GRE Analytical Writing

Solutions to the Real Essay Topics - Book 3 (Second Edition)

Vibrant Publishers

• Publisher: Vibrant Publishers
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781636510101
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Study Aids
• Subtopic: GRE Study Guides

Ÿ Easy to understand writing techniques

Ÿ 15 Solved Issue and Argument topics with strategies to be used as benchmark

Ÿ Topics sorted by categories

Ÿ Online access to printable Answer sheets

GRE Analytical Writing: Solutions to the Real Essay Topics - Book 3, just like Books 1 and 2, gives many more easy-to-implement writing strategies. The book explains in simple language how to tackle 15 Essay writing tasks (other than those covered in Books 1 and 2). The solutions to these 15 official essay tasks include statement analysis, identifying assumptions, discerning pros and cons and gathering examples.

The book also gives access to Downloadable Answer Sheets where you can write down your own essay responses. The scoring guide provided in the book comes handy to score your

written essays. All this equips you to plan your essay better and takes away the stress of time management on the Test Day.

This book along with GRE Analytical Writing: Solutions to the Real Essay Topics - Book 1 and GRE Analytical Writing: Solutions to the Real Essay Topics - Book 2 are your go-to guides for high scores on the Analytical Writing section of the GRE.

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Issue Task 1

Topic

Some people believe that government funding of the arts is necessary to ensure that the arts can flourish and be available to all people. Others believe that government funding of the arts threatens the integrity of the arts.

Write a response in which you discuss which view more closely aligns with your own position and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should address both of the views presented.

Strategies

Restate the Issue:

Consider each view separately before deciding which of them you most closely agree with.

Point of view 1:

Restate the view by saying what cannot, rather than what can.

In other words:

The arts cannot flourish and be available to all people without government funding of the arts.

You might also determine what question is being answered by the statement.

How can we ensure that the arts can flourish and be available to all people?

Or: What role should the government play to ensure that the arts can flourish and be available to all people?

Think about the way that you would answer one or both of these questions to help you determine your position.

Now identify elements in the statement that can provide evidence for you to affirm or refute.

a) Some people – This indicated that the opinion is not unanimous.

b) necessary – This implies a requirement. Without government funding the arts would not flourish.

c) flourish – This means to thrive, a stronger action than survival.

d) available – Another way to say this might be accessible. Art would be accessible or open to all people.

Point of view 2:

Restate the view by making it a negative statement.

In other words:

The integrity of the arts cannot survive with government funding.

You should formulate the question that requires this statement as an answer.

What effect would government funding have on the integrity of the arts?

Or: How does government funding threaten the arts?

Now identify elements in the statement that can provide evidence for you to affirm or refute.

a) others – The implication is that there are two points of view.

b) threatens – This word always has a negative connotation. The response to a threat is defense.

c) integrity – One thinks of strength, honesty and wholeness.

The directions do not allow for alternative positions. Even though you may not be in complete agreement with either of the positions, you must decide which one most closely matches the way that you think about the issue. Make certain to acknowledge the opposite viewpoint as you develop your response.

Sample Essay

Some may say, “I don’t care about painters or sculptors”, but the creative arts encompass so much more. It is not strictly high–brow. The artists include writers of fiction, drama, poetry, and journalism. They include composers of country music, Broadway scores, and classical pieces. Many people don’t realize the number of ways that they are exposed to art in their everyday lives. The National Endowment for the Arts supports programs all around the United States that promote exposure to all of the creative arts. The NEA also funds grants for various artists and projects through an application and award process. There is little doubt that, without this organization, children in otherwise culturally–deprived areas of the country would have no introduction to the creative arts. The struggling artist may be a popular stereotype in film and fiction, but the fact of the matter is that new artists in nearly every field do struggle, at least for a time. The NEA allows these artists to apply for grants to help them get a start.

However, since it is funded by the government, the NEA budget depends on the whims of Congress. Senators and congressmen also feel entitled to attempt to place restrictions on the type of artwork or artist supported by NEA grants. There arises the paternalistic attitude that says,” If I’m paying for it, I’ll decide how it gets used.” Congress has attempted to censor some forms of artistic expression by claiming that it is pornographic or demeaning to one group or another, even that it is unpatriotic. It is difficult, if not impossible, for an artist to express his vision if that vision is clouded by requirements placed upon it by otherwise well–meaning public servants.

What are the alternatives to public funding of the arts? It used to be that gifted artists would have wealthy patrons who were individuals or even the Vatican itself in the case of the sculptor/architect, Bernini. Of course, the Catholic Church placed restrictions on the kinds of work completed. Other patrons generally made demands of the artists they supported as well. The artists, however, did stave off starvation and homelessness. Patrons of the arts still exist and invest in Broadway productions, pay for visiting musicians at local concert halls, and donate paintings to museums. This still limits accessibility to the arts for those who live in rural or otherwise remote areas.

Does one require live experiences to say that he/she has been exposed to the arts? The World Wide Web allows anyone with an Internet connection to view works of the masters and hear recorded performances or see video of live performances. Nearly everyone with a cellular phone carries around a camera and a video recorder, and they upload their recordings to YouTube by the thousands every day. Those second–hand viewings and audios may not replace a visit to the Louvre or La Scala, but they do make the arts accessible. Local libraries have a service for their card holders that enables the patrons to download best sellers to their electronic readers or tablets, making a trip to the library, itself, unnecessary.

Men and women of ideas and artistic talent can create followings on the Internet by daily writing and uploading to their own blogs. There is a better opportunity for artists in every medium to retain their integrity and freedom of expression if they let the public decide who shall succeed and who shall not rather than relying on funds that may have strings attached.

*****

Issue Task 2

Topic

Competition for high grades seriously limits the quality of learning at all levels of education.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the posi...

Table of contents

• Analyze an Issue Task
• Solved Issue Tasks with Strategies
• Issue Task 1 – Funding of arts
• Issue Task 2 – Competition for high grades
• Issue Task 3 – Preserve wilderness area
• Issue Task 4 – Those in power to step down after 5 years
• Issue Task 5 – Progress requires discussion
• Issue Task 6 – Researchers to not limit investigations
• Issue Task 7 – Well-being of society
• Analyze an Argument Task
• Solved Argument Tasks with Strategies
• Argument Task 1 – Jazz music
• Argument Task 2 – Woven baskets
• Argument Task 3 – Reading habits of Waymarsh citizens
• Argument Task 4 – Newsbeat magazine
• Argument Task 5 – Study on headaches (evidence)
• Argument Task 6 – Consuming salicylates (prediction)
• Argument Task 7 – Happy Pancake House
• Argument Task 8 – Stanley Park