evidence. | |
Opinion & Recommendation | To give your opinion, and tell the reader what the writer believes is the best action to take, considering the evidence in the essay. |
When summarising the stages in a discussion or in presenting your arguments, it can be useful to mark the order of the items or degrees of importance. The following words and phrases can be used.
The following can be used when introducing your opinion.
It is important in English writing, including academic writing, to use synonyms rather than repeating the same word. The following are useful synonyms for 'advantage' and 'disadvantage'.
Below is an example discussion essay. Click on the different areas (in the shaded boxes to the right) to highlight the different structural aspects in this essay.
Title: An increasing number of students are going overseas for tertiary education. To what extent does this overseas study benefit the students?
Most people spend around fifteen years of their life in education, from primary school to university study. In the past, students only had the opportunity to study in their own country. Nowadays, however, it is increasingly easy to study overseas, especially at tertiary level. Tertiary education, also called post-secondary education, is the period of study spent at university. As the final aspect of schooling before a person begins their working life, it is arguably the most important stage of their education. While there are some undoubted benefits of this trend, such as the language environment and improved employment prospects , there is also a significant disadvantage, namely the high cost . The first and most important advantage of overseas study is the language learning environment. Students studying overseas will not only have to cope with the local language for their study, but will also have to use it outside the classroom for their everyday life. These factors should make it relatively easy for such students to advance their language abilities. Another important benefit is employability. Increasing globalisation means that there are more multinational companies setting up offices in all major countries. These companies will need employees who have a variety of skills, including the fluency in more than one language. Students who have studied abroad should find it much easier to obtain a job in this kind of company. There are, however, some disadvantages to overseas study which must be considered, the most notable of which is the expense. In addition to the cost of travel, which in itself is not inconsiderable, overseas students are required to pay tuition fees which are usually much higher than those of local students. Added to this is the cost of living, which is often much higher than in the students' own country. Although scholarships may be available for overseas students, there are usually very few of these, most of which will only cover a fraction of the cost. Overseas study therefore constitutes a considerable expense. In summary, studying abroad has some clear advantages, including the language environment and increased chances of employment , in addition to the main drawback, the heavy financial burden . I believe that this experience is worthwhile for those students whose families can readily afford the expense. Students without such strong financial support should consider carefully whether the high cost outweighs the benefits to be gained.
Like the website? Try the books. Enter your email to receive a free sample from Academic Writing Genres .
Below is a checklist for discussion essays. Use it to check your own writing, or get a peer (another student) to help you.
The essay begins with | ||
There is a clear | ||
are given if needed | ||
The essay has clear | ||
One or more are included (including clear ) | ||
One or more are included (including clear ) | ||
The conclusion includes a of the main points | ||
The writer's is given | ||
There is a , which relates to the points in the essay |
Bailey, S. (2000). Academic Writing. Abingdon: RoutledgeFalmer
Cox, K. and D. Hill (2004). EAP now! Frenchs Forest: Pearson Education Australia
Jordan, R.R. (1999). Academic Writing Course. Cambridge: CUP
Roberts R., J. Gokanda, & A. Preshous (2004). IELTS Foundation. Oxford: Macmillian
Find out how to write persuasion essays in the next section.
Go back to the previous section about different essay types .
Author: Sheldon Smith ‖ Last modified: 16 January 2022.
Sheldon Smith is the founder and editor of EAPFoundation.com. He has been teaching English for Academic Purposes since 2004. Find out more about him in the about section and connect with him on Twitter , Facebook and LinkedIn .
Compare & contrast essays examine the similarities of two or more objects, and the differences.
Cause & effect essays consider the reasons (or causes) for something, then discuss the results (or effects).
Discussion essays require you to examine both sides of a situation and to conclude by saying which side you favour.
Problem-solution essays are a sub-type of SPSE essays (Situation, Problem, Solution, Evaluation).
Transition signals are useful in achieving good cohesion and coherence in your writing.
Reporting verbs are used to link your in-text citations to the information cited.
A discussion essay, also called a controversial essay, is where you express your opinion about a topic. When writing one,
So let’s deeply explore the structure and components of a successful discussion paper.
Choosing a topic is the first step when starting your essay. When choosing a topic , make sure it is something that you are personally interested in as it will be easier for you to write.
Now let’s have a look at discussion essay topic examples.
After choosing the essay topic, you should create your outline to finish planning your essay.
The outline allows you to understand how to combine all the information and thesis statement to support claims of your essay.
Create a basic outline for your discussion essay. Start with a preliminary version of your thesis statement, main argument, opposing argument, and other main points.
Here is an outline example for a discussion essay.
Title: The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
So now that you’ve seen an outline example, l et’s start writing your essay with an introduction.
Introduction
Now that we have written our introduction, we can move on to the discussion parts.
Write down the main points of the body paragraphs of your discussion paper. A well-written body paragraph illustrates, justifies, and/or supports your thesis statement. When writing body paragraphs:
Body Paragraph 1: Enhancing Diagnostics and Accuracy
Body Paragraph 2: Personalized Treatment and Privacy
Body Paragraph 3: Ethical Responsibility and Accountability
Now, let’s look at how to end your work.
Writing a strong conclusion for a discussion essay is essential to leave a lasting impression on your readers and summarize the main points of your argument effectively. Here are the steps on how to write a good conclusion for your discussion paper:
Things to avoid in conclusion
Let’s have a look at a conclusion example for a discussion essay..
Remember that a conclusion is your final opportunity to leave a strong impression, so make it memorable and impactful.
How is a discussion essay different from other types of essays.
Unlike other common essays that might focus on presenting a single argument, a discussion essay presents multiple perspectives on a topic. It strives to remain neutral and balanced while analyzing different viewpoints.
Yes, you can include your personal opinion, but it should be presented alongside other viewpoints. Your opinion should be supported by evidence and analysis, and you should strive for a balanced presentation.
Yes, including counterarguments is essential in a discussion essay. Addressing opposing viewpoints demonstrates your understanding of the topic and strengthens your analysis.
Present each viewpoint objectively and support it with evidence. Give equal attention to different perspectives and avoid using biased language.
Use transitional words and phrases like “however,” “on the other hand,” and “in contrast” to smoothly guide readers between paragraphs and viewpoints.
How to write a discussion essay (with steps & examples), writing a great poetry essay (steps & examples), how to write a process essay (steps & examples), writing a common app essay (steps & examples), how to write a synthesis essay (steps & examples), how to write a horror story.
2. outline your essay, outline your points, 3. draft your introduction, 4. good discussion in the body of your essay, 5. conclude your essay, how to write a discussion essay.
A discussion essay presents and discusses issues surrounding a particular topic--usually one that is debatable and open to argument. A good argumentative essay must include a thorough discussion of both sides of the issue, including main points to support your argument and its counterargument. It should also provide a well-rounded understanding of the issues before the writer presents their personal own opinions and conclusions.
What is an IELTS Discussion Essay?
The International English Language Testing System is an international standardized test of English language proficiency for non-native English language speakers.
Example of an IELTS Discussion essay
Some believe language provides cohesion to a country, while others believe diverse languages bring diversity and vibrancy. Discuss both sides and give your opinion.
As with most persuasive essay formats, the essay's quality relies primarily on the writer's ability to provide solid research and evidence to present different views of the topic.
Practicing your writing skills as you write a discussion essay is a great way to grow as a writer. Let’s dive into the essay structure and components of a successful discussion essay.
Choose your discussion essay topic. When choosing this topic, make sure it is one that you're interested in personally since this will be easier for you to write. You'll need to discuss both sides of the argument surrounding the discussion essay topic, so ensure that you have access to good research that provides pertinent information. Writing only one side of the argument will result in an undeveloped discussion essay, which probably won’t receive a good score.
Outline your discussion essay. This outline should include a rough draft of your thesis statement, main argument, opposing argument, other main points and a rough draft of your conclusion. Your goal at this point is to get your thoughts on the discussion essay topic organized and in writing.
You can write a detailed outline for your discussion essay, using traditional outline format--letters and numbers to separate key points--or you can simply jot down a list of the main discussion points you plan to cover in order to answer the essay question or address the essay topic.
Next, write your introduction. According to the Open University, your goal in the introduction of your discussion essay is to introduce the issues relating to the topic and to provide your reader with important background information. Your introduction is essentially setting the scene for your reader so they are prepared to digest the argument you’ll be presenting. Providing your reader with a simple overview of how your discussion essay is organized will ensure that she understands your flow of thought throughout the body of the essay.
Most importantly, at the end of your introductory paragraph you must include a well developed thesis statement. One of the most common mistakes made when writing introduction paragraphs is leaving out the thesis statement, which is one sentence that firmly asserts what side of the argument you will be arguing throughout the work. Be specific in your points and make sure it is a strong closing to this first paragraph, as it will set the tone for the rest of your essay.
Write the body paragraphs of your discussion essay using any research sources that you have collected. Typically, you should present each issue individually and impartially, discussing first one side of the argument and then the other side of each argument that relates to your topic. Ensuring that each paragraph is roughly the same size as the other will make the presentation of facts seem balanced to the reader as well. Each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that smoothly transitions from the previous paragraph while simultaneously introducing the new topic covered in the upcoming one.
Progress through your body arguments in order, starting with your weakest argument or issue and progressing to the strongest. This structure allows your reader to follow your flow of thought easily without getting distracted. When deciding how to use sources, try to use the same number of quotes and sources for each argument. If you use three quotes to support your main argument, strive to use three quotes to present the opposing view as well.
Write your discussion essay conclusion. Your goal with your conclusion is to summarize the overall information from the body of the discussion essay, leading the reader to mentally review the pros and cons of the topic argument. Although you don't technically have to be in favor of one side of the discussion yourself, if you are, be sure to present your own conclusions in this paragraph rather than earlier in the essay.
Once you have finished your conclusion, part of wrapping up your essay is going back through it and checking for grammatical errors. Check to make sure you have not copied any quotes directly from other sources, as this would result in a plagiarism charge, especially if your professor screens your essay through a writing service that checks for plagiarized work. Always write using your own words. Using your own words not only saves you from plagiarism issues, but also helps with essay coherence since the rest of the work has been written in your tone of voice.
On the final page of your discussion essay you will also include all of the citations for sources you quoted or summarized information from. Whether citing in MLA or APA format, double check the style and order of your citations for accuracy before turning it in.
Regan Hennessy has been writing professionally for 11 years. A copywriter and certified teacher, Hennessy specializes in the areas of parenting, health, education, agriculture and personal finance. She has produced content for various websites and graduated from Lycoming College with a Bachelor of Arts in English.
Last Updated: June 27, 2023 Fact Checked
This article was co-authored by Jake Adams . Jake Adams is an academic tutor and the owner of Simplifi EDU, a Santa Monica, California based online tutoring business offering learning resources and online tutors for academic subjects K-College, SAT & ACT prep, and college admissions applications. With over 14 years of professional tutoring experience, Jake is dedicated to providing his clients the very best online tutoring experience and access to a network of excellent undergraduate and graduate-level tutors from top colleges all over the nation. Jake holds a BS in International Business and Marketing from Pepperdine University. There are 14 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 445,273 times.
To write a discussion essay, start by taking a side on the issue you're writing about, like "Immigration is good for the country." Then, outline the main points that made you decide to take that position and do research to find evidence that backs them up. Look for credible sources that can help you make your argument, and don't forget to cite them. Then, when you're writing your essay, devote 1 paragraph to each main point and include your evidence. For help writing the introduction and conclusion to your essay, scroll down! Did this summary help you? Yes No
Ellie Foster
Sep 28, 2021
Apr 27, 2016
wikiHow Tech Help Pro:
Develop the tech skills you need for work and life
The purpose of the discussion section is to interpret and describe the significance of your findings in relation to what was already known about the research problem being investigated and to explain any new understanding or insights that emerged as a result of your research. The discussion will always connect to the introduction by way of the research questions or hypotheses you posed and the literature you reviewed, but the discussion does not simply repeat or rearrange the first parts of your paper; the discussion clearly explains how your study advanced the reader's understanding of the research problem from where you left them at the end of your review of prior research.
Annesley, Thomas M. “The Discussion Section: Your Closing Argument.” Clinical Chemistry 56 (November 2010): 1671-1674; Peacock, Matthew. “Communicative Moves in the Discussion Section of Research Articles.” System 30 (December 2002): 479-497.
The discussion section is often considered the most important part of your research paper because it:
Annesley Thomas M. “The Discussion Section: Your Closing Argument.” Clinical Chemistry 56 (November 2010): 1671-1674; Bitchener, John and Helen Basturkmen. “Perceptions of the Difficulties of Postgraduate L2 Thesis Students Writing the Discussion Section.” Journal of English for Academic Purposes 5 (January 2006): 4-18; Kretchmer, Paul. Fourteen Steps to Writing an Effective Discussion Section. San Francisco Edit, 2003-2008.
I. General Rules
These are the general rules you should adopt when composing your discussion of the results :
II. The Content
The content of the discussion section of your paper most often includes :
III. Organization and Structure
Keep the following sequential points in mind as you organize and write the discussion section of your paper:
IV. Overall Objectives
The objectives of your discussion section should include the following: I. Reiterate the Research Problem/State the Major Findings
Briefly reiterate the research problem or problems you are investigating and the methods you used to investigate them, then move quickly to describe the major findings of the study. You should write a direct, declarative, and succinct proclamation of the study results, usually in one paragraph.
II. Explain the Meaning of the Findings and Why They are Important
No one has thought as long and hard about your study as you have. Systematically explain the underlying meaning of your findings and state why you believe they are significant. After reading the discussion section, you want the reader to think critically about the results and why they are important. You don’t want to force the reader to go through the paper multiple times to figure out what it all means. If applicable, begin this part of the section by repeating what you consider to be your most significant or unanticipated finding first, then systematically review each finding. Otherwise, follow the general order you reported the findings presented in the results section.
III. Relate the Findings to Similar Studies
No study in the social sciences is so novel or possesses such a restricted focus that it has absolutely no relation to previously published research. The discussion section should relate your results to those found in other studies, particularly if questions raised from prior studies served as the motivation for your research. This is important because comparing and contrasting the findings of other studies helps to support the overall importance of your results and it highlights how and in what ways your study differs from other research about the topic. Note that any significant or unanticipated finding is often because there was no prior research to indicate the finding could occur. If there is prior research to indicate this, you need to explain why it was significant or unanticipated. IV. Consider Alternative Explanations of the Findings
It is important to remember that the purpose of research in the social sciences is to discover and not to prove . When writing the discussion section, you should carefully consider all possible explanations for the study results, rather than just those that fit your hypothesis or prior assumptions and biases. This is especially important when describing the discovery of significant or unanticipated findings.
V. Acknowledge the Study’s Limitations
It is far better for you to identify and acknowledge your study’s limitations than to have them pointed out by your professor! Note any unanswered questions or issues your study could not address and describe the generalizability of your results to other situations. If a limitation is applicable to the method chosen to gather information, then describe in detail the problems you encountered and why. VI. Make Suggestions for Further Research
You may choose to conclude the discussion section by making suggestions for further research [as opposed to offering suggestions in the conclusion of your paper]. Although your study can offer important insights about the research problem, this is where you can address other questions related to the problem that remain unanswered or highlight hidden issues that were revealed as a result of conducting your research. You should frame your suggestions by linking the need for further research to the limitations of your study [e.g., in future studies, the survey instrument should include more questions that ask..."] or linking to critical issues revealed from the data that were not considered initially in your research.
NOTE: Besides the literature review section, the preponderance of references to sources is usually found in the discussion section . A few historical references may be helpful for perspective, but most of the references should be relatively recent and included to aid in the interpretation of your results, to support the significance of a finding, and/or to place a finding within a particular context. If a study that you cited does not support your findings, don't ignore it--clearly explain why your research findings differ from theirs.
V. Problems to Avoid
Analyzing vs. Summarizing. Department of English Writing Guide. George Mason University; Discussion. The Structure, Format, Content, and Style of a Journal-Style Scientific Paper. Department of Biology. Bates College; Hess, Dean R. "How to Write an Effective Discussion." Respiratory Care 49 (October 2004); Kretchmer, Paul. Fourteen Steps to Writing to Writing an Effective Discussion Section. San Francisco Edit, 2003-2008; The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Sauaia, A. et al. "The Anatomy of an Article: The Discussion Section: "How Does the Article I Read Today Change What I Will Recommend to my Patients Tomorrow?” The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery 74 (June 2013): 1599-1602; Research Limitations & Future Research . Lund Research Ltd., 2012; Summary: Using it Wisely. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Schafer, Mickey S. Writing the Discussion. Writing in Psychology course syllabus. University of Florida; Yellin, Linda L. A Sociology Writer's Guide . Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 2009.
Don’t Over-Interpret the Results!
Interpretation is a subjective exercise. As such, you should always approach the selection and interpretation of your findings introspectively and to think critically about the possibility of judgmental biases unintentionally entering into discussions about the significance of your work. With this in mind, be careful that you do not read more into the findings than can be supported by the evidence you have gathered. Remember that the data are the data: nothing more, nothing less.
MacCoun, Robert J. "Biases in the Interpretation and Use of Research Results." Annual Review of Psychology 49 (February 1998): 259-287; Ward, Paulet al, editors. The Oxford Handbook of Expertise . Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2018.
Don't Write Two Results Sections!
One of the most common mistakes that you can make when discussing the results of your study is to present a superficial interpretation of the findings that more or less re-states the results section of your paper. Obviously, you must refer to your results when discussing them, but focus on the interpretation of those results and their significance in relation to the research problem, not the data itself.
Azar, Beth. "Discussing Your Findings." American Psychological Association gradPSYCH Magazine (January 2006).
Avoid Unwarranted Speculation!
The discussion section should remain focused on the findings of your study. For example, if the purpose of your research was to measure the impact of foreign aid on increasing access to education among disadvantaged children in Bangladesh, it would not be appropriate to speculate about how your findings might apply to populations in other countries without drawing from existing studies to support your claim or if analysis of other countries was not a part of your original research design. If you feel compelled to speculate, do so in the form of describing possible implications or explaining possible impacts. Be certain that you clearly identify your comments as speculation or as a suggestion for where further research is needed. Sometimes your professor will encourage you to expand your discussion of the results in this way, while others don’t care what your opinion is beyond your effort to interpret the data in relation to the research problem.
Discussion essay definition.
What is a discussion essay? When assigned a discussion essay, what are you expected to do? In this guide to writing a discussion essay, we’ll start by answering these questions. First, a discussion essay discusses issues surrounding an open and debatable topic. Discussion essays are also known as argumentative essays. Second, when given a discussion essay, you should provide a detailed discussion of both sides of a given topic. The quality of a discussion essay relies on the evidence used to support different views of a topic. In the next part, we provide a step-by-step guide to writing a discussion essay. Read on and become a better writer.
Step 1- read and understand the question.
This sounds like an obvious step. But did you know some students skip it? Some students read the question once and proceed to answer it. Such students provide an irrelevant answer. An irrelevant answer attracts poor grades if any. Essay content carries more points. This is the reason you must get it right. How can you get it? It is simple. By first reading and understanding the question. You need to know what exactly the question needs you to do. Look at this example question (below).
Abortion has been a heated topic across the world. With restrictive abortion laws, the topic is likely to remain a key issue. Using scholarly sources to support your argument, take a stance on restrictive abortion laws and establish whether you think the laws should be less strict or stricter. Give reasons.
To understand a question, start by reading it several times. Identify any words that you don’t understand. Then, establish the issue at hand. For example, in the example above, what is the issue at hand? The issue at hand is abortion. Specifically, the issue at hand is restrictive abortion laws. This is clear from the words “take a stance on restrictive abortion laws”.
If you can’t seem to understand the question, talk to your instructor. Just don’t write your essay before understanding the question. It will be a waste of time, energy, and effort. You’re also more likely to get poor grades.
You’ve understood the question. What do you do to get enough material for your essay? Our guide to writing a discussion essay provides a detailed answer to this question. Do the following;
What if the notes and the textbook have no information surrounding your topic? It is simple. Visit your library. You can also use the internet. You’ll find lots of sources with information on your topic. Search for academic journals. You can also rely on reliable sites such as ‘.gov’. Avoid opinion-based sources such as blogs.
The initial research will give you a starting point. After identifying credible sources, dig deeper. Find more information for supporting your discussion essay. Remember to take notes as you research. Include citations in your notes.
Step 3 in our guide to writing a discussion essay is outlining your discussion essay. Before outlining, you need to decide on your discussion essay structure. A standard structure will have three main sections. It will have an introduction, main body, and a concluding section. In the main body, you’ll present arguments from both sides. A wrong discussion essay structure frustrates your reader. This is the reason you need a correct structure. After deciding on your structure, outline the essay. Your outline should have bulleted points. This will be useful while drafting the essay. Following is a structure you can use to outline your essay.
1. Introduction General statement Relevant definitions Thesis statement 2. Main body Ø Arguments for One: Argument 1 Two: Argument 2 Three: Argument …. Ø Arguments against o One: Argument 1 o Two: Argument…. 3. Conclusion Ø Summary of main points Ø Call to action |
Note: The number of arguments will depend on the length of your essay. For a five-paragraph essay, your arguments will be three. This is because you should present only one argument in each body paragraph. You can choose to have two arguments for and one against. Alternatively, you can choose to have two arguments against and one argument for. For a longer essay, you can have several arguments for and against. Just ensure that you have arguments for both sides. List down your arguments in the outline. You can highlight any other relevant point in the outline. This will make it even easier to write your discussion essay.
The next step in our guide to writing a discussion essay is drafting the essay. With an outline, this should be way easier.
Start with the introduction. Now, let’s look at how to write a discussion introduction. Start your introduction with a general statement. For example, you may begin your introduction with a general statement on abortion. This is for our example question provided in step 1 above. Then, introduce your specific topic. In our example, this would be restrictive abortion laws. Lastly, present your thesis statement with your position.
Then, move to the next main section. This is the main body. Use the outline as a guide. Based on your position, start with the arguments for or against. Use research to develop your paragraphs. After writing your argument, explain. Then, provide evidence from your notes. Evidence may include statistics, quotes, or paraphrased ideas. Remember to always include citations. You can get this information from the notes you made during the research. This is the reason you need not skip any step.
Finally, write the concluding paragraph. Provide enough information for the reader to form an opinion. Start by restating your thesis statement and position. Then, state your arguments. Close your concluding paragraph with a call to action.
The last step in our guide to writing a discussion essay involves revising the essay. You need to read and reread your essay to eliminate any errors. Ensure that the ideas flow from one to the next. If not, add transitions. Ensure that every section is clear. If not, rewrite them. Read the essay to look for typos and grammatical errors. Try leading it out aloud. This will force you to read each word. Reread the essay one more time. When sure that it is error-free, submit it.
Don’t wait for the deadline to approach to start working on a discussion essay. From our guide to writing a discussion essay, you can see there is a lot to do. You need to research, find good sources, outline, and draft. This means that you need enough time. Also, you need enough time to provide a clear analysis. It is impossible to provide a logical argument when in rush. In short, give yourself enough time to write a good discussion essay. What if you find yourself doing your essay at the last minute. You don’t have to worry. The best essay service can help you out. Professional essay writers will ensure that you complete your essay before the deadline. Most importantly, the best professional essay writers will ensure that you produce a high-quality discussion essay even when in rush.
In this guide to writing a discussion essay, you’ve learned how to write a good discussion essay. This is a five-step process. Start by reading and understanding your question. Second, research the topic to find supporting materials. Third, outline the essay using a proper structure. Fourth, use your outline to draft the discussion essay. Lastly, revise your essay and then submit it. Following this guide will help you to write a winning discussion essay. If you still find it difficult to write a discussion essay, don’t give up. Allow the best professional essay writers to help you learn how to write a discussion essay.
We are available 24x7 to deliver the best services and assignment ready within 3-4 hours? Order a custom-written, plagiarism-free paper
We are a professional writing service that provides original papers. Our products include academic papers of varying complexity and other personalized services, along with research materials for assistance purposes only. All the materials from our website should be used with proper references.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +1 (256) 789 8083
WhatsApp us
In this article, we will explore the process of constructing a high-quality argumentative essay. The ability to craft a coherent argument and to express those arguments with others in a discussion are essential skills to encourage in our students. This skill helps our students engage with the world, process their thoughts, and discover their opinions.
In this article, we will use the terms ‘discussion’ and ‘argument’ interchangeably. But, it is worth noting that the real purpose of a discussion is to explore a variety of arguments to arrive at the truth, where possible.
Teaching our students the basics of argument and discussion is not about tooling them up to ‘win’. The discussion processes are as much about the student discovering what they think as they are about persuading others to agree. As students mature and get more practised in their discussions, they will discover that often discussion is a necessary precursor to having an opinion on a given topic, no matter how basic or advanced that topic may be.
For students, the discussion often bridges the gap between speaking and listening learning areas and reading and writing. It is for this reason that we will look at some oral discussion activities before examining how to approach the writing of discussion pieces in the classroom. These oral activities can serve as excellent pre-writing exercises for the students to prepare their thoughts and ideas before writing. They also work well as standalone oral activities that allow students to practice their persuasive speaking skills and all that entails.
A COMPLETE TEACHING UNIT ON PERSUASIVE WRITING SKILLS
Teach your students to produce writing that PERSUADES and INFLUENCES thinking with this HUGE writing guide bundle covering: ⭐ Persuasive Texts / Essays ⭐ Expository Essays⭐ Argumentative Essays⭐ Discussions.
A complete 140 PAGE unit of work on persuasive texts for teachers and students. No preparation is required.
An argumentative essay, also known as a discussion, presents both sides of the argument on a specific topic so the audience can form their own opinion.
CLARITY Choose a clear, firm and debatable topic, and stress its importance. There should be no confusion about what or what you are writing about or why.
PROVIDE CONTEXT A bit of background information is often needed early in the essay to understand the argument. Bring your audience up to speed on the topic.
ORDER Use sequential paragraphs or statements. Keep things in order by creating paragraphs that lead us from opinion A to opinion B through well-crafted segways and transitions.
RESEARCH Nothing will sink your essay faster than a poorly researched paper full of questionable “facts” and ill-informed opinions . Get your evidence straight.
LOGICAL & RATIONAL You are not a “shock jock” or a biased blogger. You are presenting both sides of an argument to let your readers make a decision.
IMPERSONAL VOICE Keep your own opinions out and let your audience form their own.
TENSE Discussions are usually written in present tense.
LOGICAL CONNECTIVES Use terms such as therefore and however to connect concepts and points of contention.
RESPECTED SOURCES Valued information comes from respected sources. Ensure you use reputable evidence.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AN ARGUMENTIVE ESSAY AND A PERSUASIVE ESSAY?
These styles of writing are often confused, and whilst they do share common elements, they are two separate genres with different purposes. If you are looking for a complete guide to writing a persuasive essay, please view ours here.
Pick your poison wisely: choosing discussion topics.
The beauty of incorporating discussion and argument into the classroom is that you can quickly build your lessons around the student’s interests. From the youngest students in elementary to those wizened old owls in high school, a quick class brainstorm will reveal a wealth of juicy topics for them to get their mental teeth into. In this day and age of political correctness, however, be sensitive to the selection of a topic for discussion appropriate to the demographics of your class. While controversial topics can lead to the most lively of discussions, it is best to avoid subjects too close to the bone that may cause deep rifts in the class dynamic. If in doubt, rather than take suggestions from the class, have some exciting topics pre-prepared for the students to choose from or to vote on.
You can find numerous topics on the web, but here are some to get you started…
The challenge in writing a good discussion or argumentative essay is to be open-minded, even if you know which side you want to support.
Factual research and evidence are your number one tool. It gives you credibility by sourcing knowledge from experts but more importantly, it gives your own opinions and ideas greater weight as you have demonstrated a broad and accurate understanding of the topic you are writing about.
be sure to spend some time researching your topic before writing about it, and make sure you reference where you have sourced this knowledge.
Most students will head straight for the internet to find their evidence, so ensure you understand how to use it correctly. This poster demonstrates how to get the most out of the three major search platforms on the web. You can download the free poster version of it here.
The aim of a well-written discussion text is to present information and opinions that express more than one viewpoint. This will often take the form of a newspaper report or a leaflet. Regardless of the genre of the writing undertaken, however, some common factors apply to most discussion texts. Most often, they are written in the present tense and are commonly structured in the following way:
No better place to begin than at the start. The title should typically be a general statement or even a question that draws attention to a specific issue. For example, Should cell phones be banned in schools?
The introduction section itself should usually be relatively brief and open with a brief statement on the issue and provide some background to the issue to be discussed. It will outline the arguments to be reviewed ahead, but the introduction itself does not usually contain any of the student’s opinions or views on the topic in question. There are, however, several things to consider when writing the introduction.
As with any genre of writing, it is essential to grab the reader’s attention from the outset, and discussion texts are no different. Fortunately, there are several tried and tested methods of achieving this. Here are a few that may be suitable openers for your students’ discussion writing:
● open with a quotation relevant to the topic being addressed. A well-chosen quotation can grab the attention of even the most distracted of readers and compel them to read more!
● a surprising fact is another excellent way to grab the reader’s attention and illuminate the topic to be discussed. Not only is it engaging, but informative too!
● a joke. Everyone loves a laugh, and a joke can provide an excellent in to the student’s writing. But, encourage your students to be careful here; the suitability of a humorous opening will largely depend on the topic being discussed. As jokes may not always be appropriate to the material, they must be used wisely.
In writing a balanced argument, students must consider the positives and negatives of the issue. The body of the text should be focused on presenting the pros and cons, the for and against arguments, relating to the central issue. This is why oral starter activities can be so valuable as prewriting exercises.
After the student has laid out the topic in their introduction by providing the necessary background information, it is time for the student to consider laying out the case for the argument.
Using time connectives is an excellent way for students to organize their information. Adverbs of time, such as firstly, secondly, next, then etc. and phrases such as, in addition to, therefore etc., can help students structure their information chronologically and coherently.
Depending on the length of the text, it is typically recommended that each paragraph consists of a single point. It is important to remind students that in the presentation of a balanced argument, they should not express their own bias or even their own point of view , instead, they are laying out both sides of the argument for the reader and should give equal weight to each point of view. When exploring each point, whether for or against, the PEE method can be a helpful way to aid students in structuring their paragraphs and give the direction of their argument:
Be sure to check out our own complete guide to writing perfect paragraphs here .
P = Point (Student makes their point at the beginning of the paragraph)
E = Evidence (Student provides evidence that underpins this point)
E =Explain (Student explores point further and ties back to the central issue)
When the student has considered each of their points for the argument, for example, three separate paragraphs each making three points for the argument, it is now time to consider and do the same for the argument against . The purpose here is to set up an opposition to the previously made points, to offer the other side of the story.
Encourage students here to use words and phrases that set up this contrast, for example, however , contrastingly , on the other hand , etc. Displaying these words and phrases in a word bank can also be a great way to help weaker students to organize their writing.
In the conclusion, the student reviews the information, summarises the arguments made and weighs up the issue in light of the available evidence. At this point, students can offer their own opinion in favor or against the issue at hand, but only if it is appropriate to the genre of the discussion text.
Students often find it difficult to know how to end their writing. One excellent way to finish their discussion is to end it with a question, a challenge to the readers to form their own opinion on the issue in light of the evidence that has been presented.
ORAL ACTIVITY 1: PROS AND CONS
This great warm-up exercise allows students to explore a topic, weigh up the different possible opinions, and even offers a chance for the student to discover what they think about a topic. This exercise can also serve as a fantastic prep exercise for a piece of extended writing and involves minimal prep.
Pros and Cons involve students making a list of a given topic’s pro and con arguments. This is often best done in small groups where the students can brainstorm together and bounce ideas off one another. The process of comparing the for and against of an issue gives them an awareness of the range of opinions on the matter, helping them on their way to forming their own opinion.
The list created during this activity can also provide a helpful outline that can work as a springboard for later writing. It is a great way to organize ideas coherently that can seamlessly feed into the writing process described later below.
BY LISTING POINTS AND COUNTERPOINTS TOGETHER, STUDENTS GET INTO THE PRACTICE OF DEVELOPING A NUANCED AND CONSIDERED ARGUMENT RATHER THAN PRODUCING MERE PROPAGANDA. THIS HELPS THEM INTERNALIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF GIVING FULL CONSIDERATION TO A RANGE OF DIFFERING OPINIONS ABOUT THE SAME TOPIC.
ORAL ACTIVITY 2: THINK – PAIR – SHARE
This activity requires almost zero prep, other than giving the class a topic to get their teeth into!
First, have the students think silently about the topic for a minute or two. They may scratch down doodles or brief notes of their ideas on a piece of paper to use in the discussion portion of this exercise, but this is not a writing activity!
Then, partner them up with another student. At this stage, you may consider differentiation; you may wish to match students with other students of equal ability or with a stronger one as support. Either way, students discuss the topic with their partners for a predetermined number of minutes. The length of time will be dictated by the students’ ages and abilities. Experiment to find the most suitable length of time for your class.
After the time is up, students can share their opinions with the class. You can also scribe the ideas generated by each group onto a master list displayed on the whiteboard as part of a pre-writing exercise. This can also be an excellent exercise to begin the preparation for a formal debate, as it affords the students opportunities to think on their feet, engage with differing opinions, and to work on public speaking skills such as body language.
ORAL ACTIVITY 3. SPEED-DATING FUN
This is a pacy, fun activity to get a lively conversation going in a manner that apes the popular speed dating format – but with a more virtuous intent! You can organize the desks in rows facing each other or in concentric circles in the middle of the classroom.
Choose one row or circle to be mobile. Give students a list of topics to discuss and start the clock. After three minutes or so, signal the time is up and instruct students to move to the following table. At the next station, they can either discuss the same topic or move on to the next topic on their list.
Of course, you may shorten or lengthen the allotted time based on the student’s abilities or the complexities of the topics. However, as this exercise works best in fun and fast-paced, and the aim is for each student to have the opportunity to speak with every other student, it is often best to keep the topics fairly straightforward. Questions like Is it better to live in the town than the country? or Do dogs make better pets than cats? work well here.
The discrete teaching of discussion and argument in the classroom is essential. It offers students invaluable opportunities to test their opinions and ideas with their peers in a safe environment. Students learn that disagreement is inevitable and not fatal! They learn, too, that it is okay to revise an opinion in the light of compelling evidence they had not previously considered.
Discussion is a proving ground for ideas. Ideas tested in the arena of classroom discussion will likely be expressed much more coherently in written form. Often, students are not fully aware of exactly how they think on an issue until they have had a chance to try out their embryonic ideas with each other in a public discussion. It also helps students avoid the dangers of the echo chamber of their minds where frequently their ideas existed without challenge.
Encouraging our students to engage in respectful and productive disagreement is perhaps one of the most important skills we can help them develop.
AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Discussion activities offer tremendous opportunities for some informal assessment that helps with planning to best meet the needs of your students in future lessons. The fact that they are not teacher-led gives the teacher a chance to take a backseat and give full attention to the students’ conversations. This allows you to spot areas of difficulty and gaps in learning – all valuable information that will be priceless for effective future lesson planning.
Use our resources and tools to improve your student’s writing skills through proven teaching strategies.
The first task in writing an excellent argumentative essay is finding a suitable topic with solid and valid opinions for both sides of the argument. You will find some engaging writing prompts below.
Below are a collection of student writing samples of discussions. Click on the image to enlarge and explore them in greater detail. Please take a moment to read them in detail, and the teacher and student guide highlight some of the critical elements of discussions to consider before writing.
Please understand these student writing samples are not intended to be perfect examples for each age or grade level but a piece of writing for students and teachers to explore together to critically analyze to improve student writing skills and deepen their understanding of writing a discussion.
We would recommend reading the example either a year above or below, as well as the grade you are currently working with to gain a broader appreciation of this text type.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (92 Reviews)
A discussion essay presents and discusses issues surrounding a particular topic. The topic is usually one that is debatable and open to argument. Security for students on campus is probably not an appropriate topic because probably everyone would agree that students should feel safe on campus. The use of guns on campus, however, could be an appropriate topic because some people might think guns make the campus safer while others argue that guns make the campus more dangerous.
Regardless of your personal opinion, a good discussion essay must begin with a thorough discussion of both sides of the topic. It should provide a well-rounded understanding of the issue before the writer presents their personal opinions and conclusions. The discussion essay’s quality relies primarily on your ability to provide your readers with solid research and evidence. The conclusion to your discussion essay may propose “next steps” rather than a direct solution or decision. Alternatively, the conclusion can include your opinion, but it should be based upon the information presented in the body of the essay.
When writing a discussion essay, it is important that facts and opinions are clearly separated. Often the writer will examine what other people have already said on the same subject. The author will include this information using paraphrasing and summarizing skills, as well as correct citations. A balanced view is essential. The writer’s opinion usually comes only after both sides are considered. This makes discussion essays different from persuasion or argument essays in which a writer asserts their opinion in their thesis and then provides evidence to support their position. Therefore, the writer’s position is more of an observation than persuasion.
Argument essay = states the writer’s opinion at the beginning (thesis) and then tries to prove it with evidence, but sometimes the evidence is from only one side
Discussion essay = explores the opinions of others on both sides of an issue and then states the writer’s opinion at the end as a logical result of the information
A discussion essay is a helpful way to present an issue for discussion or debate. It is not as formal and objective as a research paper, and it is not as informal and subjective as a persuasive or argumentative essay. It’s somewhere in between. Here are some examples of when a discussion essay is a useful writing strategy:
To decide how to vote on a ballot measure issue | Examine the arguments for and against capital punishment. |
To design a curriculum and class schedule for a school | Schools should teach children not only academic subjects but also important life skills. Discuss. |
To determine if a school should invest in new computers for classrooms | What are the advantages and disadvantages of technology in the classroom? |
To make a choice between a foreign university and a local university | An increasing number of students are going to college in another country. What are the rewards and challenges of such a situation? |
In many ways, a discussion paragraph essay resembles a compare/contrast essay. You group the details of each side of the argument: rewards and challenges, advantages and disadvantages, choice A and choice B. In other words, introduce the issue; present one side of the issue; present the other side of the issue; conclude with your opinion or some other observation or comment.
You can begin your work by first making some notes. Graphic organizers can help. For example, you might use a Venn diagram (two overlapping circles). Or you can use a simple table like the one in the following example.
language immersion: Students who use a foreign language all the time — at school and outside of school — learn the language faster cultural immersion: Students who have experience adapting to a foreign culture make good candidates for desirable jobs with multinational corporations | expensive: Tuition for foreign students is usually higher than for domestic students |
If you have the money, it’s definitely worthwhile.
|
Which position comes first? You have some choices here. Consider these options and decide which works best for your particular essay:
INSTRUCTIONS: Use the example discussion paragraph above to answer the questions below.
Example discussion essay
Look closely now at this example discussion essay. Read closely and notice how it mirrors the discussion paragraph above. Then answer the questions that follow.
George Spelvin ESOL 252 Level 7 Writing February 15, 2023
Finding the Best Place to Study
“There’s no place like home” goes the familiar mantra from the famous book and movie The Wizard of Oz . It celebrates the virtues of the familiar while at the same time making a case for exploring the unknown. The same could be said for choices in education. Most people spend around fifteen years of their life in education, from primary school to university study. In the past, students only had the opportunity to study in their own country. Nowadays, however, it is increasingly easy to study overseas, especially at the university level. While there are some undoubted benefits of this trend, such as the language environment and improved employment prospects, there is also a significant disadvantage, namely the high cost..
The first and most important advantage of overseas study is the language learning environment. Students studying overseas will not only have to cope with the local language for their study, but they will also have to use it outside the classroom for their everyday life. These factors should make it relatively easy for such students to advance their language abilities.
Another important benefit is employability. Increasing globalization means that there are more multinational companies setting up offices in all major countries. These companies will need employees who have a variety of skills, including the fluency in more than one language and familiarity with a foreign culture. Students who have studied abroad should find it much easier to obtain a job in this kind of company.
There are, however, some disadvantages to overseas study which must be considered, the most notable of which is the expense. In addition to the cost of travel, which in itself is not inconsiderable, overseas students are required to pay tuition fees which are usually much higher than those of local students. Added to this is the cost of living, which is often much higher than in the students’ own country. Although scholarships may be available for overseas students, there are usually very few of these, most of which will only cover a fraction of the cost. Overseas study therefore constitutes a considerable expense.
In summary, studying abroad has some clear advantages — an immersion in foreign language and culture that leads to increased chances of employment — in addition to the main drawback of heavy financial burden. International students in London, for example, pay more than $14,000 a year for tuition alone. This experience can be worthwhile for those students whose families can readily afford the expense. Students without such strong financial support, however, should consider carefully whether the high cost outweighs the benefits to be gained. For them, there truly may be no place like home.
INSTRUCTIONS: Use the example discussion essay above to answer the questions below.
INSTRUCTIONS: Use the information above to answer the questions below.
1. A discussion essay needs an introduction, body, and conclusion, just like other essays. True or false?
2. Which of the following research questions is suitable for a discussion essay?
3. In our discussion essay, we should … (choose all that apply)
4. A discussion essay chooses one side of a two-sided argument. It explores only the pros or the cons — not both — in order to give a clear opinion and persuade the reader. True or false?
5. What is the best way to organize the body of a discussion essay?
6. A discussion essay always presents the disadvantages, or cons, first. True or false?
7. A discussion essay must always be exactly four paragraphs. True or false?
8. Which of the following would NOT be a purpose for a discussion paragraph or essay?
9. The discussion essay’s quality relies primarily on our ability to provide our readers with ____________.
10. “Three reasons why you should get an electric car” is not the best choice for a discussion essay. Why not? Explain.
Coalescence Copyright © 2023 by Timothy Krause is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
How to Write a Discussion Essay
Have you been asked to write a discussion essay and you do not know how to go about it? Discussion essays require you to debate two opposing sides where you eventually show the side you prefer.
This article will look into steps that you need to follow when writing discussion essays and all the tips to complete one successfully
A discussion essay presents issues surrounding topics that are debatable and open to criticism or arguments. The essay must include detailed accounts of both sides of the debate and strong points to support arguments and counterarguments.
The opinions on both sides of the topic should be fully exhausted. An example of a good discussion essay title is; The arguments for and against the death penalty.
Also Read: Is Using Old Exams Cheating? Tips how to Use Them to Pass
Writing discussion essays is not hard. It takes time to perfect essay writing and a few average first trials should not discourage you. However, there are several steps that if followed can help elevate you easily to an expert discussion essay writer. These include:
When you have not been given a specific topic to write about, always ensure that you choose a topic carefully. Pick a topic that will be easier to research and write about.
A topic with readily available research is important because you will have to write about two argument phases in detail.
When you choose a side where the research available is one sided ,then your discussion essay will be unbalanced and may result in poor grading or rating
You will need to thoroughly research the topic you are writing about because facts must be separated from opinions. Only facts about a topic will make credible arguments for and against it.
Always research for enough factual points about a topic that will balance your arguments. Also, ensure that during research you formulate a thesis statement, opinions, and a conclusion that will serve as the parting shot of your essay.
After research, create a rough draft of how you want your essay to flow. Here include introduction points, thesis statement, supporting arguments, opposing arguments, and a rough conclusion paragraph.
This draft will help you write the essay without instant stops that are caused by running out of content halfway through.
Also, through outlines the ideas you present in the essay will look organized because you have already planned how they will flow. There is no recommended way of formulating this draft as long as you make sure that you do all the above tasks.
Also Read: Essay Reading: Practice and Importance of Reading Essays
To introduce a discussion essay, all issues relating to the topic and important background information must be involved. The introduction should effectively set the pace of your essay preparing the reader for the arguments that you will present.
The thesis statement that reveals to the reader what the essay will be all about should conclude the introduction. The statement should summarize both sides presented in the essay.
It also sets the scene for your essay. Therefore, it should be a specific and strong closing statement to your introduction paragraph.
Each issue in the body paragraphs should be presented impartially. There should be no cases of mix-up. This implies that arguments for should be presented separately from arguments against.
Paragraphs that present the facts should be equal to give the impression that they are balanced. Also, each paragraph should start with a topic sentence that introduces an argument that is then supported by the body sentences.
The last sentence in the paragraph can serve as a transition to the next. When presenting your arguments, start with the strongest to ensure that the reader can keep up with the flow of your essay.
Always ensure a smooth transition to arguments against if you started in arguments for and vice versa. Sources and quotes should be balanced for both arguments.
For example, if you use four scholarly sources and 3 quotes for arguments against, the same should be replicated in supporting arguments.
To conclude a discussion essay, summarize the overall information that has been presented in your essay. There is no requirement that you favor one side of the argument in your essay but if you do, make sure that you present your own opinion that is not similar to the body paragraphs to avoid repetition.
Write the conclusion in a way that the reader will know that the essay is coming to an end and notice your point of view.
After writing the essay, always ensure that you go through it to correct any mistakes that you may have committed. Most of them include grammar mistakes and incorrect pronunciations that can make your work lose clarity.
After proofreading, always ensure that you have not copied anything directly from a source that can lead to your work being flagged as plagiarized. Once this is done your work is ready for submission.
Just like other essays, discussion essays start with an introduction. Here you must introduce both sides of the argument and include a thesis statement to help the reader comprehend what the essay will be all about.
To start a discussion essay you will have to take a position on a topic and start agreeing with it. Also, investigate your stance and present the opposing side before continuing to the introduction and thesis statement.
Also Read: What Assignment Due 11:59 PM Means: What Comes After
The following tips can be helpful when writing a discussion essay:
All paragraphs in your essay should be written in clear language that is easily understandable by the reader. After writing paragraphs always make sure that you proofread to correct any mistakes that may distort their meaning.
Always choose a stance that you are comfortable with. This way you will be able to provide a view in your own words that present your stance on the topic.
A controversial stand will always be harder to write and prove with evidence.
A discussion essay is not complete if the opposing views are not fully presented. They are the ones that prove there is a relevant discussion about a particular topic that has two opposing views that can be supported and opposed.
Do not lean on one side of the arguments when presenting them. Always ensure that both arguments are presented fairly.
Balance the points for each argument to avoid giving the impression that you favor a particular side. The side you take should be revealed in the introduction or conclusion of the essay and not in the body paragraphs.
When proofreading your essay always make sure that there is a fair approach between the two arguments.
Remember that discussion essays are for academic use. Therefore, always ensure that the tone you use is formal. Use specialized terms that are common in the field of the essay topic.
It is up to the reader to establish what they mean.
Always ensure that you do not exaggerate anything you write because arguments presented must always sound real.
Always avoid shallow arguments. All arguments you present in your discussion must be detailed. Your aim is to show both sides of a topic and shallow arguments will not help achieve that.
Jessica Kasen is experienced in academic writing and academic assistance. She is well versed in academia and has a master’s degree in education. Kasen consults with us in helping students improve their grades. She also oversights the quality of work done by our writers.
Titles for Essay about Yourself
How to Write a Diagnostic Essay
How Scantron Detects Cheating
Select Page
Posted by David S. Wills | Jun 14, 2021 | IELTS Tips , Writing | 3
In this lesson, I’m going to explain what an IELTS discussion essay is and how you can write a good one. I will talk about structure and content, as well as looking briefly at discussion essay thesis statements, which many people find tricky. I’ve also written a sample essay, which you can find at the bottom of this page.
As the name suggests, a discussion essay is an essay that discusses things! More specifically, it is a type of IELTS writing task 2 essay that requires you to look at two different points of view . You can easily recognise these essays by the following phrase:
Discuss both views and give your opinion.
Sometimes it is phrased a little differently. It might say:
Discuss both sides and give your opinion
Discuss both points view and give your opinion
The important thing is that these all mean the same. When you see any of these, you know that you need to write a discussion essay. Importantly, this instruction tells you that you need to do two things:
If you failed to do either of these things, you would not have satisfied the basic criteria for Task Achievement .
Here is a list of 5 discussion essay questions either from the IELTS exam, reportedly from the IELTS exam, or from reputable publications that have copied the IELTS question style. (Not that you absolutely should avoid fake IELTS questions when practising.)
Some people say that parents should encourage their children to take part in organised group activities in their free time. Others say that is important for children to learn how to occupy themselves on their own. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
Some people prefer to spend their lives doing the same things and avoiding change. Others, however, think that change is always a good thing. Discuss both views and give your opinion.
Some people feel that manufacturers and supermarkets have the responsibility to reduce the amount of packaging of goods. Others argue that customers should avoid buying goods with a lot of packaging. Discuss both views and give your opinion.
Some people believe that higher education should be funded by the government. Others, however, argue that it is the responsibility of individuals to fund their higher education. Discuss both views and give your opinion.
Some people believe that it is important for children to attend extra classes outside school, while others believe that they should be allowed to play after school. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
You can see in these questions that there is a similar pattern. In each case, the question phrase (“Discuss both views and give your own opinion”) is the same and in the previous sentence or sentences, there are two opposing views. This, then, makes “discuss both views” questions a sort of opinion essay .
First of all, it is important when answering any IELTS task 2 question that you read the question carefully so that you understand it, then provide an answer that directly responds to the question, following its instructions carefully.
As discussed above, you are required to do two things: 1) Discuss both views, and 2) Give your own opinion. You absolutely must do both of those. It doesn’t really matter what your opinion is or whether you give equal weighting to both sides of the argument. Instead, you must cover both sides and also give some sort of opinion. (It is important, though, according to the marking rubric , that you are consistent in your opinion.)
Your answer of course should be structured carefully so as to present your ideas in a thoroughly logical way that is easy for your reader to interpret. I almost always use a four-paragraph structure in my essays, but some people prefer to use five paragraphs in this sort of essay. The difference would look like this:
Four-paragraph essay | Five-paragraph essay | |
Introduction | Introduce the main idea State your opinion | Introduce the main idea State your opinion |
Body paragraph 1 | Discuss the first point of view | Discuss the first point of view |
Body paragraph 2 | Discuss the second point of view | Discuss the second point of view |
Body paragraph 3 | – | Give your opinion |
Summarise the issue and reaffirm position | Summarise the issue and reaffirm position |
You might be wondering why I have given my opinion in the body of the five-paragraph essay but not in the four-paragraph essay. Well, actually I would give my opinion in the body of both. However, my opinion would be more subtly woven into the text of the four-paragraph essay. I personally find this to be a better method, but it is equally possible that you could write an amazing five-paragraph essay. That issue is discussed further in this video:
In academic writing, a thesis statement (sometimes called an essay outline ) is the part of the essay where you insert your opinion. It typically comes at the end of the introduction and guides the reader by explaining your opinion on the issues that have been introduced.
But do you really need to provide one in such a short essay? Well, a 2018 study into successful IELTS essays concluded that thesis statements were “obligatory” – i.e. you absolutely do need one. In fact, that study found that thesis statements appeared in 100% of successful IELTS discussion essays! Therefore, we can conclude they are very important.
Because a discussion essay will tell you to “Discuss both views and give your opinion,” you must introduce the two views and then give your opinion in the introduction. Here is an example:
Introductory paragraph:
In some parts of the world, children are forced to go to cram schools and other facilities of extracurricular learning, but many people believe that this is unfair and that they should be allowed to enjoy their free time instead. This essay will look at both perspectives and then conclude that it is indeed unfair.
My first sentence clearly introduces two different ideas:
Note how I have successfully used synonyms to avoid repeating anything from the question. I have also framed the issue in a new way so that I am not just paraphrasing. (You can learn why paraphrasing is not always helpful here .)
My second sentence is the thesis statement. In this sentence, I outline what the essay will do (“look at both perspectives”) and then give my opinion (“it is unfair”). This is a simple but effective thesis statement.
Your IELTS discussion essay thesis statement should do two things:
Because this is a formal essay, it is best not to be too personal. Instead of saying “I will…” or “I think…” it is better to say “This essay will…” Here are some simple templates that you can follow most of the time:
Just make sure to avoid being overly vague. You are required to give your opinion consistently throughout the essay, so don’t say “This essay will look at both sides and then give my opinion .” It is not really the best approach because the examiner wants to see that you can be consistent in presenting an opinion. That is clearly stated in the marking rubric. For band 7, it says:
It could be concluded, then, that your opinion is not clear from the start and so you have not done enough to warrant a band 7 for Task Achievement.
As I mentioned above, there are really two main approaches you could take to the body paragraphs:
I suppose there is also a third option:
This last one may be a little harder to do successfully without jeopardising your score for Task Achievement or Coherence and Cohesion , but advanced candidates may find it useful.
Remember that there is no single perfect formula for an IELTS essay. That’s not how languages work and that’s not how IELTS works. Different people could come up with different ways to present a successful essay. The most common essay structures are mere guidelines for particularly useful methods of approaching an essay.
Because the question says “Discuss both views,” it is quite logical to think that you must provide some degree of balance, but you certainly don’t need to give equal weighting to both sides. Remember that you are also going to give your opinion, so if you come down strongly on one side of the issue, it might be odd to give equal attention to both.
If you do feel very strongly about one side, you might want to present your discussion of the other side as quite negative. However, IELTS is a thinking exam as well as an English exam and an intelligent person can always look at both sides of an issue and explain – at the very least – why someone might believe a thing that is different to his own view. This seems quite important, but there is nothing explicitly mentioned in the marking rubric.
I would suggest that if you think a two-sided issue is basically one-sided (i.e. you strongly disagree with the other view), you should still write one or two sentences about why people believe that and then devote the rest of your essay to disputing their view.
Another approach is to write BP1 as a very short paragraph that explains why people might think one thing, but then have BP2 as a very long paragraph that debunks the opposing view and then explains why the other is correct.
(You can read more about IELTS essays and balance here .)
Here is my full sample answer to the above question about whether or not children should be made to do extracurricular activities:
In some parts of the world, children are forced to go to cram schools and other facilities of extracurricular learning, but many people believe that this is unfair and that they should be allowed to enjoy their free time instead. This essay will look at both perspectives and then conclude that it is indeed unfair. In countries like South Korea, most children are made to go to an array of cram schools outside of regular school hours. Their parents do this in order to give their child a better future because it helps the child to learn more and thus gives them the academic advantages needed to apply to the best universities or jobs in future. These schools often provide children with an advantage over their peers because they improve their foreign language or math skills more quickly, and thus the children who do not attend these schools might have comparatively poor grades. However, whilst this attitude may result in better academic performance, it is certainly not good for the mental health of these children. It is no coincidence that places like South Korea have the highest rates of suicide among their young populations. The fact is that children are not equipped to spend fourteen or sixteen hours per day in classrooms, memorising facts and figures. In a sense, it is a form of child abuse. Children should be allowed to go home and spend time with friends and family to build social skills. They should be allowed to occupy themselves in order to become more creative and learn how to understand their own mind instead of being trained to repeat what they are told. In conclusion, it is understandable that some parents want their children to go to extra classes, but this is damaging to children and they should be given the freedom to play and socialise outside of regular school hours.
In BP1, I have looked at the topic of cram schools (ie the side of the argument in favour of extra lessons). I explored why parents might want their kids to do this and show the supposed benefits. Note that I never embraced any of these benefits. I was careful to use language that distanced these ideas from my own opinion, which was the opposite, so I said “Their parents do this in order to…”
In BP2, I looked at the opposite side. I was careful to make sure that my first sentence linked to the previous paragraph, highlighting that the benefits are quite minor compared to the drawbacks. All of my sentences here justify my position, which is that it is cruel to force these extra lessons on children.
My conclusion ties all of this together. The first clause references BP1 and the second summarises the main argument in BP2.
You can find two more sample essays here:
David S. Wills is the author of Scientologist! William S. Burroughs and the 'Weird Cult' and the founder/editor of Beatdom literary journal. He lives and works in rural Cambodia and loves to travel. He has worked as an IELTS tutor since 2010, has completed both TEFL and CELTA courses, and has a certificate from Cambridge for Teaching Writing. David has worked in many different countries, and for several years designed a writing course for the University of Worcester. In 2018, he wrote the popular IELTS handbook, Grammar for IELTS Writing and he has since written two other books about IELTS. His other IELTS website is called IELTS Teaching.
May 12, 2018
June 9, 2017
August 28, 2020
October 19, 2019
It is sometimes debatable whether asking children to get extra education after school or letting them play that is actually beneficial for them. Even though both viewpoints have benefits and drawbacks but I believe ,in the childhood age, children have to take rough and discipline education after school to be succeed in the future.
To begin with, many educational experts believe that playing is one of the essential aspects that have to be gotten by children to grow and happy. By using the playing approach, children can have a good mental and psychic health. Besides, letting children play after school can also support them to increase their emotional stimuli and get a positive social interaction. With this way, experts believe children can grow as a better adult in the future and have a freedom to get a better life in the upcoming times.
However, I completely contra with the first idea because I believe childhood is a better time to train children about academic or other skills that benefits them in the future. Based on scientific journal that I read, the ability of children in learning new things are more spectacular compared to adults. A lot of artists, scientist, and even football player who currently becoming a superstar in this era is a string of process that is began since their in the childhood. For instance, nowadays, I am working in the field of election supervision, it because since in my childhood my father love to force me learning about social and political issues by getting additional class. Thus, making children to get extra class after school is an appropriate preference if parents desire to see their son getting a good future.
To conclude, based on experts children have to get a freedom to play after schools but in my viewpoint it will be more advantages if they utilize the playing time with joining additional class after school.
VERY GOOD MR DIRWAN But actually you mixed both of the ideas , you need to take one side for this sort of essay writting, as it is mentioned in the above instruction. By the way WELL DONE . love from Pakistan to my sweet brother.
I have not checked in here for some time because I thought it was getting boring, but the last few posts are really great quality so I guess I’ll add you back to my everyday bloglist. You deserve it my friend. ??
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .
Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.
Published on July 14, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.
“Expository” means “intended to explain or describe something.” An expository essay provides a clear, focused explanation of a particular topic, process, or set of ideas. It doesn’t set out to prove a point, just to give a balanced view of its subject matter.
Expository essays are usually short assignments intended to test your composition skills or your understanding of a subject. They tend to involve less research and original arguments than argumentative essays .
Upload your document to correct all your mistakes in minutes
When should you write an expository essay, how to approach an expository essay, introducing your essay, writing the body paragraphs, concluding your essay, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about expository essays.
In school and university, you might have to write expository essays as in-class exercises, exam questions, or coursework assignments.
Sometimes it won’t be directly stated that the assignment is an expository essay, but there are certain keywords that imply expository writing is required. Consider the prompts below.
The word “explain” here is the clue: An essay responding to this prompt should provide an explanation of this historical process—not necessarily an original argument about it.
Sometimes you’ll be asked to define a particular term or concept. This means more than just copying down the dictionary definition; you’ll be expected to explore different ideas surrounding the term, as this prompt emphasizes.
An expository essay should take an objective approach: It isn’t about your personal opinions or experiences. Instead, your goal is to provide an informative and balanced explanation of your topic. Avoid using the first or second person (“I” or “you”).
The structure of your expository essay will vary according to the scope of your assignment and the demands of your topic. It’s worthwhile to plan out your structure before you start, using an essay outline .
A common structure for a short expository essay consists of five paragraphs: An introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
Like all essays, an expository essay begins with an introduction . This serves to hook the reader’s interest, briefly introduce your topic, and provide a thesis statement summarizing what you’re going to say about it.
Hover over different parts of the example below to see how a typical introduction works.
In many ways, the invention of the printing press marked the end of the Middle Ages. The medieval period in Europe is often remembered as a time of intellectual and political stagnation. Prior to the Renaissance, the average person had very limited access to books and was unlikely to be literate. The invention of the printing press in the 15th century allowed for much less restricted circulation of information in Europe, paving the way for the Reformation.
The body of your essay is where you cover your topic in depth. It often consists of three paragraphs, but may be more for a longer essay. This is where you present the details of the process, idea or topic you’re explaining.
It’s important to make sure each paragraph covers its own clearly defined topic, introduced with a topic sentence . Different topics (all related to the overall subject matter of the essay) should be presented in a logical order, with clear transitions between paragraphs.
Hover over different parts of the example paragraph below to see how a body paragraph is constructed.
The invention of the printing press in 1440 changed this situation dramatically. Johannes Gutenberg, who had worked as a goldsmith, used his knowledge of metals in the design of the press. He made his type from an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony, whose durability allowed for the reliable production of high-quality books. This new technology allowed texts to be reproduced and disseminated on a much larger scale than was previously possible. The Gutenberg Bible appeared in the 1450s, and a large number of printing presses sprang up across the continent in the following decades. Gutenberg’s invention rapidly transformed cultural production in Europe; among other things, it would lead to the Protestant Reformation.
Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:
See an example
The conclusion of an expository essay serves to summarize the topic under discussion. It should not present any new information or evidence, but should instead focus on reinforcing the points made so far. Essentially, your conclusion is there to round off the essay in an engaging way.
Hover over different parts of the example below to see how a conclusion works.
The invention of the printing press was important not only in terms of its immediate cultural and economic effects, but also in terms of its major impact on politics and religion across Europe. In the century following the invention of the printing press, the relatively stationary intellectual atmosphere of the Middle Ages gave way to the social upheavals of the Reformation and the Renaissance. A single technological innovation had contributed to the total reshaping of the continent.
If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!
College essays
(AI) Tools
An expository essay is a broad form that varies in length according to the scope of the assignment.
Expository essays are often assigned as a writing exercise or as part of an exam, in which case a five-paragraph essay of around 800 words may be appropriate.
You’ll usually be given guidelines regarding length; if you’re not sure, ask.
An expository essay is a common assignment in high-school and university composition classes. It might be assigned as coursework, in class, or as part of an exam.
Sometimes you might not be told explicitly to write an expository essay. Look out for prompts containing keywords like “explain” and “define.” An expository essay is usually the right response to these prompts.
An argumentative essay tends to be a longer essay involving independent research, and aims to make an original argument about a topic. Its thesis statement makes a contentious claim that must be supported in an objective, evidence-based way.
An expository essay also aims to be objective, but it doesn’t have to make an original argument. Rather, it aims to explain something (e.g., a process or idea) in a clear, concise way. Expository essays are often shorter assignments and rely less on research.
If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.
Caulfield, J. (2023, July 23). How to Write an Expository Essay | Structure, Tips & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved August 9, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/expository-essay/
Other students also liked, academic paragraph structure | step-by-step guide & examples, how to write topic sentences | 4 steps, examples & purpose, how to write an argumentative essay | examples & tips, "i thought ai proofreading was useless but..".
I've been using Scribbr for years now and I know it's a service that won't disappoint. It does a good job spotting mistakes”
Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, automatically generate references for free.
Published on 21 August 2022 by Shona McCombes . Revised on 25 October 2022.
The discussion section is where you delve into the meaning, importance, and relevance of your results .
It should focus on explaining and evaluating what you found, showing how it relates to your literature review , and making an argument in support of your overall conclusion . It should not be a second results section .
There are different ways to write this section, but you can focus your writing around these key elements:
Be assured that you'll submit flawless writing. Upload your document to correct all your mistakes.
What not to include in your discussion section, step 1: summarise your key findings, step 2: give your interpretations, step 3: discuss the implications, step 4: acknowledge the limitations, step 5: share your recommendations, discussion section example.
There are a few common mistakes to avoid when writing the discussion section of your paper.
The academic proofreading tool has been trained on 1000s of academic texts and by native English editors. Making it the most accurate and reliable proofreading tool for students.
Correct my document today
Start this section by reiterating your research problem and concisely summarising your major findings. Don’t just repeat all the data you have already reported – aim for a clear statement of the overall result that directly answers your main research question . This should be no more than one paragraph.
Many students struggle with the differences between a discussion section and a results section . The crux of the matter is that your results sections should present your results, and your discussion section should subjectively evaluate them. Try not to blend elements of these two sections, in order to keep your paper sharp.
The meaning of your results may seem obvious to you, but it’s important to spell out their significance for your reader, showing exactly how they answer your research question.
The form of your interpretations will depend on the type of research, but some typical approaches to interpreting the data include:
You can organise your discussion around key themes, hypotheses, or research questions, following the same structure as your results section. Alternatively, you can also begin by highlighting the most significant or unexpected results.
As well as giving your own interpretations, make sure to relate your results back to the scholarly work that you surveyed in the literature review . The discussion should show how your findings fit with existing knowledge, what new insights they contribute, and what consequences they have for theory or practice.
Ask yourself these questions:
Your overall aim is to show the reader exactly what your research has contributed, and why they should care.
Even the best research has its limitations. Acknowledging these is important to demonstrate your credibility. Limitations aren’t about listing your errors, but about providing an accurate picture of what can and cannot be concluded from your study.
Limitations might be due to your overall research design, specific methodological choices , or unanticipated obstacles that emerged during your research process.
Here are a few common possibilities:
After noting the limitations, you can reiterate why the results are nonetheless valid for the purpose of answering your research question.
Based on the discussion of your results, you can make recommendations for practical implementation or further research. Sometimes, the recommendations are saved for the conclusion .
Suggestions for further research can lead directly from the limitations. Don’t just state that more studies should be done – give concrete ideas for how future work can build on areas that your own research was unable to address.
If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.
McCombes, S. (2022, October 25). How to Write a Discussion Section | Tips & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/thesis-dissertation/discussion/
Other students also liked, how to write a results section | tips & examples, research paper appendix | example & templates, how to write a thesis or dissertation introduction.
Discuss the best way for a supermarket or a store to become successful and to expand its business, and make a large profit. You may refer to examples of a supermarket or a store known to you.
by Miao Wang (Vanessa)
Copied with permission of the author
Everyone needs to buy things in order to live, and everyone likes to get things as conveniently and cheaply as possible. For this reason, there are many supermarkets or stores appearing. However, getting into the supermarket business can be difficult, so I have written some ideas to make a supermarket become successful and make a large profit. [ Comment 1 ]
The first aspect to be discussed is that of good service. Firstly, the correct attitude in attending to customers is very important. Attendants should always smile to customers, no matter whether the customer is right or wrong. When customers ask where they can find things, attendants should not only show the way, but also they should go and get things for the customers. Secondly, a supermarket needs to provide good after-sales service. For example, when customers buy big and heavy items, they cannot carry them by themselves; the supermarket should thus help them take the items to the right places free of charge. If the place is too far away, the supermarket could ask the customer to contribute some money. [ Comment 2 ]
A further aspect to be considered is the need for good products. In my opinion, when a supermarket is stocked with goods, it should check the sell-by date of goods, and make sure all of them are fresh and have good quality. What is more, a successful supermarket has many different kinds of goods, and its prices are balanced. For instance, TESCO, which is a successful supermarket in Britain, has balanced prices. In the supermarket, items have different prices on one price tag: one referring to TESCO, the others from other supermarkets. When customers buy items, they can thus compare prices, in order to choose the best ones to buy. Moreover, a supermarket should update goods quickly in order to make sure they are fresh. [ Comment 3 ]
While a supermarket needs to do things for customers, it also needs to expand its business and make a large profit. In my opinion, first of all, the store should learn about the customers that it wants to provide goods to. The supermarket should check whether customers look for low prices or a certain type of good. Secondly, a supermarket should be well situated, and have pleasant surroundings. For example, a supermarket can be built in a place with a park nearby, and with many trees. This kind of location could make customers feel comfortable. Moreover, it should have a car park which is big enough, and the car parking should be free. When customers get into the supermarket there should be soft music, and all goods should be divided into different kinds to put in order. Customers can pick up things that they want very easily. A supermarket may also use good IT systems. For instance, customers might find things on the internet and know where they are, then pick them up quickly. Thirdly, a successful supermarket should know other supermarkets well. It can send its own employees to research the others’ information, such as price, types of advertisement, discounts and sales ploys. Fourthly, a supermarket can have its own brand products and diversify in order to expand its business. For example, TESCO is not only a supermarket, but has its own mobile. Furthermore, it can have its own club to attract customers to join in. [ Comment 4 ]
In a nutshell, a successful supermarket is difficult to manage. It needs good service, good products, and good ideas to expand its business and make a large profit. [ Comment 5 ]
[ Comment 1 ]In this paragraph, the writer has indicated the importance of the topic and has given a statement, using the first person pronoun, of what she will be doing in the essay.
[ Comment 2 ]This is the first main paragraph. Here the student focuses on the aspect of customer service. Notice the use of the topic sentence: “The first aspect to be discussed is that of good service”. This provides a key to the content of the paragraph.
[ Comment 3 ]This second main paragraph concerns the need for supermarkets to have good quality products. Notice again that here, the student groups all the ideas into a single paragraph, and that she writes a topic sentence at the start of the paragraph: "A further aspect to be considered is the need for good products." The writer is not afraid to show her own personality: “In my opinion….”, etc.
[ Comment 4 ] This paragraph now moves on to consider how a supermarket can make a profit. Several ideas are given. Notice how sequencers are used: “firstly…”, “secondly…”, thirdly...”, etc.
[ Comment 5 ] This paragraph provides a brief conclusion to the writing. Notice the idiomatic use of the expression “In a nutshell”. The conclusion only needs to be brief – there is no need to restate everything that has been said before.
Eng 101 oer: definition.
The purpose of a definition essay may seem self-explanatory: the purpose of the definition essay is to simply define something. But defining terms in writing is often more complicated than just consulting a dictionary. In fact, the way we define terms can have far-reaching consequences for individuals as well as collective groups.
Take, for example, a word like alcoholism . The way in which one defines alcoholism depends on its legal, moral, and medical contexts. Lawyers may define alcoholism in terms of its legality; parents may define alcoholism in terms of its morality; and doctors will define alcoholism in terms of symptoms and diagnostic criteria. Think also of terms that people tend to debate in our broader culture. How we define words, such as marriage and climate change , has enormous impact on policy decisions and even on daily decisions. Think about conversations couples may have in which words like commitment , respect , or love need clarification.
Defining terms within a relationship, or any other context, can at first be difficult, but once a definition is established between two people or a group of people, it is easier to have productive dialogues. Definitions, then, establish the way in which people communicate ideas. They set parameters for a given discourse, which is why they are so important.
The definition essay opens with a general discussion of the term to be defined. You then state as your thesis your definition of the term.
The rest of the essay should explain the rationale for your definition. Remember that a dictionary’s definition is limiting, and you should not rely strictly on the dictionary entry. Instead, consider the context in which you are using the word. Context identifies the circumstances, conditions, or setting in which something exists or occurs. Often words take on different meanings depending on the context in which they are used. For example, the ideal leader in a battlefield setting could likely be very different than a leader in an elementary school setting. If a context is missing from the essay, the essay may be too short or the main points could be confusing or misunderstood.
The remainder of the essay should explain different aspects of the term’s definition. For example, if you were defining a good leader in an elementary classroom setting, you might define such a leader according to personality traits: patience, consistency, and flexibility. Each attribute would be explained in its own paragraph.
Choose a topic that will be complex enough to be discussed at length. Choosing a word or phrase of personal relevance often leads to a more interesting and engaging essay.
After you have chosen your word or phrase, start your essay with an introduction that establishes the relevancy of the term in the chosen specific context. Your thesis comes at the end of the introduction, and it should clearly state your definition of the term in the specific context. Establishing a functional context from the beginning will orient readers and minimize misunderstandings.
The body paragraphs should each be dedicated to explaining a different facet of your definition. Make sure to use clear examples and strong details to illustrate your points. Your concluding paragraph should pull together all the different elements of your definition to ultimately reinforce your thesis.
Judy Brady provides a humorous look at responsibilities and relationships in I Want a Wife :
Gayle Rosenwald Smith shares her dislike of the name for a sleeveless T-shirt, The Wife-Beater :
Philip Levine defines What Work Is :
Defining Good Students Means More Than Just Grades
Many people define good students as those who receive the best grades. While it is true that good students often earn high grades, I contend that grades are just one aspect of how we define a good student. In fact, even poor students can earn high grades sometimes, so grades are not the best indicator of a student’s quality. Rather, a good student pursues scholarship, actively participates in class, and maintains a positive, professional relationship with instructors and peers.
Good students have a passion for learning that drives them to fully understand class material rather than just worry about what grades they receive in the course. Good students are actively engaged in scholarship, which means they enjoy reading and learning about their subject matter not just because readings and assignments are required. Of course, good students will complete their homework and all assignments, and they may even continue to perform research and learn more on the subject after the course ends. In some cases, good students will pursue a subject that interests them but might not be one of their strongest academic areas, so they will not earn the highest grades. Pushing oneself to learn and try new things can be difficult, but good students will challenge themselves rather than remain at their educational comfort level for the sake of a high grade. The pursuit of scholarship and education rather than concern over grades is the hallmark of a good student.
Class participation and behavior are another aspect of the definition of a good student. Simply attending class is not enough; good students arrive punctually because they understand that tardiness disrupts the class and disrespects the professors. They might occasionally arrive a few minutes early to ask the professor questions about class materials or mentally prepare for the day’s work. Good students consistently pay attention during class discussions and take notes in lectures rather than engage in off-task behaviors, such as checking their cell phones or daydreaming. Excellent class participation requires a balance between speaking and listening, so good students will share their views when appropriate but also respect their classmates’ views when they differ from their own. It is easy to mistake quantity of class discussion comments with quality, but good students know the difference and do not try to dominate the conversation. Sometimes class participation is counted toward a student’s grade, but even without such clear rewards, good students understand how to perform and excel among their peers in the classroom.
Finally, good students maintain a positive and professional relationship with their professors. They respect their instructor’s authority in the classroom as well as the instructor’s privacy outside of the classroom. Prying into a professor’s personal life is inappropriate, but attending office hours to discuss course material is an appropriate, effective way for students to demonstrate their dedication and interest in learning. Good students go to their professor’s office during posted office hours or make an appointment if necessary. While instructors can be very busy, they are usually happy to offer guidance to students during office hours; after all, availability outside the classroom is a part of their job. Attending office hours can also help good students become memorable and stand out from the rest, particularly in lectures with hundreds enrolled. Maintaining positive, professional relationships with professors is especially important for those students who hope to attend graduate school and will need letters of recommendation in the future.
Although good grades often accompany good students, grades are not the only way to indicate what it means to be a good student. The definition of a good student means demonstrating such traits as engaging with course material, participating in class, and creating a professional relationship with professors. While every professor will have different criteria for earning an A in their course, most would agree on these characteristics for defining good students.
This is a derivative of WRITING FOR SUCCESS by a publisher who has requested that they and the original author not receive attribution, originally released and is used under CC BY-NC-SA. This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License .
Definition Essay
14 min read
Published on: Oct 9, 2020
Last updated on: Jan 31, 2024
People also read
Interesting Definition Essay Topics for Students
Definition Essay Outline - Format & Guide
Share this article
Many students struggle with writing definition essays due to a lack of clarity and precision in their explanations.
This obstructs them from effectively conveying the essence of the terms or concepts they are tasked with defining. Consequently, the essays may lack coherence, leaving readers confused and preventing them from grasping the intended meaning.
But don’t worry!
In this guide, we will delve into effective techniques and step-by-step approaches to help students craft an engaging definition essay.
Continue reading to learn the correct formation of a definition essay.
Paper Due? Why Suffer? That's our Job!
On This Page On This Page -->
Just as the name suggests, a definition essay defines and explains a term or a concept. Unlike a narrative essay, the purpose of writing this essay is only to inform the readers.
Writing this essay type can be deceivingly tricky. Some terms, concepts, and objects have concrete definitions when explained. In contrast others are solely based on the writerâs understanding and point of view.
A definition essay requires a writer to use different approaches when discussing a term. These approaches are the following:
A single or combination of approaches can be used in the essay.
There are several types of definition essays that you may be asked to write, depending on the purpose and scope of the assignment.
In this section, we will discuss some of the most common types of definition essays.
This type of essay provides a detailed description of a term or concept, emphasizing its key features and characteristics.
The goal of a descriptive definition essay is to help readers understand the term or concept in a more profound way.
In a stipulative definition essay, the writer provides a unique definition of a term or concept. This type of essay is often used in academic settings to define a term in a particular field of study.
The goal of a stipulative definition essay is to provide a precise and clear definition that is specific to the context of the essay.
This compare and contrast essay type involves analyzing a term or concept in-depth. Breaking it down into its component parts, and examining how they relate to each other.
The goal of an analytical definition essay is to provide a more nuanced and detailed understanding of the term or concept being discussed.
A persuasive definition essay is an argumentative essay that aims to persuade readers to accept a particular definition of a term or concept.
The writer presents their argument for the definition and uses evidence and examples to support their position.
An explanatory definition essay is a type of expository essay . It aims to explain a complex term or concept in a way that is easy to understand for the reader.
The writer breaks down the term or concept into simpler parts and provides examples and analogies to help readers understand it better.
An extended definition essay goes beyond the definition of a word or concept and provides a more in-depth analysis and explanation.
The goal of an extended definition essay is to provide a comprehensive understanding of a term, concept, or idea. This includes its history, origins, and cultural significance.
Writing a definition essay is simple if you know the correct procedure. This essay, like all the other formal pieces of documents, requires substantial planning and effective execution.
The following are the steps involved in writing a definition essay effectively:
Instead of choosing a term that has a concrete definition available, choose a word that is complicated . Complex expressions have abstract concepts that require a writer to explore deeper. Moreover, make sure that different people perceive the term selected differently.
Once you have a word to draft your definition essay for, read the dictionary. These academic definitions are important as you can use them to compare your understanding with the official concept.
Drafting a definition essay is about stating the dictionary meaning and your explanation of the concept. So the writer needs to have some information about the term.
In addition to this, when exploring the term, make sure to check the termâs origin. The history of the word can make you discuss it in a better way.
Coming up with an exciting title for your essay is important. The essay topic will be the first thing that your readers will witness, so it should be catchy.
Creatively draft an essay topic that reflects meaning. In addition to this, the usage of the term in the title should be correctly done. The readers should get an idea of what the essay is about and what to expect from the document.
Now that you have a topic in hand, it is time to gather some relevant information. A definition essay is more than a mere explanation of the term. It represents the writerâs perception of the chosen term and the topic.
So having only personal opinions will not be enough to defend your point. Deeply research and gather information by consulting credible sources.
The gathered information needs to be organized to be understandable. The raw data needs to be arranged to give a structure to the content.
Here's a generic outline for a definition essay:
Provide an that grabs the reader's attention and introduces the term or concept you will be defining. that clearly defines the term or concept and previews the main points of the essay. , , or that will help the reader better understand the term or concept. to clarify the scope of your definition. or of the term or concept you are defining in detail. to illustrate your points. by differentiating your term or concept from similar terms or concepts. to illustrate the differences. of the term or concept. between the types, using examples and anecdotes to illustrate your points. , or to support your points. VII. Conclusion you have defined. that leaves a lasting impression on the reader. |
Are you searching for an in-depth guide on crafting a well-structured definition essay?Check out this definition essay outline blog!
6. Write the First Draft
Drafting each section correctly is a daunting task. Understanding what or what not to include in these sections requires a writer to choose wisely.
The start of your essay matters a lot. If it is on point and attractive, the readers will want to read the text. As the first part of the essay is the introduction , it is considered the first impression of your essay.
To write your definition essay introduction effectively, include the following information:
After briefly introducing the topic, fully explain the concept in the body section . Provide all the details and evidence that will support the thesis statement. To draft this section professionally, add the following information:
Once all the details are shared, give closure to your discussion. The last paragraph of the definition essay is the conclusion . The writer provides insight into the topic as a conclusion.
The concluding paragraphs include the following material:
7. Proofread and Edit
Although the writing process ends with the concluding paragraph, there is an additional step. It is important to proofread the essay once you are done writing. Proofread and revise your document a couple of times to make sure everything is perfect.
Before submitting your assignment, make edits, and fix all mistakes and errors.
If you want to learn more about how to write a definition essay, here is a video guide for you!
The structure of a definition essay is similar to that of any other academic essay. It should consist of an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
However, the focus of a definition essay is on defining and explaining a particular term or concept.
In this section, we will discuss the structure of a definition essay in detail.
Get the idea of writing an introduction for a definition essay with this example:
"Have you ever wondered what it truly means to be a hero?" |
Here is an example of how to craft your definition essay body paragraph:
Heroes are individuals who demonstrate courage, selflessness, and a commitment to helping others. They often risk their own safety to protect others or achieve a noble goal. |
If applicable, the writer may want to include a section that discusses the different types or categories of the term or concept being defined.
This section should explain the similarities and differences between the types, using examples and anecdotes to illustrate the points.
This section could explore the different categories of heroes, such as those who are recognized for their bravery in the face of danger, those who inspire others through their deeds, or those who make a difference in their communities through volunteering. |
The writer should also include real-life examples of the term or concept being defined in action.
This will help the reader better understand the term or concept in context and how it is used in everyday life.
This could include stories of individuals who risked their lives to save others, such as firefighters who rushed into the Twin Towers on 9/11 or civilians who pulled people from a burning car. |
This example will help you writing a conclusion fo you essay:
Heroes are defined by their courage, selflessness, and commitment to helping others. There are many different types of heroes, but they all share these key features. |
It is important to go through some examples and samples before writing an essay. This is to understand the writing process and structure of the assigned task well.
Following are some examples of definition essays to give our students a better idea of the concept.
Understanding the Definition Essay
Definition Essay Example
Definition Essay About Friendship
Definition Essay About Love
Family Definition Essay
Success Definition Essay
Beauty Definition Essay
Selecting the right topic is challenging for other essay types. However, picking a suitable theme for a definition essay is equally tricky yet important. Pick an interesting subject to ensure maximum readership.
If you are facing writerâs block, here is a list of some great definition essay topics for your help. Choose from the list below and draft a compelling essay.
Here are some more extended definition essay topics:
Need more topics? Check out this definition essay topics blog!
Knowing the correct writing procedure is not enough if you are not aware of the essayâs small technicalities. To help students write a definition essay effortlessly, expert writers of CollegeEssay.org have gathered some simple tips.
These easy tips will make your assignment writing phase easy.
Following these tips will guarantee you better grades in your academics.
By following the step-by-step approach explained in this guide, you will acquire the skills to craft an outstanding essay.
Struggling with the thought, " write my college essay for m e"? Look no further.
Our dedicated definition essay writing service is here to craft the perfect essay that meets your academic needs.
For an extra edge, explore our AI essay writer , a tool designed to refine your essays to perfection.
Barbara P (Literature, Marketing)
Barbara is a highly educated and qualified author with a Ph.D. in public health from an Ivy League university. She has spent a significant amount of time working in the medical field, conducting a thorough study on a variety of health issues. Her work has been published in several major publications.
Paper Due? Why Suffer? That’s our Job!
Legal & Policies
Disclaimer: All client orders are completed by our team of highly qualified human writers. The essays and papers provided by us are not to be used for submission but rather as learning models only.
The United States' poor fortune in the men's 4x100-meter relay continues for another consecutive Olympic Games.
Team USA hasn't medaled in the men's 4x100-meter relay since winning silver in 2004. Each year since, the team has either missed the final or been disqualified in the medal race.
The 2024 Paris Olympics keeps that trend going as Team USA was disqualified for an invalid handoff after the first leg. The U.S. continued the race, finishing with the seventh-best time but was granted eighth place due to the disqualification.
Here's all you need to know about Team USA's 4x100-meter relay, including its history at the Olympics.
MORE: Full results, highlights from men's 4x100m relay at 2024 Paris Olympics
The United States executed a late handoff after the first leg of the men's 4x100-meter relay at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Christian Coleman was the starter for the relay team, but his connection with Kenny Bednarek was what cost the team a chance at medaling. Bednarek left too early, which caused him to receive the baton outside of the transfer zone.
Andre de Grasse anchors Canada to 4x100m GOLD in Paris! 🇨🇦 #ParisOlympics 📺 NBC & Peacock pic.twitter.com/uA15jxhZHb — NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 9, 2024
Even if the team didn't disqualify, this set the United States back significantly. The team finished with the seventh-best time but is officially listed as disqualified.
Noah Lyles was supposed to be a member of this 4x100 relay team, however, the star sprinter has COVID-19 and did not compete. He won the gold medal in the 100-meter final in a photo finish . His absence on Friday had a trickling effect on the relay team, which may have played a role in the poor communication and handoff in the final.
MORE: Did Sha'Carri Richardson win gold in the women's 4x100m relay?
Courtney Lindsey was the replacement for Lyles in the Round 1 heat, taking the anchor spot as USA placed first among all teams in the first round. The lineup was Coleman-Fred Kerley-Kyree King-Lindsey.
Courtney Lindsey leaves NO doubt down the stretch and pulls away to move the USA on to the 4x100m relay final. #ParisOlympics 📺 USA Network & Peacock pic.twitter.com/MeCqGxcWkI — NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 8, 2024
Lindsey didn't remain in the lineup for the final, and the order was switched around. Bednarek replaced Lindsey and the lineup was Coleman-Bednarek-King-Kerley. It's uncertain why the United States went with the substitution and order swap.
Years of training for this moment seemed to have been squandered due to lack of preparation. Coleman and Bednarek weren't on the same page, costing the United States a chance to medal in the 4x100 men's relay for the first time since 2004.
MORE: Live updates, results from Day 8 of Olympics track and field finals
History repeated itself at the 2024 Paris Olympics for the United States men's 4x100-meter relay. The nation hasn't medaled in the race since the 2004 Olympics, missing the final or being disqualified in each Summer Games since.
The United States was disqualified in both the 2012 and 2016 Summer Games while not making the final race in either the 2008 or 2020 Games. Team USA failed at handoffs in 2008, 2016, 2020 and now 2024.
Here's a rundown of each year's team and their result:
2008 | USA | Rodney Martin, Travis Padgett, Darvis Patton, Tyson Gay | DNF in Heat 1 |
2012 | USA | Trell Kimmons, Justin Gatlin, Tyson Gay, Ryan Bailey | DQ in Final — doping |
2016 | USA | Mike Rodgers, Justin Gatlin, Tyson Gay, Trayvon Bromell | DQ in Final |
2020 | USA | Trayvon Bromell, Fred Kerley, Ronnie Baker, Cravon Gillespie | 38.10 in Heat 2 — did not make final |
2024 | USA | Christian Coleman, Kenneth Bednarek, Kyree King, Fred Kerley | DQ in Final |
Brendan O'Sullivan is an editorial intern for Sporting News.
Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.
Learning objective.
Defining Good Students Means More Than Just Grades
Many people define good students as those who receive the best grades. While it is true that good students often earn high grades, I contend that grades are just one aspect of how we define a good student. In fact, even poor students can earn high grades sometimes, so grades are not the best indicator of a student’s quality. Rather, a good student pursues scholarship, actively participates in class, and maintains a positive, professional relationship with instructors and peers.
Good students have a passion for learning that drives them to fully understand class material rather than just worry about what grades they receive in the course. Good students are actively engaged in scholarship, which means they enjoy reading and learning about their subject matter not just because readings and assignments are required. Of course, good students will complete their homework and all assignments, and they may even continue to perform research and learn more on the subject after the course ends. In some cases, good students will pursue a subject that interests them but might not be one of their strongest academic areas, so they will not earn the highest grades. Pushing oneself to learn and try new things can be difficult, but good students will challenge themselves rather than remain at their educational comfort level for the sake of a high grade. The pursuit of scholarship and education rather than concern over grades is the hallmark of a good student.
Class participation and behavior are another aspect of the definition of a good student. Simply attending class is not enough; good students arrive punctually because they understand that tardiness disrupts the class and disrespects the professors. They might occasionally arrive a few minutes early to ask the professor questions about class materials or mentally prepare for the day’s work. Good students consistently pay attention during class discussions and take notes in lectures rather than engage in off-task behaviors, such as checking their cell phones or daydreaming. Excellent class participation requires a balance between speaking and listening, so good students will share their views when appropriate but also respect their classmates’ views when they differ from their own. It is easy to mistake quantity of class discussion comments with quality, but good students know the difference and do not try to dominate the conversation. Sometimes class participation is counted toward a student’s grade, but even without such clear rewards, good students understand how to perform and excel among their peers in the classroom.
Finally, good students maintain a positive and professional relationship with their professors. They respect their instructor’s authority in the classroom as well as the instructor’s privacy outside of the classroom. Prying into a professor’s personal life is inappropriate, but attending office hours to discuss course material is an appropriate, effective way for students to demonstrate their dedication and interest in learning. Good students go to their professor’s office during posted office hours or make an appointment if necessary. While instructors can be very busy, they are usually happy to offer guidance to students during office hours; after all, availability outside the classroom is a part of their job. Attending office hours can also help good students become memorable and stand out from the rest, particularly in lectures with hundreds enrolled. Maintaining positive, professional relationships with professors is especially important for those students who hope to attend graduate school and will need letters of recommendation in the future.
Although good grades often accompany good students, grades are not the only way to indicate what it means to be a good student. The definition of a good student means demonstrating such traits as engaging with course material, participating in class, and creating a professional relationship with professors. While every professor will have different criteria for earning an A in their course, most would agree on these characteristics for defining good students.
Judy Brady provides a humorous look at responsibilities and relationships in I Want a Wife :
Gayle Rosenwald Smith shares her dislike of the name for a sleeveless T-shirt, The Wife-Beater :
Philip Levine defines What Work Is :
Writing for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
How the sahm rule works, types of sahm rule indicators, history of the sahm rule, limitations of the sahm rule, the bottom line, the sahm rule recession indicator definition and how it's calculated.
Erika Rasure is globally-recognized as a leading consumer economics subject matter expert, researcher, and educator. She is a financial therapist and transformational coach, with a special interest in helping women learn how to invest.
pixelfit / Getty Images
The "Sahm Rule" is a recession indicator created and named after Claudia Sahm, a macroeconomist who worked at the Federal Reserve and the White House Council of Economic Advisers. According to the Sahm Rule, the early stages of a recession is signaled when the three-month moving average of the U.S. unemployment rate is half a percentage point or more above the lowest three-month moving average unemployment rate over the previous 12 months.
The Sahm Rule has been widely recognized for its accuracy, simplicity, and ability to quickly reflect the onset of a recession.
The unemployment rate represents the percentage of the overall labor force that is unemployed. The rate tends to rise when the economy is struggling and workers are having difficulty finding jobs, and fall when the economy is strong and workers can more easily find jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) typically releases the unemployment rate for the previous month on the first Friday of every month. The unemployment rate is one of the main economic indicators used to measure the health of the economy, and the Sahm Rule inputs the rate into a simple formula to determine whether the U.S. is headed into a recession.
The rule compares the value of the current three-month moving average unemployment rate to the value of the lowest three-month moving average unemployment rate over the last 12 months. If the former is half a percentage point or more above the latter, the Sahm Rule indicates that U.S. is in the early stages of a recession. The Sahm Rule uses the three-month moving average unemployment rate—rather than the current unemployment rate—to prevent overreacting to a single month of data, Sahm said as a guest on The Investopedia Express podcast released in April 2024.
The Sahm Rule simply indicates that the economy is in the early stages of a recession. Since the early 1970s, the indicator has never been triggered outside of a recession, according to Sahm. Historically, when the unemployment rate passes the threshold outlined by the Sahm rule, it continues to increase.
The Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) database includes current and real-time Sahm Rule recession indicators.
The BLS regularly revises the unemployment rate of previous months based on additional information from its survey that was not initially available. The current Sahm Rule recession indicator is calculated using the unemployment rate's revised values.
Unlike the current Sahm Rule recession indicator, the real-time Sahm Rule recession indicator uses "real-time" data. It is calculated using just the unemployment rate and recent history of unemployment rates that were available in a given month.
Sahm first introduced the indicator that would later be named after her as part of a policy proposal called "Direct Stimulus Payments to Individuals" published by The Hamilton Project, an economic policy initiative that is part of the Brookings Institution. The proposal was also included in The Hamilton Project's book "Recession Ready: Fiscal Policies to Stabilize the American Economy" published in 2019.
In the proposal, Sahm explained that consumer spending tends to slow significantly during recession growth, which can make job losses (and a recession overall) worse. She proposed that to combat that unemployment, the government distribute stimulus payments automatically to families in the face of a recessions—specifically, when the three-month average national employment rate jumps at least half a percentage point relative to its low over the last 12 months.
"Recent research finds that broadly distributed, lump-sum payments to individuals directly boost spending and help stabilize demand, making these types of payments effective responses to recessions," Sahm explained. "The total amount of stimulus would offset about half of the slowdown in consumer spending, totaling about 0.7 percent of GDP." Gross domestic product (GDP) refers to a country's total market value of goods and services within a certain time frame. Fiscal policies like the one Sahm proposed are known as automatic stabilizers .
The indicator became widely recognized, with the Federal Reserve adding it to the FRED database in October 2019.
As Sahm has pointed out in her newsletter, the rule is "empirical regularity," not a proposition. She emphasized that this means that the rule can also be broken.
For example, Sahm wrote in an April 2022 newsletter, imagine a scenario in which the unemployment rate increased hovered around 3.5%, up from a low of 3.0%, meeting the criteria for signaling the early stages of a recession based on the Sahm Rule. However, if around that same time, GDP growth held around 2.5%, down from a high of 5.5%, and inflation gradually slid down to 2%, such a combination of circumstances probably wouldn't constitute a recession, she explained.
First introduced in 2019, the Sahm Rule is a recession indicator based on conditions of the labor market. When the three-month average unemployment rate rises above its 12-month low by at least half a percentage point, we are in the early stages of a recession, according to the rule.
Claudia Sahm, a macroeconomist who worked at the Federal Reserve and the White House Council of Economic Advisers, introduced the indicator as part of a policy proposal. The rule was then named after her.
The rule has proved to be very accurate with the indicator always triggering in the early stages of a recession and never outside of one since the 1970s.
The Sahm Rule refers to an indicator that signals the early stages of a recession. According to the rule, the beginning of a recession is signaled when the three-month moving average unemployment rate is half a percentage point or more higher than the lowest three-month moving average unemployment rate over the last 12 months. Historically, when the unemployment rate has passed this threshold, it has continued to rise.
Sahm Consulting. " About ."
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. " Release Calendar: List View ."
Sahm, Claudia. " Direct Stimulus Payments to Individuals ." The Hamilton Project, The Brookings Institute , May 2019, pp. 77.
Sahm, Claudia. " Direct Stimulus Payments to Individuals ." The Hamilton Project, The Brookings Institute , May 2019, pp. 77-79.
Economic Research, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. " FRED Adds Sahm Rule Recession Indicators ."
The Hamilton Project. " Direct Stimulus Payments to Individuals ."
The Hamilton Project. " Recession Ready: Fiscal Policies to Stabilize the American Economy ."
Stay-At-Home-Macro. " Rules Are Made to Be Broken ."
Don't miss out
Subscribe to STAT+ today, for the best life sciences journalism in the industry
By Nicholas Florko July 31, 2024
C HICAGO — “Buttery Biscuits & Hot Honey Gravy,” mushroom jerky, soy chicken nuggets, strawberry champagne donuts, plant-based frozen yogurt and buñuelos, white cheddar cheese puffs, chocolatey cookie dippers, egg-free Spanish cheesecake, plant-based chorizo-style empanadas …
I was at the annual gathering of food technologists this month to learn about, well, food technology, and I had found myself in the exhibit hall, testing how much I could eat before needing to make an emergency trip back to my hotel room.
advertisement
It all started with a cookie bar. A perfect cookie bar. Crumbly like shortbread — but not sandy or dry — with crunchy pretzels and oats that were punctuated with flecks of caramel that glued the confection together but were virtually imperceptible to the eye. It was sweet but not saccharine — especially given the mini marshmallows studding its surface.
It was engineered to showcase the industrial creations — Jetpuffed White Cylinder Marbit marshmallows and Kraft Caramel Bits — from one of the world’s largest snack-food companies, Kraft Heinz.
Yes, there were booths featuring 100-liter reactors, flow wrappers, and sachet baggers, and even a robot making fried chicken. But, I realized, these ultra-processed treats were the real technology on display.
Going into the conference I knew that food companies designed their products to be hyperpalatable, that they were filled with ingredients I didn’t understand and couldn’t pronounce, and that roughly 60% of calories Americans consume these days come from so-called ultra-processed foods — industrial creations made up of ingredients you can’t find on any supermarket shelf. But I wasn’t prepared to hear about how companies were using AI to design the perfect food, or to watch as marketers outlined how today’s child-rearing techniques might impact what type of indulgent treats kids crave for snack time.
Understand how science, health policy, and medicine shape the world every day
The IFT First conference, the “world’s leading food technology event” attended by some 17,000 people, demonstrated that the food industry is well aware of the health concerns about ultra-processed foods, but it is marching ahead with intentionally and strategically designing edible creations so craveable you might set aside your nutritional concerns — like I did — and begin skipping the PowerPoint presentations to try some mini chocolate lava cakes.
My bender — as deranged and delicious as it was — raised a number of tough questions. How much data about the health impact of ultra-processed foods do we need to amass before companies should be expected to start selling something healthier? Should they be praised for developing slightly healthier versions of ultra-processed foods, even if they are still ultra-processed? And when does a well-made, irresistible snack cross over from addictive in the colloquial sense to actually addictive?
“W e won’t be debating the definition of ultra-processed foods,” an official of the Institute of Food Technologists, which hosted the conference, warned attendees at the start of a panel discussion closing out the first official day of the confab.
The disclaimer underscored just how rudimentary much of the understanding about ultra-processed foods is, even among experts.
While overconsumption of these foods has been tied in observational studies to type 2 diabetes, hypertension, colorectal cancer, and even anxiety and depression, scientists cannot agree on an accepted definition for an ultra-processed food, let alone a coherent theory for why they might be so harmful.
The lack of a coherent definition or understanding of these foods’ health effects has splintered the industry.
Some have rejected the concern about ultra-processing as unscientific , and part of a larger tendency to malign certain diets as causing America’s expanding waistlines.
“This is the new demon food,” said Janet Helm, a food and nutrition consultant who delivered a fireside chat during the conference. “The health benefit of a product is not solely related to the level of processing.”
Others acknowledge the growing science around ultra-processed food, but argue that the research is too rudimentary to influence corporate strategy.
“I don’t think we know what to change right now,” said Anna Rosales, the IFT official who led the panel on ultra-processed foods, in an interview following the conference.
Many companies are responding in their own capitalist way: selling slightly healthier versions of ultra-processed foods to win over customers who have read the worrisome headlines. These fears present “opportunities for growth,” a marketer for Innova Market Insights, a firm that boasts of its ability to predict food trends, assured conference attendees.
The exhibit hall overflowed with slightly healthier versions of ultra-processed classics. The plant-based frozen yogurt I ate was spiked with pea protein, and contained less sugar than your typical frozen treat thanks to the low-calorie sweetener allulose.
“For consumers of plant-based frozen desserts, ‘added protein’ is one of the top health and nutritional benefits they seek when choosing a product,” the food’s manufacturer, Ingredion, advertised.
S cientists and public health officials only have educated guesses for why ultra-processed foods are so appealing.
Some think that they trigger chemical reactions in the brain similar to those triggered by addictive drugs , or that they scramble communication between the gut and the brain, prompting people to overeat. Others will note there’s also a slew of societal and economic factors that heighten UPFs’ popularity, including low cost and wide availability, especially for people who do not have the time or resources to cook meals at home.
And then there’s the simple fact that food companies, with their teams of scientists and unlimited tools to manipulate smell, color, texture, and taste, can design a food so tailored to a person’s individual preferences that it puts the likes of celebrity chefs Thomas Keller and René Redzepi to shame.
In reality, the strawberry champagne donuts didn’t have strawberries or champagne. It was all man-made flavoring meant to precisely mimic those flavors. The biscuits and hot honey gravy featured “lipolyzed cream and ghee flavors.”
The cookie dippers, made by Cargill, contain something called “PalmAgility compound shortening,” which the company advertises as “less likely to get brittle when stored at low temperatures or greasy at high temperatures.”
The plant-based frozen yogurt I ate had maltodextrin and a “frozen dessert stabilizer system,” both of which were used to make sure that the dairy-free concoction still had the mouth-feel of cream.
It was during a talk from the “market intelligence agency” Mintel that I realized it was the texture of the Kraft cookie bar that drew me in so immediately, and prompted my binge. The caramel and pretzel bits provided an exciting bit of crunchy contrast to the otherwise soft cookie.
As the Mintel marketer continued her talk, I learned that 80% of my millennial generation reported that texture influences their snack cravings. We are more into texture, it turns out, than any other generation.
I was immediately horrified. Food companies could guess what snacks I’d like before I even popped them in my mouth. But then I started to wonder: Was adding pretzels to a cookie really that different from what I’d do in my own kitchen?
The food policy world struggles with this exact question.
Some see teams of scientists working to create the most craveable cookie as something sinister, akin to Big Tobacco fine-tuning the amount of nicotine in a cigarette, and adding menthol to make the smoke less harsh on the throat.
“Do the food companies know what is going on? Absolutely they do,” said Todd Wagner, the billionaire founder of FoodFight USA, an organization advocating against ultra-processed foods. “They know it’s addictive, they know it’s got health consequences, this is very similar to cigarettes.”
Others simply see companies like much larger versions of the home cooks who might salt and roast carrots to concentrate their flavor, or who pan-fry gnocchi before dropping them in tomato sauce to improve their texture.
“The last time I checked, anybody who makes a recipe, most of us make it because we want it to taste good,” said Rosales, the IFT official. “Even when I’m thinking of healthy food, I want those to be craveable.”
Was a snack designed in a lab really the same as one cooked in my one-bedroom apartment?
T here’s no telling how many calories I consumed over the course of those two days in Chicago — let alone how much sugar and salt I subjected my body to. If I were to guess, I should probably stay away from Oreos, potato chips, and sodas for the next few months.
But I never truly felt full.
That’s the secret — and the risk — of ultra-processed foods. No matter how “indulgent,” they rarely sit in the stomach like a fibrous piece of celery. The one randomized controlled trial that tested their impact on weight gain found that subjects consumed more calories and gained more weight when they were fed ultra-processed foods than when they were fed a nutrient-matched, minimally processed diet.
“There’s dozens of hypotheses out there, and very strong opinions” on the reasons for the overconsumption and weight gain, said Kevin Hall, the National Institutes of Health researcher who directed the study.
That tendency to overeat could have something to do with the theory that ultra-processed foods mess with the body’s natural hunger hormones. Or it could be that the body digests processed foods faster than whole foods, potentially due to their low fiber content, which typically slows digestion.
By the middle of my first afternoon sampling the food industry’s wares, I did, I admit, feel a strong wave of nausea. I wondered if the 216,778-square-foot exhibit hall that had gobbled me up hours earlier was finally ready to spit me out.
But no, I was just hungry. It was time for another snack.
STAT’s coverage of chronic health issues is supported by a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies . Our financial supporters are not involved in any decisions about our journalism.
Nicholas florko.
Reporter, Commercial Determinants of Health
Nicholas Florko reports on the commercial determinants of health.
STAT encourages you to share your voice. We welcome your commentary, criticism, and expertise on our subscriber-only platform, STAT+ Connect
To submit a correction request, please visit our Contact Us page .
Use discount code STYLEBLOG15 for 15% off APA Style print products with free shipping in the United States.
We, the APA Style team, are not robots. We can all pass a CAPTCHA test , and we know our roles in a Turing test . And, like so many nonrobot human beings this year, we’ve spent a fair amount of time reading, learning, and thinking about issues related to large language models, artificial intelligence (AI), AI-generated text, and specifically ChatGPT . We’ve also been gathering opinions and feedback about the use and citation of ChatGPT. Thank you to everyone who has contributed and shared ideas, opinions, research, and feedback.
In this post, I discuss situations where students and researchers use ChatGPT to create text and to facilitate their research, not to write the full text of their paper or manuscript. We know instructors have differing opinions about how or even whether students should use ChatGPT, and we’ll be continuing to collect feedback about instructor and student questions. As always, defer to instructor guidelines when writing student papers. For more about guidelines and policies about student and author use of ChatGPT, see the last section of this post.
If you’ve used ChatGPT or other AI tools in your research, describe how you used the tool in your Method section or in a comparable section of your paper. For literature reviews or other types of essays or response or reaction papers, you might describe how you used the tool in your introduction. In your text, provide the prompt you used and then any portion of the relevant text that was generated in response.
Unfortunately, the results of a ChatGPT “chat” are not retrievable by other readers, and although nonretrievable data or quotations in APA Style papers are usually cited as personal communications , with ChatGPT-generated text there is no person communicating. Quoting ChatGPT’s text from a chat session is therefore more like sharing an algorithm’s output; thus, credit the author of the algorithm with a reference list entry and the corresponding in-text citation.
When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023).
OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat
You may also put the full text of long responses from ChatGPT in an appendix of your paper or in online supplemental materials, so readers have access to the exact text that was generated. It is particularly important to document the exact text created because ChatGPT will generate a unique response in each chat session, even if given the same prompt. If you create appendices or supplemental materials, remember that each should be called out at least once in the body of your APA Style paper.
When given a follow-up prompt of “What is a more accurate representation?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that “different brain regions work together to support various cognitive processes” and “the functional specialization of different regions can change in response to experience and environmental factors” (OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript).
The in-text citations and references above are adapted from the reference template for software in Section 10.10 of the Publication Manual (American Psychological Association, 2020, Chapter 10). Although here we focus on ChatGPT, because these guidelines are based on the software template, they can be adapted to note the use of other large language models (e.g., Bard), algorithms, and similar software.
The reference and in-text citations for ChatGPT are formatted as follows:
Let’s break that reference down and look at the four elements (author, date, title, and source):
Author: The author of the model is OpenAI.
Date: The date is the year of the version you used. Following the template in Section 10.10, you need to include only the year, not the exact date. The version number provides the specific date information a reader might need.
Title: The name of the model is “ChatGPT,” so that serves as the title and is italicized in your reference, as shown in the template. Although OpenAI labels unique iterations (i.e., ChatGPT-3, ChatGPT-4), they are using “ChatGPT” as the general name of the model, with updates identified with version numbers.
The version number is included after the title in parentheses. The format for the version number in ChatGPT references includes the date because that is how OpenAI is labeling the versions. Different large language models or software might use different version numbering; use the version number in the format the author or publisher provides, which may be a numbering system (e.g., Version 2.0) or other methods.
Bracketed text is used in references for additional descriptions when they are needed to help a reader understand what’s being cited. References for a number of common sources, such as journal articles and books, do not include bracketed descriptions, but things outside of the typical peer-reviewed system often do. In the case of a reference for ChatGPT, provide the descriptor “Large language model” in square brackets. OpenAI describes ChatGPT-4 as a “large multimodal model,” so that description may be provided instead if you are using ChatGPT-4. Later versions and software or models from other companies may need different descriptions, based on how the publishers describe the model. The goal of the bracketed text is to briefly describe the kind of model to your reader.
Source: When the publisher name and the author name are the same, do not repeat the publisher name in the source element of the reference, and move directly to the URL. This is the case for ChatGPT. The URL for ChatGPT is https://chat.openai.com/chat . For other models or products for which you may create a reference, use the URL that links as directly as possible to the source (i.e., the page where you can access the model, not the publisher’s homepage).
You may have noticed the confidence with which ChatGPT described the ideas of brain lateralization and how the brain operates, without citing any sources. I asked for a list of sources to support those claims and ChatGPT provided five references—four of which I was able to find online. The fifth does not seem to be a real article; the digital object identifier given for that reference belongs to a different article, and I was not able to find any article with the authors, date, title, and source details that ChatGPT provided. Authors using ChatGPT or similar AI tools for research should consider making this scrutiny of the primary sources a standard process. If the sources are real, accurate, and relevant, it may be better to read those original sources to learn from that research and paraphrase or quote from those articles, as applicable, than to use the model’s interpretation of them.
We’ve also received a number of other questions about ChatGPT. Should students be allowed to use it? What guidelines should instructors create for students using AI? Does using AI-generated text constitute plagiarism? Should authors who use ChatGPT credit ChatGPT or OpenAI in their byline? What are the copyright implications ?
On these questions, researchers, editors, instructors, and others are actively debating and creating parameters and guidelines. Many of you have sent us feedback, and we encourage you to continue to do so in the comments below. We will also study the policies and procedures being established by instructors, publishers, and academic institutions, with a goal of creating guidelines that reflect the many real-world applications of AI-generated text.
For questions about manuscript byline credit, plagiarism, and related ChatGPT and AI topics, the APA Style team is seeking the recommendations of APA Journals editors. APA Style guidelines based on those recommendations will be posted on this blog and on the APA Style site later this year.
Update: APA Journals has published policies on the use of generative AI in scholarly materials .
We, the APA Style team humans, appreciate your patience as we navigate these unique challenges and new ways of thinking about how authors, researchers, and students learn, write, and work with new technologies.
American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
Comments are disabled due to your privacy settings. To re-enable, please adjust your cookie preferences.
Subscribe to the APA Style Monthly newsletter to get tips, updates, and resources delivered directly to your inbox.
Welcome! Thank you for subscribing.
Browse APA Style writing guidelines by category
Full index of topics
The former president and his backers aim to strengthen the power of the White House and limit the independence of federal agencies.
Donald J. Trump intends to bring independent regulatory agencies under direct presidential control. Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times
Supported by
By Jonathan Swan Charlie Savage and Maggie Haberman
Donald J. Trump and his allies are planning a sweeping expansion of presidential power over the machinery of government if voters return him to the White House in 2025, reshaping the structure of the executive branch to concentrate far greater authority directly in his hands.
Their plans to centralize more power in the Oval Office stretch far beyond the former president’s recent remarks that he would order a criminal investigation into his political rival, President Biden, signaling his intent to end the post-Watergate norm of Justice Department independence from White House political control.
Mr. Trump and his associates have a broader goal: to alter the balance of power by increasing the president’s authority over every part of the federal government that now operates, by either law or tradition, with any measure of independence from political interference by the White House, according to a review of his campaign policy proposals and interviews with people close to him.
Mr. Trump intends to bring independent agencies — like the Federal Communications Commission, which makes and enforces rules for television and internet companies, and the Federal Trade Commission, which enforces various antitrust and other consumer protection rules against businesses — under direct presidential control.
He wants to revive the practice of “impounding” funds, refusing to spend money Congress has appropriated for programs a president doesn’t like — a tactic that lawmakers banned under President Richard Nixon.
He intends to strip employment protections from tens of thousands of career civil servants, making it easier to replace them if they are deemed obstacles to his agenda. And he plans to scour the intelligence agencies, the State Department and the defense bureaucracies to remove officials he has vilified as “the sick political class that hates our country.”
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in .
Want all of The Times? Subscribe .
Advertisement
IMAGES
COMMENTS
Discussion essays are a common form of academic writing. This page gives information on what a discussion essay is and how to structure this type of essay. Some vocabulary for discussion essays is also given, and there is an example discussion essay on the topic of studying overseas.
A discussion essay, also called a controversial essay, is where you express your opinion about a topic. When writing one, Cover both sides of the topic , present the key points that back your viewpoint and the opposing one. Ensure a multi-faceted understanding of the issues before presenting your own personal views and conclusions.
The discussion section is where you delve into the meaning, importance, and relevance of your results.. It should focus on explaining and evaluating what you found, showing how it relates to your literature review and paper or dissertation topic, and making an argument in support of your overall conclusion.It should not be a second results section.. There are different ways to write this ...
Let's dive into the essay structure and components of a successful discussion essay. 1. Choose Your Topic. Choose your discussion essay topic. When choosing this topic, make sure it is one that you're interested in personally since this will be easier for you to write. You'll need to discuss both sides of the argument surrounding the ...
After reading about both sides carefully, decide what position you want to take. Write your position at the top of a sheet of paper or at the top of a word processing document to start your outline. If you were given a text to base your essay on, make sure that text has enough evidence to support your chosen position. 4.
The discussion section is often considered the most important part of your research paper because it: Most effectively demonstrates your ability as a researcher to think critically about an issue, to develop creative solutions to problems based upon a logical synthesis of the findings, and to formulate a deeper, more profound understanding of the research problem under investigation;
Discussion Phrases Guide. Papers usually end with a concluding section, often called the "Discussion.". The Discussion is your opportunity to evaluate and interpret the results of your study or paper, draw inferences and conclusions from it, and communicate its contributions to science and/or society. Use the present tense when writing the ...
Step 3- Outline your essay. Step 3 in our guide to writing a discussion essay is outlining your discussion essay. Before outlining, you need to decide on your discussion essay structure. A standard structure will have three main sections. It will have an introduction, main body, and a concluding section.
In this article, we will explore the process of constructing a high-quality argumentative essay. The ability to craft a coherent argument and to express those arguments with others in a discussion are essential skills to encourage in our students. This skill helps our students engage with the world, process their thoughts, and discover their ...
The discussion essay depends on investigation and questioning. The more you read, the more you search and the more you justify, the better will be your conversation. Composing a 1000 word long substance isn't simple, particularly when it is a scholastic one. Hence, make it a habit to set up a psyche map or a conceptualizing note.
Here, we suggest a possible structure for your essay: 1) Introduction. Introduce the topic and the two opposing views. State your opinion. 2) Body paragraph 1. Topic sentence: describe the view/s that you disagree with. Explanation: explain why some people support this view or provide evidence that supports it.
Writing. The discussion section of a research paper analyzes and interprets the findings, provides context, compares them with previous studies, identifies limitations, and suggests future research directions. Updated on September 15, 2023. Structure your discussion section right, and you'll be cited more often while doing a greater service ...
In many ways, a discussion paragraph essay resembles a compare/contrast essay. You group the details of each side of the argument: rewards and challenges, advantages and disadvantages, choice A and choice B. In other words, introduce the issue; present one side of the issue; present the other side of the issue; conclude with your opinion or ...
The discussion section is one of the final parts of a research paper, in which an author describes, analyzes, and interprets their findings. They explain the significance of those results and tie everything back to the research question(s). In this handout, you will find a description of what a discussion section does, explanations of how to ...
Step 3: Create an Outline. After research, create a rough draft of how you want your essay to flow. Here include introduction points, thesis statement, supporting arguments, opposing arguments, and a rough conclusion paragraph. This draft will help you write the essay without instant stops that are caused by running out of content halfway through.
Discussion Essay Thesis Statement. In academic writing, a thesis statement (sometimes called an essay outline) is the part of the essay where you insert your opinion.It typically comes at the end of the introduction and guides the reader by explaining your opinion on the issues that have been introduced.. But do you really need to provide one in such a short essay?
The structure of your expository essay will vary according to the scope of your assignment and the demands of your topic. It's worthwhile to plan out your structure before you start, using an essay outline. A common structure for a short expository essay consists of five paragraphs: An introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
The Structure of a Definition Essay. The definition essay opens with a general discussion of the term to be defined. You then state as your thesis your definition of the term. The rest of the essay should explain the rationale for your definition. Remember that a dictionary's definition is limiting, and you should not rely strictly on the ...
The discussion section is where you delve into the meaning, importance, and relevance of your results.. It should focus on explaining and evaluating what you found, showing how it relates to your literature review, and making an argument in support of your overall conclusion.It should not be a second results section.. There are different ways to write this section, but you can focus your ...
Sample discussion essay Discuss the best way for a supermarket or a store to become successful and to expand its business, and make a large profit. ... of what she will be doing in the essay. [Comment 2]This is the first main paragraph. Here the student focuses on the aspect of customer service. Notice the use of the topic sentence: "The ...
The definition essay opens with a general discussion of the term to be defined. You then state as your thesis your definition of the term. The rest of the essay should explain the rationale for your definition. Remember that a dictionary's definition is limiting, and you should not rely strictly on the dictionary entry.
An explanatory definition essay is a type of expository essay. It aims to explain a complex term or concept in a way that is easy to understand for the reader. The writer breaks down the term or concept into simpler parts and provides examples and analogies to help readers understand it better.
The United States' poor fortune in the men's 4x100-meter relay continues for another consecutive Olympic Games. Team USA hasn't medaled in the men's 4x100-meter relay since winning silver in 2004.
Discussion about what books children should access has diminished on the national stage. But most rules pertaining to schools and libraries are made at the state and local level.
Class participation and behavior are another aspect of the definition of a good student. Simply attending class is not enough; good students arrive punctually because they understand that tardiness disrupts the class and disrespects the professors. They might occasionally arrive a few minutes early to ask the professor questions about class ...
The Sahm Rule is a recession indicator based on labor market conditions. Read more about how it's calculated, how it signals that the economy is in a recession, its origin and more.
Vince Vaughn: The actor known for his charmingly sarcastic roles in R-rated comedies sat down for a provocative and earnest discussion on fatherhood, loss and more.
CHICAGO — "Buttery Biscuits & Hot Honey Gravy," mushroom jerky, soy chicken nuggets, strawberry champagne donuts, plant-based frozen yogurt and buñuelos, white cheddar cheese puffs ...
When prompted with "Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?" the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, "the notation that people can be characterized as 'left-brained' or 'right-brained' is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth" (OpenAI, 2023).
The former president and his backers aim to strengthen the power of the White House and limit the independence of federal agencies.