UNIT 23: 2-QUESTION ESSAY

Topic 1

Shopping is the favorite pastime for most of STRUCTURE

the young people. Intro
Background info
Why do you think is that?
Thesis statement
Do you think they should be encouraged to do Body
some other useful activities? Body 1: answer question 1
Body 2: answer question 2
Topic 2 Conclusion
Nowadays parents put too much pressure on Summarize the ideas
their children to succeed.

What is the reason for doing this?

Is this a negative or positive development?

*Can you use “I think…” in the thesis statement?  It depends! 

Ask: Why do you think is that?

 I think that is because…

Ask: Do you think they should be encouraged to do some other useful activities?

 I believe that they should…

Ask: What is the reason for doing this?

 This approach is caused by…

Ask: Is this a negative or positive development?

 This is absolutely a negative development…

Topic 1

Shopping is the favorite pastime for most of the young people.

Why do you think is that?

Do you think they should be encouraged to do some other useful activities?

Intro

Why do you think is that? => created by advertisements

Do you think they should be encouraged… => yes

Body 1: advertisements urge people to spend money

 Adverts appear everywhere

 Psychologically affected: afraid of being old-fashion
 Internal motivation to go shopping

Body 2: activities

- Sports or exercise
- Reading

It is true that nowadays, the majority of young people often choose to spend their
leisure time going shopping. That hobby is created mainly by advertisements
and I believe that those young people should do more beneficial activities.

While advertisements play a key role in promoting any business, they also create
superficial trends which urge people to spend their money more than necessary.
Those adverts appear everywhere, from streets, shops, to televisions and especially
the Internet which is an indispensable part of young people’s life. Once
psychologically affected by those ads, young people go shopping more often for
fear that they would be left behind the times if they do not know what the latest
fashion trend is or what the state-of-the-art cellphone the world is using. As a
result, they gradually develop an internal motivation to go shopping even when
they do not actually have a demand for the items.
Because those people are doing things which only benefit manufactures, I would
argue that they should benefit themselves, either physically or mentally. From
physical perspective, it is important that they spend a sufficient amount of time
doing some form of sports or exercise. Therefore, they should go to swimming
pools, tennis courts or other sport centers instead of going to shops and purchase
unnecessary items. In terms of mental health, fiction has been proved to help
increase its readers’ empathy while poem can make us more mentally flexible.
Thus, reading is also an attractive option when young people decide how to spend
their free time.

In conclusion, it is advertisements which push young people to do shopping more

often than necessary, and I think that their time should be spent on other helpful
activities like playing sport or reading.

Topic 2

Nowadays parents put too much pressure on their children to succeed.

What is the reason for doing this?

Is this a negative or positive development?

Intro

What is the reason? => some understandable for this

Negative or positive? => negative

Body 1: explain reasons

- Parents think success is happiness

- Compare their children with others

Body 2: negative

- Physical: lack of sport time

- Mental: depression, hate themselves
It is a commonplace that children today are placed under excessive pressure by
their parents to succeed. Although there are some understandable reasons for
this, I believe that such approach may exert some negative impacts on our
children.

The first reason why parents wish their children to be successful comes from the
conviction that success is happiness. In other words, all parents hope that their
children could lead a happy life, which seems to be secured only by a successful
career with a rewarding job and handsome salary. Another reason is that children
are normally the pride of their parents who usually have gossips with neighbors
and friends in which how successful their children are is a common topic. It is in
such conversations where children are often compared with one another that
parents develop a desire for their children’s success.

However, it is likely that children who suffer from unrelenting pressure like that
are at risk of health problems, both physically and mentally. On the one hand,
children have to spend more time studying at school, at home, and even at extra
classes, leaving inadequate time for playing or doing sports. As a result, their
health can deteriorate gradually and even some of them may experience a loss of
appetite, weight and strength. In terms of mental health, children who have a
phobia about failing may feel depressed when failing exam or assignment at
school. In the long run, they may suffer from severe depression and develop a
hatred for themselves.

In conclusion, while parents may have justifiable reasons for pressurizing their
children to become successful, I would argue that this approach may harm those
children in a number of ways and thus should not be adopted.