Structuring an Agree/Disagree IELTS Essay: From Diagnosis to Solution
Academic Argumentation
This essay is all about explaining why you think the reader should or should not do something.
The clearer and more convincing your reasons, the higher your marks.
You will learn to:
Think critically
Argue logically
Formulate reasons
Explain clearly
Express ideas grammatically
Use academic language
Examiners, and university lecturers, are looking for
Original thinking
A clear thesis
Strong background in the introduction
Coherence (can they understand you?)
Organisation of ideas
Progression of ideas
Relationship of ideas to thesis
Logical conclusions
Structure:
The structure, in plain terms, overall, is
Introduction: background and thesis (your point-of-view)
Body paragraphs: one reason why you have that point-of-view.
Conclusion: summarise all the ideas.
Notes:
*note: you can write three paragraphs but then each one will not have depth and you will lose task response marks.
*this structure is not fixed. You can adjust it depending on your needs, but the general purpose of ‘explaining your reason for your thesis’ does not change.
*note on templates. This is where you are given exact phrases to use and you ‘fill in the blanks’. Examiners see thousands of essays per year and can recognise templates. You will lose marks if you do this. (You will also find university extremely hard if you do this)
The 2-Body Essay is Recommended:
This is for maximum utility. You take two strong reasons and explore them in-depth.
Paragraph Structure
Background sentence
Topic sentence (what reason for your point-of-view are you giving?)
Explain your reason 2-3 sentences
Example (if space permits)
Result/summary
Common Mistakes
No depth or detail.
More than one reason in the paragraph
Illogical explanation
Reason doesn’t ‘prove’ the thesis
Overly complicated grammar
Unclear ideas
Using the wrong words
No academic language
These pages will teach you how to write strong agree/disagree essays.
Where the ‘big IELTS teachers’ fail you.
IELTS advice often suggests ‘paraphrasing the question’ to save time. In an academic environment, this is a signal of low authority.
A Band 9 writer (and a university writer) frames the debate with a Background Sentence.
My system trains you to write like a university student, something only 1% of IELTS students do, and examiners will recognise immediately.
IELTS Liz Goes wrong with advice
Liz says you can argue either side or discuss both sides but have an opinion.
This creates a mess and an unclear position (point-of-view).
In fact, I’ll teach you why disagreeing is the best move 90% of the time.
The questions are actually set up to be disagreed with. It’s a subtle test.
Can you be critical?
University demands critical thinking. IELTS is the same.
This allows you to say what’s wrong with the question and the idea proposed. You are looking at the situation in detail and explaining why.
Tutors and examiners want to see your high-level thinking, but don’t worry, in the agree/disagree pages, you’ll find everything you need to know.