Consider the following statement. Computers can provide all the
information that once could be found only in books, and therefore, it will not
be long before electronic technology makes books unnecessary. Do you agree or
disagree with this idea? Support your response by including specific reasons
and examples.
☆Let’s Think
1. Can computers provide all the information that once could be found
only in books?
2. Is electronic technology making books unnecessary? Give examples.
3. Do you think paper books will be obsolete?
☆Hints for Points
Agree
makes information
search more efficient / thousands of books in an electronic reader / many
functions that allow quicker and better learning
Disagree
more
reliable information / deeper understanding on a specific subject / handier
than electronic books / easy on the eyes / some information that cannot be
digitized (copy right, when the book itself provides information)
☆Essay for Ideas and Expressions
The number
of book stores and those of newspaper subscribers have declined dramatically
since computers and the Internet became popular. It seems that books and papers
are obsolete. However, I do not have the impression that books will soon become
antiques that you seldom see in your daily lives, at least in lives of people
who read.
Information
technology has digitized contents of books and papers, and made reading
paperless. It has made quick information search possible. Books whose contents
are pure data such as dictionaries and encyclopedias have already gone extinct.
People read novels and manga on their phones and tablets, The reading experiences
is very close to those of reading paper books. The displays are close to the
surface of book pages and there are functions for bookmarking, highlighting, and
flipping. It might not be long before leafing through and writing in are
possible. Ultimately, the difference will be either in ink on paper or electronic.
Here I think is the answer to this question. Paper books will not become
totally unnecessary because they exist in the non-virtual world.
Paper
and electric books complement each other in their physical shortcomings. Libraries
will keep paper books even though they have been digitizing books over decades.
Paper books are bulky and vulnerable to nature such as fire and fungi, but
e-books are useless without electricity. For fear of blackouts,
cyber-terrorism, or accidents that will disable access to or cause damage on
digital archive, hard copies will always be kept in libraries and archives. Electronic
books are to paper books what electronic bank account to bankbook. Most people
like to keep bankbooks. Also, paper books are important resources because of
their feature as tangible objects. They are ready to be read any time. You just
pick them up and open them.
In
private libraries, books might gradually disappear but will never be
“unnecessary.” Digital books occupy no space and this is attractive for most of
us, who do not live in a mansion. Therefore, natural selection, in fact the
owner’s selection, of books in our bookshelves will be accelerated as many more
cheap digitalized versions will be available. However, people still keep buying
paper books. For example, I use electric reader only for novels. Paper books are
necessary for serious studies. When you jump from one page to another according
to your thought, just flipping the pages is much faster than scrolling the tablet.
Also, I think those books to which you have some personal attachment will
remain. They are in your shelf as proof of your life. It is hard to imagine
readers throwing away their favorite books and downloading electronic version no
matter how small apartments they live in, and I think some of their books will
establish the same kind of relationship with the next owners after their death.
This will be repeated until they are worn out and naturally perish. It would
take long for all paper books to disappear this way, and they will just
disappear, treasured by someone till the last moment. Therefore, paper books
will never become unnecessary.
The
substantial presence of books will be necessary in a digitized society. Paper
books are often more handy than e-books in study. Good books will always be
loved and needed by their owners until someday they are not available in print,
and probably some special books such as the Bible, the Koran, or Bob Dylan(s
biography, whose existence is indispensable for many people, will always be in
demand.
☆Sample Body Structures
A
【Point 1】
【Point 2】
【Counterargument-treatment】
B
【Spread of digitalized books】
【The area where paper
books are still used】
【Why you
agree/disagree】
Your Sample Essay Structure
【Introduction = Outline】
【 】
【 】
【 】
【Conclusion = Wrap-up】
☆Paragraph Development
Paragraph
development is a key to make your essay convincing. If a paragraph has only one
sentence or two, it lacks some essential parts of the paragraph such as
supporting details (background information), or the main idea. Also, as
Japanese, whose culture focuses on details first and give a generalized idea in
the end, we often make a paragraph like the following.
Paragraph
A
By
pointing a word you do not know, you can look into the dictionary installed in
the electronic reader for the word. You can also refer to the related
information of a particular person or event, often accompanied by sound,
picture, and video. With the help of these functions, you can learn more
quickly, actively and intuitively. E-books will make learning more
efficient. It will not be long before school provides students with tablets
instead of textbooks.
The
paragraph above goes from details (specific information) to conclusion (general
idea). If this paragraph is rewritten to conform to the English essay structure,
it may become as follows.
Paragraph
B
【Main Idea】 E-books will make
learning more efficient.
【Supporting Details】 For
example, by pointing a word you do not know, you can look into the dictionary
installed in the electronic reader for the word. You can also refer to the
related information of a particular person or event, often accompanied by
sound, picture, and video. With the help of these functions, you can learn more
quickly, actively and intuitively.
【Conclusion】 It
will not be long before school provides students with tablets instead of
textbooks.
The
underlined sentence, the comment after the detail in Paragraph A, is placed on
top of Paragraph B as the main idea of the paragraph. If you add sentences of
transition and follow-up it would be as follows.
【Main Idea】 E-books will make
learning more efficient.
【Transition】 Their
functions will help faster and more active learning.
【Supporting Details】 For
example, by pointing a word you do not know, you can look into the dictionary
installed in the electronic reader for the word. You can also refer to the
related information of a particular person or event, often accompanied by
sound, picture, and video. With the help of these functions, you can learn more
quickly, actively and intuitively.
【Follow up】 It is true that to
have a deeper understanding of a subject, you might need to read some books,
but digitized books help form a general idea of a topic efficiently.
【Conclusion】 It
will not be long before school provides students with tablets instead of
textbooks.
It
might be one idea for us Japanese to write following our thought process
(specific →general) and then rearrange the sentences following the western
thought process (general→ specific).
Your
test paragraph development:
【Main Idea】
【Transition】
【Supporting Details】
【Follow up】
【Conclusion】
