Problem-Solution Essay

Including your Reader

Even though you chose a problem that is interesting to you personally, you must be careful not to write only about yourself.  Show how your problem might be relevant to your reader. This is especially vital in the introductory paragraph.  Here are some common techniques for involving your reader.

Reader (binary/octet-stream)

Evaluating Solutions

When you write about solutions to a problem, it is important to think critically about the solutions you are proposing.  Will it really solve the problem?  Will it solve the problem completely? Will it always, or just sometimes, fix the problem?  For example:   Research shows that smoking tobacco can cause some types of cancer. A student may, therefore, suggest solving the problem of cancer by making tobacco illegal. But is this sentence true? If people don't smoke, they won't get cancer. It would be more accurate for the student to write If people don't smoke, their risk of cancer is smaller.  

• Evaluating Solutions Practice

Using Hedging to Avoid Overgeneralizations

Rarely in life do we know something or can state something with 100% certainty. Still, when we are speaking, we are often careless and say things like:   "This will/won't happen"   "This always/never happens" "Everyone/no one does this"   In writing, you often need to use hedging language. When you hedge, you avoid overgeneralizing. There are many ways to hedge. A few are listed here. 

Reader (binary/octet-stream)

Practice

Reader (binary/octet-stream)

Caption: : Reread the first paragraph of the essay "Eight Hours a Night" Find 10 examples of hedging language. The first one is done for you as an example.