Structure
of an essay
tÍúTRODUCTION , about 4Owords
about 180 words
about 3Owords
Summary I V Recommerrdation (optional: if asked for' advice, suggestion)
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coNcLustoN
What the writer isgoing to say Topicsentence.
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Introduction
The int¡oduction:
: g]:_"r1 gelSrat starementabouthe topic
. ' rlay statethewriter's posiiion if the'#riter is onry taking one side in thediscussion gives anindication of what the writer plans to say.
Tl.g F"rylal statem.enrslls whafthe controlling idea of fhe essay wiil be;Thecontroriing ideais the centraridea áf the essay.
Thq writer's position is imp-ortantin essaysr¡¿herean opinion is sought or a suggestionis aiked for. ' -
Studentsshou1drea9.ftuquestioncarefu1lyanduseittostartthe essay.butthey should notsimply copy thequestion. '
Look at the exampreof how theinformation in a question canbe úsedto startthe essay.
rt Exampte:
Myry businessesfi1d ít tle difficult to assignenottghtime ancl resourcesto researchanddeaelopment:t lhai could i gorsernment do to eircouragemorecompanys'tending'intn¡r'"rri'Z
Topic: 'resourcesrand 'researchanddevelopment,.
Taskwords: 'government do to encouragecompanyspending,.
The writer's.position: The writer r.villmakesuggestrons
Generalstatement:Researchand de'elopmentisexpensíve;companiestry to avoid spendingon it.
hfha! the writer plans to say: Governmentscould:offertaxadvantagesand researchgrantsto companies.Theseincentiveswould heíp to:increaseer..ploy*"nt and creativity.
' in re¡e1ch and dévelePmentby offering,tax advantagesuná r.r"ur.h grants to companies.Theseincentiveswould help to increase einployment ánd creativity.,r ,,, : l
The introduction will thus read: 'Researchand development isvery expensive,so companiesoften try to avoid s¡end_1ngin this a¡ea.Goverfments could "r,iorr.ug",work :;i : PREPAREFORIELTS:The TELTSpreparation Course I lnit 4 The Writino TP<t
WrutÉngfhe €s-sap: Thelntroduetion
In many ways,yourconclusionand inrroductionare verysimilarin thatthey bothstate youropínionThe introduction isprobablyrheshorreslsectionof a TaskZ essay.ft mightcontain:
€ a restatementof the quesrion
e youropinion
" what andhowyou aregoingto discussthequestion.
\Uhen you writeyour inrroducriondo not:
" copy ihe questionword for word
c give a lor of backgroundinformation.
Pn¡crtce
Look at the following three introductions to the questionbelow and decide which you like berterand why.
If countríesareseriousaboutsolving trffic problents,theyshould taxprivate carsvery heavilyand usethemoneyto providefree or verycheaprail travel.
To what extentdo you agreewith theabove?
Introduction 1
M*y nations arefacing massivetraffic congestionin their cities. This both makestravel difficult and causesenvironmental damage.In order to solvethis problem it isnecessaryto establishalternativetransportationsystemssuchas raitrways.In my opinion the besrway to finance the development of public transport is to tax car drivers.
Introduction 2 :
Motor carswereinvented at the end of thelastcentury and have developed $eatly over the last 100 years.In many countriesfamilieshave two .ar, ánd sometimes even three. As thereare so manvcarson the road there areoften traffic jams on major roads.It can take many hours to complete a short joumey at peak times in somemajor cities. Many attemptshave beenmade to solve the problemsof badraffic. These include limiting the times carsare
allowedro drive in certainareasandmaking carbcarrya cerrainnumberof passengers.These schemeshave met witl'rvarying degreesof success.
Introduction 3
Many peoplesaythat if countries areseriousaboutsolving traffie problems, they shouldtax privatecarsvery heavilyand usethe money to providefree rail travel.
EXERCISEzN . . ] I : Write anlintroductionfor this Task2 question.
A countrytlsfirs dury rc its c:itizensis to pt:atect them. Therefore it is logical that defenceshould takeup 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 andthelócus of thequestior¡beforeyou startiYoumight alsof,rndit usefulto brainstormtheideasyouwantto includebeforebeginningto wnte.
Timetarget-3minutes