Learning from Electronic Media: GRE essay topic

All tips are appreciated.

"In this electronic age, reading has inevitably taken the back seat to watching television and gleaning information from the World Wide Web. People learn far more readily from electronic media than they do from print."

Electronic media is a more efficient mean of delivering information than printed, and is the medium of choice for most people. I agree that electronic media has taken first place as a source of information. People learn more from electric media because it is direct, current, and convenient.

There is no need to search among heavy books to obtain information. Internet searches are fast and effective. Search engines such as Google can track down the most specific data one is searching for from an ocean of information. It cuts down on the time required to complete a task, hence, more work can be accomplished. Its massive popularity among college students for conducting research indicates that it is a more effective and current tool than print.

Unlike print, electric media is up to date. Because electronic media is not tangible it can change with respect to what is most current. The world is not static, it is moving and the most befitting instrument people can employ to understand what is happening is one that can change along with it. If a newspaper is printed at 3:00 am it is no longer current by the time it reaches its reader at 7:00 am. A medical book that is published may not be at the pinnicle of research a month later. Television is current but is unidirectional- does allow one to search. The internet is bidirectional, current, environmentally friendly-doesn't use paper, and mobile, which makes it a superior source of information.

The internet allows for access from anywhere to everywhere. If one lives in Los Angeles and would like to know what the wheather will be like in Buenos Aires, Argentina, it can be done with ease via electronic media. Some portable devices too feature internet access which allows access to tons of information all in the palm of a hand something that can never be achieved with printed material. The claim can be made that electronic media has created a world of instant gratification and people are less patient because of it. Nonetheless, the benefit it bring to people outweighs this claim severalfold as evident by the explosion of internet use.

Electronic media is a more practicle source of learning than printed material. It allows for instant access to the most current informatrion from every location. It is the information tool of the future.

This essay would be fine for an IELTS or TOEFL test but is not sufficiently sophisticated for the GRE, which expects you to demonstrate advanced critical thinking skills. You provide a number of arguments in favor of electronic media, and you do give examples to support your points. However, you show no awareness of the fact that much essential information remains offline. A scholar at the graduate level is expected to know that not everything can be found online; sometimes it's necessary to read books or visit a library. You also do not address the question of whether people learn "more readily" from electronic media. That is a debatable point.

To be honest, I think your essay is kind of "simple" coz you don't display your ability of critical thinking. As ETS says, candidates should aware of the complexity of the issue and write in a academic manner. My advice for you is to read some academic essays such as those on the Econimist.com and try to think more critically.

What you have now is a good starting point. You have a clear stance on the issue and are aware of some of the most important arguments in favor of electronic media. However, you need to deal in some way with the arguments against it, too. So, for instance, search engines tend to find the newest and most widely read articles, not necessarily the most comprehensive or best researched ones. Unless you are prepared to pay for subscriptions, the Internet tends to be a shallow resource, as Simone said, though if you are prepared to subscribe to various academic journals, or have access to compilations of these through a university, a great deal more depth becomes available to you. Also, reading online tends to be shallower experientially compared to reading hard copy material, even when the material in question is identical. I'm not sure why that is exactly, but I'm sure someone somewhere has researched this -- perhaps you could Google it? And yes, I am aware of the irony of my last sentence.

electronic media paragraph

Hi guys how are ya? ,,,I'm Jim
I will study at long Island university NY my major will be Electronic Media but I have to write an essay about me
that has 500 words . I wrote 5 paragraphs (370 words) but I need to write why I'm going to study this major in two paragraphs, please help me \\Jim

Well, if you post what you have so far, we can send you in the right direction with your essay.

:)