Body paragraphs: should governments spend more on research?
You can write body paragraphs in which every sentence has a job: the point, its explanation or its example.
At band 7, the Task Response descriptor says a clear and developed position is presented. Your position goes in the introduction. The developing happens in the body paragraphs.
We build them one sentence at a time: a point, an explanation, an example. The question is about money for scientific research, a topic that turns up in essays and in Part 3.
Warm-up
Which one is the example?
These three sentences come from one body paragraph, in a different order. Which one is the example?
Which sentence is the example?
How it works
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Some people think governments should spend much more money on scientific research, even if this means spending less on other public services.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
Inside a body paragraph
The parts, in order
One sentence that states the paragraph's idea and answers the question. A reader should know the paragraph's job from it.
One or two sentences on why or how the point is true. Most of the development happens here.
One particular case: a kind of research, a result, a place. It shows the explanation working in real life.
A short sentence or clause that ties the example to the point, so the reader sees why it matters.
Listed or developed
Research is important for many reasons. It helps the economy. It improves health. It protects the environment. It also creates jobs. So governments should spend more on it.
Public research also creates skilled jobs. A new laboratory employs scientists, but also technicians and builders, and companies often open nearby to use its discoveries. Science parks next to universities have grown in exactly this way.
The listed paragraph makes several claims and supports none of them. The developed one makes one claim, explains how it happens and shows where it has happened. That is what the descriptor means by developed.
Watch me do one
My point for the first body paragraph: much research will not happen unless governments pay for it. I write that as one plain sentence, and it answers the question.
Now the explanation: the reason it won't happen. Companies want a profit within a few years, so I name the kind of research that takes longer, such as how diseases develop or how the climate is changing.
Then the example. I need a case where public money paid for slow work and it paid back. Weather forecasting fits: governments paid for the satellites, and forecasts now warn people days before a storm.
I had another idea, that research creates jobs. It's true, but it is a different point. If I add it here, the paragraph starts to list, so it goes.
Last check: every sentence states the point, explains it or shows it. Nothing is there only to add words.
A model answer
Some people think governments should spend much more money on scientific research, even if this means spending less on other public services. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Most governments spend only a small part of their budgets on scientific research, and some people argue that this share should grow, even if other public services receive less as a result. I largely agree, because research produces benefits that no one else will pay for, and because in the long run it can reduce the cost of those same services. The main reason to fund research is that much of it will not happen otherwise. Private companies invest when they expect a profit within a few years, so questions that may take decades to answer, such as how diseases develop or how the climate is changing, are often left to public money. Weather forecasting is a clear example. The satellites and computer models behind modern forecasts were paid for mainly by governments, and they now give people days of warning before a storm, which saves lives and property every year. No private company would have carried that cost alone. Research can also save public money over time. Hospitals and schools need funding every year, but well-chosen research can make their work cheaper by preventing problems before they start. Vaccines show how this works. They came out of years of laboratory research, and they now protect millions of children from diseases that once filled hospital wards, so health services spend far less on treatment than they otherwise would. Of course, a sudden transfer of money from hospitals to laboratories would harm patients who need care today, so any increase should be gradual. Overall, however, I believe governments should give science a larger share of public spending, because the benefits of research last for decades and reach people who have not yet been born.
- CoherenceThe point, in the first sentence, so the reader knows what the paragraph will prove.
- TaskThe explanation: why the point is true.
- CoherenceAnnounces the example in a short sentence of its own.
- TaskTies the example back to the benefit the point claims.
- CoherenceThe second point. The word also shows that it adds to the first.
- VocabularyThe explanation in exact, everyday words.
- GrammarThe modal would marks an imagined result. The sudden transfer is the condition, so no if clause is needed.
Coloured text shows what the examiner is looking for.
Test your own paragraphs this way: read only the first sentence of each, and check it tells you what the paragraph will argue. If you want a teacher to read a whole essay of yours, Kriti and Christine mark essays in class.
Practice with Elita6 questions
Four questions on the parts of a paragraph, then two pieces of writing that I'll give feedback on.
What job does it do?
This sentence comes from a body paragraph arguing that research can save public money. Which job does it do?
For instance, a cheap test that finds a disease early means patients can be treated at home and avoid a long stay in hospital.
The strongest point
Choose the best first sentence for a body paragraph that supports more research funding.
Which sentence makes the clearest point?
A specific example
The point is: Research can make public services cheaper to run. Which example supports it best?
Which example is best?
The sentence that wanders
This body paragraph argues that research saves public money. One sentence moves to a different point. Choose it.
Which sentence contains the error?
Make the example specific
This example is too vague to support anything. Rewrite it with a real kind of research and its result.
For example, science has helped people in many ways.
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
A paragraph of your own
Write one body paragraph for the other side: why governments should not cut other services to pay for research. Give a point, an explanation and an example.
Write one body paragraph arguing that governments should not spend less on other public services in order to pay for more scientific research. Include a point, an explanation and a specific example.
0 / 80 words
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Words to keep
Spend money on something to get a benefit later. Companies invest in research when they expect a profit.
Over a long period of time. Research can save money in the long run.
A part of a total. Science receives a small share of the budget.
Stop something from happening. Vaccines prevent diseases that once filled hospitals.
Happening slowly, in small steps. Any increase in funding should be gradual.
Services a government provides, such as hospitals and schools. Public services need money every year.
Another way to say for example. Weather satellites, for instance, help forecasters warn people about storms.
Before you go
Give each body paragraph one point, stated in its first sentence.
Explain the point: say why or how it is true before you give an example.
Make the example specific: a kind of research, a result, a place.
If a sentence brings in a new idea, give it a paragraph of its own or leave it out.
Next: Next, Academic candidates write one report on two charts, a line graph and a pie chart about solar power. General Training candidates go on to Unit 11, about food, which starts with the articles a, an and the.