McGraw-Hill Education GRE 2019

Here is a sample Analyze an Issue task:

The attention popular culture gives to celebrities has had a negative effect on

the members of that culture.

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and

explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting

your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not

hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

Follow these steps to tackle the Analyze an Issue task. Spending the amount of

time indicated next to each step will help you pace yourself for each assignment.

Step 1: Brainstorm (3 Minutes)

Once you read the task, you should spend time determining what stance you

will take on the issue and what evidence you will use to support that stance. It

is important to note that you need not take a stance that you agree with! Because

evidence is vital to the issue task, you should consider both sides of the issue and

adopt the stance that you can provide more evidence for. A typical brainstorm for

the preceding prompt might look like the following:

Agree → Teenagers develop bad habits

People out of touch with high art

Disagree → Celebrities expose us to important ideas and issues, e.g.,

Magic Johnson, Angelina Jolie

Celebrity mistakes help us avoid our own mistakes, e.g., Amy Winehouse

In this brainstorm, the writer has come up with more evidence to argue against the

statement in the task, so the writer should adopt that stance.

Step 2: Create Your Outline (3 Minutes)

A good issue essay should consist of (1) an introductory paragraph that states your

main point, (2) body paragraphs providing examples that reinforce this main point,

and (3) a concluding paragraph that summarizes your point and its implications.

Your next step should be to draft an outline that follows this structure. In your

outline, you should develop a rough sketch of what point you will make in each

paragraph and how you will support that point. For example:

Paragraph 1: Thesis: Attn to celebrities = good thing. Why?

1. Makes us aware of issues


2. Brings attn to important causes

CHAPTER 3 ■ THE ANALYTICAL WRITING MEASURE 81

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