Barron's GRE, 18th Edition (2009)

Part 3. ANALYTICAL WRITING: TACTICS, STRATEGIES, AND PRACTICE

Introduction to Part 3

What sort of test is this new analytical writing test? First and foremost, it is not a multiple-choice test. It is a performance test—you have to write two analytical essays in an hour and fifteen minutes.

The new analytical writing section of the GRE is the longest of the three sections in terms of time allotted. This section is organized in two parts. In Part 1, “Present Your Perspective on an Issue,” you have 45 minutes to write an essay expressing your point of view on a particular issue. You will be given your choice of two quotations, each of which states an opinion about an issue; you will probably write a better essay if you go for the quotation that “grabs” you, whose topic seems more appealing to you.

Your job is to take a stand and to support it, drawing on your own experiences and on your readings to come up with examples that reinforce your argument. It does not matter what stand you take; there is no “correct” position, no one true answer. Many different approaches can work. You can agree completely with the quotation’s point of view or you can dispute it absolutely. You can disagree with some aspects of the quote, but agree with others. What matters is how you present your case.

Part 2 of the analytical writing section asks you to perform a different but complementary task. In Part 2, “Analyze an Argument,” you have 30 minutes to write an essay critiquing the logical soundness of an argument. You will be given one short passage in which an author makes a claim and backs it up, giving reasons that may well be flawed. You get no choice of passages to analyze; you must work with whatever passage comes up on your screen.

This time your job is not to advocate a particular point of view. This is not the moment for you to agree or disagree with the author; it is the moment for you to weigh the validity of the author’s reasoning. Your approach is analytical and expository, not argumentative or persuasive. It is your task to examine carefully what the author offers as evidence. You will find it helpful to note what the author claims explicitly, and also to note what she or he assumes (not necessarily justifiably!).

If you study the tactics and work through the practice exercises in the following chapter, and take full advantage of the study materials on the GRE’s web site, www.gre.org, you will be well prepared for the analytical writing section of the GRE and should feel confident in your ability to write high-scoring essays.

Chapter 9. Analytical Writing

SCORING GUIDELINES

Two readers will judge your GRE analytical essays, awarding each essay a grade ranging from 0 to 6, with 6 the highest possible score. The powers-that-be then calculate your analytical writing score by taking the average of your four grades, rounding up the result to the nearest half-point. If one reader awarded your issues essay a 5 and your argument essay a 4, while the other reader gave both your essays 4’s, you’d come out with a score of 4.25, rounded up to 4.5.

You probably have a sense of what score you need to be accepted by the graduate school of your choice. If you’re seeking admission to Harvard’s Ph.D. program in history, you’re clearly aiming for a 5.5 or 6. If you’re aiming for a graduate program in a field that favors number-crunching over essay-writing—mathematics or electrical engineering, for instance—you clearly don’t need to aim so high. But however high a score you’re seeking, you want to come out of the essay-writing section looking good. And to do that, you have to know what the GRE readers are looking for.

What are the GRE readers looking for? In essence, fluency, organization, and a command of technical English. These are the skills they assess.

Fluency

Fluency is smoothness and ease in communicating. In this case, it is your ability to set down a given number of words on paper within a limited period of time. If you freeze on essay examinations, writing only a sentence or two when whole paragraphs are called for, then you need to practice letting your words and ideas flow.

Literary fluency, however, involves more than just the number of words you type. The readers tend to award their highest grades to test-takers who use language well, those who employ a variety of sentence types and demonstrate a command of vocabulary. If you invariably use short, simple sentences, you need to practice constructing more complex ones. If you have a limited vocabulary, you need to expand it, working with our Master Word List (page 161) and other tools to learn the precise meaning of each new word you employ.

Organization

Organization is coherent arrangement. In this case, it is your ability to arrange your thoughts in order, following a clear game plan. In The Elements of Style, William Strunk describes certain elementary principles of composition. The paragraph is the basic unit of composition; the beginning of each new paragraph serves to alert readers that they are coming to a new step in the development of the subject. One paragraph leads to the next, drawing readers on to the essay’s conclusion.

Organization involves your ability to reason and to marshal evidence to support your viewpoint. If you jump from subject to subject within a single paragraph, if you leave out critical elements, if you misorder your points or never manage to state exactly what you mean, then you need to practice outlining your position briefly before you express it in essay form.

Technical English

Technical English is the part of English that most students hate—grammar, spelling, punctuation, word usage. In this case, it is your ability to produce grammatically correct sentences in standard written English. If your English compositions used to come back to you with the abbreviations “frag” or “agr” or “sp” scribbled all over the margins, then you need to practice reading through your papers to catch any technical mistakes.

There are literally hundreds of handbooks available that will help you handle the mechanics of writing essays. Strunk and White’s manual, The Elements of Style, provides clear, concise advice, as does William Zinsser’s On Writing Well. Other good reference tools are The Harbrace College Handbook, Edward Johnson’s Handbook of Good English, and, for the complete grammarphobe, Patricia O’Conner’s aptly named Woe Is I.

NOTE: Unless you are someone who can’t type two words in a row without making a spelling error, do not worry about spelling and punctuation mistakes. The GRE readers generally ignore them. However, if you make so many errors that it becomes difficult for the readers to make sense of what you have written, they will lower your score accordingly.

ESSAY-WRITING: THE 5-STEP APPROACH

How to Handle the Issue-Writing Task

You have 45 minutes to complete the issue-writing task. To earn a top score, you need to produce a smooth, 400–700-word essay with solid content, coherent organization, and few, if any, mechanical errors.

Each issue topic is presented as a 1–2 sentence statement commenting on a subject of general concern. This statement makes a claim. Your essay may support, refute, or qualify the views expressed in the statement. Whatever you write, however, must be relevant to the issue under discussion, and you must support your viewpoint with data—reasons and examples derived from your studies, experience, and reading.

GRE readers will evaluate your essay, grading it on the basis of your effectiveness in the following areas:

·               Analysis of the statement’s implications.

·               Organization and articulation of your ideas.

·               Use of relevant examples and arguments to support your case.

·               Handling of the mechanics of standard written English.

Here is a 5-step plan you can use in writing your issue essay. Suggested times are approximate.

Step One: Begin with Brainstorming (2 minutes)

You do not lack ideas. What you may lack is a direct means of getting in touch with the ideas you already have. One useful technique to “prime the pump” and encourage fluency is clustering. Clustering is a method of brainstorming in which you start with a key word or short phrase and let that word or phrase act as a stimulus, triggering all sorts of associations that you jot down. In just a minute or two, you can come up with dozens of associations, some of which you may later be able to incorporate into your essay. (For a thought-provoking discussion of clustering and other brainstorming techniques, see Writing the Natural Way by Gabriele Rico.)

Let the issue statement or prompt trigger your brainstorming. As soon as you’ve clicked on your chosen topic, grab your pencil and sum up the claim the author is making. If, for example, the issue prompt is “Historians and other social scientists are as useful to society as are biochemists and engineers because society’s ills cannot be cured by technological progress alone,” your quick summation might be “Historians are as useful as scientists.” Once you’re clear about the author’s point, start scribbling. Write down as many reasons that support or weaken the author’s claim as you possibly can. Be sure to write both reasons for and reasons against. Don’t worry right now if any of these reasons strike you as flimsy or implausible or clichéd; you can always cut them later or find ways to strengthen them, if you need to. Just note them down on your scratch paper, together with examples supporting both sides of the issue. Stay loose; this is your time for free associations, not self-censorship.

Step Two: Organize Your Outline (3 minutes)

According to British rhetorical theorist and philosopher Stephen Toulmin, a sound argument requires three elements: CLAIM, GROUNDS (or data), and WARRANT. Your claim is your thesis; it is an overall statement of the argument you hope to prove. The grounds for your argument are your evidence. Grounds for an argument can include statistics, examples, and even anecdotes. The warrant is the connection between the claim and the grounds. It is an explanation of how the grounds justify the claim.

CLAIM (thesis): Historians and other social scientists are as useful to society as are biochemists and engineers because society’s ills cannot be cured by technological progress alone.

Once you have settled on your claim, look to your brainstorming for the arguments that support it. Each of these arguments requires its own claim, grounds, and warrant.

1. CLAIM: War is not prevented by technological progress.
GROUNDS: Invention of gunpowder, nuclear weapons.
WARRANT: Technological progress is driven by war; in fact, technology tends to make war more destructive.

2. CLAIM: Historians and social scientists can prevent, or at least discourage, war through their understanding of why wars have occurred in the past.
GROUNDS: Treaty of Versailles, Marshall Plan.
WARRANT: An understanding of history can allow us to design policies that encourage peace.

3. CLAIM: Technological progress does not prevent poverty.
GROUNDS: Industrial Revolution, sweatshops.
WARRANT: Technology changes the distribution of wealth, increasing extreme poverty as it increases wealth for some.

4. CLAIM: Historians and social scientists can prevent poverty through economic policy.
GROUNDS: New Deal, Social Security.
WARRANT: Social programs prevent poverty.

Though not a necessary component of the argument, RESERVATIONS can strengthen a claim. A reservation is a rebuttal to the claim that is introduced and granted by the writer. Reservations strengthen arguments in several ways: First, they moderate the writer’s claim, thereby decreasing the level of proof required. Second, reservations make the writer appear more reliable by demonstrating that she is open-minded, and that her position is not extreme. Third, reservations allow the writer to defuse criticism before it is made. When you include a reservation in your argument, be sure to take the opportunity to weigh it against your other claims.

5. RESERVATION: Biochemists and engineers do contribute to society.
WEIGHING: Though technological progress can increase the food supply and cure disease, we will always need historians and social scientists to show us how to use technology without causing more harm than good.

Step Three: Write the Body of Your Essay (20 minutes)

You already know your general line of reasoning, the direction you want your argument to take. You need to spend the bulk of your time writing the body of your essay. As rapidly as you can, type up your points, writing two to three sentences to flesh out each reason or example in your outline. Do not worry if time pressure doesn’t allow you to deal with every point you dreamed up. Start with a reason or example that you can easily put into words, preferably your best, most compelling reason or example. Given the 45-minute time limit you’re working under, you want to be sure to cover your best points right away, before you run out of time. During the revision period, you can always rearrange your paragraphs, putting the strongest paragraph immediately before the conclusion, so that your essay builds to a solid climax.

Step Four: Now Write Your Opening and Summary Paragraphs (10 minutes)

It may seem strange to write your introductory paragraph after you have written the body of your essay, but it is a useful technique. Many writers launch into writing the introduction, only to find, once they have finished the essay, that their conclusion is unrelated to, or even contradicts, what they had written in the introduction. By writing the introduction after you have composed the bulk of the essay, you will avoid having to rewrite the introduction to support the conclusion that you actually reached, rather than the conclusion that you expected to reach.

This is one area in which the technology of the new GRE will greatly assist you. If the GRE were a hard copy (paper) exam, you would need to save space on your page to insert your introduction, guessing exactly how much room you would need. Instead, because the GRE is computerized, you can simply go back to the top of the page and begin writing the introduction.

What then should your introduction include? Your introductory paragraph should both introduce the topic on which you are writing and clearly indicate your thesis or point. While in some situations it is strategic (or simply more graceful) to reveal your thesis fully only in the conclusion, the GRE is not one of those situations. Clarity is key; you do not want to risk leaving your readers uncertain of your line of reasoning, or under the impression that you have strayed from the point.

For a top score, your introductory paragraph should also provide some context for the argument. The GRE readers appear to favor introductions that place the topic in an historical or social context, rather than simply discussing it in a contextual vacuum. The two introductory paragraphs below demonstrate the difference between these two types of introduction.

Introduction with Context

Western society tends to glorify the individual over the group. Our social and political philosophy, based on John Stuart Mill’s faith that progress is fostered by competition within the marketplace of ideas, encourages people, as the Apple computer commercial says, to “think different.” This cult of the individual overemphasizes the importance of being different and fails to recognize that a healthy person will be both a conformist and an individualist. Ironically, self-conscious dedication to nonconformity will ultimately result in extreme slavishness to custom.

Introduction without Context

A healthy individual is neither a conformist, nor an individualist; he is both a conformist and an individualist. Balancing conformity and individualism allows people to follow their interests and passions without wasting time on issues that do not interest them, while a self-conscious dedication to nonconformity ultimately results in an extreme slavishness to custom.

One last note on introductions: While you may have been taught in school that a paragraph must comprise at least three sentences, the GRE readers are not concerned about the length of your introductory paragraph. In fact, they appear willing to grant the highest score to essays whose introduction is only one sentence long. This does not mean that they favor essays with single-sentence introductions, only that they do not discriminate against them. If your introduction makes your thesis clear, it has done its job.

Your conclusion should, however, be longer than one sentence. It should restate your thesis and summarize the arguments that you make in its support. You should mention your supporting arguments in the same order in which they appear in the body of the essay. This technique underscores the organization of your essay, giving it a predictable and orderly appearance.

Step Five: Reread and Revise (10 minutes)

Expert writers often test their work by reading it aloud. In the exam room, you cannot read out loud. However, when you read your essay silently, take your time and listen with your inner ear to how it sounds. Read to get a sense of your essay’s logic and rhythm. Does one sentence flow smoothly into the next? Would they flow more smoothly if you were to add a transition word or phrase (thereforehoweverneverthelessin contrastsimilarly)? Do the sentences follow a logical order? Is any key idea or example missing? Does any sentence seem out of place? How would things sound if you cut out that awkward sentence or inserted that transition word?

Take a minute to act on your response to hearing your essay. If it sounded to you as if a transition word was needed, insert it. If it sounded as if a sentence should be cut, delete it. If it sounded as if a sentence was out of place, move it. Trust your inner ear, but do not attempt to do too much. Have faith in your basic outline for the essay. You have neither the need nor the time to revise everything.

Now think of yourself as an editor, not an auditor. Just as you need to have an ear for problems of logic and language, you also need to have an eye for errors that damage your text. Take a minute to look over your essay for problems in spelling and grammar. From your English classes you should know which words and grammatical constructions have given you trouble in the past. See whether you can spot any of these words or constructions in your essay. Correct any really glaring errors that you find. Do not worry if you fail to catch every mechanical error or awkward phrase. The readers understand that 45 minutes doesn’t give you enough time to produce polished, gemlike prose. They won’t penalize you for an occasional mechanical glitch.

HOW TO HANDLE THE ARGUMENT-ANALYSIS TASK

You have 30 minutes to complete the argument-analysis task. To earn a top score, you need to produce a smooth, 300–400 word critique with solid content, coherent organization, and few, if any, mechanical errors.

As you critique the argument, think about the writer’s underlying assumptions. Ask yourself whether any of them are questionable. Also evaluate any data or evidence the writer brings up. Ask yourself whether this evidence actually supports the writer’s conclusion.

In your analysis, you may suggest additional kinds of evidence to reinforce the writer’s argument. You may also suggest methods to refute the argument, or additional data that might be useful to you as you assess the soundness of the argument. You may not, however, present your personal views on the topic. Your job is to analyze the elements of an argument, not to support or contradict that argument.

GRE readers will evaluate your essay, grading it on the basis of your effectiveness in the following areas:

·               Identification and assessment of the argument’s main elements.

·               Organization and articulation of your thoughts.

·               Use of relevant examples and arguments to support your analysis.

·               Handling of the mechanics of standard written English.

Again, follow a 5-step approach in dealing with the argument-analysis task.

Step One: Identify the Claims (2 minutes)

Before you can identify the flaws in an argument essay prompt, you must have a clear understanding of the claims it makes. After reading the prompt once for general understanding, examine it more carefully, one sentence at a time. As you do this, use your scratch paper to write a list of the claims made in the prompt. List the claims in the order in which they are made. GRE argument prompts typically contain at least three flaws in the author’s reasoning or use of evidence.

Here is an example of the notes you might take if you were writing on the topic below.

Discuss how effective you find the reasoning in this argument.

The following appeared in an article in the Real Estate section of the Springfield Bugle.

Springfield is a great place to live. Every year, hundreds of former city dwellers move to Springfield, spurning the sophisticated cultural offerings of the urban setting for Springfield’s more relaxed atmosphere. Despite the attractions of big city life, Springfield’s new citizens choose their home for its rural setting and small town atmosphere. If Springfield wants to continue to attract these newcomers, it must adopt aggressive planning regulations to keep out chain stores, fast food establishments, bars, and other businesses more appropriate to an urban setting.

Overall Point: Springfield must control the growth of certain types of businesses in order for it to remain attractive to newcomers.

Claim One: People come to Springfield to get away from sophisticated city culture, and to have a relaxed atmosphere.

Claim Two: People come to Springfield for its rural, small-town atmosphere.

Claim Three: Keeping chain stores, bars, and fast food restaurants out of Springfield will maintain its attractiveness to newcomers.

Step Two: Question the Claims (3 minutes)

Once you have identified the claims made in the prompt, you need to assess the strength of those claims. In most cases, their shortcomings will be apparent to you. If, however, you are having trouble figuring out the flaws in a given claim, try applying a few handy questions to it.

1. GROUNDS. Is there any evidence to support the claim?
The first two claims in the prompt above are assertions. Though the author might have survey data to support her claim that newcomers move to Springfield to escape urban culture and enjoy a more relaxed, rural, small-town atmosphere, she presents no such data in her argument.

2. WARRANT. Does the evidence provided support the claim?
Could other factors cause the effect about which the author is writing? In the situation described in the prompt above, there are many possible reasons to choose to move to Springfield. The author gives no reason for readers to believe that she has correctly identified the cause of Springfield’s popularity.
Does the author assert a general rule based on an overly small sample? For example, if the author of the Springfield argument based her claims about why newcomers generally move to Springfield on the comments of a single new neighbor, her claims would lack adequate support. They would be unwarranted. Does the author compare comparable groups? If, for example, the author of the Springfield argument attempted to support her claims about why newcomers move to Springfield with surveys of residents who moved to Springfield twenty years ago, she would have no basis to make claims about people who have moved to Springfield more recently.

Step Three: Write the Body of Your Critique, Following the Order of the Claims Made in the Prompt (15 minutes)

Organization is an important part of writing a clear and coherent essay. The simplest and best approach is to discuss the claims made in the prompt in the order in which they are presented. There is no reason to try anything tricky or fancy. The test-makers have given you an order. Use it. Using the structure of the prompt will save you time. It will also discourage you from writing a discursive essay that wanders unpredictably from one idea to another. High scores go to test-takers who write clear and well-reasoned essays. Creativity in this context is more likely to confuse your readers than to earn you extra points.

As we recommended in the previous section on the issue essay, spend the bulk of your time writing the body of your critique. Get those ideas onto the screen, allotting two to three sentences to each claim to flesh it out.

Step Four: Then Add Your Introductory and Summary Paragraphs (5 minutes)

While following the structure of the prompt is a handy way to organize the body of your critique, you still need to write an introduction and conclusion to your essay. Your introductory paragraph should provide a general overview of the criticisms you have made in the body of your essay. Do not give too much detail in the introduction; it is where you introduce, rather than explain, your analysis. Present your points in the introduction in the same order in which they appear in the body of the essay. By doing so, you will give your reader a clear idea of where you are going and what you intend to demonstrate. In your conclusion, briefly restate the main points you have made in the body of your critique, and suggest one or two ways the author could have made his or her argument more persuasive.

Step Five: Reread and Revise (5 minutes)

Once again, our recommendation is: First listen, then look. Begin by reading your essay silently, listening with your inner ear to how it sounds. Ask yourself whether one sentence flows smoothly into the next, and whether any transition words might help the flow. Consider whether any key idea or example might be missing or any sentence seems out of place. Do not make any major changes. Just tweak things slightly to improve your essay’s sound and sense.

Now cast an eye over your essay, looking for mechanical errors. You know the sorts of grammatical constructions and spelling words that create problems for you. See whether you can spot any of them in your essay. Correct any errors that jump out at you.

Here is an example of an argument critique that follows the organization of the prompt:

Discuss how effective you find the reasoning in this argument.

The following appeared in an article in the Real Estate section of the Springfield Bugle.

Springfield is a great place to live. Every year, hundreds of former city dwellers move to Springfield, spurning the sophisticated cultural offerings of the urban setting for Springfield’s more relaxed atmosphere. Despite the attractions of big city life, Springfield’s new citizens choose their home for its rural setting and small town atmosphere. If Springfield wants to continue to attract these newcomers, it must adopt aggressive planning regulations to keep out chain stores, fast food establishments, bars, and other businesses more appropriate to an urban setting.

Response to the Argument

Springfield may well be a great place to live, but the author of this article makes a number of unsubstantiated assumptions about the attributes that make Springfield an attractive home. Based on these assumptions, the author makes a bold proposal regarding zoning and city planning. Though this proposal is intended to maintain the positive attributes that bring new residents to Springfield, it may fail to achieve this goal or even have the perverse effect of worsening the quality of life in the town.

The author’s first mistake is to assume that she knows why hundreds of former city dwellers move to Springfield each year. She claims that in moving to Springfield, people are rejecting the culture of the city in favor of Springfield’s more relaxed suburban lifestyle. This is a classic case of confusing correlation with causation. While Springfield may in fact be more relaxed than the city, and while the city may have more sophisticated culture than Springfield, it does not follow that those who move from the city to Springfield are choosing relaxation over sophistication. Perhaps they are moving to Springfield for entirely different reasons. High urban property values, with their concomitant high urban property taxes, may be driving potential homeowners to less expensive suburban areas. People may also be moving to Springfield for better schools or a lower crime rate.

The claim that people move to Springfield for its small-town atmosphere and rural setting is similarly unsubstantiated. Yes, Springfield is a small, rural suburb. It does not follow, however, that this is why new residents move to Springfield. They could be moving to Springfield for any of the reasons mentioned above, or for any number of other reasons.

The conclusion that Springfield must keep out businesses that are common in urban areas if it is to remain an attractive community is unsupported. If new residents are really being drawn to Springfield by something other than the ways in which it is different from a big city, there is no reason to believe that keeping Springfield from growing city-like will make it more attractive. In fact, if people move to Springfield in spite of its lack of big-city amenities and because of its lower cost (or some other factor), the addition of big-city businesses may make Springfield more attractive to newcomers.

Ironically, if the author is correct that Springfield’s relaxed, small-town feel is what attracts new residents, making Springfield attractive to former city dwellers may, in the long run, destroy Springfield’s positive attributes. After all, for how long can Springfield maintain this small-town atmosphere, if hundreds of newcomers are encouraged to move there each year? Ultimately, the author of this article appears to seek the impossible—a quiet small town with sustained, robust population growth.

Despite the flaws in this author’s argument, she may be correct in her assessment of why newcomers move to Springfield. She could strengthen her argument by documenting its most important premise with data. If, for example, she provided survey results from newcomers, indicating that they did indeed come to Springfield to escape urban culture and to enjoy a more relaxed, rural, small-town atmosphere, her argument would be far more persuasive. Were this the case, her call for more restrictive zoning might be justified.

Tactics

PREPARING FOR THE WRITING TEST

 Take Advantage of the GRE’s Free Study Aids

When you sign up to take the GRE General Test, you will eventually be sent PowerPrep, a CD-ROM containing test preparation software for the General Test and Writing Assessment. (The GRE’s new analytical writing section is the same as the former Writing Assessment test, which you previously had to take separately. Don’t worry about the name change; it has no significance.) However, you do not have to wait for your copy of PowerPrep to come in the mail. You can download it immediately from the GRE web site, www.gre.org.

PowerPrep is helpful because it uses the same GRE word processing software that you will have to use to write your essays when you take your computer-based test. It is a very basic word processor that lets you perform very basic tasks. You can insert text, delete text, and move text around using a cut-and-paste function. You can also undo an action you’ve just performed.

Familiarize yourself with this word processing software so that, on the test date, you’ll be comfortable using it. This software simulates actual testing conditions and presents actual essay topics. Practice writing your essays while you keep one eye on the clock. You need to develop a sense of how much time to allow for thinking over your essay and how much time to set aside for the actual writing.

A WORD OF WARNING

Attention, Mac users: PowerPrep is compatible only with IBMs or PCs. If you own an Apple MacIntosh computer, you’ll have to gain access to a PC to run PowerPrep. Do it, even if it means making an extra trip to the campus computer lab or the nearest public library.

 Practice Taking Shortcuts to Maximize Your Typing Efficiency

Slow and steady is not the way to go, at least not when you’re taking the analytical writing test on the GRE. Fast typists have a decided advantage here. Unfortunately, you cannot turn yourself into a typing whiz overnight. However, you can use your time right now to practice some shortcuts to help you on the day of the test.

First, using the GRE’s own word processing program (which comes when you download PowerPrep), you can practice using the cut-and-paste function to copy phrases that you want to repeat in your essay. In an argument essay, for example, you might want to reuse such phrases as “the author makes the following assumption” or “another flaw in the author’s argument is that….” In an issues essay, if you are running out of time and still haven’t written your opening and summary paragraphs (which we advise you to compose after you’ve written the body of your text), you can write just your concluding paragraph, cutting and pasting it to both the beginning and end of the essay. Then, in a few seconds, you can change the wording of that initial paragraph so that it works as an introduction, not as a conclusion. How does that cliché about essay-writing go? “Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them it, then tell them what you’ve told them.” It’s easy to do so, using cut-and-paste.

One thing to note: The GRE word processor currently lacks a copy function. To copy a chunk of text, you must first cut it and then directly paste it back in its original spot; next, you must move the cursor to the place where you want to reproduce the text and paste it there. The process may feel cumbersome at first, but by practicing with the word processor you will quickly build up speed copying using cut-and-paste.

Second, you can also practice abbreviating multiword names or titles. Consider the following argument topic or prompt:

Discuss how effective you find the reasoning in this argument.

The parent of a Collegiate High student included these remarks in a letter to the education page of the Oakville Bugle.

If you look closely at Oakville’s two leading private high schools—Collegiate Preparatory High School and Exover Academy—you must conclude that Collegiate is unmistakably superior to the Academy. Collegiate has a staff of 35 teachers, many of them with doctorates. In contrast, Exover has a staff of 22, several holding only a bachelor’s degree. Moreover, Collegiate’s average class size is 12, compared to Exover’s average class size of 20; Collegiate’s students receive much more individual attention than their peers do at the Academy. Students graduating from Collegiate High also are accepted by better universities than Exover graduates are: 40% of last year’s Collegiate senior class went on to Ivy League colleges, compared to only 15% of Exover’s senior class. Thus, if you want your children to get individual attention from their high school teachers and would like them to get in to good colleges, you should send them to Collegiate Prep.

In critiquing this argument, you can follow the letter writer’s example and refer to Exover Academy and Collegiate Preparatory High School simply as Exover and Collegiate. You can also refer to Collegiate by its initials. Be sure, however, to identify the institution fully when you first mention it, inserting its initials in parentheses: Collegiate Preparatory High School (CPHS). Then your readers will know what you mean by future references to CPHS. Similarly, instead of typing out “for example,” you can substitute the abbreviation “e.g.”

 Acquaint Yourself with the Actual Essay Topics You Will Face

The GRE has posted its entire selection of potential essay topics on its web site. The pool of issue topics can be found at www.gre.org/issuetop.html. The pool of argument topics can be found at www.gre.org/argutop.html. There is no point in trying to memorize these topics or in trying to write an essay for each one. There are well over 200 items in the pool of issue topics alone. There is, however, a real point to exploring these potential topics and to noting their common themes.

We suggest that you print out both topic pools so that you can go through their contents at leisure. When you do so, you will see that the issue topics fall naturally into groups with common themes. Some of these themes involve contrasts:

·               Tradition versus innovation and modernization.

·               Competition versus cooperation.

·               Present social needs versus future social needs.

·               Conformity versus individualism.

·               Imagination versus knowledge.

·               Pragmatism versus idealism.

Many of the issue topics pose a simple question:

·               What makes an effective leader?

·               What are education’s proper goals?

·               How does technology affect our society?

·               Why should we study history (or art, literature)?

·               What is government’s proper role (in education, art, wilderness preservation, and so on)?

·               How do we define progress?

Others ask you to question conventional wisdom:

·               Is loyalty always a virtue?

·               Is “moderation in all things” truly good advice?

·               Does conformity always have a negative impact?

Go over these recurrent questions and themes. They relate to all the areas of the college curriculum: political science, sociology, anthropology, economics, history, law, philosophy, psychology, the physical sciences, the fine arts, literature, even media studies. Whether or not you have any special knowledge of a suggested topic’s subject area, you most likely have opinions about it. You probably have class notes on it as well.

If you have old notebooks from your general education courses, skim through them to refresh your memory of classroom discussions of typical GRE issues. In the course of flipping through these old notes, you’re very likely to come across examples that you might want to note for possible use in writing the issue essay.

WRITING THE ISSUE ESSAY

 Break Down the Topic Statement into Separate Areas to Consider

Here is an example of an issue topic, modeled on actual topics found in the GRE pool.

“The end does justify the means,
if the end is truly meritorious.”

Break down the statements into its component elements. Look for key words and phrases. First, consider ends or goals. These can be divided into personal goals—taking a trip to a foreign country, for example, or providing for one’s family—and societal goals—preserving endangered species, for example, or protecting the health of the elderly.

Next, consider what means you might use to reach these goals. If you have to spend your savings and take a leave of absence from college to travel abroad, thereby postponing or potentially jeopardizing your eventual graduation, then perhaps your goal is insufficiently meritorious to justify the means. If, however, your goal is not simply to take a pleasure trip but to use the time abroad working in a refugee camp, the worthiness of the cause you are serving might well outweigh the expense and the risk of your not graduating. Similarly, while most people would agree that preserving an endangered species is a worthwhile societal goal, the cost to society of doing so can occasionally outweigh the benefits: think about the societal cost in ruined crops and lost income to Klamath Basin farmers when the government cut off water to their farms in an effort to preserve endangered coho salmon and sucker fish, an action later criticized as unnecessary by the National Academy of Sciences.

Finally, consider the phrase truly meritorious. The author is begging the question, qualifying his assertion to make it appear incontrovertible. But what makes an action meritorious? Even more, what makes an action trulymeritorious? How do you measure merit? Whose standards do you use?

Breaking down the topic statement into its components helps start you thinking analytically about the subject. It’s a good way to begin composing your issue essay.

 Adopt a Balanced Approach

Consider your readers. Who are they? Academics, junior members of college faculties. What are they looking for? They are looking for articulate and persuasive arguments expressed in scholarly, well-reasoned prose. In other words, they are looking for the sort of essay they might write themselves.

How do you go about writing for an academic audience? First, avoid extremes. You want to come across as a mature, evenhanded writer, someone who can take a strong stand on an issue, but who can see others’ positions as well. Restrain yourself: don’t get so carried away by the “rightness” of your argument that you wind up sounding fanatical or shrill. Second, be sure to acknowledge that other viewpoints exist. Cite them; you’ll win points for scholarly objectivity.

Draw examples to support your position from “the great world” and from the academic realm. In writing about teaching methods, for example, you’ll win more points citing current newspaper articles about magnet schools or relevant passages from John Dewey and Maria Montessori than telling anecdotes about your favorite gym teacher in junior high school. While it is certainly acceptable for you to offer an occasional example from personal experience, for the most part your object is to show the readers the breadth of your knowledge (without showing off by quoting the most obscure sources you can find!).

One additional point: Do not try to second-guess your readers. Yes, they want you to come up with a scholarly, convincing essay. But there is no “one true answer” that they are looking for. You can argue for the position. You can argue against the position. You can strike a middle ground, arguing both for and against the position, hedging your bet. The readers don’t care what position you adopt. Don’t waste your time trying to psych them out.

 Make Use of Transitions or Signal Words to Point the Way

Assume that typical GRE readers must read hundreds of issue essays in a day. You want to make the readers’ job as easy as possible, so that when they come to your essay they breathe a sigh of relief, saying, “Ah! Someone who knows how to write!”

One way to make the readers’ job easy is to lead them by the hand from one idea to the next, using signal words to point the way. The GRE readers like it when test-takers use signal words (transitions); in their analyses of sample essays scoring a 5 or 6, they particularly mention the writers’ use of transitions as a good thing.

Here are a few helpful transitions. Practice using them precisely: you earn no points for sticking them in at random!

Support Signal Words

Use the following words or abbreviations to signal the reader that you are going to support your claim with an illustration or example:

e.g., (short for Latin exempli gratia, for the sake of an example)
for example
for instance
let me illustrate
such as

Use these words to signal the reader that you are about to add an additional reason or example to support your claim:

additionally

furthermore

likewise

also

in addition

moreover

Contrast Signal Words

Use the following words to signal a switch of direction in your argument.

although

in contrast

on the other hand

but

in spite of

rather than

despite

instead of

still

even though

nevertheless

unlike

except

not

yet

however

on the contrary

 

Cause and Effect Signal Words

Use the following words to signal the next step in your line of reasoning or the conclusion of your argument.

accordingly

in conclusion

therefore

consequently

in short

thus

for this reason

in summary

when … then

hence

so … that

 

See Tactic 10 for a discussion of how signal words can be helpful to you in the second of your two writing tasks, the argument critique.

WRITING THE ARGUMENT CRITIQUE

 Learn to Spot Common Logical Fallacies

You may remember studying a list of logical fallacies during your undergraduate education. It probably included Latin terms such as “post hoc ergo propter hoc” and “argumentum ad hominem.” Fortunately, you do not need to memorize these terms to perform well on the GRE argument essay. The GRE’s essay readers are not concerned with whether you know the name of a given logical fallacy; they are more concerned with whether you can recognize and explain fallacies as they occur in simulated real-world situations. Labeling a claim a “post hoc” fallacy will not win you a 6 (the top score) unless you can explain the flaw in the argument. And a straightforward logical explanation of the argument’s flaw can get you a 6, whether or not you use the fancy Latin terminology.

This does not mean, however, that brushing up on the common logical fallacies is a waste of your time. A decent understanding of the ways in which arguments can be wrong will help you write a better essay by enabling you to identify more flaws in the assigned argument (GRE argument statements generally include more than one logical error), and by giving you a clearer understanding of the nature of those flaws. Our advice is, therefore, to review the common logical fallacies without spending too much time trying to memorize their names.

Here are two examples of arguments, or prompts, similar to those in the GRE pool. Read them. The discussion following will point out what common logical fallacies they embody.

Discuss how effective you find the reasoning in this argument.

ARGUMENT 1

The school board of the Shadow Valley Unified School District included these remarks in a letter sent to the families of all students attending school in the district.

Over the past few years, an increase in disciplinary problems and a high drop out rate have plagued District schools. The Ash Lake School District to our north adopted a mandatory uniform policy three years ago. Since that time, suspensions and expulsions in Ash Lake have fallen by 40 percent, while the mean grade point average of Ash Lake students has risen from 2.3 (C+) to 2.7 (B−). In order to improve the discipline and academic performance of Shadow Valley students, we have adopted a mandatory uniform policy effective on the first day of the new school year.

Discuss how effective you find the reasoning in this argument.

ARGUMENT 2

The following is excerpted from a letter to the editor in the Chillington Gazette.

The recent residential property tax increase to improve park maintenance in Chillington is a waste of money. There is no need to improve Chillington’s parks because the people of Chillington do not enjoy outdoor recreation. I live across the street from Green Park in South Chillington, and I’ve noticed that there is never anyone in the park. Park use did not increase in Warm Springs last year when they implemented a similar tax. There is no reason to improve parks that will not be used.

COMMON LOGICAL FALLACIES

CAUSAL FALLACIES

The classic fallacy of causation is often known by a Latin phrase, “post hoc ergo propter hoc,” or its nickname, “the post hoc fallacy.” The Latin phrase translates to, “after this, therefore because of this.” The post hoc fallacy confuses correlation with causation, assuming that when one event follows another, the second event must have been caused by the first. It is as if you were to say that because your birthday precedes your husband’s by one month, your birth must have caused him to be born. The Shadow Valley School District argument presents an excellent example of a post hoc fallacy. The author of this argument assumes that because “suspensions and expulsions in Ash Lake have fallen by 40 percent, while the mean grade point average of Ash Lake students has risen from 2.3 (C+) to 2.7 (B−)” since Ash Lake’s adoption of a mandatory uniform policy, the uniform policy has caused the improved student performance. Despite this correlation, it is possible that other factors are responsible for Ash Lake’s progress. Perhaps the school uniform policy coincided with a significant decrease in average class size, or the arrival of a new superintendent of schools. Or perhaps the recent improvements were brought about by an increase in federal aid for at-risk students. School uniforms may have been a partial cause of Ash Lake’s improvements, or they may have played no role at all. Without further information, no reliable conclusion can be reached.

INDUCTIVE FALLACIES

Fallacies of induction involve the drawing of general rules from specific examples. They are among the most common fallacies found in the GRE argument essay topics. To induce a general rule correctly from specific examples, it is crucial that the specific examples be representative of the larger group. All too often, this is not the case.

The hasty generalization (too small sample) is the most common inductive fallacy. A hasty generalization is a general conclusion that is based on too small a sample set. If, for example, you wanted to learn the most popular flavor of ice cream in Italy, you would need to interview a substantial number of Italians. Drawing a conclusion based on the taste of the three Italian tourists you met last week would not be justified. The Chillington Gazetteargument provides another good example of the hasty generalization. The author of this argument concludes that “the people of Chillington do not enjoy outdoor recreation,” but he draws this general conclusion from the lack of visitors to the park across the street from his home. Readers are never told just how many parks there are in Chillington. There could be dozens of parks, all possibly overflowing with happy visitors, despite the unpopularity of the one park viewed by the author.

Small sample size is a problem because it increases the risk of drawing a general conclusion from an unrepresentative sample. If, for example, you wanted to learn who was most likely to be elected president of the United States, you could not draw a reliable conclusion based on the preferences of the citizens of a single city, or even a single state. The views of the citizens of Salt Lake City are not necessarily the views of the citizens of the nation as a whole, nor are the views of Californians representative of those of the entire nation. This is why pollsters go to such great lengths to ensure that they interview a representative sample of the entire population.

Unrepresentative samples do not, however, always result from too small a sample. The Chillington Gazette argument concludes that the citizens of Chillington will not use improved parks because “Park use did not increase in Warm Springs last year when they implemented a similar tax.” The author gives no reason to believe, however, that the two towns’ situations are similar. Perhaps park use did not increase in Warm Springs because its parks were already extremely popular, unlike those of Chillington. Or perhaps Warm Springs is an industrial city with little housing, while Chillington is a bedroom community with a large number of school-aged children. Should we conclude that the experiences of one city will be mirrored by the other?

(To learn more about common logical fallacies, consult standard works on rhetoric and critical reasoning. Two currently popular texts are James Herrick’s Argumentation and T. Edward Damer’s Attacking Faulty Reasoning.)

 Remember That Your Purpose Is to Analyze, Not to Persuade

You are not asked to agree or disagree with the argument in the prompt. Do not be distracted by your feelings on the subject of the prompt, and do not give in to the temptation to write your own argument. Be especially vigilant against this temptation if the topic is on a subject that you know very well. If, for example, the prompt argues that class size reduction is a poor idea because it did not improve test scores in one city, do not answer this argument with data you happen to know about another city in which test scores improved after class sizes were reduced. Instead, point out that one city is not a large enough sample on which to base a general conclusion. Go on to identify other factors that could have caused test scores to remain the same, despite lower class size. (Perhaps test scores in the sample city were already nearly as high as they could go, or the student population in that city was changing at the time class sizes were reduced.) Remember, the readers are not interested in how much you know about the subject of the prompt; they want to know how well you think.

 Examine the Argument for Unstated Assumptions and Missing Information

An argument is based upon certain assumptions made by its author. If an argument’s basic premises are sound, the argument is strengthened. If the argument’s basic premises are flawed, the argument is weakened.

Pinpoint what the argument assumes but never states. Then consider the validity of these unstated assumptions. For example, the Shadow Valley argument assumes that the populations of Shadow Valley and Ash Lake are analogous. Is this unstated assumption warranted? Not necessarily. The two towns might well have distinctly dissimilar populations—one might be a working-class suburb with high unemployment, while the other might be a suburb populated by wealthy professionals. If that were so, there would be no reason to believe that the same factors would cause poor student performance in both towns.

Ask yourself what additional evidence would strengthen or weaken the claim. Generally, GRE argument prompts are flawed but could be true under some circumstances. Only rarely will you find an argument that is absolutely untrue. Instead, you will find plausible arguments for which support (grounds and warrant) is lacking. Put yourself in the place of the argument’s author. If you were trying to prove this argument, what evidence would you need? What missing data should you assemble to support your claim? Use your concluding paragraph to list this evidence and explain how its presence would solve the shortcomings that you identified earlier in your essay.

 Pay Particular Attention to Signal Words in the Argument

In analyzing arguments, be on the lookout for transitions or signal words that can clarify the structure of the argument. These words are like road signs, pointing out the direction the author wants you to take, showing you the connection between one logical step and the next. When you spot such a word linking elements in the author’s argument, ask yourself whether this connection is logically watertight. Does A unquestionably lead to B? These signal words can indicate vulnerable areas in the argument, points you can attack.

In particular, be alert for:

Cause and Effect Signal Words

The following words often signal the conclusion of an argument.

accordingly

in conclusion

therefore

consequently

in short

thus

for this reason

in summary

 

hence

so

 

Contrast Signal Words

The following words often signal a reversal of thought within an argument.

although

in contrast

rather than

but

instead

still

despite

nevertheless

unlike

even though

not

yet

except

on the contrary

 

however

on the other hand

 

Notice that in the following argument several of these words are present: despitenot, and consequently. Each of these words plays an important role in the argument.

Discuss how effective you find the reasoning in this argument.

ARGUMENT 3

The following is from a letter to the state Department of Education.

Despite the fact that the River City School District increased the average size by more than 15% in all grades two years ago, this year’s average SAT scores for the junior class were the highest ever. This shows that class size is not a good determinant of student performance. Consequently, other school districts should follow River City’s lead and save money by increasing the size of their classes.

Think about each link in the chain of reasoning signaled by the three transition words. These words should act like a red flag, alerting you that danger (flawed logic) may lie ahead. Did the average SAT score for the junior class increase despite the increase in class size? Maybe. Then again, maybe not; the average score for that year’s junior class may have increased because that year’s juniors were unusually bright. Do this year’s extra-high SAT scores show that class size is not a good determinant of student performance? Not necessarily. Many factors could have contributed to the junior class’s high scores. Finally, consider the implications of consequently. Even if class size were not a good determinant of student performance, does it necessarily follow as a consequence that school districts should increase the size of their classes? In the words of the old song, “It ain’t necessarily so.”

Practice Exercises

Practice for the Issue Task

1. Brainstorm for 5 minutes, jotting down any words and phrases that are triggered by one of the following questions:

·               What should the goals of higher education be?

·               Why should we study history?

·               How does technology affect our society?

·               What is the proper role of art?

·               Which poses the greater threat to society, individualism or conformity?

·               Which is more socially valuable, preserving tradition or promoting innovation?

·               Is it better to be a specialist or a generalist?

·               Can a politician be both honest and effective?

2. In a brief paragraph, define one of the following words:

·               Freedom

·               Originality

·               Honesty

·               Progress

3. To improve your ear for language, read aloud short selections of good prose: editorials from The New York Times or The Christian Science Monitor, as well as columns or brief essays by prose stylists like Annie Dillard, M. F. K. Fisher, or E. B. White. Listen for the ways in which these authors vary their sentence structure. Note the precision with which they choose their words. The more good prose you hear, the better able you’ll be to improve your writing style.

4. Selecting three or four issue topics from the GRE’s published pool of topics (www.gre.org/issuetop.html), break down the topic statements in terms of Toulmin’s three elements: claim, grounds, and warrant. Ask yourself the following questions. What claims are made in each topic statement? What grounds or data are given to support each of these claims? Is the claim warranted or unwarranted? Why? In what way do the grounds logically justify the claim?

5. Choosing another issue topic from the GRE’s published pool of topics, write an essay giving your viewpoint concerning the particular issue raised. Set no time limit; take as long as you want to complete this task, then choose a second issue topic from the pool. In only 45 minutes, write an essay presenting your perspective on this second issue.
    Compare your two essays. Ask yourself how working under time pressure affected your second essay. Did its major problems stem from a lack of fluency? A lack of organization? A lack of familiarity with the subject matter under discussion? A lack of knowledge of the mechanics of formal written English? Depending on what problems you spot, review the appropriate sections of this chapter, as well as any style manuals or other texts we suggest.

Practice for the Argument Task

1. Choosing a sample of argument topics from the GRE’s published pool of topics (www.gre.org/argutop.html), practice applying the list of logical fallacies to the published prompts. See how many fallacies you can find for each argument. If you have time, write practice essays for some of these arguments. If you are short of time, or would simply like to move more quickly, get together with a friend and explain the fallacies you have found in the argument essay prompts. This will be especially rewarding if you can work with a friend who is also preparing to take the GRE.

2. Write an “original” argument topic, modeling it on one of the argument prompts in the GRE’s published pool. Your job is to change the details of the situation (names, figures, and so on) without changing the types of logical fallacies involved. By doing this, you will learn to spot the same old fallacies whenever they crop up in a new guise.

3. Choosing an argument prompt from the GRE’s published pool of topics (www.gre.org/argutop.html), write an essay critiquing the particular argument expressed. Set no time limit; take as long as you want to complete this task, then choose a second argument prompt from the pool. In only 30 minutes, write an essay critiquing this second argument.
    Compare your two critiques. Ask yourself how working under time pressure affected your second critique. Would more familiarity with the common logical fallacies have helped you? Depending on what problems you spot, review the appropriate sections of this chapter, as well as any other materials we suggest.