Easy ways to structure your IELTS Academic writing tasks

If you are preparing for the IELTS academic exam, you know that you will have to complete two writing tasks: a report and an essay. Understanding the similarities and differences in paragraphing frameworks for these two separate tasks will go a long way in saving you time and improving your score.

If you are confused about how to use paragraphs effectively, you are not alone. Many people struggle when it comes to organizing their ideas effectively in their writing. This article will hopefully clarify how paragraphs are used to help make your IELTS Task 1 and 2 writing easy to read.

Paragraphs are groups of sentences that usually deal with a single theme or have an expected purpose such as an introduction or conclusion when combined together. 

Each one begins with the first line indented or is separated from the next one with a blank line. 

Paragraphs break a longer text into manageable units so that the reader can follow how thoughts and ideas unfold with a logical beginning, middle and end. 

Paragraphing is very important in the Task 2 essay because it is a more formal composition, but if you want to score higher overall, you have to show that you can use them skillfully in both tasks. Knowing basic formulas for these IELTS writing tasks will help improve your score. 

Let’s look at basic paragraphing in sample questions from the IELTS exam to demonstrate the similarities and differences in their structure.

This first Task 1 example compares the consumption of French fries and poutine.

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. 

* Poutine: a mixture of French fries, cheese curds and gravy.

While you read the response, think about these questions: 

1. What information is in each paragraph and how is this information different or the same from the ones around it?  

2. Can you see a clear beginning, middle and end of this response?

What follows is an agree/disagree essay broken down into its beginning middle and end, and then a closer look at how sentences are organized within each paragraph so that the ideas and reasoning are easy to follow. 

Sentence 1: State the premise that the essay will address (you can simply rephrase the words in the task).  

Developing and buying medicine is expensive and some believe that money would be better spent on preventing disease from arising in the first place. 

Sentence 2: State your opinion in the matter. 

I somewhat disagree with this notion.  

Sentence 3: Briefly outline what you are going to write in the next two paragraphs to support your opinion. 

It would be a mistake to focus only on prevention as there will always be diseases to treat and spending money on the research and development of medicines might lead to more effective preventative measures. 

Sentence 1 (topic sentence): Tell the reader what this paragraph is about by introducing your first point.

Preventative actions do not always stop illness from occurring.

Sentence 2: Assume that the reader doesn’t know anything about this topic and explain your point clearly.

One glance at the healthy living section of a bookstore shows that there are opposing opinions on what to do to keep illness away.

Sentence 3: Give a real-life or made-up example that illustrates and supports this point.

For instance, smoking is an identified cause of cancer but choosing not to smoke does not guarantee that you will not develop lung cancer because it still occurs in non-smokers.

Sentence 4: State an opposing position but redirect to yours.

Sentence 1 (topic sentence): Tell the reader what this paragraph is about by introducing the second point. 

Instead, we need to continue funding the research and development of medicines to better understand the cause as well as the prevention of disease.  

Sentence 2: Assume that the reader doesn’t know anything about this topic and explain your point clearly. 

If we keep looking for ways to fight and treat sicknesses, we are more likely to find better ways to stop them from occurring.  

Sentence 3: Give a real-life or made-up example that illustrates and supports this point. 

For example, while searching for ways to cure a cold, scientists discovered that an effective way to avoid catching one was frequent hand cleaning but, prior to the science, it was mistakenly believed that avoiding cold air would keep the virus away. 

Sentence 4: State an opposing position but redirect to yours. 

So, it’s true that it takes a great deal of money to develop new medicines, however, those investments lead to more informed methods for keeping people healthy. 

Sentence 1: Rephrase your opinion and sum up your two supporting points. 

Prevention goes far in improving people’s lives and reducing suffering but we still are not certain that these methods work for all, so continued investment into research and treatment is important. 

Sentence 2: Make a prediction or a recommendation based on what you have said. 

Investing money in both tactics would be ideal. 

BYLINE:

Angela Rutherford is an experienced English teacher who specializes in helping people do their best on the IELTS exam. She lives in Toronto with her husband and their Scottish Terrier named Edgrrr.