Discussion Text

Discussion is a text which presents a problematic discourse. This problem will be discussed from different points of view. It presents pro and contra opinion on certain issue. The purpose of a discussion text is to present arguments and information from differing viewpoints.

Discussion texts are usually written in the present tense.

Points to check:

•     Have you been fair to both sides?
•     Have you supported your views with reasons ande vidence?
•     In your conclusion, have you given a reason for what you have decided   

Structure of a discussion are:

v     Issue : contains of statement and preview about something.

v  Arguments for/Supporting arguments : after stating the issue, it is necessary to present the argument to support that one point is agreeing.

v   Arguments against : beside the supporting argument, discussion text need the arguments which disagree to the stated issue.

v   Recommendation/conclusion : It is used to tell how to solve issue by concerning the arguements for and against. 

Language Features of Discussion Text :

•     Introducing category or generic participant
•     Relating verb/to be: is, am, are, etc
•     Using thinking verb: feel, hope, believe, etc
•     Using additive, contrastive, and causal connection: similarly, on the hand, however, etc
•     Using modalities: must, should, could, may, etc
•     Using adverbial of manner: deliberately, hopefully, etc
•     Conjunction/transition: although, even, if, etc

Example :

Hacking: Pro and Contra?

[Issue] Do you know what a hacker is? Well, a hacker is a person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems on computers and they like to stretch the capability of the systems. And you know what, the activities they do in the computers are called ‘hacking’. So, what’s the problem with ‘hacking and its hackers’? Well, the problem is whether ‘hacking and its hackers’ is legal or illegal? What I mean is that people in the world have many different views about hacking and the hackers. Some of them take sides, but many object.

[Argumens for] To get back to what I was saying previously, let us see the positive points of a hacker, shall we? Although in most places breaking into computer systems is considered illegal, I believe that hackers don’t do anything illegal because they only want to know and try the systems. I dare to say that a hacker likes finding the strengths and the weaknesses of a computer system. They feel proud if they can find the weaknesses. So I don’t really see the crimes in this case. In addition, these hackers sometimes help the police catch the ‘white collar criminals’, such as bank robbers, money launderers, credit card forgers. For example, in 2000, the U.S. hackers caught some Singaporean hackers who made ‘Virus Love’ to break up the programs of the U.S. National Security system.

[Argumens agains] Nevertheless, those who object to the good points of a hacker say that hacking is a crime. The reason is that some hackers use their brilliant skills to break into banks and other vital institutions where they can get money, destroy information, and the worst thing is they can get secret information and sell it to another country. This is a treachery.

Take for example, in 1994, The U.S. government broke a conspiracy of computer hackers out of Majorca, Spain. These hackers were responsible for accessing and eliminating 190,000 telephone credit card numbers over computer bulletin boards in America and Europe. 

[Recomendations] Seeing this fact, I don’t blame those who think negatively about hackers. To put the whole thing in a nut shell, I personally think that hackers are not bad people with their brilliant skills. However, they could be bad because of money orientation to get the wealth. That’s just the point.

The Advantage and Disadvantage of Nuclear Power

[Issue] Nuclear power is generated by using uranium which is a metal mined in various part of the world. The first large scale of nuclear power station was opened at Calder Hall in Cumbria, England in 1956.

[Arguments for] Some military ships and submarines have nuclear power plant for engine. Nuclear power produces around 11% of the world's energy needed, and produces huge amounts of energy. It cause no pollution as we would get when burning fossil fuels. The advantages of nuclear plant are as follow:

• It costs about the same coal, so it is not expansive to make.
• It does not produce smoke or carbon dioxide, so it does not contribute to the greenhouse effect.
• It produces huge amounts of energy from small amount of uranium.
• It produces small amount of waste.
• It is reliable.

[Arguments against] On the other hand, nuclear power is very, very dangerous. It must be sealed up and buried for many years to allow the radioactivity to die away. Furthermore, although it is reliable, a lot of money has to be spent on safety because if it does go wrong, a nuclear accident ca be a major accident.
[Recomendations] People are increasingly concerned about this matter. In the 1990's nuclear power was the fastest growing source of power in many parts of the world. So, if use of nuclear reactors we have to think more wisely and maintain security in order to avoid catastrophic adverse human.