Writing Workshop 27: A balanced argument

A balanced argument

In some written tasks, we have to present the pros and cons, the advantages and disadvantages of something. In other words, we have to write a balanced argument.

As usual, our essay will be clearly structured:
Introduction
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

Remember it is very important to make a good start to our composition by writing a clear introduction. In writing workshop 26 we mentioned the technique of writing a rhetoric question in the introduction to help us present the topic.

Today we are going to present a ready-made formula that may help us write the introduction. It consists of four sentences:
Write a general sentence about the topic (a)
Add an extra sentence to support the first (b)
Focus on the question in your own words (c)
Tell the reader your plan (d)

Let’s take, for example, the topic of studying on campus. An introduction to the topic using the above-mentioned technique would look like this.

(a) Living on campus is one of the accommodation options university students have. (b) In fact, the number of British students staying at halls of residence has increased dramatically in recent years. (c) However, there are both pros and cons to deciding to do this. (d) In this article/composition/essay/post, I will look at both sides and try to draw some conclusions.

We also discussed conclusions in writing workshop 26. Let’s work on a more specific technique to write a conclusion. A good conclusion generally consists of:
1 A general, one-sentence summary
2 A focus summary of the main points –avoiding repetition of vocabulary
3 Something new/your opinion

Let’s apply this technique to the composition of studying on campus:
To sum up, we must bear in mind that the main reason for being at university is to study. Although it has some obvious drawbacks, living on campus allows students more time to study without the distractions and responsibilities of rented accommodation. As a result, I would recommend people to live on campus if they have the chance.

When we write a balanced argument, or any piece of writing for that matter, we most certainly have to list reasons. The following linking words can be of help:
Firstly / In the first place / For a start / First of all
Moreover / On top of that / Secondly / What is more
Lastly / Finally

To introduce the advantages and disadvantages we can use some of these phrases:
Let’s begin by looking at the advantages of studying on campus.
I will start by looking at the advantages of studying on campus.
There are a lot of advantages to studying on campus.
The main/first/most important advantage of…
Another/An additional advantage is

Turning to the other side of the argument, studying on campus also has some downsizes.
However, there are some disadvantages to studying on campus too.
The main/first/most important disadvantage of…
Another/An additional disadvantage is

With information from IELTS Advantage Writing Skills, Delta Publishing and Straightforward Intermediate, Macmillan