IELTS writing task 2 lesson

IELTS Writing Task 2 LessonWriting Task 2 - Lesson 1: Identify the Topic In the writing for task 2, one of the first things you need to do is identify the topic of the essay.. Identify

IELTS Writing Task 2 Lesson

Writing Task 2 - Lesson 1: Identify the Topic

In the writing for task 2, one of the first things you need to do is identify the topic of the essay

If you write about the wrong topic or go off topic when you write your answer, this is likely to substantially reduce your band score

How do I identify the topic?

Remember, in IELTS writing, you are usually presented with some issue or problem that is currently affecting society and you need to discuss it

So you need to read the question carefully and identify what the issue is You will normally only be looking for one or two key words

Have a look at the following question What is the issue?

The crime rate among teenagers has increased

dramatically in many countries

Discuss some possible reasons for this increase and

suggest solutions

You should have identified teenage crime as the topic

The crime rate among teenagers has increased dramatically in many countries

What if I identified ‘crime’ as the topic?

Your essay would be wrong if you wrote about crime generally When you have

a topic, it may require you to talk about a particular area, group of people or place

In this case, the question specifically wants you to address the issue of

TEENAGE crime

When you identify the topic, always look carefully to see if it is being narrowed down to a particular area that you need to focus on

Identify the Topic - Practice

Have a look at the following essay questions and choose the best answer to identify the topic Remember, this is not a full analysis of the question - you are just looking for the broad topic area

Sometimes more than one answer may be possible In this case, when you identify the topic, choose the most precise

1 'Telecommuting' refers to workers doing their jobs from home for part of each week and communicating with their office using computer

technology Telecommuting is growing in many countries and is expected

to be common for most office workers in the coming decades How do you think society will be affected by the growth of telecommuting?

Working from home

Scientific research

3 We are becoming increasingly dependent on computers They are used in businesses, hospitals, crime detection and even to fly planes What things will they be used for in the future? Is this dependence on

computers a good thing or should we be more suspicious of their

benefits?

The benefits of computers

Computers in businesses, hospitals, crime detection, and flying

Animal cruelty

Blood sports

Blood sports and uncivilized activity

6 A growing number of people feel that animals should not be exploited by people and that they should have the same rights as humans, while others argue that humans must employ animals to satisfy their various needs, including uses for food and research Discuss the arguments in favour of both these positions and state your own position on the issue Satisfying human needs

Animals and humans

Animal rights

7 Forests are the lungs of the earth Destruction of the world's forests amounts to death of the world we currently know To what extent do you agree or disagree?

The Earth

Deforestation

Death of the world

8 The idea of going overseas for university study is an exciting prospect for many people But while it may offer some advantages, it is probably better to stay home because of the difficulties a student inevitably encounters living and studying in a different culture To what extent do you agree or disagree this statement?

Studying abroad

Studying

Living in a different culture

9 Zoos are sometimes seen as necessary but not poor alternatives to a natural environment Discuss some of the arguments for and/or against keeping animals in zoos

Natural environments

Alternatives to zoos

Keeping animals in zoos

10 Many countries are currently witnessing an increase in criminal activity among young people Discuss reasons for this phenomenon and suggest ways to deal with the problem

Youth crime

Criminal activity

Increases in crime

Writing Task 2

Lesson 2: Identify the Task

Once you have identified the topic for your essay, you need to identify the task

The ‘task’ is the part of the question that tells you what you have to do to

answer it

This is one of the most important things you will have to do when you analyze the essay question because 25% of your grade for the essay is based on ‘Task Response’ - how you have responded to the task

How do I identify the task?

In order to grade your task response, the examiner will be looking to see if you

haveanswered the question

If you have only partially answered the question, this will decrease your grade for this criteria

Let’s look at the same essay question we looked at in lesson 1 when you identified the topic:

The crime rate among teenagers has increased

dramatically in many countries

Discuss some possible reasons for this increase and

suggest solutions

In the previous lesson, we identified the topic for this question as‘teenage

crime’

The task - or ‘what you have to do’ - is usually at the end of the prompt As you

can see, you are being told to ‘Discuss some possiblereasons for this increase

and suggest solutions’

It’s very common in task 2 IELTS essay questions to get asked to dotwo things,

and this question is a good example of this:

1 Why teenage crime has increased

2 Ways to solve this problem

You MUST discuss both those things to ensure you have fully answered the question and you must write roughly equal amounts about each part

Doing any of the following things will reduce your score for task response, and hence may reduce your overall score:

1 Only writing about reasons or only solutions

2 Writing most of your essay about reasons and only a small part on solutions (or visa versa)

3 Writing about the reasons and solutions for crime in general, and not referring

to teenage crime (the topic)

4 Writing about neither reasons nor solutions

This is why it is so important to spend some time at the beginning making sure you identify the task so that you know what you have to write about

A Common Mistake

It is a common mistake for students to rush at the beginning to start writing as

they are worried about not finishing, and then write about the wrong thing

For example, when you have finished identifying the task, you will brainstorm

your ideas You may come up with reasons for an increase in crime such

as ‘lack of parental supervision’ and ‘boredom’

However, I have seen students come up with problems of teenage crime, such

as ‘more young people being put in prison' and‘stress for their parents'

This particular task asks you to write about ‘reasons’, not ‘problems’(though

being asked to write about 'problems and solutions' is common)

So if you do this you will not be answering the question This comes from rushing and not taking enough time to identify the task properly

Other Question Types

The previous question was fairly easy, so to identify the task was hopefully not too difficult

Some questions, though, will take more thought in order to identify what you need to write about

Here is another example:

Advances in technology and automation have reduced the need for manual labour Therefore, working hours should be reduced

To what extent do you agree?

Again, look to the end of the prompt to identify the task

You have to say if you agree or disagree with working hours being reduced, or,

in other words, automation (machines) taking over from some human’s duties

You must also say how much you agree or disagree ("to what extent")

Let’s assume you want to look at both sides of the issue You therefore need to

discuss the reasons why you agree, and the reasons why you disagree Or

put another way:

1 The advantages of reducing working hours

2 The disadvantages of reducing working hours

And of course in the introduction or conclusion you need to make it clear what your opinion is

If you do all of these things then you will have answered all parts of the prompt

If you find more reasons to agree than disagree, then you can write more about this side of the argument, or visa versa

Identify the Task - Practice

Now you can have a practice identifying the task for some IELTS essay

questions

Pick the one that you think best describes what you would write about in order

to fully answer all parts of the question

1 The rising levels of congestion and air pollution found in most of the world

cities can be attributed directly to the rapidly increasing number of private cars in use In order to reverse this decline in the quality of life in cities, attempts must be made to encourage people to use their cars less and public transport more Discuss possible ways to encourage the use of public

transport

Why people have been using cars more and public transport less

How to get people to use public transport more

The causes of increasing congestion and air pollution

2 Do the benefits of study abroad justify the difficulties? What advice would you

offer to a prospective student?

(a) A discussion of the benefits versus the challenges of studying

abroad (b) Strategies to cope with studying abroad

(a) The benefits of study abroad

(a) The benefits of study abroad (b) the difficulties of studying abroad

3 Fresh water has always been a limited resource in some parts of the world

Today, however, growing worldwide demand has made this a global problem What are the causes of the increased demand and what measure could governments and individuals take to respond to this problem?

(a) The problems with using too much water (b)Government

solutions (c) Individual solutions

How (a) Governments and (b) Individuals can solve water shortage

problems

(a) Reasons for increased demand for water (b)Government

solutions (c) Individual solutions

4 As global trade increases, many goods including those we use on a daily basis

are produced in other countries and transported long distances Do the benefits of the trend outweigh the drawback?

(a) The benefits of this (b) The disadvantages of this(c) Your opinion on

whether it is more beneficial or not

(a) The benefits of this (b) Your opinion on whether is is more beneficial or

not

(a) The disadvantages of this (b) Your opinion on whether it is more

beneficial or not

5 Some people feel that animals should have the same rights as humans, but

others think they are not as equal or intelligent as us so should not have the same rights Discuss both opinions and give your opinion

(a) The arguments for giving animals rights (b) The arguments against this

(a) Arguments for having animal rights (b) The arguments against

this (c) Your opinion

(a) The reasons why animals are not as equal or intelligent as humans

6 Currently there is a trend towards the use of alternative forms of medicine

However, at best these methods are ineffective, and at worst they may be dangerous To what extent do you agree with this statement?

(a) How alternative medicine differs from Conventional medicine

(a) The dangers of alternative medicine

(a) The benefits of alternative medicine (b) The drawbacks of alternative medicine (c) Your opinion

7 Overpopulation of urban areas has led to numerous problems Identify one or

two serious ones and suggest ways that governments and individuals can tackle these problems

(a) Problems of overpopulation in urban areas (b)Government

solutions (c) Individual solutions

(a) The problems of overpopulation (b) The solutions

(a) How governments can tackle urban overpopulation(b) How individuals

can tackle urban overpopulation

8 Computers should never have been invented To what extent do you agree or

disagree with this statement?

(a) The reasons why computers were invented (b) The benefits of

computers (c) Your opinion

(a) The problems with computers (b) Solutions to these problems

(a) The benefits of computers (b) The drawbacks of computers (c) Your

opinion

9 Unemployment has become an increasing problem in the recent past What

factors contribute to an increase in unemployment and what steps can be taken to solve the problem?

(a) The causes of increasing unemployment (b) How to solve this problem

(a) The problems with increasing unemployment (b) How to solve this

problem

(a) The reasons why unemployment is increasing

10 Some people think that young children should be allowed to do paid work,

while others think that this should be illegal Discuss both opinions and give your opinion

(a) The advantages of allowing children to do paid work(b) Your opinion (a) The advantages of allowing children to do paid work(b) The

disadvantages this (c) Your opinion

(a) The problems of allowing children to do paid work (b)The benefits of

allowing them to do paid work

Lesson 3:

Brainstorming and Planning

Once you have analysed the question in the IELTS test you need

tobrainstorm some ideas to include in your answer

Lets look at the same question we looked at in the first two lessons:

The crime rate among teenagers has increased

dramatically in many countries

Discuss some possible reasons for this increase and

suggest solutions

Brainstorming is an important part of the planning process

In order to get a good score it will not be enough just to put a list of ideas - you

need to extend and explain those ideas

If you look at the IELTS prompt, it says this:

For this question, you need to write about reasons for the increase in teenage crime and solutions

In order to make sure you fully answer the question it is a good ideas to develop

some focus questions i.e questions that will help you focus on what you need

to write

These are possible focus questions for this essay question:

Focus question 1: Why has teenage crime increased?

Focus question 2: What can be done about it?

You then need to brainstorm answers to these questions:

Why has teenage crime increased?

 Breakdown in the nuclear family

 Lack of things to do

What can be done about it?

 Government - Provide better support for families & stricter punishments

 Individuals – take responsibility

[Nuclear family is a term used to define a family group consisting of a pair of adults and their children, as opposed to single-parent families]

Extending and Supporting your Ideas

However, you now need to think about how your are going to extend and support those ideas you have brainstormed In other words, you need to ask yourself further questions about each of your ideas For example:

Why has there been a breakdown in the nuclear family?

What is the effect of this?

What is a good example of it?

Answering questions like these will make sure you have fully supported and explained all your points

For example:

Why has there been a breakdown in the nuclear family?

- high divorce rates

What is the effect of this?

- no male role model; boys go astray & may commit crime

Why has teenage crime increased?

1) Breakdown in the nuclear family

- high divorce rates = no father as ‘role model’

– boys go astray, drugs & crime

2) Lack of things to do

- e.g TV has shown nothing to do

– children see crime as entertainment

What can be done about it?

1) Govt - Provide better support for families

- e.g more youth centres

– guidance and activities, sport

2) Parents – take responsibility

- provide loving environment, relative as role model

Over the last decade there has been a massive rise in the level of crime

committed by teenagers in a numbers of countries It is important to establish why this has happened and to look at ways to solve the problem

One reason is the break down in the nuclear family The high

divorce rates have meant many children have been brought up in one-parent families with no father to act as a role model which is detrimental to their development This is particularly important for boys, who without this

guidance are easily led astray by bad influences such as drugs and

crime Another factor is the lack of things to do for the young For example,

in the UK, many television programs about this issue have shown that teenagers hang around in the evenings with little to do When this happens, the boredom means they will find there own entertainment, which is often crime

There are, however, ways to tackle these problems Firstly,

the government should provide more support for families They could,

for instance, invest more into building and staffing youth centers which would provide guidance through the youth workers and also enable teenagers to focus

their attention on sport and other activities Parents should also be

encouraged to take more responsibility for their children Ultimately,

the onus is on them to ensure their children are brought up in a loving

environment which would make them less likely to turn to crime They could, for example, find a male relative to act as a role model

Therefore, it is clear that there are various reasons for this rise in crime, but solutions are available If we begin to tackle the issue now, we may be able

to prevent the situation declining further

Words 294

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A common mistake is to have lots of ideas that are not explained properly

However, you can see that as a result of brainstorming some key ideas and making sure you have explained each of them, you have a fully supported and well organized essay

Lesson 4:

Essay Writing Coherence

Your writing coherence is important because you are marked on this as part

of the IELTS grading

Your work is coherent if it is easy to read and follow your ideas

One way to improve the coherency of your writing is to usetransition words to

guide the reader through what you are saying

Here are examples of common transition words that will improve your

writing coherence, and their meanings:

COMMON TRANSITION WORDS

Listing Points to Show New

To illustrate,

A case in point,

Showing time: (commonly in essay

To conclude,

In conclusion,

In brief, All in all,

Here is an example of them in use in an essay:

Some people believe the aim of university education is to help

graduates get better jobs Others believe there are much wider

benefits of university education for both individuals and society

Discuss both views and give your opinion

These days, more and more people are making the choice to go to

university While some people are of the opinion that the only purpose of a university education is to improve job prospects, others think that society and the individual benefit in much broader ways

It is certainly true that one of the main aims of university is to secure a better job To begin, the majority of people want to improve their future career prospects Attending university is one of the best ways to do this as it increases your marketable skills and your attractiveness to potential employers For example, in Europe, further education is very expensive for many people, so most would not consider it if it would not provide them with a more secure future and a higher standard of living Also, universities have their reputation

to consider They definitely want to ensure that their students are going to get the best jobs as this will affect future funding and university applications

However, there are other benefits for individuals and society Firstly, the independence of living away from home is a benefit because it helps the students develop better social skills and improve as a person Many

students, for instance, will have to leave their families, live in halls of residence and meet new friends As a result, their maturity and confidence will grow enabling them to live more fulfilling lives Secondly, society will gain from the contribution that the graduates can make to the economy We are living in a very competitive world, so countries, especially developing countries, need educated people in order to compete and prosper

To conclude, I believe that although a main aim of university education is to get the best job, there are clearly further benefits If we continue to promote and encourage university attendance, it will lead to a better future for everyone

How to use the words in sentences

As you now know, transition words are used to guide a reader through your writing and to make it more coherent The better your writing coherence, the easier it will be to follow your arguments in your essay

One important point though before we go on If you over use transitions they can make your writing look slightly mechanical as very good writers will need

to use them less as they will have the ability to cleverly guide someone through their writing without them

It is quite a high level skill though So it really depends on your ability If you are

at a lower level of writing, you should make more use of them as they will make

it easy for the examiner to follow your ideas

If you have more sophistication in your writing, you may not want to use them too much or it could affect your style

If you are unsure, it probably means you need to be using them! We'll now go on

to look further at how some of them are used

Most of these transition words are used in the same way in sentences and are followed by a subject and verb

1) Full-stop, capital letter, comma

There are many ways to improve congestion For example,some cities in The

Netherlands have pedestrian only city centres

Many countries have now reduced their CO2 emissions As a result, there is

now less pollution

OR

2) Semi-colon, small letter, comma

There are many ways to improve congestion; for example,some cities in The

Netherlands have pedestrian only city centres

Many countries have now reduced their CO2 emissions; as a result, there is

now less pollution

_

Varying Position and Use of Transition Words

However, you do not want to use these words too ‘mechanically’ so you should vary their position, and don’t repeat the same word too often You can

vary the position with the following transitions:

1) Giving Examples

You can vary your use of ‘for example’ and ‘for instance’ by moving them to

after the first phrase of the sentence or to after the subject or verb

There are many ways to improve congestion Some cities in The

Netherlands, for instance, have pedestrian only city centres

There are many ways to improve congestion Some cities in The Netherlands

have, for instance, pedestrian only city centres

2) Giving a Contrast or Result

Similarly, you can place contrast or result transitions further down the

sentence:

Tokyo now has a Sky Train Traffic problems, as a result/therefore/as a

consequence, have decreased significantly

These can also be joined to the previous sentence with the conjunction 'and’:

Tokyo now has a Sky Train, and, as a result/therefore/as a consequence,

traffic problems have decreased significantly

Note: you cannot join it to another sentence without ’and’:

Tokyo now has a Sky Train, as a result, traffic problems have decreased

significantly - this is incorrect

3) Listing Points

These can also be varied For example:

Firstly, an advantage of a new public transport system is that it will reduce

traffic congestion

Again, to improve your writing, you should vary the way you use these They can be changed so they are no longer a transition but become part of the subject:

The first advantage of a new public transport system is that it will reduce traffic

Writing an IELTS Essay Introduction

Writing the Introduction

In the writing for task 2, you must write an IELTS essay introduction, but you

only have 40 minutes

In this time you need to analyze the question, brainstorm ideas to write about, formulate an essay plan, and then write your response

Even for a native writer of English, this is a lot to do in 40 minutes!

So you need to use your time carefully You need a good IELTS essay

introduction, but one thing you do not want to do is spend too long writing it so that you end up rushing your paragraphs

Your paragraphs are the most important thing as they contain all your

supporting arguments and demonstrate how good you are at organizing your ideas

You therefore need a method to write your IELTS essay introduction fairly quickly When you write an introduction, you should make sure you do two things:

1 Write a sentence introducing the topic and giving somebackground facts about it

2 Tell the reader what you are going to be writing about

How you do this will vary depending on the question, but here is an example:

To what extent to you agree or disagree?

Sample IELTS essay introduction:

Despite the fact that killing animals for sport is popular in modern society, it remains a contentious issue I believe that blood sports are cruel and uncivilized and so should be banned as soon as possible

As you can see, the first sentence consists of the topic plus

somebackground facts on the topic which have been taken from the rubric

The second sentence then gives the writers opinion and tells us that in the

essay the writer will be arguing the reasons why it is cruel

The topic does not have to be in the first sentence, but it should be made clear somewhere in the introduction You must always have a thesis

Paraphrasing

Another important point - don't copy from the question! You must

paraphrase (put it in your own words) To do this you can use synonyms and move the order of the sentence around

Using some of the same words is acceptable, but don't copy whole phrases

You can see how the question above has been paraphrased All the information

is from the question, but it has been written in a different way and has not been copied

What things do the Arts provide to the world that Science and

Technology do not?

Sample IELTS essay introduction:

Societies have developed rapidly over time due to the many advances in science and technology However, the arts are also very important and provide our world with many things that science and technology cannot

communication possibilities world wide, we should be concerned about the effect this is having on social interaction

How far do you agree with this opinion?

Sample IELTS essay introduction:

A recent study has shown that as people use the Internet more, they are spending less time with human beings I believe that although this has

increased the communication around the world in positive ways, it has also led

to negative effects on the day-to-day social interaction of human beings

Example 4:

Question:

Unemployment has become an increasing problem in the recent past

What factors contribute to an increase in unemployment and what steps can be taken to solve the problem?

Sample IELTS essay introduction:

Over recent years, the level of unemployment has been increasing at an alarming rate in many countries around the world This essay will discuss the reasons for this increase and consider what practical solutions are available

Example 5:

Question:

Some people think children in secondary school should study

international news as part of the curriculum Others think that this would be a waste of time as there are already too many subjects for children to concentrate on

Discuss both views and give your own opinion

Sample IELTS essay introduction:

While some people are of the opinion that it would be useful to include

international news as a subject in the school curriculum, others believe that this

is a waste of students time because they are already overloaded with subjects to study This essay will examine both sides of the issue

Lesson 6:

Writing a Thesis Statement

In this lesson we will look at what thesis statements are, and how you can vary the way you write it according to the question

They are a crucial part of writing an introduction

What is a thesis statement?

Very basically, it tells the person reading your essay what will be in it It may also give your opinion if the question asks you for this

It is the last sentence of your introduction

Don't get it mixed up with thetopic of your essay - this is usually at the

beginning of your introduction

How do I write a thesis statement?

In order to make it effective, you must have first identified the task of the essay

If you are unsure about this, check out this lesson onidentifying the task

The task is what you have to do, and is usually at the end of the rubric For

example, look at this IELTS essay question:

As global trade increases, many goods including those we use on a daily basis are produced in other countries and transported long distances

Do the benefits of this trend *outweigh the drawbacks?

What you have to do (the task) is explain whether you think, overall, an increase in the production of goods in other countries and their subsequent transportation over long distances is

Here is an example introduction, with the thesis in bold:

Due to the increase in global trade, many of the goods that we consume every day are made in a different country and then transported over a long distance in

order to reach us In my opinion, this trend has more disadvantages than

advantages

You would then go on to write about the advantages and disadvantages of

global trade (focusing more on the disadvantages as you think there are

more of these)

*Just a quick note on the word 'outweigh' This word often confuses students

and they end up writing a thesis statement opinion that contradicts what they write in the essay

The simple answer - don't use the word! It is just asking you if there are more

advantages than disadvantages So just state what you think in the thesis without using the word, as in the example

How does the thesis statement change with

different types of question?

We will now look at how thesis statements can vary with different question types However, you should not try to learn set phrases or sentences to fit certain essays

There are some broad types of essay question that are common to see, but they can all vary slightly

The golden rule is to always read the question very carefully(never rush

this as you may not fully answer the question) and work out what you have to

do

Your thesis statement will then follow on from this, depending on what you have decided you need to write about in order to answer the question

So below are some suggestions of what you could do for certain common kinds

of essay question, but this is not to say these are right and other ways are wrong There are numerous ways to write good thesis statements and these are just possibilities

1) Writing about Two Opinions

Some questions ask you specifically to discuss two opinions and togive your opinion

Some people think that young children should be allowed to do paid work, while others think that this should be illegal

Discuss both opinions and give your opinion

There are various ways you could choose to write an introduction and thesis for this

illegal This essay will discuss both sides of the issue

This is quite simplistic but it makes it very clear what you are going to do

You will obviously need to give your opinion as well in the essay, but stating this

in the thesis ("This essay will discuss both sides of the issue and then give my opinion") sounds awkward so it is better without it

Here is a sample essay with a similar thesis statement

Example 2

Another possible way to do it is by having a sentence to introduce the topic first, and then paraphrasing the two opinions to make them your thesis:

At present, more and more young children are becoming involved in paid

work Whilst some people are of the opinion that this is an entirely

acceptable practice, others believe that this is completely wrong and should be made illegal

This is fine as your thesis will match with your essay - you go on to discuss the first opinion and then the second one

Here is another model essay using such a thesis statement

Example 3

Or of course you could modify this slighly to include your opinion:

At present, more and more young children are becoming involved in paid

work Whilst some people are of the opinion that this is an entirely

acceptable practice, I believe that this is completely wrong and should

be made illegal

As long as you go on to discuss both sides of the argument, this is fine

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

For this type of question, you need to state what your opinion is in the thesis statement

Although you could feasibly do this in the conclusion, I think it is better to do it first so it is clear to someone reading the essay what your opinion is upfront It

is not wrong though to put it in the conclusion - this is your choice

Your thesis statement here will depend on whether you agree, disagree, or partly agree Here are some examples of each:

A thesis statement that agrees with the opinion:

Alternative medicine is not new It is accepted that it pre-dates conventional

medicine and it is still used by many people all over the world However, I

strongly believe that this form of medicine does not work and is

possibly a danger to those using it

A thesis statement that disagrees with the opinion:

Alternative medicine is not new It is accepted that it pre-dates conventional

medicine and it is still used by many people all over the world I am

unconvinced that it is dangerous, and feel that both alternative and conventional medicine can be useful

A thesis statement that partly agrees with the opinion:

Alternative medicine is not new It is accepted that it pre-dates conventional

medicine and it is still used by many people all over the world I agree that for

certain conditions this type of medicine is ineffective and could even be dangerous, but for some illnesses it is a good alternative choice

These examples illustrate why it is important to ananlyze the question carefully and brainstorm your ideas first so you have a clear idea of what you will be writing and what your opinion is

Here is a model essay answering the question

3) Other Essays

Some other essays may not ask you for your opinion specifically, but may ask

you to discuss, for example, problems and solutions,causes and

effects, advantages and disadvantages

If you are asked to do this, then you should just clearly state that you will be discussing these two things in your essay Here are some examples:

Problems and solutions:

Overpopulation of urban areas has led to numerous problems

Identify one or two serious ones and suggest ways that governments and individuals can tackle these problems

Sample thesis in bold:

Many countries of the world are currently experiencing problems caused by

rapidly growing populations in urban areas Both governments and

individuals have a duty to find ways to overcome these problems

View model answer for this essay

Causes and Effects:

The percentage of overweight children in western society has increased by almost 20% in the last ten years

Discuss the causes and effects of this disturbing trend

Sample thesis in bold:

Over the last ten years, Western societies have seen close to a 20% rise in the

number of children who are overweight This essay will discuss some

reasons why this has occurred and examine the consequences of this worrying trend

View model answer for this essay

Advantages and Disadvantages:

In order to solve traffic problems, governments should tax private car owners heavily and use the money to improve public transportation

What are the advantages and disadvantages of such a solution?

Sample thesis in bold:

Traffic congestion in many cities around the world is severe One possible solution to this problem is to impose heavy taxes on car drivers and use this

money to make public transport better This essay will discuss the benefits

and drawbacks of such a measure

View model answer for this essay

This lesson has provided you with some broad guidance on writing a thesis statement for different types of essay

It is important to stress again though that questions can vary so you must always analyze if carefully and identify exactly what you need to do and what should therefore be in your thesis statement

Remember, a thesis statement is just telling the reader what the focus of your essay is and giving your opinion if necessary

Lesson 7: IELTS Band 7 Writing

A question asked many times is how to score IELTS band 7 writing

If you need a band 7 and you are not getting it, it is almost impossible to tell you why without seeing samples of your writing

So the aim of this lesson is to look more generally at what is required to get

a band 7 in the writing test If you want to know specifically where you are

going wrong, then you will need to discuss your work with an experienced IELTS instructor

The frustration is normally for those who are stuck at a band 6 or 6.5 but just don't seem to be able to get that 7!

It can be quite a jump to go from a 6.5 to a 7, so this lesson will explain what is required for an IELTS band 7

We'll focus on essay writing rather than task 1, but the criteria and principals are more or less the same There is some clarification of some of the differences between the marking of task 1 and 2 at the end

The Marking Criteria

To explain this, we'll begin by looking at the IELTS band descriptorsfor a

band 7

This is not a secret This information is taken from the IELTS public band descriptors and is freely available from a test centre or you will find it if you search on the internet

You are given a band score for each of the criteria, and the ones in this table in the descriptors column are those that are specifically needed for an IELTS band

7

Criteria IELTS Band 7 Descriptors

Task Achievement

 Addresses all parts of the task

 Presents a clear position throughout the response

 Presents, extends and supports main ideas, but there may be a tendency to

over-generalize and/or supporting ideas may lack focus

 Presents a clear central topic within each paragraph

Grammatical

Range and

Accuracy

 Uses a variety of complex structures

 Produces frequent error-free sentences

 Has good control of grammar and punctuation but may make a few errors

When you are graded, you will be given a score for each of these, and this will then be averaged

So if you are getting a 6.5, that means you must not be meeting the standard required as shown in the table for one or two of them

For example:

Task acheivement = 7

Coherence and Cohesion = 7

Lexical Resource = 7

Grammatical Range and Accuracy = 6

Overall writing band = 6.5

As previously stated above, you'd have to show some of your writing to an experienced IELTS teacher to get some advice on which ones you are not achieving in and to find out if it is always the same criteria

If you find out, you can then work on this to improve your score

We'll now just have a look at each of them in a bit more detail to highlight some common areas where you may possibly be going wrong

Some people think that the best way to reduce crime is to give longer prison sentences Others, however, believe there are better alternative ways of reducing crime

Discuss both views and give your opinion

The task is to discuss both the opinions and to give your opinion So, for

example, if you only wrote about one of the opinions or did not give your opinion, you will not have addressed all parts of the question so you can't get an IELTS band 7 for task achievement

Or if you only wrote a small amount on one of the opinions, this may not be seen

as fully answering the question either

There is a lesson here that explains the importance of identifying the task to make sure you fully answer all parts of the question

You must also have a clear position throughout So if your opinion is not

clear and you seem to change it during the essay, then this could be a problem for achieving an IELTS band 7 in this criteria

You also need to fully extend and support your ideas So it is not enough

just to put lots of ideas down - fewer ideas are better that are explained properly with reasons and examples

Look at some model essays to see how a clear position is presented throughout and how only a few ideas are presented but they are fully explained and

supported

Coherence and Cohesion

Very basically, this is how you organize and present your ideas, and

how easy your work is to read

So you will need to know how to organize an essay properly in terms of

paragraphing and having ideas that logically and clearly go from one to the next

to get an IELTS band 7

Another key point here is that you have to have a clear central topic within each paragraph

To take a simple example, if you are writing about the advantages and

disadvantages of something, then you may want to have one paragraph about each Each paragraph will then have a clear central topic - either advantages or disadvantages

If you mix them up, this may not be clear

Again, look at some of the model essays to see how each body paragraph clearly has one central topic

You also need a mix of cohesive devices These are the things that join and

link your ideas, sentences and paragraphs For example,transitions such as 'however', 'firstly', 'moreover', and other general linking words within sentences such as 'and' and 'because'

You will need a variety and mix of these for an IELTS band 7, and you'll need

to be able to use them effectively with some flexibilityrather than

mechanically

Lexical Resource

Your lexis is basically your vocabulary, and as it says in the descriptors, you'll need to show that you know some less common words and be able to use them precisely

Its in the accuracy that is needed for your vocabulary that problems can often occur with regards to getting an IELTS band 7

As you can see, you can only make occasional errors in your word choice, word

formation and spelling This means the majority need to be correct!

This is obviously no easy achievement and so you'll need to be a fairly skilled writer to be making only occasional errors with your lexis

You can find some useful and less common vocabulary by following this link, but you need to learn how to use the words correctly otherwise you may make more mistakes with word forms

Using lots of new words that you don't know how to use properly could make your writing worse, so be careful! Only use words you know how to use properly

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

As will be clear from the title, this one is assessing your level of grammar