Badji Mokhtar University- Annaba

Faculty of Engineering Sciences

Science and Technology Department

Module: English Level: 2nd Year (3rd Semester) Professor: Laib. B Academic year: 2020/2021

Homework
Activity (1):
The following text is an example of an argumentative text. After a good and deep reading, you are
required to analyze it according to the following steps:
1- What is the topic of the text? (What the text is talking about?)
2- What are the essay’s arguments? Extract them from the text.
3- What is the author’s point of view? Rewrite the statement that clearly contains the author’s
opinion.
4- What are the opposing arguments? Extract them if they exist in the text.
The Text:
Have you ever seen a water bottle or an empty bag of Doritos on the ground, and you just kept
walking? Next time, pick it up, and see how big of a difference it can make. Recycling is important and
should be done because it reduces the need for landfills, reduces the amount of pollution, and protects the
environment and animal habitats. This issue is affecting the whole planet, and this is a big issue because
if people don’t recycle, conditions could get worse, and people don’t recycle as often as they should.
Firstly, recycling reduces the need for landfills. If we recycle, items don’t need to go to landfills
because people will still be using them. This shows that recycling reduces need for landfills. Next, 60 -
75% of garbage in landfills can be recycled. This shows that, if we just recycled more, landfills would be
emptier. Lastly, if we recycled more, more landfills wouldn’t have to be built around cities, which are
affecting environment and wildlife. This shows that recycling more means that less landfills and safer
environments as an added bonus.
Secondly, recycling reduces the amount of pollution. The more you recycle old products, the less you
will need to buy any new products, which means you’ll be saving energy. Since energy is a major
problem with pollution, saving energy means less pollution. Secondly, trees being converted into paper
are the most water-intensive industrial process in the United States. However, paper recycling mills
almost always use less water, plus, they don’t pollute it as much. (Princeton) This shows that if we
recycled paper more often, we wouldn’t pollute as much. Finally, incinerators let out many types of air
pollutants, so recycling would reduce the need for incinerators. (Princeton) This shows that incinerators
wouldn’t be as common, so pollution wouldn’t be as common, either.
Lastly, recycling protects the environment and animal habitats. First off, because we constantly have
to make new paper because paper isn’t being recycled, half of Earth’s trees are gone. Around 90% of
original forest in the United States has been chopped down. (Princeton) Since many animals need trees to
survive, trees are needed to protect the environment and ecosystem. Second, using recycled materials
lowers the need to use natural resources like timber or mineral ores. Since many animals also need these

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to survive, these need to be kept to keep them living. Finally, people cut down trees and destroy animal
habitats in order to build landfills and pollutant-producing incinerators. That means if we recycle, animal
habitats and environments can be safe.
Others may say that recycling is a waste of time. However, recycling is not a waste of time because if
one person recycles, and other people begin to recycle also, it will all add up. Opponents may also say
that recycling isn’t going to get us anyway. However, recycling will get us somewhere because we will
have less garbage, less pollution, and a better environment.
Reducing need for landfills, reducing the amount of pollution, and protecting the environment and
animal habitats are all reasons why we recycling is important and why we need to do it. Next time you
see an empty water bottle on the ground, go throw it in the nearest garbage can, and you could have saved
an animal, environment, or the whole planet.

(Recycling Argumentative Essay, May 19, 2016, by el1th3gam3r SILVER, Glenpool, OK, Oklahoma)

Activity (2):
Choose one of the following topics to write an argumentative essay. Pay attention to state clearly your
point of view. To simplify the process for you, you should take the previous lesson and the given text as a
reference to start your writing correctly.

 'Should marijuana be legalized in the UK?'

 'Do children suffer if they only have one parent?'
 'Are all charities equally deserving

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