Organization of Task 2 essays

It is important to structure your essay because it enables you to organize your ideas and write faster.

For all five question types, it is recommended to use *four paragraphs* as follows:

Introduction:* introduce the topic and state the points you will discuss in the body.
Body 1: discuss the first point or idea, depending on the question type.
Body 2: discuss the second point or idea, depending on the question type.
Conclusion:* summarize all information in the essay.

Task Focus, Marking and Assessment

Task Focus

This task assesses the ability to follow English discursive writing conventions. This includes the following key aspects;

What order to put information in?
What style to use
How to start and finish discursive writing
How to paragraph
How to organize and link information coherently and cohesively and
How to use language accurately and appropriately

Marking and Assessment

The examiner will look at the following four parameters when marking or assessing your essay;

1.Task response/achievement

Task achievement is the ability to answer the question properly. To score well for task achievement, three things must be done:

Answer the actual question asked (don’t just write generally about the topic)
Answer all parts of the question.
Clearly express your opinion and support it with well-developed ideas and ideal examples.

2.Grammar

This refers to one's ability to accurately use a range of grammatical structures. A candidate should be able to observe tense rules, punctuations, sentence structures, spellings, subject-verb agreement among other grammatical aspects.

3.Coherence and Cohesion

Coherence is about the unity of ideas (in a paragraph) and *Cohesion* the unity of structures/paragraphs (in an essay). There should be a strong connection from the introduction to conclusion. The parameter relies much on the use of cohesive devices/connectors/linking words.

4.Lexical resource

This gauges on the student’s vocabulary range. Avoid repetition, employ several synonyms on words; this will always improve your vocabulary range. The test-taker is advised to be simple in terms of vocabulary usage.

1. Opinion questions

Opinion Questions are common question type in IELTS Writing Task 2. From the name, the questions intend to assess your opinion on different issues or subjects. They may take the following forms:

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

What is your opinion?

Do you think....?

Is it a positive or negative development?

Structure of opinion questions

Introductory paragraph

The paragraph should have two sentences as follows:-

1The first Sentence

Paraphrase the statement from the question card by use of the following words

-Most people have argued that....

- Most people prefer....

1. -Avoid starting the paragraphs with such words like *It is* argued that. It makes your work awkward

2. Look at the overall meaning of the statement and restate the whole idea in other words (paraphrase)

Second sentence

In this sentence you should say whether you agree/disagree starting with the following words:-

- I completely agree

- I concede

You should also include your supporting points (briefly) for your opinion which forms the contents to your body 1 & 2.

Body Paragraph 1 and 2

The body paragraphs should have at least 5 sentences

First sentence

- State the reason why you agree or disagree. Do this by starting with the following words:-

First of all ...

First and foremost....

Firstly .......

In the first place .....

Second and third Sentence

-Explain your answer and expand your reason(s). You can start with the following words:-

This is because.....

Since .......

For the reason .......

In view of the fact that .....

Owing to the fact that....

Given that .......

In light of this ....

Fourth sentence

- Give example, You can use examples from your own life, from history literature from the news and so on. Start with the following words:-

For Example

For instance

To give an instance

By way of illustration

As an illustration

To illustrate

Such us

To show an example

Particularly

In particular

A good illustration of this

Remember that it's not a must for the example to be real,you can form any as far as it is relevant to the content of the paragraph.

Fifth sentence

- Write a short summary of your paragraph. You should summarise the whole idea of your paragraph.

Start with following words:-

Thus,

As a result of this...

Hence,

Therefore,

Because of this...

Conclusion

This final paragraph should have 1-2 sentences in the following structure:

In Conclusion + Restate your opinion + Restate the two reasons in summary

To sum up + Restate your opinion + Restate the two reasons in summary

To summarize + Restate your opinion + Restate the two summary summarry

To Conclude + Restate your opinion + Restate the two reasons in summarry

If an *Opinion Question* reads : *do you agree or disagree?*

You can't disagree and agree at the same time.

*Think about the question ; Will you go to Nairobi or Mombasa? The answer is either Mombasa or Nairobi , not both*

*BUT* if it reads: *to what extent do you agree or disagree?*

You can completely agree ,where you agree to the end.

Completely disagree, where you disagree to the end.

Partially agree/disagree, where agree in both 1 and disagree in body 2. Though most students tend to confuse this format with *Discussion Questions*.

To show the extent of agreement ,we use words such as *totally, completely, partially, fully etc.*

Discussion questions

Discussion questions, as the name suggest, expect you to discuss a certain subject in details. Unlike opinion question, you are expected to analyze both view points of the subject.

They take two forms:

*Discuss both views...*

*Discuss both views and state your opinion...*

Essay structure for discussion questions

Introduction

The paragraph should have two sentence as follows:

First Sentence

Introduce the general topic on the question card using the following words;

- People/Individuals have different opinions about…

- People/individuals have contrasting views about….

Second Sentence

Introduce the two sides of the discussion starting with the side that people support using the words;

- While some people/individuals believe that….

*Introduce the second view and give you* r general opinion by starting with the following words;

- I believe/think/convict that……

The two points above should be combined to form one complete sentence, joined by comma.

Body paragraph 1

Start with the view that other people support/think.

First sentence: Introduce the view by stating it briefly using different but retain the meaning ,begin with connectors such *First and foremost, on one hand, one one extreme etc....*

Second sentence explains the view in first sentence in details.

Thirrd sentence explains the view further

Fourth Sentence gives an example, it should be relevant and original.

Fifth sentence gives paragraph summary by restating the view briefly, use different words but retain the meaning.

Body paragraph 2

First sentence

Introduce the second view (what you think about the topic) beginning with connectors such *:On the other hand...On the contrary...*

Second sentence explains the view in first sentence in details.

Third sentence explains the view further

Fourth Sentence gives an example, it should be relevant and original.

Fifth sentence gives paragraph summary by restating the view briefly, use different words but retain the meaning.

Conclusion paragraph

Restate both views. Restate your opinion beginning with:

In conclusion...

In summary...

To conclude...

To sum up....

In a nutshell...

Remember that your essay should have four paragraphs. You only need to state your opinion in the Introduction and Conclusion.

Problem solving questions

In this type of question, You are asked to discuss causes and solutions or causes and effects of a problem or issue. Before you start Writing, it's best to think of the causes and solutions or effects and select two best points for each.

Structure of problem solving essay

Introduction paragraph

This paragraph has three sentences.

First sentence

Paraphrase the topic of the overall question.

Second sentence

State the reasons why or causes.Avoid statements like: This essay will...

Use words like..

-the reasons for these

-this has mainly been caused by

Third sentence

State the solutions or the problems.