Advantage and Disadvantage essays

Do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages?

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  Question 3
  

Computers are becoming an essential part of school lessons.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages and give your own opinion.
Question 1 simply asks us to discuss the advantages and disadvantages. It does not ask for our opinion or say which side is better or worse, so we should not include this information in our answer. This requires a simple structure in which the student will look at the advantages in one paragraph and the disadvantages in the other.
Question 2 is different because we have to say if the advantages are stronger than the disadvantages. Notice I didn’t say ‘if there are more advantages than disadvantages’. The question is not asking you to talk about numbers, but comment on the overall weight of the advantages or disadvantages. For example, there are a huge number of advantages to travelling by private jet, but there is one huge disadvantage (the cost) that stops most people from flying that way and therefore the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. In this example we will have to decide which side (advantages or disadvantages) is stronger and this will affect our structure. If you choose advantages then you will have to say why these are much stronger than the advantages and why the disadvantages don’t hold much weight. You would also have to make this clear in your thesis statement.
Question 3 is different again because it is more like an opinion essay and a discussion essay at the same time. Your structure will reflect this by having a paragraph for advantages and disadvantages, but also having a clear position on the statement.

Structure for Essay 1

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  Introduction