Either watch the video or read the notes underneath to discover how to write fast effective introductions in 5 minutes or less!
How To Write IELTS Essay Introductions
Full Explanation
Every essay needs to start with an introduction. It should be 30-50 words long and take no more than 5 minutes to write. Your introduction must do the following things:
- Rewrite the question in your own words.
- State your opinion if the question requires you to do so.
- Say what the rest of your essay will do.
We will use the question below as an example to write an introduction for:
1. Rephrase The Question
All questions will have a sentence or two that is describing the situation, or giving background information for the question. Your job is to rephrase this part of the question using your own words. For example:
Some people think that getting a degree from a university is the best way to secure a good job, whilst others feel that getting experience is the best way.
Could be changed to...
Some members of society are of the opinion that graduating from higher education is the most effective way of attaining employment, whereas others believe that 'on the job' training is better.
I am sure you can see a number of the synonyms and paraphrases that have been used, they include:
getting a degree = graduating
university = higher education
job = employment
whilst = where as
getting experience = on the job training
As you can see having a wide range of vocabulary is really important in order to be able to do this effectively.
2. Giving Your Opinion
This is only required if the question asks you to do so. It is not logical to give your opinion if you are not asked to do so and it may even lower your band score, so be careful.
In the above example though, we are clearly asked to give our opinion:
Discuss both sides of the argument and give your opinion.
So, in this example your second sentence needs to give your opinion. For example:
I am of the strong opinion that completing a university education is of far more importance than gaining experience in a work place.
Notice that once more the writer has tried avoid using the same words as both the question and the first sentence, namely:
graduating = completing a university education
getting experience = gaining experience
If the writer had the opposite opinion then they may have written something like:
My firm opinion is that knowledge gained from the work place is far more valuable than from any educational institution.
knowledge gained from the work place = experience
educational institution = university
3. Say What Your Will Essay Do
The final sentence of the introduction needs to explain to the reader what they can expect to find in the rest of your essay. For example:
The remainder of this essay will discuss arguments both for and against the two view points.
Or...
The following paragraphs shall outline the main supporting points for both sides of the argument.
There is no need to over complicate this sentence. It is just a simple way of letting the reader know what they are going to be reading about next.
So, your overall introduction for this particular essay question could look something like this:
Some members of society believe that graduating from higher education is the most effective way of attaining employment, whereas others believe that 'on the job' training is better. My firm opinion is that knowledge gained from the work place is more valuable than from any university. The following paragraphs shall outline the main points for both sides of the argument.
59 words
In conclusion, by following those three simple steps you can quickly create logical and high scoring introductions.
- Rewrite the question in your own words.
- State your opinion if the question requires you to do so.
- Say what the rest of your essay will do.
The next step is to add your main body paragraphs. Discover how to write main body paragraphs effectively here.
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