Analyze an Issue Task

Understanding the Issue Task
The "Analyze an Issue" task assesses your ability to think critically about a topic of general interest
according to specific instructions and to clearly express your thoughts about it in writing. Each issue,
presented in quotation marks, makes a claim that test takers can discuss from various perspectives and
apply to many different situations or conditions. The issue is followed by specific instructions. Your task is
to present a compelling case for your own position on the issue according to the specific instructions.
Before beginning your written response, be sure to read the issue and instructions carefully and think about
the issue from several points of view, considering the complexity of ideas associated with those views.
Then, make notes about the position you want to develop and list the main reasons and examples that you
could use to support that position.
It is important that you address the central issue according to the specific instructions. The specific
instructions might ask you to:
 Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with a general statement and consider
circumstances in which the statement might or might not hold true.
 Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with a recommendation and consider specific
circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous.
 Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with a claim and anticipate and address the most
compelling reasons or examples that could be used to challenge your position.
 Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with a claim and explain what reasons or
circumstances would be most likely to cause you to change your position.
 Discuss your views on a policy and explain the possible consequences of implementing the policy.
 Discuss two opposing views and explain what principles you would use in choosing between the
two views.
The GRE readers scoring your response are not looking for a "right" answer—in fact, there is no correct
position to take. Instead, the readers are evaluating the skill with which you address the specific
instructions and articulate and develop an argument to support your evaluation of the issue.
Understanding the Context for Writing: Purpose and Audience
The Issue task is an exercise in critical thinking and persuasive writing. The purpose of this task is to
determine how well you can develop a compelling argument supporting your own evaluation of an issue
and to effectively communicate that argument in writing to an academic audience. Your audience consists
of college and university faculty who are trained as GRE readers to apply the scoring criteria identified in
the scoring guide for “Analyze an Issue" (see page 30).
To get a clearer idea of how GRE readers apply the Issue scoring criteria to actual responses, you should
review scored sample Issue essay responses and readers' commentaries. The sample responses, particularly
at the 5 and 6 score levels, will show you a variety of successful strategies for organizing, developing, and
communicating a persuasive argument. The readers' commentaries discuss specific aspects of evaluation
and writing, such as the use of examples, development and support, organization, language fluency, and
word choice. For each response, the commentary points out aspects that are particularly persuasive as well
as any that detract from the overall effectiveness of the essay.
Preparing for the Issue Task
Because the Issue task is meant to assess the persuasive writing skills that you have developed throughout
your education, it has been designed neither to require any particular course of study nor to advantage
students with a particular type of training.
Many college textbooks on composition offer advice on persuasive writing and argumentation that you
might find useful, but even this advice might be more technical and specialized than you need for the Issue
task. You will not be expected to know specific critical thinking or writing terms or strategies; instead, you
should be able to respond to the specific instructions and use reasons, evidence, and examples to support
your position on an issue. Suppose, for instance, that an Issue topic asks you to consider a policy that
would require government financial support for art museums and the implications of implementing the
policy. If your position is that government should fund art museums, you might support your position by
discussing the reasons art is important and explain that government funding would make access to
museums available to everyone. On the other hand, if your position is that government should not support
museums, you might point out that, given limited governmental funds, art museums are not as deserving of
governmental funding as are other, more socially important, institutions, which would suffer if the policy
were implemented. Or, if you are in favor of government funding for art museums only under certain
conditions, you might focus on the artistic criteria, cultural concerns, or political conditions that you think
should determine how—or whether—art museums receive government funds. It is not your position that
matters so much as the critical thinking skills you display in developing your position.
An excellent way to prepare for the Issue task is to practice writing on some of the published topics. There
is no "best" approach: some people prefer to start practicing without regard to the 30-minute time limit;
others prefer to take a "timed test" first and practice within the time limit. No matter which approach you
take when you practice the Issue task, you should review the task directions, then
 carefully read the claim and the specific instructions and make sure you understand them; if they
seem unclear, discuss them with a friend or teacher
 think about the claim and instructions in relation to your own ideas and experiences, to events you
have read about or observed, and to people you have known; this is the knowledge base from
which you will develop compelling reasons and examples in your argument that reinforce, negate,
or qualify the claim in some way
 decide what position on the issue you want to take and defend
 decide what compelling evidence (reasons and examples) you can use to support your position
Remember that this is a task in critical thinking and persuasive writing. The most successful responses will
explore the complexity of the claim and instructions. As you prepare for the Issue task, you might find it
helpful to ask yourself the following questions:
 What, precisely, is the central issue?
 What precisely are the instructions asking me to do?
 Do I agree with all or with any part of the claim? Why or why not?
 Does the claim make certain assumptions? If so, are they reasonable?
 Is the claim valid only under certain conditions? If so, what are they?
 Do I need to explain how I interpret certain terms or concepts used in the claim?
 If I take a certain position on the issue, what reasons support my position?
 What examples—either real or hypothetical—could I use to illustrate those reasons and advance
my point of view? Which examples are most compelling?
Once you have decided on a position to defend, consider the perspective of others who might not agree
with your position. Ask yourself:
 What reasons might someone use to refute or undermine my position?
 How should I acknowledge or defend against those views in my essay?

To plan your response, you might want to summarize your position and make brief notes about how you
will support the position you're going to take. When you've done this, look over your notes and decide how
you will organize your response. Then write a response developing your position on the issue. Even if you
don't write a full response, you should find it helpful to practice with a few of the Issue topics and to sketch
out your possible responses. After you have practiced with some of the topics, try writing responses to
some of the topics within the 30-minute time limit so that you have a good idea of how to use your time in
the actual test.
It would probably be helpful to get some feedback on your response from an instructor who teaches critical
thinking or writing or to trade papers on the same topic with other students and discuss one another
responses in relation to the scoring guide. Try to determine how each paper meets or misses the criteria for
each score point in the guide. Comparing your own response to the scoring guide will help you see how
and where you might need to improve.
The Form of Your Response
You are free to organize and develop your response in any way that you think will effectively communicate
your ideas about the issue and the instructions. Your response may, but need not, incorporate particular
writing strategies learned in English composition or writing-intensive college courses. GRE readers will
not be looking for a particular developmental strategy or mode of writing; in fact, when GRE readers are
trained, they review hundreds of Issue responses that, although highly diverse in content and form, display
similar levels of critical thinking and persuasive writing. Readers will see, for example, some Issue
responses at the 6 score level that begin by briefly summarizing the writer's position on the issue and then
explicitly announcing the main points to be argued. They will see others that lead into the writer's position
by making a prediction, asking a series of questions, describing a scenario, or defining critical terms in the
quotation. The readers know that a writer can earn a high score by giving multiple examples or by
presenting a single, extended example. Look at the sample Issue responses, particularly at the 5 and 6 score
levels, to see how other writers have successfully developed and organized their arguments.
You should use as many or as few paragraphs as you consider appropriate for your argument—for example,
you will probably need to create a new paragraph whenever your discussion shifts to a new cluster of ideas.
What matters is not the number of examples, the number of paragraphs, or the form your argument takes
but, rather, the cogency of your ideas about the issue and the clarity and skill with which you communicate
those ideas to academic readers.
Sample Issue Task
"As people rely more and more on technology to solve problems, the ability of humans to think for
themselves will surely deteriorate."
Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement above 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 those considerations shape your position.
Strategies for this Topic
In this task, you are asked to discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement. Thus,
responses may range from strong agreement or strong disagreement, to qualified agreement or qualified
disagreement. You are also instructed to explain your reasoning and consider ways in which the statement
might or might not hold true. A successful response need not comment on all or any one of the points
listed below and may well discuss other reasons or examples not mentioned here in support of its position.
Because this topic is so accessible to respondents of all levels of ability, for any response to receive a top
score, it is particularly important that you remain focused on the task and provide clearly relevant examples
and/or reasons to support the point of view you are expressing. Lower level responses may be long and full
of examples of modern technology, but those examples may not be clearly related to a particular position.
For example, a respondent who strongly disagrees with the statement may choose to use computer
technology as proof that thinking ability is not deteriorating. The mere existence of computer technology,
however, does not adequately prove this point (perhaps the ease of computer use inhibits our thinking
ability). To receive a higher level score, the respondent should explain in what ways computer technology
may call for or require thinking ability.
This topic could elicit a wide variety of approaches, especially considering the different possible
interpretations of the phrase “the ability of humans to think for themselves.” Although most respondents
may take it to mean problem solving, others, with equal effectiveness, could interpret it as emotional and
social intelligence (i.e., the ability to communicate/connect with others). With any approach, it is possible
to discuss examples such as calculators, word processing tools such as spell and grammar check, tax return
software, Internet research, and a variety of other common household and business technologies.
You may agree with the prompt and argue that:
 reliance on technology leads to dependency; we come to rely on problem solving technologies
to such a degree that when they fail, we are in worse shape than if we didn't have them
 everyday technologies such as calculators and cash registers have decreased our ability to
perform simple calculations, a "use it or lose it" approach to thinking ability
Or you may take issue with the prompt and argue that technology facilitates and improves our thinking
skills, arguing that:
 developing, implementing, and using technology requires problem solving
 technology frees us from mundane problem solving (e.g. calculations), and allows us to engage
in more complex thinking
 technology provides access to information otherwise unavailable
 technology connects people at a distance and allows them to share ideas
 technology is dependent on the human ability to think and make choices (every implementation
of and advance in technology is driven by human intelligence and decision making)
On the other hand, you could decide to explore the middle ground in the debate and point out that while
technology may diminish some mental skill sets, it enables other (perhaps more important) types of
thinking to thrive. Such a response might distinguish between complex problem solving and simple “data
maintenance” (i.e., performing calculations and organizing information). Other approaches could include
taking a historical, philosophical, or sociological stance, or, with equal effectiveness, using personal
examples to illustrate a position. One could argue that the value or detriment of relying on technology is
determined by the individual (or society) using it or that only those who develop technology (i.e., technical
specialists) are maintaining their problem solving skills, while the rest of us are losing them.
Again, it is important for you to avoid overly-general examples, or lists of examples without expansion. It
is also essential to do more than paraphrase the prompt. Please keep in mind that what counts is the ability
to clearly express a particular point of view in relation to the issue and specific task instructions and to
support that position with relevant reasons and/or examples.