How to write a Task II Essay

How to write a Task II Essay?

By Jeffrey Aikens

| Tips | Sample Essay |Essay Checklist|

In writing, the most basic form of writing is the essay. One particular type of essay is the task II essay. In the task two essay, you are given a task with an article and graph as your source of information. Your job is to:

Always keep the task in your mind, if you have to, look it over again.

Write down key points from the article and graph. It is essential that you do this because the text can be very lengthy and you don’t have time to read all the text over when needed.

Whenever you take information from the article or graph put it all in quotation marks.

You must remain focused and stick to what the task asks of you. It may be helpful to create a title but most importantly form your own opinion using the details from the article and the graph to back up your opinions.
Avoid copying sentence by sentence from the article. Use your own words to paraphrase and summarize.

Sample Question (Taken from NYS Regents Resource Book)

The Situation: A community health clinic has invited student in your school to write health-related articles for its newsletter. You decided to write an article discussing factors that influence teenage smoking and the implications of those factors for reducing teenage smoking.

Your Task: Write an article for the community health newsletter. Using relevant information form the text and graphs, discuss the factors that influence teenage smoking and the implication of those factors for reducing teenage smoking.

Guidelines:

•Tell your audience what they need to know about factors that influence teenage smoking
•Discuss the implications of those factors for reducing teenage smoking

Sample Essay

Teenage Smoking

        There is an epidemic on the rise in the youth of America today. Researchers conclude that teenage smoking rates, after declining and leveling off in the 1970’s and 1980’s has increased sharply in the last five years. The tobacco industry, its critics, and teenagers themselves, all have ideas about the factors that influence smoking.
         The tobacco industry attributes the increase to “a broad range of social forces”. The industry says that other drug-use and risk-taking procedures by teenagers have risen more sharply than tobacco use. The industry also believes that teenage smoking has increased because of the rebellious attitudes of teens towards increasing efforts to stop them from smoking. The industry’s critics, however, disagree with this hypothesis. The critics believe that the industry’s huge increase is spreading on domestic advertising and promotions for 361 million in 1970, to $4.83 billion in 1994, is to blame. Most of the money goes into promotions that encourage stores to run sales or more prominently display particular brands and signs. Spending by the industry increased most rapidly in the 1980’s when the decline in youth smoking was halted. Children are also attracted to the advertising campaigns that use “Joe Camel” or the Marlboro man”. The giving-away of items, such as T-shirts for the accumulation of coupons received when buying cigarettes, also attracts teens. Phillip Morris even created a record company to promote his “Virginia Slims” brand that is a draw to teens. Hollywood’s use of cigarettes and cigars is also becoming more prevalent and is subliminally encouraging teens to take up smoking because it is trendy and “cool”.
         Teenagers say that a desire to be cool is often a reason young smokers try cigarettes. Teenagers also say that smoking is a way to relieve stress, stay thin, and a way to fill time. Teenagers also say they were drawn to smoking because of their desire to do something forbidden.
         This trend in teenage smoking must end. The increased smoking codes are expected to translate into additional early deaths due to tobacco-related illnesses. This trend can be ended by increasing the cost of cigarettes making them too expensive for teens to buy. Hollywood should also place a ban on the use of cigarettes in cigars in their films, so as not to project the message that smoking is cool. More awareness can be made to teens about the effect that smoking will have-on their bodies in the future. The tobacco industry should also not be allowed to use advertising which is intended to draw teens to their products. This epidemic of increased smoking in teens must end and it takes an effort by all to end it. Join the battle to end teen smoking!

Task II Checklist

Introduction

-Did you answer the question implied in the Situation? (thesis statement)

-Did you describe your general impression on the main idea of the article and the chart about the essay question?

Body

Paragraph 1

-Topic sentence that generalize the first argument.

-Some detailed information from the article that illustrates your first point.

-Some detailed information from the chart that illustrates your first point.

-Did you either put the quotations from the article or the chart in the quotation marks or paraphrase the ideas in your own words?

Paragraph 2

-Topic sentence that generalize the 2nd argument.

-Some detailed information from the article that illustrates your 2ndpoint.

-Some detailed information from the chart that illustrates your 2nd point.

-Did you either put the quotations from the article or the chart in the quotation marks or paraphrase the ideas in your own words?

Paragraph 3

-Topic sentence that generalize the third argument.

-Some detailed information from the article that illustrates your third point.

-Some detailed information from the chart that illustrates your third point.

-Did you either put the quotations from the article or the chart in the quotation marks or paraphrase the ideas in your own words?

( alternative Paragraph3)

-Did you discuss the 2nd half of the essay question( mostly, the suggested solution to the issue, which can be identified in the article itself.)

Conclusion

-Restate the point briefly.

-Suggested a solution?

-Your brief comment on the issue discussed