WT2 StructureHints 2

1. ACADEMIC IELTS WRITING PART 2

Structure and Hints

2. It is important to learn about 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, they can all
follow the same basic structure.
These are some of the types of IELTS essays you can get in
the test:
1. Double Question
2. Agree / disagree
3. Discuss two opinions
4. Advantages & disadvantages
5. Causes (reasons) & solutions
6. Causes (reasons) & effects
7. Problems & solutions

3. The Golden Rule

• 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.
• The second lesson explains more about analysing
essay questions.

4. How do I Write an IELTS Essay?

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.
Write about 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, these
developments in IT are likely to have more negative effects than
positive in the future.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples
from your own experience or knowledge.
Write at least 250 words.

5. General Structure

• An IELTS essay is structured like any other
essay; you just need to make it shorter. There
are three key elements:
• Introduction
• Body Paragraphs
• Conclusion
• We will look at each of these in turn, using the
essay question above as an example.

6. 1) Introduction

• You should keep your introduction for the IELTS
essay short. Remember you only have 40minutes
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

7. 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.

8. Here is an example introduction for the above essay question about IT:

• Humanity lived in unchanged way for thousands
of years with rapid technological progress
starting in the beginning of the 20th century. 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, I strongly believe that these
developments in IT will result in more negative
impacts than positive.

9. Explanation

• As you can see, the second 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). The writer clearly
agrees as he/she thinks there will be more
negative impacts.

10. 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.

11. First Body paragraph

• 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:

12.

On the positive side, email has made communication, especially
abroad, much simpler and faster. This has resulted in numerous
benefits for commerce and business as there is no need to wait weeks
for letters or take time sending faxes, which was the case in the past.
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 internet. These developments have made life far easier and
more convenient for many.
• The controlling idea in this first paragraph is
the 'benefits of IT', and there are two
supporting ideas. No drawbacks are discussed
as the paragraph would then lose coherence.

13. Second Body Paragraph

• 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:

14. Second Body Paragraph

• 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. It also leads to
the cases of severe burnouts among employees
because the turnover of mails has drastically
increased over the years leading to enormous
workloads.

15. 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 the spread of computer viruses.
Unfortunately, this kind of problem might even
get worse in the future at least until more
regulated systems are set up.

16. 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

17. 3) Conclusion

• Here is an example:
• In conclusion, developments in IT have
brought many benefits, yet I believe that these
are outweighed by the drawbacks. In the
future these will need to be addressed if we
are to avoid damaging impacts on individuals
and society.

18. 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, I strongly believe that these
developments in IT will result in more negative impacts than positive.
On the positive side, email has made communication, especially abroad, much
simpler and faster. This has resulted in numerous benefits for commerce and
business as there is no need to wait weeks for letters or take time sending faxes,
which was the case in the past. 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 internet. These developments have made life far easier and more
convenient for many.
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-toface 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.

19. The full IELTS Essay:

• 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 the spread of computer
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 that these are outweighed by the
drawbacks. In the future these will need to be
addressed if we are to avoid damaging impacts on
individuals and society.

20. FOR ATTAINING SCORE WELL ABOVE 8 THE FOLLOWING IS CRITICAL

21.

22.

23. How NOT to write a paragraph

24. How NOT to write a paragraph

• The text above is written using perfect grammar
• The problem, however, is with the range
• There are only simple and compound sentences,
no complex sentences, no modal verbs, no
questions, no conditionals, no passives
• Even with the 100% grammatical accuracy, due to
the poor range the result is the following one:

25. How NOT to write a paragraph

26. How NOT to write a paragraph

27. Even if you get the following composition you will get the average of 7:

28.

29. SENTENCE TYPES

30. SIMPLE SENTENCES: definitely to be included in an essay

31. 2. Compound sentences should be included with conjunctions like and, for, yet, but, so, or, nor

32. 3. Complex sentences are critical for success of your essays

33. 3. Incorporate as many of those as possible but at least five

34.

35. PRACTICING COMPLEX SENTENCES

36. 3. Complex sentences

37. 3.Complex sentences

38. 3. Complex Sentences

39. 4. Passive sentences must be introduced as well but not in great quantities

40. 5. One or two of question sentences are also possible

41. Conditional sentences must be also included in small quantities

42. What is more important: Range or Accuracy?

43. Let us see the guidelines:

44. Conclusion: on test day you should attempt to reach a greater variety rather than accuracy