Opinion Essays: Structure (British Council Academic IELTS: Writing): Study Material

Opinion essays: structure

Introductions

Rephrasing the question

• In the introduction, you just need to do two things:

  • Introduce the topic of your essay by rephrasing the question

  • Express (briefly) your opinion 

• Because of this, you do not need to write a long paragraph for the introduction

• Two sentences are enough

• The first sentence is a paraphrase of the task question

• You will lose marks in Task Response if you simply copy the task question

• To avoid that, use the task question as your starting point and circle the keywords in it

• Think of synonyms and alternative phrases for those keywords and use them to rephrase the question

• Make sure your paraphrase keeps the same meaning as the task question

Expressing opinions

• After the introductory sentence, you need to make your position clear

• Do not go into detail

• Simply write a sentence that explains your views

• It is acceptable and recommended to use the first person “I” (I agree/I disagree/ I believe, etc)

• Remember that you will then need to keep your opinion consistent throughout the essay

  • For example, do not say that you agree in the introduction but then mention you also disagree in the body paragraphs or the conclusion

Example of a good introduction

• Task question:

  • The best way to reduce crime is to give longer prison sentences. Do you agree or disagree?

• A possible introduction:

  • Many people believe that the most effective way to lower crime rates is to impose longer jail terms. While there may be good reasons for this opinion, I disagree with this view

Body paragraphs

Writing topic sentences

• Begin each main paragraph with a topic sentence

• This sentence should:

  • clearly state the main idea of the paragraph

  • support your overall position

• Keep the topic sentence simple and clear

• All the other sentences in the paragraph should support this sentence 

• The topic sentence should introduce, not explain in detail

• Do not include examples in the topic sentence (save them for later)

• You can use clear signalling expressions such as:

  • One reason why I agree is that…

  • Another important point is that…

  • However, I also believe that…

• The topic sentence of the second body paragraph should follow logically from the first paragraph

Supporting ideas

• You can develop and support your ideas and opinions with:

  • reasons

  • explanations

  • examples

• You may want to structure one of your paragraphs by mentioning two or three ideas that support your main one

• Remember that your supporting ideas should be relevant to the topic of your essay and aligned with your opinion

• Remember to keep a good balance between the length of your body paragraphs

  • For example, if body paragraph 1 is 170 words but body paragraph 2 is only 30, it means you did not develop all your main ideas fully

  • This will prevent you from getting a higher score in Task Response

• Avoid repeating the same supporting ideas

• Remember: if a sentence does not support the topic sentence, it probably does not belong in the paragraph

• When you finish the paragraph, check that all the supporting sentences work together to strengthen the same main point

Conclusions

What must be in a conclusion

• The conclusion is where you briefly repeat and summarise your answer to the question

• What you say in the conclusion must match what you say in the introduction

• Do not introduce new information or ideas in the conclusion

• Keep it simple and write one or two sentences only

• You can simply begin this paragraph by writing  “In conclusion,” or “To conclude,”

• Do not change your opinion in the conclusion