YILDIZ TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
YTU WRITING CENTER
SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAYS This guide is for students who need extra help about writing essays. The guide consists of essays (For&Against / Cause or Effect / Opinion) written by the students from the academic year 2011-2012.
For and Against Essay
TO BE OR NOT TO BE AN ONLY CHILD
Have you ever thought of being an only child? Being an only child is believed to have many advantages and disadvantages. One of the main advantages of being an only child is that your parents pay attention only to you. For example, you are the most important person in their lives. Your parents do everything for you. For example, if you want a new toy or clothes, they go to a shop and buy it just for you. Secondly you do not have to share your room, the computer or other things. In addition to that, there are not any people to quarrel with. Your parents buy a dog for you and you get all the parental love. On the other hand, being an only child has several disadvantages due to many reasons. To start with, an only child is very spoilt and selfish. They are used to thinking that they are the most important people, so they could have everything only for themselves. In addition to this, an only child sometimes feels lonely and sad. Nobody can borrow their clothes or other things. Besides, a 2010 TUBITAK’s study shows that only children are more introverted than others. In the light of the findings above, being an only child has many advantages but also alot of disadvantages. Being such a child can be good, although in my opinion these people feel lonely and sad. Personally, I do not want to be an only child. Nurettin ErtuÄ&#x;rul-C-3 2012
PASSING BY
Do you want to spend a long life with diseases and medicine or live how you want and die quickly? It has been discussed since the existence of humanity. The answer has been changing since this question was first answered. Living long is not a decision we take but it has some benefits and drawbacks. Living long has certain advantages due to various reasons. First of all, people who are old say that having a long life makes you accept death more easily, so until we get old, fear of death decreases They say “I have already died!” all the time. In addition, the same people say that having a big family is so entertaining and should be experienced. For example, they say that they love their grandchildren even more than their children. Finally, the same people say that meeting with a lot of people is great. Because people would like to meet with people who they haven’t met before. Despite those benefits above, we should also take a look at the drawbacks of living long to have an overall idea. First, people who have been getting old complain about health problems such as dotage, dry skin and diabetes. For example, an average old person has two or three diseases at least. It complicates their lives. Second, people who are very old and sick become dependent on their keepers. So it may be seen dishonourable by them. Furthermore, the same people may become ill more easily than young people. For instance, harmful solar rays might not be dangerous for young-adult people. It is not a problem for them but we cannot say the same thing about old people. It can be fatal for them. In conclusion, nobody can choose the day he or she is going to die. It seems that we should let things slide. Kadir Can Karaağaç A-5 IT IS YOUR CHOICE
The importance of living in a big city is increasing day by day in people’s lives. People are moving to big cities. Because people are trying to live the best life. Although some people believe that there are many advantages of living in a big city, there are also disadvantages. The most important advantage of living in a big city is better educational opportunities. There are many qualified primary education schools, high schools, colleges and universities in a big city, so people can have better education. Especially, university students don’t need to get apart from their families to attend their classes after high school. You can find private and government universities in big cities if you want to live with your parents. It will also be cheaper for the parents. The second important advantage of living in big cities is a better social life. There are lots of things to do in big cities. For example, you can find many cinemas, theatres, cafes to go out with friends if you are bored at home. If you want to do something to improve your knowledge and enhance your point of view, you can visit different types of museums, exhibitions. Huge shopping centers are the other advantage of big cities. People can find whatever they want to buy and they can go to the cinema, play bowling with their friends especially in winter because there is not anything to do outside when it is too cold. People go to such places in their free time and spend time.
On the other hand, living in big cities is not without problems. For example, big cities are very crowded, so there is lots of traffic and air pollution, when you are stuck in traffic, it can take hours to arrive home. This is a waste of time in life. The other problem is unemployment. The population in big cities is increasing day by day, so finding a job is becoming harder.Maybe there are more opportunities to find a job. If you are a qualified person, you can apply for many different companies but what happens to the other people who are uneducated.Life is very expensive and these people try to live with minimum salaries. Besides, people are more selfish in big cities, they don’t care about the others. In rural areas, people help each other and live together in harmony. To sum up, living in a big city has both advantages and disadvantages. You can find some social, educational and cultural opportunities in big cities, but you have to cope up with the traffic jam and you may sometimes feel alone. You can live a more peaceful life in a small city but you might feel bored. Before people decide to live in a big city, they should consider its benefits and drawbacks carefully. Onur Yazar A-9
CAUSE OR EFFECT ESSAY OBESITY IS A DISEASE
Obesity is a disease that must be treated. In the world, there are over 300 million people. Unfortunately, it is very common and a lot of people die because of this disease. There are two main reasons for obesity: one is poor diet and the other is certain illnesses. The most important reason is people’s unhealthy eating habits. Especially oblivious parents cause their children to become obese. For example, parents reward children with unhealthy food such as chocolate when children are successful in something or they insist that children eat all their food on plate. Therefore, children are very unhealthy. The other important reason is that people have certain illnesses. It can depend on hormonal causes such as thyroid gland problem or excess cortisol. Therefore, people gain weight. Definitely, they should be treated and regularly examined by a doctor. Thus, they can prevent obesity. In conclusion, most people have this disease. For a healthy and a long life, everybody has to take care of themselves and health professionals should inform people about obesity. Yasemin Yücel B-19
IMPACTS OF NOISE POLLUTION
Today’s popular problem is noise pollution. Have you ever thought about the effects of noise pollution? It has two main effects: Temporary or permanent deafness and fatigue plus decrease in the efficiency in working and lack of concentration. Temporary or permanent deafness and fatigue are the first effects of noise pollution. We work, travel, enjoy ourselves with some activities in daily life. In all these places, we are fatigued by the noise. Especially loud music in the clubs is harmful for ear health. It may cause temporary or permanent deafness. What is more, noise makes us so tired and drains our energy away. As a result of this, fatigue is seen on our bodies. The second effect of noise pollution is lack of concentration and as a result of this decrease in the efficiency in work. Noise is everywhere in our life, such as streets, clubs, television, sports matches and mobile phones. All these create the important problem, noise pollution. Therefore, we are affected by it and we cannot focus on the work, so efficiency decreases in business life. This situation may even cause more stress. To sum up, noise pollution is one of the greatest problems in today’s world. We have lack of concentration, fatigue, deafness, stress and efficiency problems at work because of this. We need silent places to get rest and save us from the defects of noise pollution. Ebru Baş C-11 POOR BEHAVIOUR IN CLASS
Have you ever seen a student who has poor behaviour? They have a lot of reasons to behave like that. The most important reasons of poor behaviour in class are not sleeping properly and having problems with the style of the teacher. The first reason for poor behaviour in class is that they sleep too much or too little. Too much or too little sleep causes loss of concentration. Consequently, students do not focus on the lessons and they can do crazy and silly things. They can behave in the way that the teacher does not want them to do and can disturb the peace and silence. Another factor of poor behaviour in class is that they have problems with the style of the teacher. For example, when the teacher treats them very strictly, they cannot be interested. Because of that, they can behave disrespectfully. Their behaviour can make the teacher and their friends annoyed. Taking everything into account, among the many causes of poor behaviour, too much or too little sleep and having problems with the style of the teacher are the most significant ones. Kazım Alp C-31 THE REASONS OF POVERTY Nowadays money is the most important factor in people’s lives and lack of money cause people to lead a worse life. If you do not have money you may not have things that you want. There are two main reasons why people are poor: unemployment and having a large family. The first reason for poverty is unemployment. If people do not have a job, they cannot have things which they need and they cannot pay their bills. Thus they can’t keep the wolf from the door. Many people want to make the best of opportunities in their lives
but poverty may prevent it. For example many people want to have a good house, a car or a good life but if they do not have a job, they cannot have any of them. The second reason for poverty is having a large family. People may have a large family but it may cause poverty. For example, if there are more children in a family, it means there are more students and their expenses. Their need for food also increases. In this situation, either they can’t go to school or people have to have more money. In conclusion,poverty isn’t a matter of choice but people have to be more attentive and to have a job they have to receive a good education. Therefore many problems may be solved. Elif İrem Kele B 19
OPINION ESSAY FOR FAIRNESS
University Entrance Exam in Turkey is the most important exam for Turkish teenagers because this exam holds a significant importance in student’s future career. All of them wait for this exam. In my opinion, university entrance exams in Turkey should not be abolished. The first reason and the most significant reason is that there is no other way of selecting millions of students for university. Normally, everybody must take the same exam not to allow someone learn the questions before the exam. Or else, generally in our country the children of famous or rich people can learn the questions before the exam, so they have much more advantage... Another reason is that University Entrance Exam is a clear indication of the student’s academic knowledge. This exam measures their academic knowledge. Firstly they take the exam altogether, in about a month, the results of the exam are defined and due to the points they took, students choose their departments of the universities. On the other hand, this exam does not show all the knowledge of some people. Some people may be excited in this exam, so they cannot answer questions that they know. However, it is difficult to prepare individual exams. Besides, individual exams mean unfairness for the other students. To sum up, I believe that there should be University Entrance Exam in Turkey to hinder unfairness. The students should pay attention to this exam and they should study hard for a good business career. Tolgahan Dohancıoğlu AN-2
EDUCATION IN PRIVATE SCHOOL
Imagine you are a student in a private school. What advantages do you have? Think that you have a lot of advantages like a teacher who are always with you, a big classroom with a few students inside. But if you are a student in a state school, you don’t have these advantages so I agree that education in private schools is better than that in state schools. To begin with, private schools have academic success because they have more experienced and concerned teachers than state schools. Especially teacher can care about each student and this leads to an increase in success. Besides, different methods which the teachers apply and exhaustive workload on the students support the success of students. In addition, ambiance of class and school are very important for education. Private schools have bigger school and classroom size and are not as crowded as state schools. In private schools, there are items, such as laptop and projector, which help to teach visually. Nevertheless, many people think that teachers always give good marks to students in private schools. However they fail to consider that people don’t know the importance of average marks. For example, if all of the students in class in a private school take bad or good marks, the average mark doesn’t change so the line doesn’t change. All in all, in my opinion, the education in private schools is better than state schools. Because private schools present a lot of opportunities to education but state schools do not. Burçin Yanardağ C-31
PAST EXAMS
Exams are a troubled part of our life. Everybody sits at least for an exam once. Especially nowadays, university entrance exams are an important problem for each student. As someone who has experience, I strongly believe that university exams in Turkey should be abolished. In the first place, University Entrance Exam in Turkey cannot measure students’ real knowledge. Hence, education should not be based on only one multiple choice exam. Students’ knowledge should not be evaluated by a chart exam. In addition, most parents press for their children as they want their children the pass the exam. They think that their children’s future is based on only university entrance exam. Thus, they always say to their children “my son studies” or “my daughter studies”. I think that this exam affects most parents and their children. Nevertheless, there are some people who claim that exams are necessary because they make our lives simpler. They believe that there is no other way of selecting millions of students for university. However, they fail to consider that the exams have a negative effect on students. All in all, I strongly believe that it is unnecessary to have an exam for university to evaluate the students’ knowledge. Thus, university entrance exams in Turkey should be abolished.
Berkant Yücelir C-31
ART IS FOR ART
For ages, it has been argued whether arts should aim at entertaining the audience or not. Most people think that the artists should perform their art for the pleasure of audience. But do they have to? As far as I am concerned, art should be done by artists to feel satisfied. First of all a real artist must be creative to make their best in their art. If you force them to entertain the audience, it does not work. Because it causes to become blunted. They use their feelings in this process, for this reason you cannot limit their imagination for happiness of society. Moreover if artists aim at entertaining audience, their art will have to be as simple as possible because it must be understandable for everyone so that everyone can enjoy this work. As mentioned above, this will just be a product but not a work of art. Real art should be a little inexplicable. If everyone understands it how can it be art? A real work of art should be creative and fascinating. On the other hand, there are those who believe that art should be enjoyable. They say that artists should meet the demands of society. They won’t have a good time so they do not want the artists to hide their best work from them. They think it is right to be part of beauty. However, they forget that art is the expression of beauty in the freedom of the artist’s mind. Artists will not be able to create their best work under pressure. In conclusion, I agree with the idea that art is for art. We should not limit it for the other’s favour. Merve Keskin A-9 THE SOONER THE BETTER
People, mostly educators, argue about the age of starting school in Turkey. They want children to begin school at an early age. They consider that children learn everything, especially a foreign language, very easily. To my mind, they should learn everything at an early age, because it is easier than when they are adults. The first reason for learning a foreign language at an early age is that young brains catch on everything and learn easily. According to a survey by TUBITAK in 2010, a child between 2 and 5 years old can learn subconsciously when they hear words, therefore language is implanted by a teacher easily. Another major reason for learning a foreign language at an early age is that children are motivated to so that they can learn easily. They do not need to worry about the problems of the adults. They do not fall in love at 6 years old or they do not need to earn money for their parents, therefore children can focus on only their lessons. On the other hand, there are some people who believe that learning a foreign language at an early age is not necessary or they say that children may forget the foreign language they learned at a very early age. This may be true, but I don’t think that.
All things considered, I disagree with the idea that learning a foreign language as soon as starting school is bad. I believe that students should learn a foreign language as soon as they start school. If they learn a foreign language earlier, they may have the opportunity to improve their foreign language further. UÄ&#x;ur ErgĂźn C-3