Download my plan to structure IELTS essays

Structure IELTS essays plan (2439)

Think clearly about your opinion/point of view

You want your point of view to be clear. My basic rule is that if you can’t say in 2 sentences, it’s too complex. So part of the planning process may be deleting ideas that are too complex or that you can’t express clearly in English.

See my example

I’m going to go for a balanced type essay with an argument that it health and longevity (living for a long time) will get worse in the West but better in developing nations. Before I start writing I make sure I can say this simply

I think health will get worse in the west but better in developing countries and this will affect how long people live.

Build the spine of your essay – see my example

All you need to do now is build the spine of the essay: the intro, first sentences and conclusion. I really do do this using my essay structure plan above. I ended up with this. Take a look at it. See

· how simple it is – that’s good, you do want a simple structure

· how things repeat – that’s good too

· I crossed out my idea about stress and mental health. It’s a good idea, but would make the essay too complex

Now get the words

This lesson wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t show you the “end-product”. Your plan is only good if it helps you write well. Take a look at my opinions (in red) and the balance between developing countries (in green) and the industrialised nations (in blue).

Introduction

How to structure IELTS essays

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This lesson shows you a simple way to structure IELTS essays. Below I show a very simple method (with a downloadable resource) I use myself and also show my students in class.

 

 

Read and understand the question

 

One key to it is understand the question and to be clear about what you want to say in your response. Clear thinking leads to clear writing.As ever, the first step is to read and understand the question. Here is the question today:

 

Despite advances in medicine there are concerns that certain diseases such as diabetes are increasing and some people believe future generations will face greater problems with health and die younger than we do today.

 

What is your opinion?

 

This question asks you to:

 

give your opinion – this must be clear in the introduction and the conclusion

about whether health will be better in future – this means that you need to talk about the future and now – there must be some comparison

about whether people will live longer – this needs to be mentioned to

All these things must be included.

 

Think about the examiner – make your opinion and structure clear – give your essay a backbone

 

IELTS essays get marked quickly. You don’t want to allow the examiner to make a mistake. So make life easy for him/her by showing the structure of your essay as clearly as possible. There are 4 places you do this – what I think of as being the spine of the essay. (your spine is your backbone – it’s what keeps you upright and gives you your structure).

 

the introduction – that’s the first thing they read and where you make your first impression and first impressions count

the first sentence of each paragraph (x2) – examiners are taught that each paragraph should have one main idea – show them what it is in the first sentence

the conclusion – that’s the last thing they read and the first thing they remember!

The key is link these things together so that

 

the introduction matches the conclusion – the opinion/point of view is the same: you just need to change the language

the two body paragraphs link to the opinion/point view in the introduction

To do this try this simple essay structure plan. It may just look like 4 boxes on a blank piece of paper, but it might save your life!

 

essay-structure

 

Download my plan to structure IELTS essays

 

Structure IELTS essays plan (2439)

Think clearly about your opinion/point of view

 

You want your point of view to be clear. My basic rule is that if you can’t say in 2 sentences, it’s too complex. So part of the planning process may be deleting ideas that are too complex or that you can’t express clearly in English.

 

See my example

 

I’m going to go for a balanced type essay with an argument that it health and longevity (living for a long time) will get worse in the West but better in developing nations. Before I start writing I make sure I can say this simply

 

I think health will get worse in the west but better in developing countries and this will affect how long people live.

 

Build the spine of your essay – see my example

 

All you need to do now is build the spine of the essay: the intro, first sentences and conclusion. I really do do this using my essay structure plan above. I ended up with this. Take a look at it. See

 

how simple it is – that’s good, you do want a simple structure

how things repeat – that’s good too

I crossed out my idea about stress and mental health. It’s a good idea, but would make the essay too complex

health-essay-structure

 

Now get the words

 

This lesson wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t show you the “end-product”. Your plan is only good if it helps you write well. Take a look at my opinions (in red) and the balance between developing countries (in green) and the industrialised nations (in blue).

 

Introduction

 

There is no question that medicine has progressed dramatically over the last century, but this does not mean that all our medical problems have been solved. Indeed, my belief is that the average life span in the Western world may actually fall in the 21st century. This is in contrast to the situation in developing countries where I expect health provision to improve and longevity to increase.

 

Paragraph 1

 

The main reason why overall health may become worse in the industrialised nations of the West relates to modern lifestyles there.

 

Paragraph 2

 

The situation in the developing world is, however, quite different and overall health is likely to improve.

 

Conclusion

 

My conclusion is therefore a mixed one. While it is true that people may face greater problems with their health in the future, this only applies to industrialised nations and not to the developing world where life expectancy may increase.

 

The main reason why overall health may become worse in the industrialised nations of the West relates to modern lifestyles there.

Paragraph 2

The situation in the developing world is, however, quite different and overall health is likely to improve.

Conclusion

My conclusion is therefore a mixed one. While it is true that people may face greater problems with their health in the future, this only applies to industrialised nations and not to the developing world where life expectancy may increase.

 

Read more: How to structure IELTS essays | http://www.dcielts.com/ielts-essays/structure-ielts-essays/#ixzz3pPwFR9jy
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

 

 

Read more: How to structure IELTS essays | http://www.dcielts.com/ielts-essays/structure-ielts-essays/#ixzz3pPugu7OX
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives