March 2013

Public libraries should only provide books and should not waste their limited resources on expensive high-tech media such as software, videos or DVDs. Do you agree or disagree?

With the proliferation of high-tech media, some people that the public libraries would be rendered obsolete if they not offer software, videos or DVDs to their users while assert it’s only a waste of limited resources and the libraries should offer books only.

High-tech media is, in many ways, indeed superior to the books in terms of entertainment, attraction, and functionality. For instance, videos and DVDs function as a visual means to assist people to have a first-hand experience even though those people have not physically visited or seen the objects which are introduced in the books. Also, despite audio-visual equipment would be prohibitive to install, the capital cost would be lowered by appealing to a sizable number of users.

More importantly, software could assist the library goers to access the Internet to update their knowledge on a daily basis; in contrast, books typically take multiple months to be published, which in turn their contents outdated to some extent. In addition, upon learning that the computer literacy has become an essential skill recently, public libraries should take on the responsibility to educate users how to operate a computer.

Furthermore, it is a common practice for most public libraries to share their resources via the Internet. In this way, even if one book of interest cannot be found in one library, the borrower still could locate the book other libraries and then request the librarians to transfer the book to that particular library.

In conclusion, public libraries would benefit in multiple ways if they equipped with the high-tech media.

This is a good essay. There are only a few errors indicating that the writer needs to take care with verbs, prepositions and sentence formation (mouse over the words underlined in blue shows corrections). Overall, this work seems worthy of IELTS Band 8. Remember to always proofread your essay before submitting it. Keep up the good work!

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In many countries children are engaged in different kinds of paid work. Some people regard this as completely wrong, while others consider it a valuable work experience, important for learning and taking responsibility. What is your opinion?

The issue of whether or not children should be engaged in some paid work has sparked a heated debate. While some argue that having some employment experience is conducive to a child’s learning and development, I contend that it would bring harm to the child’s and learning.

First of all, a workplace designed for adults normally child-friendly facilities. Desks and chairs are too high for a child; the light switches are installed on the walls unreachable children; also emergency training and facilities such as phones are only provided to adults. Furthermore, various hazards such as polluted air and chemical fumes are still produced in factories and farms. Undoubtedly young people would suffer in such workplaces.

Also, children would find it frustrating when they are not properly inducted before starting a job. A child working in a cement factory would feel a setback when he could not get immediate support while struggling with the procedures of recording different raw materials that required by the job. Further, without sufficient support, a child’s misunderstanding or inappropriately communicating with adults would only disappoint him and prevents him from active learning and interacting with other people.

To conclude, a child’s paid employment experience would lead to a negative impact on their health and active learning. However, recognizing the importance of children’s learning and their awareness of responsibility, it is advisable to encourage them to be involved in some volunteering opportunities where they can meaningfully learn and interact with other people with sufficient care and support in place for such jobs.

This is a good essay. There are only a few errors (mouse over the words underlined in blue shows corrections), but otherwise this work seems worthy of Band 7.5 or 8. Remember to always proofread your essay before submitting it. Keep up the good work!

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