How to Write an IELTS Essay

7/19/13 How to Write an IELTS Essay

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How to Write an IELTS Essay

On this page you will find some guidance on how you should write an

IELTS essay.

There are then model answers on the following pages for different

types of essay and different questions, with some brief guidance on

each.

It is important to analyse model

answers for IELTS essays because

there are different essay types,

and these will require different

ways to answer them.

However, as you will see from the

guidance on this page, they can

all follow the same basic structure.

These are some of the types of

IELTS essay we will look at:

Agree / disagree

Discuss two opinions

Advantages & disadvantages

Causes (reasons) & solutions

Causes (reasons) & effects

Problems & solutions

Compare & contrast

Not every essay will fit one of these patterns, but many do. You may

get some of these tasks mixed up. For example, you could be asked to

give your opinion on an issue, and then discuss the advantages or

disadvantages of it.

The golden rule is to ALWAYS read the question very carefully to

see exactly what you are being asked to do.

View this lesson for more practice on analyzing essay questions.

How do I Write an IELTS Essay?

In order to answer this, lets first look at a sample question:

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Present a written argument to an educated reader with no specialist

knowledge of the following topic.

In the last 20 years there have been significant

developments in the field of information technology

(IT), for example the World Wide Web and

communication by email. However, future

developments in IT are likely to have more negative

effects than positive.

To what extent do you agree with this view?

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Further samples:

Model Essay 1

Information Technology

agree / disagree

Model Essay 2

Advertising

agree / disagree

Model Essay 3

Alternative Medicine

agree / disagree

Model Essay 4

University Education

discuss two opinions

Model Essay 5

Reducing Crime


Model Essay 6

Spending on the Arts

agree / disagree

Model Essay 7

Youth Crime

reasons & solutions

Model Essay 8

Traffic Problems

advantages &

disadvantages

Model Essay 9

Overpopulation

problems & solutions

Model Essay 10

Child Obesity

causes & effects

Model Essay 11

Human Cloning

agree / disagree

Model Essay 12

Animal Rights


Model Essay 13

Protecting Old Buildings

opinion

Model Essay 14

Animal Testing

For & Against

Model Essay 15

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To what extent do you agree with this view?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples

from your own experience or knowledge.

You should write at least 250 words.

An IELTS essay is structured like any other essay; you just need to

make it shorter. There are three key elements:

1. Introduction

2. Body Paragraphs

3. Conclusion

We will look at each of these in turn, using the essay question above

as an example.

1) Introduction

You should keep your introduction for the IELTS essay short.

Remember you only have 40 minutes to write the essay, and some of

this time needs to be spent planning. Therefore, you need to be able

to write your introduction fairly quickly so you can start writing your

body paragraphs.

You should do just two things:

State the topic of the essay, using some basic facts (that you

may be able to take from the question)

Say what you are going to write about

Here is an example introduction for the above essay question about

IT:

The last two decades have seen enormous changes in the way

people's lives are affected by IT, with many advances in this

field. However, while these technological advances have

brought many benefits to the world, it can be argued that

future IT developments will produce more negative

effects than positive ones.

As you can see, the first sentence makes sure it refers to the topic (IT)

and uses facts about IT taken from the question. Note that these are

paraphrased - you must not copy from the rubric!

The second part then clearly sets out the what the essay will be about

and confirms the writers opinion (some questions may not ask for your

opinion, but this one does).

View this lesson for more advice on writing IELTS essay introductions.

2) Body Paragraphs

For an IELTS essay, you should have 2 or 3 body paragraphs - no

more, and no less.

For your body paragraph, each paragraph should contain one

controlling idea, and have sentences to support this.

Lets look at the first paragraph for the essay about IT. The essay is

about the benefits and drawbacks of IT, so these will need to be

discussed in separate paragraphs.

Here is the first body paragraph:

To begin, email has made communication, especially abroad,

much simpler and faster, resulting in numerous benefits for

commerce and business. Furthermore, the World Wide Web

means that information on every conceivable subject is now

available to us. For example, people can access news, medical

Food Additives

advantages &

disadvantages

Model Essay 16

Social Interaction & the

Internet

agree / disagree

Model Essay 17

Skin Whitening Creams

causes & effects

Model Essay 18

Global Warming

causes & solutions

Model Essay 19

Airline Tax

agree / disagree

Model Essay 20

Free University Education

agree / disagree

Model Essay 21

Computer Games

advantages /

disadvantages / solutions

Model Essay 22

Scientific Research

agree / disagree

Model Essay 23

Banning Smoking

agree / disagree

Model Essay 24

Family Size

causes & effects



advice, online education courses and much more via the

internet. It is evident that these improvements have made

life far easier and more convenient for large numbers of people

and will continue to do so for decades to come.

The controlling idea in this first paragraph is the 'benefits of IT',

and there are two supporting ideas, which are underlined. No

drawbacks are discussed as the paragraph would then lose coherence.

Most of the essay will focus on the negative aspects of IT, as the writer

says there are more negative effects in the introduction. So the next

two paragraphs are about these.

The topic sentence in the next paragraph therefore tells us we are

changing the focus to the negative points:

Nevertheless, the effects of this new technology have

not all been beneficial. For example, many people feel that

the widespread use of email is destroying traditional forms of

communication such as letter writing, telephone and face-to-

face conversation. This could result in a decline in people's

basic ability to socialize and interact with each other on a day-

to-day basis.

The final body paragraph gives the last negative effect:

In addition, the large size of the Web has meant that it is

nearly impossible to regulate and control. This has led to

many concerns regarding children accessing unsuitable

websites and viruses. Unfortunately, this kind of problem

might even get worse in the future at least until more

regulated systems are set up.

3) Conclusion

The conclusion only needs to be one or two sentences, and you can do

the following:

Re-state what the essay is about (re-write the last sentence of

your introduction in different words)

Give some thoughts about the future

Here is an example:

In conclusion, developments in IT have brought many

benefits, yet I believe developments relating to new

technology in the future are likely to produce many negative

effects that must be addressed if we are to avoid damaging

impacts to individuals and society.

The full IELTS Essay:

The last two decades have seen enormous changes in the way

people's lives are affected by IT, with many advances in this

field. However, while these technological advances have

brought many benefits to the world, it can be argued that

future IT developments will produce more negative effects

than positive ones.

To begin, email has made communication, especially abroad,

much simpler and faster, resulting in numerous benefits for

commerce and business. Furthermore, the World Wide Web

means that information on every conceivable subject is now

available to us. For example, people can access news, medical

advice, online education courses and much more via the

! IELTS Tests ! IELTS Exams ! Essay ! IELTS IELTS



internet. It is evident that these improvements have made life

far easier and more convenient for large numbers of people

and will continue to do so for decades to come.

Nevertheless, the effects of this new technology have not all

been beneficial. For example, many people feel that the

widespread use of email is destroying traditional forms of

communication such as letter writing, telephone and face-to-

face conversation. This could result in a decline in people's

basic ability to socialize and interact with each other on a day-

to-day basis.

In addition, the large size of the Web has meant that it is

nearly impossible to regulate and control. This has led to

many concerns regarding children accessing unsuitable

websites and viruses. Unfortunately, this kind of problem

might even get worse in the future at least until more

regulated systems are set up.

In conclusion, developments in IT have brought many

benefits, yet I believe developments relating to new

technology in the future are likely to produce many negative

effects that must be addressed if we are to avoid damaging

impacts to individuals and society.

(287 words)

Improve your Information Technology Vocabulary

Comments

The IELTS essay introduction talks in general about the

increasing use of IT, thus introducing the topic well. The

thesis then clearly sets out the writers opinion.

The following paragraph mentions the present benefits of

these developments, but the opening sentence in the third

paragraph is a qualifying statement (Nevertheless, not all

the effects...), so the writer can now focus on the negative

elements.

The fourth paragraph provides two other negative examples

(lack of regulation, viruses). Both paragraphs suggest that

these problems will continue in the future.

The essay concludes with a clear opinion that agrees with the

statement.

Overall, it is a well-balanced text that mentions the present

situation (...this has made life...) but importantly, also

refers to the future of IT (...likely to increase..., might get

worse...).

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How to Write an IELTS Essay