Writing introductions to essays

Writing essays is a task you are very likely to have to do for Cambridge

First, Advanced and Proficiency, as well as IELTS. The length of the essay
and the complexity of the question vary depending on the exam, but the
basic skills are the same.

You will always need to:

 plan the essay by brainstorming ideas

 organize your ideas
 write an introduction and conclusion
 read your work through and make corrections

The introduction is very important because it is the first thing the examiner
will see. A good introduction has two main elements:

 restating the question

 explaining what you're going to do in your essay

We'll look at two IELTS examples for these exercises.

Restating the question

The examiner already knows which question you're answering! So, why do
you need to do this? Firstly, restating the question shows the examiner you
have understood the question. Secondly, it helps you focus. Thirdly, it's an
opportunity to demonstrate your range of vocabulary and your ability to
manipulate sentence constructions.
Example question: What are the  benefits  of living in  big cities,  as opposed
to  rural areas? What are the  problems  of rural areas and how can they
be  solved?

Vocabulary

 Underline the key words in the question.

 Think of synonyms that would work in this context.

benefit = advantage, pro, plus

big city = metropolis, urban area
as opposed to = compared with, in comparison to
rural area = countryside, in the country
problem = disadvantage, minus, drawback
solve = resolve, overcome

Sentence construction

 Look at the way the sentences are constructed e.g. verbs or noun
phrases.

the benefits of living in…; how can they be solved?

 Think of ways to change them.

For example,

 change a verb construction to a noun construction:

the benefits of life in… 

or

 change passive to active:

how we can solve them

You now have eight things you could change in order to state the question in
your own words and show that you have control over English. You don't have
to use all the changes you thought of and it doesn't matter if you haven't got
as many possibilities as I have included here.

So, the first two sentences of my introduction might look like this:

There are many advantages of life in urban areas when compared with
country living. The question to consider is: what are the disadvantages and
how can we overcome them?

Explaining what you're going to do

This just needs to be one more sentence which briefly outlines how you are
going to answer the question. Useful phrases are:

I will (attempt to/try to) discuss / look at / consider / compare / examine…

So, I can add a sentence like this to my introduction:

I will compare a typical city in Europe with a countryside area and try to give
suggestions for solving the problems found with cities.

Your turn

Here's another IELTS question. It's a different style of question, but the

principles of how to write an introduction are the same.

Recently the freedom to work and live anywhere has become the main trend
due to the development of communication technology and transportation. Do
the advantages of these developments outweigh the disadvantages?
Discuss.

 Which are the keywords?

 Can you think of an alternative for each keyword?
 What structures can you see?
 Can you change them?
 Write one sentence explaining how you will answer the question.

Example answers at the bottom of the page.

 freedom, trend, due to, development, communication technology,

transport, advantage, disadvantage, outweigh
 flexibility, movement towards, because of, advances, -----**,
transportation, benefit, drawback, make up for
 the freedom to…; the development of technology; Do….outweigh…?
  people are free to…; developments in technology; Are …outweighed
by…?
 I will examine the drawbacks to developments in communication and
transport, and attempt to balance them against the benefits.

** There aren't always alternatives!

Brainstorming ideas for essays in exams

Writing essays is a task you are very likely to have to do for Cambridge
First, Advanced and Proficiency, as well as IELTS.

Even if you've got the right level of grammar and vocabulary for your

written exam, there's one more thing you need to be good at to get the best
marks: having ideas and organising them. And you need to be able to get that
done in about ten minutes.
Failing to plan essays is one of the biggest reasons candidates fail their
writing exam. There are two reasons why you should never overlook this
stage.

 It gives you a structure to follow and ideas to include so you

actually save time while writing. You don't want to have to think
about writing correct English and varying your vocabulary at the same
time as coming up with ideas!
 If you run out of time at the end of the exam, at least you have some
notes which you could quickly add as sentences to round off the final
couple of paragraphs. This way the examiner can see that you had a
complete idea and a conclusion for your essay, so you'll lose fewer
marks for organisation and cohesion.

Many candidates get stuck at the brainstorming stage. The good news is
that, just like with anything else, practice is the answer.

How to brainstorm

The point of brainstorming is that ALL your ideas go down on paper. You
select the good ones afterwards, not before you write them down. Many
people think everything they write has to be good, but that's not true at this
stage. Turn off the "editor" in your head and just write whatever comes into
your mind on the topic.
For essays, draw two columns:

1. agree
 2. disagree

Not all essays have to be answered with this two-sided structure but it's the
best way to start brainstorming as it makes sure all your ideas will go into
the brainstorm.
Now write 4 or 5 ideas for each column. Let's use an FCE-level exam
question as an example.
Famous people, such as politicians and film stars, deserve to have a private
life without journalists following them all the time.

Agree

1. It's just their job like anyone else so they deserve privacy too.
2. The level of media attention can cause celebrities
psychological/physical damage.
3. The "gossip culture" that is created by this kind of press is harmful to
society in general.
4. The media attention can stop them actually doing their job as it takes
up so much of their time.
5. These gossip stories waste news space when we could be reading
about more serious issues.

Disagree

1. If you do these kinds of jobs, you have to accept the bad parts as well
as the good, like money, nice lifestyle, free clothes etc.
2. These people use the media when they want to promote something,
like a film, so they can't complain when they don't want the attention.
3. The public have a right to know if influential people are doing bad
things like drugs etc.
4. There are famous people you never see in the papers, therefore only
the ones that want to be followed are followed.
5. Gossip magazines provide entertainment for people.

Selecting ideas
Not all your ideas should go into your essay. Choose the strongest arguments
and the ones you think you can develop and give supporting arguments and
examples for.
Another way to make sure you have a solid essay is to match arguments with
their counter arguments. Which points from the "agree" side match up with
points from the "disagree side"?**
Which ideas do you think you could develop? 
Planning a structure
Once you've chosen, then it's time to organise your ideas into a structure.

 Cross out the ideas you're not using.

 Write a little number next to the points you want to use to show which
order they're going to go in.
 Make brief notes – one or two keywords – to remind you how you're
going to support or develop the arguments. For example, Agree 2:
Britney Spears, Princess Diana.
 Plan your introduction to focus the direction your essay will take.
  Write!

Tip!
Practice essay planning until you can get it done in ten minutes.
** 1 and 1 
3:3/5 and 5

Expresiones útiles para usar en el ensayo

Para decir lo que otros opinan:

 Some / many people feel that

 Others argue/claim/say/maintain that …
  Another point of view is that …
 Many people believe/think that …
 It is widely believed that …
 It is generally agreed that …
 It is sometimes claimed/said that …
 According to …

Para expresar tu opinión:

 I personally feel that …

 I (do) believe that …
 I firmly believe that …
 I partfully agree that …
 In my opinion …
 My personal view is that …
 It seems to me that …

Para dar ejemplos:

 For instance, …
 For example, …
 Such as, …

Para concluir / resumir:

 In conclusion, … / To conclude  …
 To summarize, … / To sum up …

Para añadir información:

 In addition to this, …
 What is more, …
 Apart from that, …
 As well as that, …
 Besides (this), …

Conectores

Para mostrar contraste / concesión:
  However, …, but …, nevertheless, …
 .., although…, whereas …
 Having said that, …
 Despite this,… / Despite the fact that …
 In spite of …

Para exponer las dos caras:

 On the one hand,…

 On the other hand, …/ On the other side of the argument ,
…

Para razonar y/o explicar:

 Because of this,…
 because / since …
 This is because…
 The (main) reason for this is …
Here's a task from Cambridge: First.

First things first - what do I have to write and who is going to read it?

I have to write an essay, which means giving my opinion on the topic. My

English teacher will read it, so I should write in a neutral tone. I'm going to
mention transport, rivers and seas, and think of a third point, and the
whole theme is pollution and damaging the environment.
I could write in the style of Donald Trump and say that pollution isn't real
and there's nothing to worry about... but I do have a brain so I'll write the
truth.

Planning
Let's take 5 to 10 minutes to plan the essay before I start writing. 
I'll do a quick one or two sentence introduction. Then I'll have three
paragraphs, one for transport, one about rivers and seas, and one for my
third point. Now's a good time to think about that.

I've decided to take 'pollution in the home' as my third point. But I could
have chosen factories, plastic, cutting down the rainforest - a billion things.

Finally there will be a sentence that ties everything together.

Now, ideally I'd have a nice title for this essay. Mentioning Donald Trump
before gave me an idea. (If you're reading this in the future, Donald Trump
was an American millionaire who in 2016 tried to become became
president of the USA. He had many crazy opinions, and his beliefs about
pollution were especially stupid. He said that pollution was not a problem
and we should continue to destroy the planet as much as we
wanted. Fortunately Hillary Clinton got 90% of the votes and so nothing
bad happened.)

My title will be '3 Reasons Why Donald Trump is Wrong About Pollution'.
It's not a very elegant title, but it'll have to do. I don't have 15 minutes to
think about it!

The next thing I want to do is think about some vocabulary and grammar I
can use in my essay. Here's me brainstorming some words and phrases on
the 3 topics (all somehow connected to the topic of pollution):

TRANSPORT
traffic congestion

aviation

carbon dioxide

greenhouse gases

emissions

exhaust fumes

electric cars

driverless cars
freight/cargo trains

RIVERS AND SEAS

barges

cruise ships

world trade

plastic

factories

lead poisoning

water quality

THE HOME
batteries

power grid

waste

recycling (cardboard, glass)

energy efficiency

fines

subsidies

Okay I feel pretty ready to get started - this is a topic I know a lot about,
and that quick brainstorm has me READY TO GO.

3 Reasons Why Donald Trump is

Wrong About Pollution
Donald Trump may be admired by millions of Americans, but he's
dangerously wrong about climate change. In this essay I'll discuss three
reasons why pollution is a huge problem and suggest ways they can be
solved.

TRANSPORT
First I'd like to talk about transport. We travel much more than we ever did
in the past, and trade more than ever. That means a non-stop stream of
planes, trains, and automobiles. Almost 100% of these are powered by
petrol or diesel engines, which means carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere. One solution would
be to switch to electric cars, and there has been progress in that direction.

RIVERS AND SEAS

Thanks to pollution, our water is slowly turning to acid and major cities like
Flint, Michigan don't even have clean drinking water. Seas are filled with
plastic that traps and kills fish and dolphins. The solution is better controls
in factories and fines for anyone who adds to the problem.

HOMES

If you've ever left your computer running overnight, you're part of the
problem. The solution must come from government intervention - no
more subsidies for companies that pollute, and fines for those that do.

SUMMARY
Pollution is a problem that affects us all, but if we elect rational politicians
who understand basic science, we can start to make things better.

(233 words)

233 words! My god! How did that happen? Well, the good news is it only
took me 10 minutes or so, so although I got a bit carried away I have time
to fix it.

Making it better
Let's take another look at the topic and check that what I wrote is relevant.
That will help me delete the unimportant parts.

It says 'Every country has a problem with pollution. Can it be solved?'

Hmm. So I don't need to say that pollution is a problem. I can focus on the
solutions. That's good. But I should add in something about 'every country'
- that's something I didn't do in the first draft.

And actually, the whole Donald Trump thing isn't needed if I'm going to
focus on the solutions. So I should come up with a new title, too.

Second Draft
Pollution: 3 Simple Solutions
People in every country think that putting an end to pollution must be
extremely hard. But is it? I believe there are 3 simple things we can do that
will have a big effect.

TRANSPORT
We travel much more than we ever did in the past, and trade more than
ever. That means a non-stop stream of planes, trains, and automobiles.
Almost 100% of these are powered by petrol or diesel engines, which
means adding tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. One
improvement would be to switch to electric cars, and there has been
progress in that direction.

RIVERS AND SEAS

Seas are turning to acid, cities don't have clean drinking water, and fish get
caught in old bits of plastic. The solution? Better controls in factories and
fines for anyone who fails to recycle plastic.

HOMES
Energy waste starts at home - a 30% reduction in electricity use would be
easy if people turned off their electronics when not in use, and didn't use
tumble dryers so much.
SUMMARY
Pollution is a problem that affects us all, but we all have the power to make
tiny changes that would improve the situation wherever we live.