43 Look at the eight titles below and tick the four that are factual, precise and make clear what the essay will discuss.3 1 How to reduce people’s sugar intake 2 Appropriate initiatives to reduce the consumption of sugary products 3 Take action against the consumption of sugary products! 4 Why measures against excessive sugar intake will not help 5 Taxes on sugary products 6 Sugar, we are going down 7 People are eating too many sugary products 8 Measures against sugar intake are necessary to improve people’s health Read the introductions (1–4) and match them to the feedback below (a–d). 3 4 1 For decades, the average sugar intake per person has been increasing, as has the number of overweight people. A variety of ways to fight this common health problem of our privileged society have been discussed, but none of them has worked so far. So it is time to stop talking and take action. In order to successfully reduce the consumption of sugar in our country, specific regulations for sweets are needed. 2 Obesity has been proven to be a major health problem of our time among all age groups, with high-sugar products being one of the main elements of an unhealthy lifestyle. Programmes are being considered to address this problem adequately. However, many of these ideas, such as introducing higher taxes, banning advertisements on sugary products and starting educational programmes at school, are ineffective. They restrict freedom of choice, and this reduces personal liberty. 3 It’s a fact that sugar is known to be bad for people’s health. The problem is that in most cases this knowledge does not keep them from consuming it. So we need to ask ourselves: What can be done to stop people from consuming so much sugar? How may higher taxes and a ban on sugary products help, and how can schools raise awareness? 4 Sugar has become a main ingredient in food around the world. Many people consume it on a daily basis and, most of the time, they do it without realising what they are eating. Many people cannot live without sugar, and for this reason, they consume too much every day. Unfortunately, this affects their health in a negative way. Also, it is a problem that most teenagers would rather buy fast food than cook healthy meals. The question is whether it would be helpful to introduce higher taxes on sugary products. a Clear thesis statement, but misleading information in the first sentence. Obesity as a health problem is not an issue in this essay. b Thesis statement is inadequate. Lots of barely relevant information. The reader is not informed about the writer’s opinion with regard to the measures as suggested in the content points. The last sentence indicates that the essay will only focus on the first content point. Apart from that, more complex structures could be used, and repetition should be avoided. c Clear thesis statement, but the nature of the measures (“specific regulations”) to be taken is vague and should ideally be specified. d Thesis statement is missing. The reader is not informed about the writer’s opinion with regard to the measures as suggested in the content points. Apart from that, direct questions should not be used. Read the four introductions again. Which one clearly indicates an essay in favour of measures against too much sugar consumption, which one an essay against measures to reduce sugar consumption? 5 2 See p. 36 for more work on titles for essays. Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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