You've got to have support. You can do this.
So in our last lesson we looked at step 3 and support and how to prepare explanations. Today we will look at how to write examples.
First, we will review our last lesson on how to write explanations.
1.Don’t forget to get the facts by going with what you know. 2. When writing an explanation, you can also get specific facts by considering what the other side would say.
To do this, follow 3 steps: Think of one reason from the other side. On our topic, let’s say we agree. Now let’s consider what others would say. So if another person disagrees, how do you think they would disagree? They might say others have expert knowledge that parents don't have. Then think what could you say to attack that idea? Create a question or two to attack. Yes, parents don't have knowledge on every topic but don't they have knowledge on the most important topics? Don't they have the knowledge that matters most? Then answer the question or questions you asked. Parents have the knowledge to get their kids through adolescence and they help them enter adulthood. They launch them into life. 3.TOEFL gives you leeway in organizing your paper. If they give you a topic that is agree or disagree, you could disagree and give 2 reasons. They will also give you leeway and let you write the advantages and disadvantages of the topic.
II. Now today, let’s look at examples. We need a name + a specific situation.
To do that, we have 3 different types of examples we can create and let’s use the topic “Parents are the best teachers” to illustrate these 3. Learning about the past has no value for those of us living in the present.
1.Your own personal experience. I or my + specific situation.
My parents knew how to best teach me and mold me and my brother. When we were growing up, my brother had a curfew. He had to be home at 12:00 and to my surprise, my brother got home by 12. I thought he was crazy. My parents did not give me a deadline and that was wise because I was rebellious and they knew that. If they had given me a curfew, I would have ignored it. Because they didn’t, I had nothing to rebel against and came in at a reasonable time. It was until I was in my 20s that I realized that my parents tricked me and only parents could be that wise because only parents know their child that well.
Your example could be a positive one or a negative one.
2.Someone else’s experience that you know. This could be a family member, friend, someone you know in your major, your career, city, country, someone you’ve read about or listened to a video about. Name of someone else + specific situation
Your example could be a positive one or a negative one.
3.A hypothetical example. You create a scenario, a situation. General name like your friend + a specific situation. One famous example of this is from a Harvard Professor, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBdfcR-8hEY If your elementary teachers had a student that was a good student but for some reason later didn’t perform well, what would they do? Maybe they would talk to the student to see if they could help and maybe the student would feel comfortable in talking to the teacher. They probably would feel more comfortable in talking to the parents though and maybe the parent knows information that the teacher doesn’t know. Maybe this good student just lost their grandmother that lived with them and so they are depressed. The parents would know and could comfort the child.
Now how do you do this? 1.Think of the person on the other side: elementary school teacher 2.Then think of a situation that would show you are right: good student but not doing well later 3.Then explain why you’re right: parent is closer to the student and knows more.
Now to a quick summary:
1.You can do a positive or negative personal example, (use your sources of support).
2.You can do a positive or negative example about someone else. (use your sources of support).
3.You can do a hypothetical example.