Structure of an essay

Structure

,

of an essay

tÍúTRODUCTION about 4O words

What the writer is going to say

about 180 words

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Topic sentence.

+ t'Ñl

coNcLustoN about 3O words

Summary I

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Recommerrdation (optional: if asked for' advice, suggestion)

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Introduction The int¡oduction: .

g]:_"r 1 gelSrat starementabouthe topic ': rlay state thewriter's posiiion if the'#riter is onry taking one side in the discussion . gives an indication of what the writer plans to say.

Tl.g statem.enrslls whafthe controlling idea of fhe essay F"rylal wiil be; The controriing idea is the centrar idea áf the essay.

Thq writer's position is imp-ortantin essaysr¡¿here ' - an opinion is sought or a suggestion is aiked for.

Studentsshou1drea9.ftuquestioncarefu1lyanduseittostartthe ' essay.butthey should notsimply copy the question.

Look at the exampre of how the information in a question can be úsed to start the essay. rt Exampte:

Myry businessesfi1d ít tle difficult to assignenottghtime ancl resourcesto researchand deaelopment:t lhai could i gorsernment do to eircouragemore companys'tending'intn¡r'"rri'Z Topic: 'resourcesr and 'researchand development,.

Task words: 'government ... do to encouragecompanyspending,.

The writer's.position: The writer r.villmake suggestrons G e n e r a ls t a t e m e n t : Researchand de'elopment is expensíve;companiestry to avoid spendingon it. hfha! the writer plans to say: Governments could: offer tax advantagesand researchgrants to companies.These incentiveswould heíp to:increaseer..ploy*"nt and creativity.

The introduction will thus read: 'Research and development is very expensive, so companies often try ' to avoid s¡end_1ngin this a¡ea.Goverfments could "r,iorr.ug",work in re¡e1ch and dévelePment by offering,tax advantages uná r.r"ur.h grants to companies.Theseincentives would help to increase . einployment ánd creativity.,r l : ,, ,

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PREPAREFOR IELTS:The TELTSpreparation Course .

WrutÉngfhe €s-sap :

The lntroduetion

In many ways,your conclusionand inrroductionare very similar in that they both state your opínionThe introduction is probablyrhe shorreslsectionof a Task Z essay.ft might contain: € a restatementof the quesrion e your opinion " what and how you are goingto discussthe question. \Uhen you write your inrroducriondo not: " copy ihe question word for word c give a lor of backgroundinformation.

Pn¡crtce Look at the following three introductions to the question below and decide which you like berter and why.

If countríes are serious about solving trffic problents,they should tax private cars very heavilyand use themoney to providefree or very cheaprail travel.

To what extentdo you agreewith the above?

Introduction

1

M*y nations are facing massivetraffic congestion in their cities. This both makestravel difficult and causesenvironmental damage.In order to solvethis problem it is necessaryto establishalternative transportation systemssuch as raitrways.In my opinion the besr way to finance the development of public transport is to tax car drivers.

Introduction 2

:

Motor cars were invented at the end of the last century and have developed $eatly over the last 100 years.In many countriesfamilies have two .ar, ánd sometimes even three. As there are so manv cars on the road there are often traffic jams on major roads. It can take many hours to complete a short joumey at peak times in somemajor cities. Many attempts have been made to solve the problems of bad raffic. These include limiting the times cars are allowed ro drive in certain areasand making carbcarrya cerrain number of passengers.

These schemeshave met witl'r varying degreesof success.

Introduction 3 Many people say that if countries are serious about solving traffie problems, they should tax private cars very heavily and use the money to provide free rail travel.

EXERCISEzN .

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Write anlintroductionfor this Task2 question. .

A countrytlsfirs dury rc its c:itizensis to pt:atect them. Therefore it is logical that defenceshould take up a signtficant p:roportion of the national bui.dget. ': Write a report for anreducated non-specialist audience,for lor,against the above.

Rememberto analysethe topic andthe lócus of the questior¡beforeyou startiYou might alsof,rndit usefulto brainstormthe ideasyou want to includebefore beginningto wnte.

Timetarget-3minutes