HOW CAN I WRITE A B2/C1 iTEP ESSAY ?

A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO WRITING A GOOD ESSAY FROM START TO FINISH.

Writing a good essay takes less effort if you know exactly how to do it and use the right approach. In this article I am going to share a step by step guide on how to write the best essay possible so that examiners give you the grade that you want.

The first thing you have to understand is what an essay is. The Cambridge dictionary defines it as – a short piece of writing on a particular subject, often expressing personal views While the Merriam Webster dictionary defines it as -an analytic or interpretive literary composition usually dealing with its subject from a limited or personal point of view. From both definitions we can understand that an essay is a piece of writing expressing personal opinions about a particular subject.

For demonstration purposes, we are going to use an essay from the iTEP preparation book.

Essay Question

Most countries allow people to get a driver’s license at the age of 16. Some people feel that 16 is much too young for the responsibility that comes with driving a car and that teenagers should not be allowed to drive until the age of 21.What is your opinion and why ? Instructions- You are required to answer this question in 20 minutes and write between 175-225 words.

Step 1

The first thing you have to do is question analysis. This involves looking at the question analytically and trying to find out two things

a)What topic is being asked specifically ?

b)What question is being asked exactly ?

Why is it important to analyze the question ?

The reason is it is the first thing the examiner looks at while marking your essay.The first parameter is accuracy and appropriateness and this looks at whether the examinee answered what was asked in the question.

Let us take a moment and analyze these two things from the question.

Most countries allow people to get a driver’s license at the age of 16. Some people feel that 16 is much too young for the responsibility that comes with driving a car and that teenagers should not be allowed to drive until the age of 21.What is your opinion and why ?

From the question we can analyze two things.

a)The topic is getting a driver’s license (at the age of 16).

b)What is your opinion about this and why ?

You have to be very specific about the topic because if you are too general, you may miss exactly what the question is asking. The question is asking about getting a driver’s license and not at any age but specifically at 16 years.You have to start by giving a general view, then go on and become more specific as you continue.

Step 2

Making a simple summary/plan of your essay.

Do not start your essay until you have planned your essay. This is because of the time limit you have. You want to start writing with a clear plan such that when you begin typing, you do not stop until you are done.

At this stage you have to do a few things that is,

a)Decide whether you agree or not

b)Write down two/three reasons why you agree/disagree

From our question our simple plan may look as follows

I disagree with giving a driver’s license to a 16yr old

Reasons – They are not responsible enough.

– Lack of necessary skills and experience

Conclusion – 16 yr olds should not be allowed to drive.

Step 3

Writing the introduction.

The next thing after making a plan is to start writing your essay beginning with an introduction.

Let us look at the contents of an introduction and the structure.

What is the purpose of an introduction ?

The purpose of the introduction is to let the examiner know what the topic is and what your opinion is regarding it.

How do you write an introduction ?

You have to first understand the essential parts of an introduction before you attempt to write one. The four essential ingredients are :

1)A general background about the topic under discussion.

2)The question under discussion

3)Your opinion about it.

4)Your reasons

1.Giving a general background.

To give a general background about the topic, you simply have to state a fact about the topic. It can be a definition of the topic or what is happening in the world right now regarding that topic.From our question

Our background could look like this,

A driver’s license is one of the important documents for one to have.

2.The question under discussion

To say something about the question under discussion,you simply have to rephrase or paraphrase the question. To do this, you have to use some synonyms but stay on point with the topic that’s being asked. If you cannot find a synonym, it is better to repeat the words used in the question.

Our paraphrased question may look like this :

Majority of nations give permission to juveniles to acquire it at the age of 16.

3.What is your opinion ?

Here, you have to state clearly what you think about the topic under discussion by giving a thesis statement. A good thesis statement is clear and expresses exactly what the examiner thinks. This is also called a thesis statement.

Using our reference question, a good thesis statement may look like this :

I disagree with this policy . . . .

I believe this is a good idea because . ..

In my opinion I disagree with this because . . . .

4.What are your reasons ?

In this part of the introduction, the examiner has to state the reasons as to why they have taken the position which they have.

In other words you have to tell the grader why you think the way you do.

An example of this would be :

Teenagers are not responsible enough and lack necessary skills and experience to drive a car.

Our whole introduction would look like this :

A driver’s license is one of the important documents for one to have.Majority of nations give permission to juveniles to acquire it at the age of 16.I disagree with this policy.This is due to the fact that teenagers are not responsible enough and lack necessary skills and experience to drive a car.

Alternatively we it cal also look like this :

A driver’s license is one of the important documents for one to have.Majority of nations give permission to juveniles to acquire it at the age of 16.In my opinion, I disagree with this policy because teenagers are not responsible enough and lack necessary skills and experience to drive a car.

Step 4

Writing the body

The body of the essay is where you elaborate the ideas of your introduction. This is where you put the meat on the skeletal reasons stated at the start in the introductory paragraph.

What makes a good body ?

A good body is made up of well crafted paragraphs.

What makes a good body paragraph ?

A good body paragraph consists of a topic sentence, the reason why you think so and an example.In other words, you have to explain why you think the way you think followed by an example to consolidate your ideas.

Another good thing that can improve on the quality of your body paragraph is the use of coherent/linking devices.

A typical paragraph should have at least 3 linking devices. One for starting the paragraph, another one for explaining and the last one for giving an example.

Another important thing to mention about your use of connectors is that it gives you the opportunity to combine all these types of connectors which shows a good lexical ability. Be sure not to reuse any while writing your paragraphs.

How many paragraphs should you have in the body of your essay ?

Basically, 2 or 3 paragraphs are sufficient for a student to express their idea thoroughly. If you write too many (more than 3), you will not be able to develop your ideas fully.

Alternatively if you make them less(like writing only one body paragraph) you will not be able to separate your ideas which will affect your coherence, coherence and clarity.

Can I write an essay with two conflicting ideas ?

Yes you can, however you have to show this clearly in your introduction that you are going to argue on both sides of the debate. This will create coherence in your essay due to the fact that your body clearly reflects what was stated in the introduction.

For the purposes of good time management,I normally advise students to choose one side and stick to it because they may not have enough time to discuss both slides of the argument.

Using our question as a reference, a good body paragraph would appear as follows :

To begin with,teenagers do not possess the skills and abilities necessary to manage a car on the road so giving them permission to drive is not a good idea. Skills such as navigation, physical strength and stamina, emotional intelligence are quite not well developed among young people so if they are allowed navigate a vehicle, it will be an uphill task for them

In addition to that, a sixteen year old does not have the experience needed on the road to handle the complexities of controlling a car. Experience in things such as driving alongside bad drivers, speeding vehicles and bad weather are some of the things a teenager does not have any idea about how to put up with them. Therefore by letting them drive, we are putting other road users’ lives in danger.

Step 5

Writing a conclusion

A conclusion is where you sum up whatever you’ve been discussing in your essay so far from both the introduction and the body.

Think of it as a place where you finalize everything that has already been said in the essay.

What makes a good conclusion of an essay ?

A good conclusion should have a concluding connector, a summary of your previous points in the body and a reaffirmation of your opinion on the question given as stated in the introduction.

Some of the concluding connectors you can use in your conclusion include

In conclusion,

To conclude,

To sum up,

In a nutshell,

Can I introduce any new ideas in my conclusion ?

No, you cannot introduce any new ideas in a conclusion because the purpose of the conclusion is to summarize what has already been stated in the previous parts of the essay.

How do you know that you have written a good conclusion ?

You know you have written a good conclusion if the ideas in it are the ones in the introduction and body which makes your essay coherent.

Using our reference question, our conclusion would look like this:

In conclusion, sixteen year olds should not be approved to get a driver’s license due to lack of necessary skills and expertise to maneuver on the road.

An illustration of the whole essay and the question:

Essay question

Essay

In conclusion, sixteen year olds should not be approved to get a driver’s license due to lack of necessary skills and expertise to maneuver on the road.

Word count – 215 words.

Writing a good essay in an international exam is quite possible if you have the required knowledge and skills to do it. With these few tips shared in this article, I hope you can write a good essay then next time you are in an exam.