WRITING

LESSON 1
 An academic essay
• Word limit Assessment Criteria
• Time limit ❑ Task Response
❑Coherence & Cohesion
❑Grammatical Range
❑Lexical Resource
 IELTS ESSAY TYPES

1. Argument Give your opinion

2. Discussion + Opinion Discuss both views and give your opinion

3. Specific Responses Give specific responses

4. Problem-Solution Explain a problem and/or its causes/ effects

Cause-Effect Suggest solutions

5. Advantages + Discuss advantages & disadvantages

Disadvantages
 IELTS Writing Task 2

BRIEF
REVIEW
SPECIFIC RESPONSES ESSAY A Specific responses essay is the kind of essay used to answer
IELTS task 2 questions which ask two questions on a specific
topic.

PROBLEM-SOLUTION ESSAY A Problem-solution essay is the kind of essay used to answer

IELTS task 2 questions which ask you to write about the causes
and/or effects of some problem and suggest the possible ways to
solve this problem.

ADVANTAGE & DISADVANTAGE ESSAY An Advantages – disadvantages essay is the kind of essay used to
answer IELTS task 2 questions which ask you to list the
advantages and disadvantages of a certain issue.
 IELTS Writing Task 2

BRIEF
REVIEW
ARGUMENTATIVE / OPINION ESSAY An Argument/Opinion essay is the kind of essay used to answer
IELTS task 2 questions which ask directly for the writer’s
personal opinion.

DISCUSSION & OPINION ESSAY A Discussion + Opinion essay is the kind of essay used to answer
IELTS task 2 questions which ask for a discussion of both sides of
the issue raised AND the writer’s personal opinion.
 Women are always better parents than men.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Some parents raise their children with strict discipline,

while others leave them free to learn on life’s lesson
their own.
Discuss both views and give your opinion.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of playing

sports and participating in physical exercise.
In some countries, the average worker is obliged to
retire at the age of 50, while in others, people can
work until they are 65 or 70.
Until what age do you think people should be
encouraged to remain in paid employment? What
measures could be applied to encourage them?

Telecommuting is growing in many countries and is

expected to be common for most office workers in the
coming decades.
How do you think society will be affected by the
growth of telecommuting?
ESSAY STRUCTURE

STEPS TO WRITING
Example
Childhood obesity is becoming a serious problem in many countries.
Explain the main causes and effects of this problem, and suggest
some possible solutions.
• Causes
• effects
• solutions
IELTS Writing Task 2

Childhood obesity is becoming a serious problem in many countries.

Explain the main causes and effects of this problem, and suggest some possible solutions.

-si mon.com
Source: ielts
 ARGUMENT ESSAY
OPINION ESSAY

Ask directly for the writer’s personal opinion

⮚ To what extent do you agree or disagree? One-sided

⮚ Do you agree or disagree?

⮚ Which of the views do you agree with?

Two-sided
⮚ How far do you agree (with this statement)?
 One-sided Some people think that governments should spend as much
money as possible on developing or buying computer
technology. Other people disagree and think that this money
Two-sided should be spent on more basic needs.
Which one of these opinions do you agree with? Use specific
reasons and details to support your answer.

Capital punishment should be abolished.

Do you agree or disagree with this statement?

It is widely accepted that people who have post-school qualifications earn a higher salary than those less
educated. University students should, therefore, pay the full cost incurred over the course of obtaining a
tertiary education.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
 WRITING AN INTRODUCTION

Many modern children spend too much time sitting in front of a television screen.

This is extremely harmful to their development. Therefore, parents should strictly limit
the time that children spend in this way.

Do you agree or disagree

Many modern children spend too much time sitting in front of a television screen.
This is extremely harmful to their development. Therefore, parents should strictly limit the time that
children spend in this way.
Do you agree or disagree

The influence of media on children has become a topic of broad

interest in today’s society. Many people complain that children spend
a great proportion of their lives watching television. This exposure
and parents should ensure that they control the quality and quantity
of television their children view.

One-sided
In this day and age , a large number of children are exposed too much to the TV screen, which has a detrimental effect on their growth .
Hence, it is advisable that parents place restrictions on children's time on TV. Whether this should be carried out or not has been a
matter for a lot of debate . From my perspective, I agree with this above statement on account of the reasons.
To commence with, the excessive exposure to TV screen may have an adverse impact on the children’s health. It is a common
knowledge that the light from TV contains blue light which worsen children’s eyes, and gradually lead to the diseases regarding eyes,
for example, short-sightedness. In addition, watching TV too much (more than 3 hours a day) can also contribute to sleep difficulties,
obesity and other health issues.
In the second place , not all channels and programs which are broadcast on TV suit children to watch . These days, there are some
adverstisemen t or programs that include the content of violence, pornography and crime. The children may inadvertently watch those
programs, and imiate the aggressive, violent or sexual behaviors. Therefore, watching TV sometimes lead children to the improper
actions, which do harm to the children’s character.
Moreover, although TV sometimes provide children with interesting programs and help children broaden their knowledge, in case
children spend a large amount of time on TV that can negatively affect children’s study at school. Some children waste hours on TV
and do not study the lessons at school, which make their grader lower.
To sum up, although Tv offers children some merits , watching too much TV can result in the many expected and unwanted
disadvantages. Watching excessive TV can clearly have a deleterious effect on the children’s development, affecting not only the
children’s health but also make them behave improperly and waste their time .
 One-sided
Capital punishment should be abolished.
Do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Arguments for capital punishment:

•Supporters say that capital punishment deters crime.
•Fear of the death penalty stops people from committing offences.
•The death penalty shows that crime is not tolerated.
•It is a form of revenge.
•The cost of imprisonment is avoided.
•The offender cannot pose a threat to others.
Arguments against capital punishment:
•Innocent people could be wrongly convicted and executed.
•Crime rates are not necessarily reduced.
•Many criminals do not think they will be caught.
•Capital punishment is not a good deterrent.
•Executing prisoners creates a violent culture and encourages revenge.
•We have no right to take another human life.
 One-sided
Capital punishment should be abolished.
Do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Many people believe that death penalty is necessary to keep security system efficient in the society. While there are some
negative aspects of capital punishment, I agree with the view that without it we will become more vulnerable to violence.

Death penalty can be considered unsuitable punishment for several reasons. The strongest argument is that we have no
rights to kill other humans. Right to live is the basic right of any human being, and no one can infringe this right,
irrespective of the person’s deeds. Moreover, innocent people can face wrongful execution. Such unfair sentences take
away lives of innocent people and make other citizens lose faith in law and justice. And besides, sometimes criminals
repent of their acts. In this case they should be given a second chance to improve themselves.

However, I believe that capital punishment is necessary in the society. Firstly, it is an effective deterrent of major crimes.
The best method to prevent a person from committing crime is to show the consequences of his or her actions. For
example, the government of Pakistan has controlled the rate of terrorism by enforcing death penalties for the members of
terrorist organizations. Secondly, the governments spend large sums of national budget on maintenance of prisoners.
Instead, this money can be used for the development of the society and welfare of the people.

To sum up, although capital punishment has some disadvantages, I think that it proves to be the best way of controlling
criminals, lessening governmental expenses and preventing other people from doing crimes.