ACADEMIC TASK 5

A For-and-Against Essay
1. You can start
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Phone-Tapping your essay by
posing a question.

(INTRODUCTION)
1 When you talk on your phone, who is listening to you? Is it just the person you are
talking to, or are there others who can hear what you are saying – governments,
police, journalists or criminals? 2 Listening secretly to someone’s phone
conversation is called ‘phone tapping’ (in the UK) or ‘wiretapping (in the US). It has
become a very important issue in our lives. 3 This essay will consider whether
phone-tapping is good or bad four our society.
2. This is the topic sentence
(MAIN BODY) 3. Use this expression to
of your essay.
present the purpose of your
Paragraph A essay.

One serious disadvantage of phone-tapping is that we cannot be sure if our

conversations are private. Newspapers, for example, can use information they get
from phone-tapping to write stories about celebrities. If people are listening to us in
secret, we lose some of our freedom. Another problem with phone-tapping is that it
is very easy for anyone to buy the equipment you need to do it.
Paragraph B
On the other hand, a major advantage is that it helps to catch criminals, and that
makes or society safer. Another advantage is that – for the police – it is possible to
get information about criminals without putting police officers in dangerous
situations. 4. Start your conclusion with
a brief reflection of the pros
(CONCLUSION) and cons of the topic.

4To sum up, is phone-tapping good or bad? This is a difficult question to answer.
Although it helps to make our society safer, people can know too much about our
private lives. Therefore, we lose some of our freedom. Perhaps we need more time
to understand the effects of this, 5 but I personally think that the advantages are
greater than the disadvantages.
5. Do not forget to end the
essay with your personal
opinion on the matter.