to discuss in an essay

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Discussion essays Considering both sides of the argument

Discussion essays are a common form of academic writing. This page gives information on what a discussion essay is and how to structure this type of essay. Some vocabulary for discussion essays is also given, and there is an example discussion essay on the topic of studying overseas.

What are discussion essays?

Many essay titles require you to examine both sides of a situation and to conclude by saying which side you favour. These are known as discussion or for and against essays. In this sense, the academic meaning of the word discuss is similar to its everyday meaning, of two people talking about a topic from different sides. For a discussion essay, a balanced view is normally essential. This makes discussion essays distinct from persuasion essays , for which only one side of the argument is given. When writing a discussion essay, it is important to ensure that facts and opinions are clearly separated. Often you will examine what other people have already said on the same subject and include this information using paraphrasing and summarising skills, as well as correct citations .

The following are examples of discussion essay topics.

• Examine the arguments for and against capital punishment.
• Schools should teach children not only academic subjects but also important life skills. Discuss.
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of technology in the classroom?

Although the structure of a discussion essay may vary according to length and subject, there are several components which most discussion essays have in common. In addition to general statements and thesis statement which all good essay introductions contain, the position of the writer will often be stated, along with relevant definitions . The main body will examine arguments for (in one or more paragraphs) and arguments against (also in one or more paragraphs). The conclusion will contain a summary of the main points, and will often conclude with recommendations , based on what you think are the most important ideas in the essay. The conclusion may also contain your opinion on the topic, also based on the preceding evidence.

An overview of this structure is given in the diagram below.

Discussion vocabulary

When summarising the stages in a discussion or in presenting your arguments, it can be useful to mark the order of the items or degrees of importance. The following words and phrases can be used.

• First..., First of all..., The most important...
• Second..., In the second place...
• Finally..., Lastly...

The following can be used when introducing your opinion.

• There is no doubt that...
• I believe that...
• One of the main arguments in favour of/against X is that...

It is important in English writing, including academic writing, to use synonyms rather than repeating the same word. The following are useful synonyms for 'advantage' and 'disadvantage'.

• advantage: benefit, a positive aspect/feature, pro (informal)
• disadvantage: drawback, a negative aspect/feature, con (informal)

Example essay

Below is an example discussion essay. Click on the different areas (in the shaded boxes to the right) to highlight the different structural aspects in this essay.

Title: An increasing number of students are going overseas for tertiary education. To what extent does this overseas study benefit the students?

Most people spend around fifteen years of their life in education, from primary school to university study. In the past, students only had the opportunity to study in their own country. Nowadays, however, it is increasingly easy to study overseas, especially at tertiary level. Tertiary education, also called post-secondary education, is the period of study spent at university. As the final aspect of schooling before a person begins their working life, it is arguably the most important stage of their education. While there are some undoubted benefits of this trend, such as the language environment and improved employment prospects , there is also a significant disadvantage, namely the high cost . The first and most important advantage of overseas study is the language learning environment. Students studying overseas will not only have to cope with the local language for their study, but will also have to use it outside the classroom for their everyday life. These factors should make it relatively easy for such students to advance their language abilities. Another important benefit is employability. Increasing globalisation means that there are more multinational companies setting up offices in all major countries. These companies will need employees who have a variety of skills, including the fluency in more than one language. Students who have studied abroad should find it much easier to obtain a job in this kind of company. There are, however, some disadvantages to overseas study which must be considered, the most notable of which is the expense. In addition to the cost of travel, which in itself is not inconsiderable, overseas students are required to pay tuition fees which are usually much higher than those of local students. Added to this is the cost of living, which is often much higher than in the students' own country. Although scholarships may be available for overseas students, there are usually very few of these, most of which will only cover a fraction of the cost. Overseas study therefore constitutes a considerable expense. In summary, studying abroad has some clear advantages, including the language environment and increased chances of employment , in addition to the main drawback, the heavy financial burden . I believe that this experience is worthwhile for those students whose families can readily afford the expense. Students without such strong financial support should consider carefully whether the high cost outweighs the benefits to be gained.

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Below is a checklist for discussion essays. Use it to check your own writing, or get a peer (another student) to help you.

Bailey, S. (2000). Academic Writing. Abingdon: RoutledgeFalmer

Cox, K. and D. Hill (2004). EAP now! Frenchs Forest: Pearson Education Australia

Jordan, R.R. (1999). Academic Writing Course. Cambridge: CUP

Roberts R., J. Gokanda, & A. Preshous (2004). IELTS Foundation. Oxford: Macmillian

Next section

Find out how to write persuasion essays in the next section.

Previous section

Go back to the previous section about different essay types .

Author: Sheldon Smith    ‖    Last modified: 16 January 2022.

Sheldon Smith is the founder and editor of EAPFoundation.com. He has been teaching English for Academic Purposes since 2004. Find out more about him in the about section and connect with him on Twitter , Facebook and LinkedIn .

Compare & contrast essays examine the similarities of two or more objects, and the differences.

Cause & effect essays consider the reasons (or causes) for something, then discuss the results (or effects).

Discussion essays require you to examine both sides of a situation and to conclude by saying which side you favour.

Problem-solution essays are a sub-type of SPSE essays (Situation, Problem, Solution, Evaluation).

Transition signals are useful in achieving good cohesion and coherence in your writing.

Reporting verbs are used to link your in-text citations to the information cited.

• How it works

How to Critically Discuss in An Essay

Published by Carmen Troy at September 19th, 2023 , Revised On January 5, 2024

Writing an essay often involves more than just relaying information or expressing an opinion. For many academic and professional purposes, you are required to critically discuss topics, demonstrate an understanding of various perspectives and showcase your analytical skills. 

So, what does it mean to critically discuss something in an essay? And more importantly, how can you do it effectively?

What is Critical Discussion?

Before diving into the how-to, grasping what critical discussion entails is essential. Essay writing help often emphasises the importance of this step. Critical discussion requires a deeper level of analysis where you explain a topic and evaluate and dissect its various facets.

Imagine an object in the middle of a room, with observers standing at different points around it. Each person sees the object from a unique angle. Similarly, when you critically discuss a topic, you are trying to view it from multiple angles, considering various perspectives and arguments and avoiding biases where certain perspectives might be overlooked.

How to Critically Discuss

Consider the following steps to critically discuss an essay. 

Start with Thorough Research

To critically discuss a topic, you need to understand its nuances. This requires in-depth research:

• Diverse Sources: Instead of relying on a single type of source, such as books, expand your horizons. Use academic journals, reputable news articles, podcasts, interviews, and more. Essay services can be an invaluable tool in this stage for collating resources.
• Contrasting Opinions: Deliberately seek out sources that disagree with each other. This will provide a more holistic view of the topic and help you understand the key debates in the field. 

Organise your Thoughts

Begin by brainstorming. Jot down the key points, arguments, counterarguments, and evidence you have gathered. Categorise them and try to identify connections or patterns.

Structure your Essay for Critical Discussion

Critical discussion typically follows this essay structure :

• Introduction of an Essay : Introduce the topic and highlight its significance. Outline the main points you intend to discuss, backed up by scholarly source references.
• Main Body: This is where the meat of your critical discussion will lie and where techniques like the rhetorical analysis of an essay can be invaluable.
• Present Different Angles: Every paragraph should tackle a unique perspective or argument. Discuss its strengths and weaknesses. If you are discussing a controversial topic, you might delve into the argumentative essay.
• Use Evidence: Always back up your statements with evidence. Quotations, statistics, and examples can bolster your claims.
• Contrast and Compare: Highlight how different perspectives agree or differ from one another. This comparative approach will enrich your analysis.
• Conclusion: Summarise the main points discussed and reiterate their significance. You might also want to mention areas for further research or exploration.

Question Everything

When critically discussing, you are essentially playing the devil’s advocate. Some questions to pose include:

• What are the underlying assumptions here?
• How might someone oppose this perspective?
• Are there any weaknesses or limitations?
• What real-world implications does this have?

Avoid Bias and Stay Objective

While it is challenging to be entirely free from biases, strive for objectivity. Remember, a critical discussion is not about what you believe; it’s about presenting a rounded view of the topic.

Write with Clarity

Complex topics demand clear writing. Avoid jargon unless it is essential, and ensure your sentences are concise and straightforward. Each paragraph should have a clear focus, and the flow from one paragraph to another should be logical.

Incorporate Feedback

Once you have written your essay, share it with peers, mentors, or tutors. Their feedback will provide fresh perspectives and highlight areas requiring more clarity or depth.

Revise and Refine

Like any essay, the first draft might not be perfect. Dedicate time to revising your work, refining your arguments, and ensuring the essay flows smoothly.

Conclude with Forward-Thinking

A hallmark of an excellent critical discussion is leaving the reader with something to ponder. Highlight areas where research is still ongoing, or propose questions that have not been addressed adequately.

What Critical Discussion is Not

Critical discussion is essential for deepening understanding, stimulating creative thought, and promoting a collaborative environment. However, certain behaviors and attitudes are not conducive to critical discussion. Here is what critical discussion is not:

Ad Hominem Attacks

A critical discussion does not involve attacking a person’s character, motives, or other personal attributes. The focus should be on the content of the argument, not on the person making it.

Appeal to Emotion

While emotions can be involved, a critical discussion should not be based solely on emotional appeals, nor should it be used to manipulate participants.

Straw Man Fallacy

Misrepresenting or oversimplifying an opponent’s argument to make it easier to attack is not genuine discussion.

Dodging questions, changing the topic abruptly, or not addressing the central issues is not a part of critical discussion.

Closed-mindedness

A true critical discussion requires participants to be open to new ideas and willing to change their minds if presented with compelling evidence.

Talking Over Others

Dominating the conversation, interrupting, or not allowing others to speak does not foster a healthy discussion.

Confirmation Bias

Only seeking out or acknowledging information that confirms one’s pre-existing beliefs is not the essence of critical discussion.

Appeal to Authority

Simply stating that an authority figure believes something does not make it true or end the discussion.

Overgeneralisations

Making broad statements without sufficient evidence or specifics undermines a constructive dialogue.

False Dichotomies

Presenting issues as if there are only two sides or solutions when there might be a spectrum of possibilities, in reality, is not conducive to critical exploration.

Circular Arguments

Arguing a point by merely restating it in different words does not add depth or clarity to a discussion.

Unwillingness to Listen

Entering a discussion with the intent to lecture rather than also to listen, learn, and potentially adjust your views stifles genuine discourse.

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Critical Discussion Example

let’s set up a scenario for a critical discussion:

Topic: The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health

Participants: Alex and Jamie

Alex: I have read a lot of articles recently that suggest social media has a negative impact on the mental health of users, particularly young people. There’s a correlation between increased social media use and increased rates of depression, anxiety, and loneliness.

Jamie: That is a valid point, Alex. There have been studies that suggest that. However, correlation does not imply causation. People who are already feeling lonely or depressed may be simply more likely to spend time on social media. How do we know that social media is the cause and not just a symptom?

Alex: That is a fair point. Some studies have shown that excessive use of social media can lead to feelings of inadequacy, especially when people compare their lives to others. The constant barrage of highlight reels from other people’s lives can make users feel like they’re not doing enough or not leading fulfilling lives.

Jamie: True, comparison can be detrimental. But social media also has its benefits. It is a way for people to connect, especially those who might feel isolated in their real lives. For some, it offers a community and a sense of belonging. Shouldn’t we consider these positive aspects as well?

Alex: Absolutely, I agree that social media can provide vital connections for many. But there is also the element of screen time. Being constantly connected can disrupt sleep patterns and reduce face-to-face social interactions, which are crucial for emotional and social development.

Jamie: Yes, moderation is key. Users need to be self-aware and ensure that their online interactions enhance their lives rather than detract from them. Healthy social media use education might be more beneficial than demonising the platforms.

This is a simplified example, but it highlights some features of critical discussion, similar to what you would find in a discursive essay :

• Respectful Exchange: Both participants listened to each other’s viewpoints.
• Exploration of Ideas: The participants delved into the complexities of the issue.
• Use of Evidence: Alex and Jamie provided reasons and evidence for their perspectives.
• Open-Mindedness: Both were open to adjusting their views or considering the other’s viewpoint.

Seeking Understanding: Instead of trying to “win” the argument, they aimed for a clearer understanding of the topic.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does critically discuss mean.

“Critically discuss” means analysing and evaluating a topic or argument thoroughly, considering its strengths and weaknesses. It involves a detailed assessment rather than a mere description, often requiring one to question assumptions, recognise biases, and provide evidence to support the analysis. It is a deep, balanced examination of a subject.

How to answer a critically discuss question?

To answer a “critically discuss” question:

• Introduce the topic briefly.
• Present key arguments or points.
• Analyse the strengths and weaknesses of each.
• Use evidence to support your analysis.
• Consider alternative viewpoints.
• Conclude with a balanced assessment.
• Ensure clarity, coherence, and proper referencing throughout.

How to critically discuss a theory?

To critically discuss a theory:

• Outline the theory’s main propositions.
• Examine its historical and academic context.
• Evaluate its strengths and weaknesses.
• Compare with alternative theories.
• Highlight empirical evidence supporting or refuting it.
• Analyse underlying assumptions.
• Conclude with a balanced perspective, acknowledging its relevance and limitations.

How to critically discuss a topic?

To critically discuss a topic:

• Introduce the topic succinctly.
• Present key facts or arguments.
• Analyse strengths and limitations.
• Reference relevant evidence or research.
• Consider opposing views or counterarguments.
• Assess the implications or significance.
• Conclude with an informed perspective, reflecting a comprehensive understanding.

How to critically discuss in psychology?

• Introduce the psychological concept/theory.
• Detail its historical development and key proponents.
• Evaluate empirical evidence supporting and opposing it.
• Examine methodological strengths and limitations.
• Compare with alternative theories or explanations.
• Discuss real-world implications or applications.
• Conclude, reflecting on its overall validity and relevance.

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How to Write a Discussion Essay

Last Updated: June 27, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Jake Adams . Jake Adams is an academic tutor and the owner of Simplifi EDU, a Santa Monica, California based online tutoring business offering learning resources and online tutors for academic subjects K-College, SAT & ACT prep, and college admissions applications. With over 14 years of professional tutoring experience, Jake is dedicated to providing his clients the very best online tutoring experience and access to a network of excellent undergraduate and graduate-level tutors from top colleges all over the nation. Jake holds a BS in International Business and Marketing from Pepperdine University. There are 14 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 441,773 times.

Discussion Essay Outline and Example

Planning Your Essay

• For instance, maybe the question is, "Immigration has been a heated topic on the national level for many years. With issues like the DREAM Act and President Trump's stances on policy, it's likely to remain a central issue. Using authoritative resources to back up your argument, take a stance on immigration policy, establishing whether you think it should be more or less strict and why."
• You can establish that the main topic is immigration policy from the sentence, "Take a stance on immigration policy."
• If you're having trouble understanding the question, don't be afraid to talk to the professor. They can help you better understand what they're asking for.

• If your essay will be based off a discussion had in class, ask your instructor if you can use class notes as a primary source.
• Look for respected news sources, as well as websites with ".edu" and ".gov" extensions.
• You may need to look up information on the DREAM Act or President Trump's policies to help you understand the question, for example. For this part, you don't need to take extensive notes, as you're just trying to get a feel for the subject.

• If you were given a text to base your essay on, make sure that text has enough evidence to support your chosen position.

• Use Roman numerals on your page to mark your main ideas. Write a main point by each Roman numeral. You should only cover 3 to 4 main points in a relatively short essay, such as one that's 3 to 5 pages.

• Your main sources should be books or ebooks, journal articles from academic journals, and credible websites. You can also use high quality news articles if they're applicable to your topic.

• For a book, you should include the author's name, the editor's name (if applicable), the title of the book, the publication year, the publication city, the edition, and the title of the book chapter in an anthology by multiple authors.
• For a journal, include the author's name, the journal title, the article title, the digital object identifier (DOI), the ISSN, the publication date, the volume (if applicable), the issue (if applicable), and the page numbers for the journal article.
• If you're searching in a database, you can often ask the database to save this information for you, but you should include identifiers on your notes.

• For example, if one of your main points is "Immigration increases diversity," some of your points underneath might be "Brings in new cuisines," and "Brings in new art."
• Find examples from your research, and add notes to each point to fill them in.

Writing the Introduction

• For an example or anecdote, start by telling a short story about something relevant to your topic. For instance, you might write the following for an essay on immigration, "When I was 4-years-old, my parents told me we were going on a long trip. After a bus ride, we spent nights walking, my dad carrying me most of the way. One day, we crossed a river. That day marked our first day in our new country."

• For example, you might write, "Immigration is a highly-debated issue. It is controversial because some people fear how it affects the resources of the country the people are immigrating to, while others believe the improved quality of life for immigrants is what’s most important."

• For instance, your thesis statement might be, "Immigration is good for the country because it increases diversity, infuses the country with new talent, and broadens the population's perspective, and it should be encouraged with a few basic safeguards in place."

Composing the Body of Your Essay

• For instance, if you're writing a short research paper, one paragraph might be your main point "Immigration increases diversity," where you cover all your bullet points in that paragraph.
• If you're digging deeper, you might create a section about diversity, and then use a paragraph to cover "brings in new cuisines," another to cover "brings in new art," and so on.

• Try not to set up a "straw man" argument, where you don't give the other side a fair chance. You should be able to support your position without purposefully creating a weak position on the other side.

• For instance, maybe you want to transition between a section about increasing diversity to one about bringing in new talent. You might write a sentence like, "Increasing diversity in our country doesn't just bring in new cuisines and art, it also brings in hard workers that have fresh perspectives on old problems in the workforce."

• You can paraphrase other ideas or use direct quotes, but only use a direct quote if the author said something in a unique way. Otherwise, put it in your own words.
• You may want to begin body paragraphs with a quote from a relevant source. Then, explain or provide commentary on the quote and show how it supports your position.
• You can also use statistics to back up your research. For instance, if one of your arguments is that immigration doesn't increase crime, use statistics to back that up.

Concluding Your Essay

• For instance, you might write, "A truly great country is one that celebrates differences and welcomes new ideas and perspectives. While immigration has some negative effects on a country, overall, allowing people from other countries to come in helps to spark new ideas and make the country a better and more interesting place to live. Rather than being a drain on society, immigrants are motivated to work hard and our citizens can only benefit from listening to their perspectives."

• Once you have the flow down, read it again to check for grammatical mistakes and typos. It can help to read it aloud, as it slows you down and forces you to read every word.

Expert Q&A

• Remember you can't research forever. Often, the research stage absorbs a student so fully that the upcoming submission date seems unimportant. Make sure to leave yourself at least a few days to write your essay. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

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• ↑ Jake Adams. Academic Tutor & Test Prep Specialist. Expert Interview. 20 May 2020.
• ↑ https://student.unsw.edu.au/answering-assignment-questions
• ↑ https://student.unsw.edu.au/essay-and-assignment-planning
• ↑ https://opentextbc.ca/writingforsuccess/chapter/chapter-11-developing-a-convincing-argument/
• ↑ https://student.unsw.edu.au/organising-your-ideas
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/introductions/
• ↑ https://www.umgc.edu/current-students/learning-resources/writing-center/writing-resources/parts-of-an-essay/essay-introductions
• ↑ https://wts.indiana.edu/writing-guides/how-to-write-a-thesis-statement.html
• ↑ https://www.student.unsw.edu.au/writing-your-essay
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/establishing_arguments/organizing_your_argument.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/establishing_arguments/research_and_evidence.html
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/conclusions/
• ↑ https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/conclusion
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/editing-and-proofreading/

About This Article

To write a discussion essay, start by taking a side on the issue you're writing about, like "Immigration is good for the country." Then, outline the main points that made you decide to take that position and do research to find evidence that backs them up. Look for credible sources that can help you make your argument, and don't forget to cite them. Then, when you're writing your essay, devote 1 paragraph to each main point and include your evidence. For help writing the introduction and conclusion to your essay, scroll down! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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• Focus and Precision: How to Write Essays that Answer the Question

About the Author Stephanie Allen read Classics and English at St Hugh’s College, Oxford, and is currently researching a PhD in Early Modern Academic Drama at the University of Fribourg.

We’ve all been there. You’ve handed in an essay and you think it’s pretty great: it shows off all your best ideas, and contains points you’re sure no one else will have thought of.

You’re not totally convinced that what you’ve written is relevant to the title you were given – but it’s inventive, original and good. In fact, it might be better than anything that would have responded to the question. But your essay isn’t met with the lavish praise you expected. When it’s tossed back onto your desk, there are huge chunks scored through with red pen, crawling with annotations like little red fire ants: ‘IRRELEVANT’; ‘A bit of a tangent!’; ‘???’; and, right next to your best, most impressive killer point: ‘Right… so?’. The grade your teacher has scrawled at the end is nowhere near what your essay deserves. In fact, it’s pretty average. And the comment at the bottom reads something like, ‘Some good ideas, but you didn’t answer the question!’.

If this has ever happened to you (and it has happened to me, a lot), you’ll know how deeply frustrating it is – and how unfair it can seem. This might just be me, but the exhausting process of researching, having ideas, planning, writing and re-reading makes me steadily more attached to the ideas I have, and the things I’ve managed to put on the page. Each time I scroll back through what I’ve written, or planned, so far, I become steadily more convinced of its brilliance. What started off as a scribbled note in the margin, something extra to think about or to pop in if it could be made to fit the argument, sometimes comes to be backbone of a whole essay – so, when a tutor tells me my inspired paragraph about Ted Hughes’s interpretation of mythology isn’t relevant to my essay on Keats, I fail to see why. Or even if I can see why, the thought of taking it out is wrenching. Who cares if it’s a bit off-topic? It should make my essay stand out, if anything! And an examiner would probably be happy not to read yet another answer that makes exactly the same points. If you recognise yourself in the above, there are two crucial things to realise. The first is that something has to change: because doing well in high school exam or coursework essays is almost totally dependent on being able to pin down and organise lots of ideas so that an examiner can see that they convincingly answer a question. And it’s a real shame to work hard on something, have good ideas, and not get the marks you deserve. Writing a top essay is a very particular and actually quite simple challenge. It’s not actually that important how original you are, how compelling your writing is, how many ideas you get down, or how beautifully you can express yourself (though of course, all these things do have their rightful place). What you’re doing, essentially, is using a limited amount of time and knowledge to really answer a question. It sounds obvious, but a good essay should have the title or question as its focus the whole way through . It should answer it ten times over – in every single paragraph, with every fact or figure. Treat your reader (whether it’s your class teacher or an external examiner) like a child who can’t do any interpretive work of their own; imagine yourself leading them through your essay by the hand, pointing out that you’ve answered the question here , and here , and here. Now, this is all very well, I imagine you objecting, and much easier said than done. But never fear! Structuring an essay that knocks a question on the head is something you can learn to do in a couple of easy steps. In the next few hundred words, I’m going to share with you what I’ve learned through endless, mindless crossings-out, rewordings, rewritings and rethinkings.

Top tips and golden rules

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been told to ‘write the question at the top of every new page’- but for some reason, that trick simply doesn’t work for me. If it doesn’t work for you either, use this three-part process to allow the question to structure your essay:

1)     Work out exactly what you’re being asked

It sounds really obvious, but lots of students have trouble answering questions because they don’t take time to figure out exactly what they’re expected to do – instead, they skim-read and then write the essay they want to write. Sussing out a question is a two-part process, and the first part is easy. It means looking at the directions the question provides as to what sort of essay you’re going to write. I call these ‘command phrases’ and will go into more detail about what they mean below. The second part involves identifying key words and phrases.

2)     Be as explicit as possible

Use forceful, persuasive language to show how the points you’ve made do answer the question. My main focus so far has been on tangential or irrelevant material – but many students lose marks even though they make great points, because they don’t quite impress how relevant those points are. Again, I’ll talk about how you can do this below.

3)     Be brutally honest with yourself about whether a point is relevant before you write it.

It doesn’t matter how impressive, original or interesting it is. It doesn’t matter if you’re panicking, and you can’t think of any points that do answer the question. If a point isn’t relevant, don’t bother with it. It’s a waste of time, and might actually work against you- if you put tangential material in an essay, your reader will struggle to follow the thread of your argument, and lose focus on your really good points.

Put it into action: Step One

Let’s imagine you’re writing an English essay about the role and importance of the three witches in Macbeth . You’re thinking about the different ways in which Shakespeare imagines and presents the witches, how they influence the action of the tragedy, and perhaps the extent to which we’re supposed to believe in them (stay with me – you don’t have to know a single thing about Shakespeare or Macbeth to understand this bit!). Now, you’ll probably have a few good ideas on this topic – and whatever essay you write, you’ll most likely use much of the same material. However, the detail of the phrasing of the question will significantly affect the way you write your essay. You would draw on similar material to address the following questions: Discuss Shakespeare’s representation of the three witches in Macbeth . How does Shakespeare figure the supernatural in Macbeth ?   To what extent are the three witches responsible for Macbeth’s tragic downfall? Evaluate the importance of the three witches in bringing about Macbeth’s ruin. Are we supposed to believe in the three witches in Macbeth ? “Within Macbeth ’s representation of the witches, there is profound ambiguity about the actual significance and power of their malevolent intervention” (Stephen Greenblatt). Discuss.   I’ve organised the examples into three groups, exemplifying the different types of questions you might have to answer in an exam. The first group are pretty open-ended: ‘discuss’- and ‘how’-questions leave you room to set the scope of the essay. You can decide what the focus should be. Beware, though – this doesn’t mean you don’t need a sturdy structure, or a clear argument, both of which should always be present in an essay. The second group are asking you to evaluate, constructing an argument that decides whether, and how far something is true. Good examples of hypotheses (which your essay would set out to prove) for these questions are:

• The witches are the most important cause of tragic action in Macbeth.
• The witches are partially, but not entirely responsible for Macbeth’s downfall, alongside Macbeth’s unbridled ambition, and that of his wife.
• We are not supposed to believe the witches: they are a product of Macbeth’s psyche, and his downfall is his own doing.
• The witches’ role in Macbeth’s downfall is deliberately unclear. Their claim to reality is shaky – finally, their ambiguity is part of an uncertain tragic universe and the great illusion of the theatre. (N.B. It’s fine to conclude that a question can’t be answered in black and white, certain terms – as long as you have a firm structure, and keep referring back to it throughout the essay).

The final question asks you to respond to a quotation. Students tend to find these sorts of questions the most difficult to answer, but once you’ve got the hang of them I think the title does most of the work for you – often implicitly providing you with a structure for your essay. The first step is breaking down the quotation into its constituent parts- the different things it says. I use brackets: ( Within Macbeth ’s representation of the witches, ) ( there is profound ambiguity ) about the ( actual significance ) ( and power ) of ( their malevolent intervention ) Examiners have a nasty habit of picking the most bewildering and terrifying-sounding quotations: but once you break them down, they’re often asking for something very simple. This quotation, for example, is asking exactly the same thing as the other questions. The trick here is making sure you respond to all the different parts. You want to make sure you discuss the following:

• Do you agree that the status of the witches’ ‘malevolent intervention’ is ambiguous?
• What is its significance?
• How powerful is it?

Step Two: Plan

Having worked out exactly what the question is asking, write out a plan (which should be very detailed in a coursework essay, but doesn’t have to be more than a few lines long in an exam context) of the material you’ll use in each paragraph. Make sure your plan contains a sentence at the end of each point about how that point will answer the question. A point from my plan for one of the topics above might look something like this:

To what extent are we supposed to believe in the three witches in Macbeth ?  Hypothesis: The witches’ role in Macbeth’s downfall is deliberately unclear. Their claim to reality is uncertain – finally, they’re part of an uncertain tragic universe and the great illusion of the theatre. Para.1: Context At the time Shakespeare wrote Macbeth , there were many examples of people being burned or drowned as witches There were also people who claimed to be able to exorcise evil demons from people who were ‘possessed’. Catholic Christianity leaves much room for the supernatural to exist This suggests that Shakespeare’s contemporary audience might, more readily than a modern one, have believed that witches were a real phenomenon and did exist.

My final sentence (highlighted in red) shows how the material discussed in the paragraph answers the question. Writing this out at the planning stage, in addition to clarifying your ideas, is a great test of whether a point is relevant: if you struggle to write the sentence, and make the connection to the question and larger argument, you might have gone off-topic.

Step Three: Paragraph beginnings and endings

The final step to making sure you pick up all the possible marks for ‘answering the question’ in an essay is ensuring that you make it explicit how your material does so. This bit relies upon getting the beginnings and endings of paragraphs just right. To reiterate what I said above, treat your reader like a child: tell them what you’re going to say; tell them how it answers the question; say it, and then tell them how you’ve answered the question. This need not feel clumsy, awkward or repetitive. The first sentence of each new paragraph or point should, without giving too much of your conclusion away, establish what you’re going to discuss, and how it answers the question. The opening sentence from the paragraph I planned above might go something like this:

Early modern political and religious contexts suggest that Shakespeare’s contemporary audience might more readily have believed in witches than his modern readers.

The sentence establishes that I’m going to discuss Jacobean religion and witch-burnings, and also what I’m going to use those contexts to show. I’d then slot in all my facts and examples in the middle of the paragraph. The final sentence (or few sentences) should be strong and decisive, making a clear connection to the question you’ve been asked:

  Contemporary suspicion that witches did exist, testified to by witch-hunts and exorcisms, is crucial to our understanding of the witches in Macbeth.  To the early modern consciousness, witches were a distinctly real and dangerous possibility – and the witches in the play would have seemed all-the-more potent and terrifying as a result.

Step Four: Practice makes perfect

The best way to get really good at making sure you always ‘answer the question’ is to write essay plans rather than whole pieces. Set aside a few hours, choose a couple of essay questions from past papers, and for each:

• Write a hypothesis
• Write a rough plan of what each paragraph will contain
• Write out the first and last sentence of each paragraph

You can get your teacher, or a friend, to look through your plans and give you feedback . If you follow this advice, fingers crossed, next time you hand in an essay, it’ll be free from red-inked comments about irrelevance, and instead showered with praise for the precision with which you handled the topic, and how intently you focused on answering the question. It can seem depressing when your perfect question is just a minor tangent from the question you were actually asked, but trust me – high praise and good marks are all found in answering the question in front of you, not the one you would have liked to see. Teachers do choose the questions they set you with some care, after all; chances are the question you were set is the more illuminating and rewarding one as well.

Image credits: banner ; Keats ; Macbeth ; James I ; witches .

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How to write an Argumentative Essay

ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAYS

In this article, we will explore the process of constructing a high-quality argumentative essay. The ability to craft a coherent argument and to express those arguments with others in a discussion are essential skills to encourage in our students. This skill helps our students engage with the world, process their thoughts, and discover their opinions.

Table of Contents

In this article, we will use the terms ‘discussion’ and ‘argument’ interchangeably. But, it is worth noting that the real purpose of a discussion is to explore a variety of arguments to arrive at the truth, where possible.

Teaching our students the basics of argument and discussion is not about tooling them up to ‘win’. The discussion processes are as much about the student discovering what they think as they are about persuading others to agree. As students mature and get more practised in their discussions, they will discover that often discussion is a necessary precursor to having an opinion on a given topic, no matter how basic or advanced that topic may be.

For students, the discussion often bridges the gap between speaking and listening learning areas and reading and writing. It is for this reason that we will look at some oral discussion activities before examining how to approach the writing of discussion pieces in the classroom. These oral activities can serve as excellent pre-writing exercises for the students to prepare their thoughts and ideas before writing. They also work well as standalone oral activities that allow students to practice their persuasive speaking skills and all that entails.

A COMPLETE TEACHING UNIT ON PERSUASIVE WRITING SKILLS

Teach your students to produce writing that  PERSUADES  and  INFLUENCES  thinking with this  HUGE  writing guide bundle covering: ⭐ Persuasive Texts / Essays ⭐ Expository Essays⭐ Argumentative Essays⭐ Discussions.

A complete 140 PAGE unit of work on persuasive texts for teachers and students. No preparation is required.

what is an argumentative essay

An argumentative essay, also known as a discussion, presents both sides of the argument on a specific topic so the audience can form their own opinion.

STRUCTURE OF AN ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY

CLARITY Choose a clear, firm and debatable topic, and stress its importance. There should be no confusion about what or what you are writing about or why.

PROVIDE CONTEXT A bit of background information is often needed early in the essay to understand the argument. Bring your audience up to speed on the topic.

ORDER Use sequential paragraphs or statements. Keep things in order by creating paragraphs that lead us from opinion A to opinion B through well-crafted segways and transitions.

RESEARCH Nothing will sink your essay faster than a poorly researched paper full of questionable “facts” and ill-informed opinions . Get your evidence straight.

LOGICAL & RATIONAL You are not a “shock jock” or a biased blogger. You are presenting both sides of an argument to let your readers make a decision.

FEATURES OF AN ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY

IMPERSONAL VOICE Keep your own opinions out and let your audience form their own.

TENSE Discussions are usually written in present tense.

LOGICAL CONNECTIVES Use terms such as therefore and however to connect concepts and points of contention.

RESPECTED SOURCES Valued information comes from respected sources. Ensure you use reputable evidence.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AN ARGUMENTIVE ESSAY AND A PERSUASIVE ESSAY?

These styles of writing are often confused, and whilst they do share common elements, they are two separate genres with different purposes. If you are looking for a complete guide to writing a persuasive essay, please view ours here.

• A PERSUASIVE ESSAY presents EMOTION, and the author’s purpose is to try and CONVINCE YOU to think as they do. It is about the sales pitch more so than an emphasis on the specifications and details of the subject area.
• An ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY presents EVIDENCE and LOGIC at its core. Whilst you are still trying to influence your readers’ thinking on a given topic, you shouldn’t pull on your reader’s heartstrings nearly as much as presenting a mountain of facts, data and specifics that cannot be ignored.

POINTS TO CONSIDER BEFORE WRITING YOUR ESSAY

Pick your poison wisely: choosing discussion topics.

The beauty of incorporating discussion and argument into the classroom is that you can quickly build your lessons around the student’s interests. From the youngest students in elementary to those wizened old owls in high school, a quick class brainstorm will reveal a wealth of juicy topics for them to get their mental teeth into. In this day and age of political correctness, however, be sensitive to the selection of a topic for discussion appropriate to the demographics of your class. While controversial topics can lead to the most lively of discussions, it is best to avoid subjects too close to the bone that may cause deep rifts in the class dynamic. If in doubt, rather than take suggestions from the class, have some exciting topics pre-prepared for the students to choose from or to vote on.

You can find numerous topics on the web, but here are some to get you started…

• All zoos should be shut down, and the animals should be returned to the wild. – Discuss
• Mobile phones should be embraced as learning tools in the classroom. – Discuss
• Parents have different expectations for their sons and daughters. – Discuss
• Do we give children too many trophies? – Discuss
• Is it ethical to eat meat? – Discuss
• School canteens promote poor diets. – Discuss
• Can money buy happiness? – Discuss
• Is animal testing justified? – Discuss
• Are we too dependent on computers? Discuss
• Do violent video games and films create social problems? – Discuss

GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT: DO YOUR RESEARCH

The challenge in writing a good discussion or argumentative essay is to be open-minded, even if you know which side you want to support.

Factual research and evidence are your number one tool.  It gives you credibility by sourcing knowledge from experts but more importantly, it gives your own opinions and ideas greater weight as you have demonstrated a broad and accurate understanding of the topic you are writing about.

be sure to spend some time researching your topic before writing about it, and make sure you reference where you have sourced this knowledge.

Most students will head straight for the internet to find their evidence, so ensure you understand how to use it correctly.  This poster demonstrates how to get the most out of the three major search platforms on the web.   You can download the free poster version of it here.

An Argumentative Essay Outline

The aim of a well-written discussion text is to present information and opinions that express more than one viewpoint. This will often take the form of a newspaper report or a leaflet.  Regardless of the genre of the writing undertaken, however, some common factors apply to most discussion texts. Most often, they are written in the present tense and are commonly structured in the following way:

INTRODUCTION

No better place to begin than at the start. The title should typically be a general statement or even a question that draws attention to a specific issue. For example, Should cell phones be banned in schools?

  The introduction section itself should usually be relatively brief and open with a brief statement on the issue and provide some background to the issue to be discussed. It will outline the arguments to be reviewed ahead, but the introduction itself does not usually contain any of the student’s opinions or views on the topic in question. There are, however, several things to consider when writing the introduction.

As with any genre of writing, it is essential to grab the reader’s attention from the outset, and discussion texts are no different. Fortunately, there are several tried and tested methods of achieving this. Here are a few that may be suitable openers for your students’ discussion writing:

●     open with a quotation relevant to the topic being addressed. A well-chosen quotation can grab the attention of even the most distracted of readers and compel them to read more!

●     a surprising fact is another excellent way to grab the reader’s attention and illuminate the topic to be discussed. Not only is it engaging, but informative too!

●     a joke. Everyone loves a laugh, and a joke can provide an excellent in to the student’s writing. But, encourage your students to be careful here; the suitability of a humorous opening will largely depend on the topic being discussed. As jokes may not always be appropriate to the material, they must be used wisely.

THE ARGUMENTS

In writing a balanced argument, students must consider the positives and negatives of the issue. The body of the text should be focused on presenting the pros and cons, the for and against arguments, relating to the central issue. This is why oral starter activities can be so valuable as prewriting exercises.

After the student has laid out the topic in their introduction by providing the necessary background information, it is time for the student to consider laying out the case for the argument.

Using time connectives is an excellent way for students to organize their information. Adverbs of time, such as firstly, secondly, next, then etc. and phrases such as, in addition to, therefore etc., can help students structure their information chronologically and coherently.

Depending on the length of the text, it is typically recommended that each paragraph consists of a single point. It is important to remind students that in the presentation of a balanced argument, they should not express their own bias or even their own point of view , instead, they are laying out both sides of the argument for the reader and should give equal weight to each point of view. When exploring each point, whether for or against, the PEE method can be a helpful way to aid students in structuring their paragraphs and give the direction of their argument:

Be sure to check out our own complete guide to writing perfect paragraphs here .

P = Point (Student makes their point at the beginning of the paragraph)

E = Evidence (Student provides evidence that underpins this point)

E =Explain (Student explores point further and ties back to the central issue)

When the student has considered each of their points for the argument, for example, three separate paragraphs each making three points for the argument, it is now time to consider and do the same for the argument against . The purpose here is to set up an opposition to the previously made points, to offer the other side of the story.

Encourage students here to use words and phrases that set up this contrast, for example, however , contrastingly , on the other hand , etc. Displaying these words and phrases in a word bank can also be a great way to help weaker students to organize their writing.

In the conclusion, the student reviews the information, summarises the arguments made and weighs up the issue in light of the available evidence. At this point, students can offer their own opinion in favor or against the issue at hand, but only if it is appropriate to the genre of the discussion text. 

Students often find it difficult to know how to end their writing. One excellent way to finish their discussion is to end it with a question, a challenge to the readers to form their own opinion on the issue in light of the evidence that has been presented.

TIPS FOR WRITING A GREAT ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY

• Make sure you clearly explain the topic to the audience before you get into taking sides.
• When you have selected a topic, ensure that you research both sides of the argument thoroughly before writing.
• In your conclusion, make it clear which side of the argument you side on, even make a recommendation but allow the reader to keep an open mind.
• Keep everything in order.
• List all the items that will be required to complete the task.
• Use paragraphs effectively. Each new argument should start with a new paragraph.
• Keep your arguments short, sharp and to the point.
• Use the correct language and terms.

ORAL ACTIVITIES TO GET IN THE ‘DISCUSSION’ ZONE

ORAL ACTIVITY 1: PROS AND CONS

This great warm-up exercise allows students to explore a topic, weigh up the different possible opinions, and even offers a chance for the student to discover what they think about a topic. This exercise can also serve as a fantastic prep exercise for a piece of extended writing and involves minimal prep.

Pros and Cons involve students making a list of a given topic’s pro and con arguments. This is often best done in small groups where the students can brainstorm together and bounce ideas off one another. The process of comparing the for and against of an issue gives them an awareness of the range of opinions on the matter, helping them on their way to forming their own opinion.

The list created during this activity can also provide a helpful outline that can work as a springboard for later writing. It is a great way to organize ideas coherently that can seamlessly feed into the writing process described later below.

BY LISTING POINTS AND COUNTERPOINTS TOGETHER, STUDENTS GET INTO THE PRACTICE OF DEVELOPING A NUANCED AND CONSIDERED ARGUMENT RATHER THAN PRODUCING MERE PROPAGANDA. THIS HELPS THEM INTERNALIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF GIVING FULL CONSIDERATION TO A RANGE OF DIFFERING OPINIONS ABOUT THE SAME TOPIC.

ORAL ACTIVITY 2: THINK – PAIR – SHARE

This activity requires almost zero prep, other than giving the class a topic to get their teeth into!

First, have the students think silently about the topic for a minute or two. They may scratch down doodles or brief notes of their ideas on a piece of paper to use in the discussion portion of this exercise, but this is not a writing activity!

Then, partner them up with another student. At this stage, you may consider differentiation; you may wish to match students with other students of equal ability or with a stronger one as support. Either way, students discuss the topic with their partners for a predetermined number of minutes. The length of time will be dictated by the students’ ages and abilities. Experiment to find the most suitable length of time for your class.

After the time is up, students can share their opinions with the class. You can also scribe the ideas generated by each group onto a master list displayed on the whiteboard as part of a pre-writing exercise. This can also be an excellent exercise to begin the preparation for a formal debate, as it affords the students opportunities to think on their feet, engage with differing opinions, and to work on public speaking skills such as body language.

ORAL ACTIVITY 3. SPEED-DATING FUN

This is a pacy, fun activity to get a lively conversation going in a manner that apes the popular speed dating format – but with a more virtuous intent! You can organize the desks in rows facing each other or in concentric circles in the middle of the classroom.

Choose one row or circle to be mobile. Give students a list of topics to discuss and start the clock. After three minutes or so, signal the time is up and instruct students to move to the following table. At the next station, they can either discuss the same topic or move on to the next topic on their list.

Of course, you may shorten or lengthen the allotted time based on the student’s abilities or the complexities of the topics. However, as this exercise works best in fun and fast-paced, and the aim is for each student to have the opportunity to speak with every other student, it is often best to keep the topics fairly straightforward. Questions like Is it better to live in the town than the country? or Do dogs make better pets than cats? work well here.

THE IMPORTANCE OF DISCUSSION IN THE CLASSROOM

The discrete teaching of discussion and argument in the classroom is essential. It offers students invaluable opportunities to test their opinions and ideas with their peers in a safe environment. Students learn that disagreement is inevitable and not fatal! They learn, too, that it is okay to revise an opinion in the light of compelling evidence they had not previously considered.

Discussion is a proving ground for ideas. Ideas tested in the arena of classroom discussion will likely be expressed much more coherently in written form. Often, students are not fully aware of exactly how they think on an issue until they have had a chance to try out their embryonic ideas with each other in a public discussion. It also helps students avoid the dangers of the echo chamber of their minds where frequently their ideas existed without challenge.

Encouraging our students to engage in respectful and productive disagreement is perhaps one of the most important skills we can help them develop.

AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Discussion activities offer tremendous opportunities for some informal assessment that helps with planning to best meet the needs of your students in future lessons. The fact that they are not teacher-led gives the teacher a chance to take a backseat and give full attention to the students’ conversations. This allows you to spot areas of difficulty and gaps in learning – all valuable information that will be priceless for effective future lesson planning.

Teaching Resources

Use our resources and tools to improve your student’s writing skills through proven teaching strategies.

The first task in writing an excellent argumentative essay is finding a suitable topic with solid and valid opinions for both sides of the argument.  You will find some engaging writing prompts below.

structure of argumentative essay

sample argumentative essay

Below are a collection of student writing samples of discussions.  Click on the image to enlarge and explore them in greater detail.  Please take a moment to read them in detail, and the teacher and student guide highlight some of the critical elements of discussions to consider before writing.

Please understand these student writing samples are not intended to be perfect examples for each age or grade level but a piece of writing for students and teachers to explore together to critically analyze to improve student writing skills and deepen their understanding of writing a discussion.

We would recommend reading the example either a year above or below, as well as the grade you are currently working with to gain a broader appreciation of this text type.

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How to Critically Discuss

Many students dread writing ‘critical discussion’ essays. This is partly because they don’t understand what is required of them.

So, how do you ‘critically discuss’ in an essay? Well, first and foremost, make sure you’ve truly considered all sides of the argument. You also need to think carefully about whether the source(s) you are discussing are reliable and valid. Finally, you need to develop a ‘thesis statement’ so that you can structure your critical discussion essay effectively.

Critical discussion essays can cause headaches, but they can also be incredibly rewarding if you approach them with the right attitude. Here are some tips to set you off in the right direction!

What does ‘critically discuss’ actually mean?

Before attempting a critical discussion, check you understand what is required of you. Let’s turn to the Oxford English Dictionary for a useful definition.

So, in short, a critical discussion requires you to weigh up the strengths and weaknesses of a theory, concept (or work of some sort), and write about this in detail – taking into account various relevant issues and viewpoints.

I would go one step further and say that to ‘critically discuss’, you should also emphasise the significance of your critiques. In other words, why does your critical opinion matter? (more on this later).

What critical discussion is NOT…

Before moving on to show you how to write a critical discussion, let’s take a look at what a ‘critical discussion’ is NOT:

Pure negativity – Some students fall into the trap of thinking that critical discussion requires you to be excessively negative. Whilst you should consider the weaknesses of a theory or argument, you should also consider its strengths and/or new applications.

A repetition of others’ critiques – Whilst you can (and typically should) use other theorists’ critiques to support your essay, you should also try to say something original in your critical discussion. Don’t only repeat other people’s ideas.

Describing – Remember, you are not only being asked to describe a particular work of art/literature/science. Part of your essay will probably include description, as you set the scene, but you must include a critical opinion of the theory, concept or work you are discussing.

Quick and Easy – Unfortunately, writing a critical discussion is not a straightforward task. You should give yourself plenty of time to read the material, digest it, reflect upon it, critique it, and then formulate an argument for your essay.

An example of critical discussion

Learning from examples is often the best way. So, here is an excerpt from an essay which critically discusses whether pay-for-performance schemes motivate employees – written by one of our PhD Experts:

Theory X states that, because employees are primarily motivated by pay, a pay-for-performance system will be motivational (McGregor, 1960). However, this theory was not supported by empirical data, thus its validity is questionable. Moreover, up-to-date research suggests that employees are not primarily motivated by pay, but are instead motivated by intrinsic factors (e.g., flexible working hours, autonomy, and creating impactful work) (Kaleb, 2015). This undermines the suggestion that pay-for-performance would be motivating. Indeed, further research has found that pay-for-performance can actually “crowd out” intrinsic motivators, since it overly monetises the employer-employee relationship, thereby resulting in poorer motivation (David, 2018). There is more empirical research to support the more recent findings than theory X, thus, it seems pay-for-performance schemes are unlikely to motivate employees.

Let’s take a closer look at the characteristics of this critical discussion so that you can try to replicate it for yourself.  

Compare two (or more) theories

Notice how this single paragraph contains three references to three different theories. In order to critically discuss competently, you will need to be able to compare and contrast different theories and perspectives. This is one of the reasons why critical discussion essays are time-consuming, i.e., because you need to spend time researching material to cover both sides of the argument.

Critique the methodologies

Notice how the above paragraph has critiqued the validity/reliability of the research mentioned. Namely, theory X was criticised for having a lack of empirical (experimental) evidence to support it, whereas the later theories were deemed more valid because there is quite a lot of empirical research to support them.

Depending on what subject you are studying at university, you might need to critique the methods in more depth (e.g., consider sample size, procedure, method of data analysis, etc.).

Keep your thesis statement (or argument) in mind at all times

Remember we said that you need to emphasise why your critiques matter? This is key because it will help you to achieve first-class grades. Let’s dive a little deeper into what I mean by this…

Before writing your essay, think of a thesis statement . In the above case, it would be ‘pay-for-performance does not boost employee motivation’. Now, when you are critically discussing your evidence (and comparing and contrasting theories), be sure to finish each paragraph by returning to the thesis statement.

In other words, be sure to emphasise why each point of critique is significant for your argument. You will notice, for example, that the above paragraph finishes by stating that ‘thus, it seems pay-for-performance schemes are unlikely to motivate employees’.

So, sticking to your thesis statement will allow you to consistently emphasise why your critical points are relevant and significant. If you can do this then, say hello to first-class grades!

Tips for writing a critical discussion

Critical discussions aren’t easy, but if you approach them in the right way, you can make things simpler for yourself.

In fact, our writers say that critical discussion essays are the most enjoyable to write because they are stimulating and challenging.

That said, try out these tips when preparing for your next critical discussion essay (and hopefully you won’t find it such a painful process!).

Start reading ASAP

When preparing for a critical discussion essay, it’s easy to fall into the trap of procrastination. There’s so much to read, yet so little time (or energy) to do the reading, right?

Well, try not to fall into this trap. Choose the texts/theories that interest you the most and try your best to really engross yourself in them. If you can become truly engaged in the research you’re reading, your energy and enthusiasm will ‘flow’ naturally.

Play devil’s advocate

One hurdle often faced by students is that they agree with everything a particular theorist is saying, and thus they don’t feel confident in critiquing the theory. In this case, it’s time to play devil’s advocate.

What does this mean? Well, to play devil’s advocate means to adopt the opposing side of the argument, even if you don’t agree with it, in order to make the discussion more interesting.

So, let’s say you are completely against animal testing, and you agree with Peter Singer’s theories (which are also against animal testing). However, for the purposes of writing a good critical discussion, you should be willing to engage with the opposing side of the argument.

Imagine, for a moment, that you are ‘for’ animal testing. What reasoning would you use? And how could this reasoning be used to discredit Peter Singer’s theory?

Plan, Plan, Plan

It’s best to make at least a rough plan of your critical discussion essay before you begin. As mentioned, your critique should be tied to a broader ‘thesis statement’ so consider this thesis statement when planning your essay.

Each paragraph should make a broad point that relates back to your thesis statement. Remember to use signposting to link back to the thesis statement and help keep your reader on track.

The final tip is the most important tip of all – be bold. To earn first-class grades, you need to demonstrate an ability to think independently and critically about a specific topic.

This means you must be willing to say what you really think and not just parrot another person’s argument. Indeed, the opportunity to ‘be bold’ demonstrates why critical discussion essays are so enjoyable to write.

So, next time you are tasked with writing a critical discussion essay, see it as an opportunity to be bold, confident, and creative! Though it might be quite a time-consuming task, you’ll certainly feel satisfied once you’ve got your argument down on paper.

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1. Choose Your Topic

2. outline your essay, outline your points, 3. draft your introduction, 4. good discussion in the body of your essay, 5. conclude your essay, how to write a discussion essay.

A discussion essay presents and discusses issues surrounding a particular topic--usually one that is debatable and open to argument. A good argumentative essay must include a thorough discussion of both sides of the issue, including main points to support your argument and its counterargument. It should also provide a well-rounded understanding of the issues before the writer presents their personal own opinions and conclusions.

What is an IELTS Discussion Essay?

The International English Language Testing System is an international standardized test of English language proficiency for non-native English language speakers.

Example of an IELTS Discussion essay

Some believe language provides cohesion to a country, while others believe diverse languages bring diversity and vibrancy. Discuss both sides and give your opinion.

As with most persuasive essay formats, the essay's quality relies primarily on the writer's ability to provide solid research and evidence to present different views of the topic.

Practicing your writing skills as you write a discussion essay is a great way to grow as a writer. Let’s dive into the essay structure and components of a successful discussion essay.

Choose your discussion essay topic. When choosing this topic, make sure it is one that you're interested in personally since this will be easier for you to write. You'll need to discuss both sides of the argument surrounding the discussion essay topic, so ensure that you have access to good research that provides pertinent information. Writing only one side of the argument will result in an undeveloped discussion essay, which probably won’t receive a good score.

Outline your discussion essay. This outline should include a rough draft of your thesis statement, main argument, opposing argument, other main points and a rough draft of your conclusion. Your goal at this point is to get your thoughts on the discussion essay topic organized and in writing.

You can write a detailed outline for your discussion essay, using traditional outline format--letters and numbers to separate key points--or you can simply jot down a list of the main discussion points you plan to cover in order to answer the essay question or address the essay topic.

Next, write your introduction. According to the Open University, your goal in the introduction of your discussion essay is to introduce the issues relating to the topic and to provide your reader with important background information. Your introduction is essentially setting the scene for your reader so they are prepared to digest the argument you’ll be presenting. Providing your reader with a simple overview of how your discussion essay is organized will ensure that she understands your flow of thought throughout the body of the essay.

Most importantly, at the end of your introductory paragraph you must include a well developed thesis statement. One of the most common mistakes made when writing introduction paragraphs is leaving out the thesis statement, which is one sentence that firmly asserts what side of the argument you will be arguing throughout the work. Be specific in your points and make sure it is a strong closing to this first paragraph, as it will set the tone for the rest of your essay.

Write the body paragraphs of your discussion essay using any research sources that you have collected. Typically, you should present each issue individually and impartially, discussing first one side of the argument and then the other side of each argument that relates to your topic. Ensuring that each paragraph is roughly the same size as the other will make the presentation of facts seem balanced to the reader as well. Each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that smoothly transitions from the previous paragraph while simultaneously introducing the new topic covered in the upcoming one.

Progress through your body arguments in order, starting with your weakest argument or issue and progressing to the strongest. This structure allows your reader to follow your flow of thought easily without getting distracted. When deciding how to use sources, try to use the same number of quotes and sources for each argument. If you use three quotes to support your main argument, strive to use three quotes to present the opposing view as well.

Write your discussion essay conclusion. Your goal with your conclusion is to summarize the overall information from the body of the discussion essay, leading the reader to mentally review the pros and cons of the topic argument. Although you don't technically have to be in favor of one side of the discussion yourself, if you are, be sure to present your own conclusions in this paragraph rather than earlier in the essay.

Once you have finished your conclusion, part of wrapping up your essay is going back through it and checking for grammatical errors. Check to make sure you have not copied any quotes directly from other sources, as this would result in a plagiarism charge, especially if your professor screens your essay through a writing service that checks for plagiarized work. Always write using your own words. Using your own words not only saves you from plagiarism issues, but also helps with essay coherence since the rest of the work has been written in your tone of voice.

On the final page of your discussion essay you will also include all of the citations for sources you quoted or summarized information from. Whether citing in MLA or APA format, double check the style and order of your citations for accuracy before turning it in.

Regan Hennessy has been writing professionally for 11 years. A copywriter and certified teacher, Hennessy specializes in the areas of parenting, health, education, agriculture and personal finance. She has produced content for various websites and graduated from Lycoming College with a Bachelor of Arts in English.

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How to Write a Good Discussion Essay

If you are asking yourself how to write a good discussion essay and still do not have any luck – then welcome to our website. In this article will be presented the most useful tips and guidelines for writing a discussion essay. Usually, a good discussion essay provides readers with a thorough discussion of different sides of a topic. In order to do this assignment one will have to research both sides of his topic and present the most interesting facts and arguments that support each view. If you were not assigned a specific topic then you will have to chose a debatable question yourself. Find an issue that can be reviewed and discussed easily and follow our writing tips.

Step One: Organize your work

If you want to make your work more effective – you should organize and understand a logical chain of your actions. Here is what you have to do in order to create a good discussion essay: brainstorm your topic, do an in depth research, outline your essay, create a draft following a usual structure, proofread it and start writing.

Step Two: Brainstorm your topic

Writing a discussion essay you should pick a debatable topic that would be interesting for most of the people (or at least to your professor). Follow a few simple rules when choosing a topic: it should be debatable and without exact answers, it should be interesting for you and your readers, it should not be too complicated for investigation. Read some news if you are experiencing troubles with selecting a topic – it can help you.

Step Three: Collect the sources

Usually, professors ask students to have several sources in bibliography. It is not a good idea to use the only source for your research and write down about five of them in bibliography. You are not able to create a good paper using the only source because it presents an information using it’s own opinion. You should discuss your topic from different sides, comparing several views. Collect several books in library, read your section and write down some interesting and important points.

Step Four: Outline an essay

Before outlining your essay – think about things and issues you want to cover in your discussion essay and write them down on a paper. Then using the important on your view points create an outline. Doing an outline this way you will be sure you have included to your essay everything you wanted. Use headings, numbers, letters and sub-headings to make it more structured.

Step Five: Always make a draft

Writing any academic paper – make a draft first. You will be able to proofread and correct mistakes. Write a paper using your outline, research data and usual essay structure. Remember to include introduction, thesis statement, a well-structured body section and conclusions. Make sure your draft discusses and covers different aspects of the issue and provides a reader with an accurate background information. Discuss the positive and negative aspects of both views on your subject and present your own.

Give your paper to a friend and ask to read it with voice – listen to it and ensure that you like how it sounds, ask about your friend’s impression. Proofread it once more and start writing!

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IELTS Discussion Essays [Discuss Both Views/Sides]

Posted by David S. Wills | Jun 14, 2021 | IELTS Tips , Writing | 3

In this lesson, I’m going to explain what an IELTS discussion essay is and how you can write a good one. I will talk about structure and content, as well as looking briefly at discussion essay thesis statements, which many people find tricky. I’ve also written a sample essay, which you can find at the bottom of this page.

What is a Discussion Essay?

As the name suggests, a discussion essay is an essay that discusses things! More specifically, it is a type of IELTS writing task 2 essay that requires you to look at two different points of view . You can easily recognise these essays by the following phrase:

Discuss both views and give your opinion.

Sometimes it is phrased a little differently. It might say:

Discuss both sides and give your opinion

Discuss both points view and give your opinion

The important thing is that these all mean the same. When you see any of these, you know that you need to write a discussion essay. Importantly, this instruction tells you that you need to do two things:

• Discuss both views (there will have been 2 views mentioned in the previous sentence(s))
• Give your opinion (i.e. state which view you agree with)

If you failed to do either of these things, you would not have satisfied the basic criteria for Task Achievement .

Example Discussion Essay Questions

Here is a list of 5 discussion essay questions either from the IELTS exam, reportedly from the IELTS exam, or from reputable publications that have copied the IELTS question style. (Not that you absolutely should avoid fake IELTS questions when practising.)

Some people say that parents should encourage their children to take part in organised group activities in their free time. Others say that is important for children to learn how to occupy themselves on their own. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

Some people prefer to spend their lives doing the same things and avoiding change. Others, however, think that change is always a good thing. Discuss both views and give your opinion.

Some people feel that manufacturers and supermarkets have the responsibility to reduce the amount of packaging of goods. Others argue that customers should avoid buying goods with a lot of packaging. Discuss both views and give your opinion.

Some people believe that higher education should be funded by the government. Others, however, argue that it is the responsibility of individuals to fund their higher education. Discuss both views and give your opinion.

Some people believe that it is important for children to attend extra classes outside school, while others believe that they should be allowed to play after school. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

You can see in these questions that there is a similar pattern. In each case, the question phrase (“Discuss both views and give your own opinion”) is the same and in the previous sentence or sentences, there are two opposing views. This, then, makes “discuss both views” questions a sort of opinion essay .

How to Answer IELTS Discussion Questions

First of all, it is important when answering any IELTS task 2 question that you read the question carefully so that you understand it, then provide an answer that directly responds to the question, following its instructions carefully.

As discussed above, you are required to do two things: 1) Discuss both views, and 2) Give your own opinion. You absolutely must do both of those. It doesn’t really matter what your opinion is or whether you give equal weighting to both sides of the argument. Instead, you must cover both sides and also give some sort of opinion. (It is important, though, according to the marking rubric , that you are consistent in your opinion.)

Your answer of course should be structured carefully so as to present your ideas in a thoroughly logical way that is easy for your reader to interpret. I almost always use a four-paragraph structure in my essays, but some people prefer to use five paragraphs in this sort of essay. The difference would look like this:

You might be wondering why I have given my opinion in the body of the five-paragraph essay but not in the four-paragraph essay. Well, actually I would give my opinion in the body of both. However, my opinion would be more subtly woven into the text of the four-paragraph essay. I personally find this to be a better method, but it is equally possible that you could write an amazing five-paragraph essay. That issue is discussed further in this video:

Discussion Essay Thesis Statement

In academic writing, a thesis statement (sometimes called an essay outline ) is the part of the essay where you insert your opinion. It typically comes at the end of the introduction and guides the reader by explaining your opinion on the issues that have been introduced.

But do you really need to provide one in such a short essay? Well, a 2018 study into successful IELTS essays concluded that thesis statements were “obligatory” – i.e. you absolutely do need one. In fact, that study found that thesis statements appeared in 100% of successful IELTS discussion essays! Therefore, we can conclude they are very important.

Because a discussion essay will tell you to “Discuss both views and give your opinion,” you must introduce the two views and then give your opinion in the introduction. Here is an example:

Introductory paragraph:

In some parts of the world, children are forced to go to cram schools and other facilities of extracurricular learning, but many people believe that this is unfair and that they should be allowed to enjoy their free time instead. This essay will look at both perspectives and then conclude that it is indeed unfair.

My first sentence clearly introduces two different ideas:

• Children should do extra classes
• Children should not do extra classes

Note how I have successfully used synonyms to avoid repeating anything from the question. I have also framed the issue in a new way so that I am not just paraphrasing. (You can learn why paraphrasing is not always helpful here .)

My second sentence is the thesis statement. In this sentence, I outline what the essay will do (“look at both perspectives”) and then give my opinion (“it is unfair”). This is a simple but effective thesis statement.

Thesis Statement Advice

Your IELTS discussion essay thesis statement should do two things:

• Tell the reader what the essay will do
• Present your opinion

Because this is a formal essay, it is best not to be too personal. Instead of saying “I will…” or “I think…” it is better to say “This essay will…” Here are some simple templates that you can follow most of the time:

• This essay will look at both sides and then argue that…
• This essay will discuss both views but ultimately side with…

Just make sure to avoid being overly vague. You are required to give your opinion consistently throughout the essay, so don’t say “This essay will look at both sides and then give my opinion .” It is not really the best approach because the examiner wants to see that you can be consistent in presenting an opinion. That is clearly stated in the marking rubric. For band 7, it says:

• presents a clear position throughout the response

It could be concluded, then, that your opinion is not clear from the start and so you have not done enough to warrant a band 7 for Task Achievement.

Body Paragraphs

As I mentioned above, there are really two main approaches you could take to the body paragraphs:

• Discuss one view per paragraph and incorporate your opinion into each.
• Discuss one view per paragraph and then have another for your opinion.

I suppose there is also a third option:

• Compare and contrast the two viewpoints in each paragraph.

This last one may be a little harder to do successfully without jeopardising your score for Task Achievement or Coherence and Cohesion , but advanced candidates may find it useful.

Remember that there is no single perfect formula for an IELTS essay. That’s not how languages work and that’s not how IELTS works. Different people could come up with different ways to present a successful essay. The most common essay structures are mere guidelines for particularly useful methods of approaching an essay.

Does a Discussion Essay Have to be Balanced?

Because the question says “Discuss both views,” it is quite logical to think that you must provide some degree of balance, but you certainly don’t need to give equal weighting to both sides. Remember that you are also going to give your opinion, so if you come down strongly on one side of the issue, it might be odd to give equal attention to both.

If you do feel very strongly about one side, you might want to present your discussion of the other side as quite negative. However, IELTS is a thinking exam as well as an English exam and an intelligent person can always look at both sides of an issue and explain – at the very least – why someone might believe a thing that is different to his own view. This seems quite important, but there is nothing explicitly mentioned in the marking rubric.

I would suggest that if you think a two-sided issue is basically one-sided (i.e. you strongly disagree with the other view), you should still write one or two sentences about why people believe that and then devote the rest of your essay to disputing their view.

Another approach is to write BP1 as a very short paragraph that explains why people might think one thing, but then have BP2 as a very long paragraph that debunks the opposing view and then explains why the other is correct.

(You can read more about IELTS essays and balance here .)

Sample Answer

Here is my full sample answer to the above question about whether or not children should be made to do extracurricular activities:

In some parts of the world, children are forced to go to cram schools and other facilities of extracurricular learning, but many people believe that this is unfair and that they should be allowed to enjoy their free time instead. This essay will look at both perspectives and then conclude that it is indeed unfair. In countries like South Korea, most children are made to go to an array of cram schools outside of regular school hours. Their parents do this in order to give their child a better future because it helps the child to learn more and thus gives them the academic advantages needed to apply to the best universities or jobs in future. These schools often provide children with an advantage over their peers because they improve their foreign language or math skills more quickly, and thus the children who do not attend these schools might have comparatively poor grades. However, whilst this attitude may result in better academic performance, it is certainly not good for the mental health of these children. It is no coincidence that places like South Korea have the highest rates of suicide among their young populations. The fact is that children are not equipped to spend fourteen or sixteen hours per day in classrooms, memorising facts and figures. In a sense, it is a form of child abuse. Children should be allowed to go home and spend time with friends and family to build social skills. They should be allowed to occupy themselves in order to become more creative and learn how to understand their own mind instead of being trained to repeat what they are told. In conclusion, it is understandable that some parents want their children to go to extra classes, but this is damaging to children and they should be given the freedom to play and socialise outside of regular school hours.

In BP1, I have looked at the topic of cram schools (ie the side of the argument in favour of extra lessons). I explored why parents might want their kids to do this and show the supposed benefits. Note that I never embraced any of these benefits. I was careful to use language that distanced these ideas from my own opinion, which was the opposite, so I said “Their parents do this in order to…”

In BP2, I looked at the opposite side. I was careful to make sure that my first sentence linked to the previous paragraph, highlighting that the benefits are quite minor compared to the drawbacks. All of my sentences here justify my position, which is that it is cruel to force these extra lessons on children.

My conclusion ties all of this together. The first clause references BP1 and the second summarises the main argument in BP2.

You can find two more sample essays here:

• A discussion essay about sports facilities
• A discussion essay about sports abilities

About The Author

David S. Wills

David S. Wills is the author of Scientologist! William S. Burroughs and the 'Weird Cult' and the founder/editor of Beatdom literary journal. He lives and works in rural Cambodia and loves to travel. He has worked as an IELTS tutor since 2010, has completed both TEFL and CELTA courses, and has a certificate from Cambridge for Teaching Writing. David has worked in many different countries, and for several years designed a writing course for the University of Worcester. In 2018, he wrote the popular IELTS handbook, Grammar for IELTS Writing and he has since written two other books about IELTS. His other IELTS website is called IELTS Teaching.

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It is sometimes debatable whether asking children to get extra education after school or letting them play that is actually beneficial for them. Even though both viewpoints have benefits and drawbacks but I believe ,in the childhood age, children have to take rough and discipline education after school to be succeed in the future.

To begin with, many educational experts believe that playing is one of the essential aspects that have to be gotten by children to grow and happy. By using the playing approach, children can have a good mental and psychic health. Besides, letting children play after school can also support them to increase their emotional stimuli and get a positive social interaction. With this way, experts believe children can grow as a better adult in the future and have a freedom to get a better life in the upcoming times.

However, I completely contra with the first idea because I believe childhood is a better time to train children about academic or other skills that benefits them in the future. Based on scientific journal that I read, the ability of children in learning new things are more spectacular compared to adults. A lot of artists, scientist, and even football player who currently becoming a superstar in this era is a string of process that is began since their in the childhood. For instance, nowadays, I am working in the field of election supervision, it because since in my childhood my father love to force me learning about social and political issues by getting additional class. Thus, making children to get extra class after school is an appropriate preference if parents desire to see their son getting a good future.

To conclude, based on experts children have to get a freedom to play after schools but in my viewpoint it will be more advantages if they utilize the playing time with joining additional class after school.

VERY GOOD MR DIRWAN But actually you mixed both of the ideas , you need to take one side for this sort of essay writting, as it is mentioned in the above instruction. By the way WELL DONE . love from Pakistan to my sweet brother.

I have not checked in here for some time because I thought it was getting boring, but the last few posts are really great quality so I guess I’ll add you back to my everyday bloglist. You deserve it my friend. ??

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The Writing Guide

• The First Thing
• Step 1: Understanding the essay question

Identify task, content & limiting words in the essay question

Words, words, words..., academic writing webinar part 1.

• Step 2: Critical note-taking
• Step 3: Planning your assignment
• Step 4a: Effective writing
• Step 4b: Summarizing & paraphrasing
• Step 4c: Academic language
• Step 5: Editing and reviewing
• Getting started with research
• Working with keywords
• Evaluating sources
• Research file
• Reading Smarter
• Sample Essay
• What, why, where, when, who?
• Referencing styles
• Writing Resources
• Exams and Essay Questions

Essay topics contain key words that explain what information is required and how it is to be presented.  Using the essay question below indentify task content & limiting words.  Regardless of your topic or discipline, if you can identify these words in your essay topic, you can begin to consider what you will need to do to answer the question.

Task words : These are words that tell you what to do, for example “compare”, “discuss”, “critically evaluate”, “explain” etc.

Content words : These words in the essay topic will tell you which ideas and concepts should form the knowledge base of the assignment. Refer to subject specific dictionary or glossary.

Effective communication is considered a core skill in higher education and is usually conveyed through the medium of academic papers and essays. Discuss the process of writing academic essays and critically examine the importance of structure and content.

Before you scroll down to the next box, what can you unpack from this topic? What are you actually going to look for in a search tool like One Search? What are you supposed to do?

• Content Words
• Limiting Words
• Context Words

Task words are usually verbs and they tell you what to do to complete your assignment.

You need to identify these words, because you will need to follow these instructions to pass the assignment.  As you research and write your assignment, check these words occasionally to make sure you are still doing what you have been asked to do.

Here are some definitions of different academic task words.  Make sure you know exactly what you need to do for your assignment.

Don't try to use them in your research - they aren't things to find, only things to do.

The task words from our sample question are:

Effective communication is considered a core skill in higher education and is usually conveyed through the medium of academic papers and essays. Discuss the process of writing academic essays and critically examine the importance of structure and content.

• Discuss means to "consider and offer an interpretation or evaluation of something; or give a judgment on the value of arguments for and against something"
• Examine means to inspect something in detail and investigate the implications

So, you would need to give a short description of what essay writing is all about, and then offer an evaluation of the essay structure and the way it presents content.

• Task Words Here are some definitions of different academic task words. Make sure you know exactly what you need to do for your assignment.

The content words are the "meat" of the question - these are things you can research.

Effective communication is considered a core skill in higher education and is usually conveyed through the medium of academic papers and essays . Discuss the process of writing academic essays and critically examine the importance of structure and content .

You will often be asked to talk about "the role" something plays or "processes", "importance", "methods" or "implementations" - but you can't really research these things just by looking for those words.

You need to find the keywords - the most concrete concepts - and search for those.  The information you find about the concrete terms will tell you about the "roles" and "methods", the "process" or the "importance", but they probably won't use those words exactly.

One of the core skills of academic research is learning to extrapolate :  to find the connections in the information you can find that will help you answer the questions which don't have clear, cut-and-dry answers in the books and articles.

So, the core keywords/concepts to research are:

• "academic writing"
• "higher education"
• structure and content

Limiting words keep you focused on a particular area, and stop you from trying to research everything in the history of mankind.

They could limit you by:

• Time (you may be asked to focus on the last 5 years, or the late 20th Century, for example)
• Place (you may be asked to focus on Australia, or Queensland, or South-East Asia)
• People groups (such as "women over the age of 50" or "people from low socio-economic backgrounds" or "Australians of Asian descent")
• Extent (you are only to look at a particular area, or the details you believe are most relevant or appropriate).

In this example, you have two limits:

• "higher education" is the industry focus. This could be expanded to include the tertiary or university sector.
• Essays - we are concentrating on essay writing as the aspect of communication.  Note that this is also a content word. There can be (and usually is) some crossover.

Sometimes it can help to add your own limits .  With health sciences, you almost always limit your research to the last five or six years. Social sciences  are not as strict with the date range but it's still a good idea to keep it recent.  You could specifically look at the Australian context.  You may decide to focus on the private sector within that industry.

With the question above you could limit yourself to only looking at first year university students.

Sometimes an assignment task will give you phrases or sentences that aren't part of the task at all:  they exist to give you some context .

These can be ignored when you do your research, but you should read over them occasionally as you are writing your assignment.  They help you know what the lecturer was thinking about (and wanted you to think about) when they set that task.

Effective communication is considered a core skill in higher education and is usually conveyed through the medium of academic papers and essays . Discuss the process of writing academic essays and critically examine the importance of structure and content.

You don't have to do anything with the first sentence of this question - but it does get you to think specifically about the "using essays to communicate knoweldge" - something that isn't mentioned in the task itself.

Obviously, whoever wrote the task wants you to think about the assignments as a form of writing and communication.

It is easy to get distracted and go off on tangents when doing your research .  Use the context words to  help you keep your focus where it should be.

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How to Write a Discussion Essay for University: How to Start

How to Write a Discussion Essay

Have you been asked to write a discussion essay and you do not know how to go about it? Discussion essays require you to debate two opposing sides where you eventually show the side you prefer.

This article will look into steps that you need to follow when writing discussion essays and all the tips to complete one successfully

What is a Discussion Essay?

A discussion essay presents issues surrounding topics that are debatable and open to criticism or arguments. The essay must include detailed accounts of both sides of the debate and strong points to support arguments and counterarguments.

The opinions on both sides of the topic should be fully exhausted. An example of a good discussion essay title is; The arguments for and against the death penalty.

How to Write a Discussion Essay?

Writing discussion essays is not hard. It takes time to perfect essay writing and a few average first trials should not discourage you. However, there are several steps that if followed can help elevate you easily to an expert discussion essay writer. These include:

Step 1: Choose a Topic

When you have not been given a specific topic to write about, always ensure that you choose a topic carefully. Pick a topic that will be easier to research and write about.

A topic with readily available research is important because you will have to write about two argument phases in detail.

When you choose a side where the research available is one sided ,then your discussion essay will be unbalanced and may result in poor grading or rating

Step 2: Do Your Research

You will need to thoroughly research the topic you are writing about because facts must be separated from opinions. Only facts about a topic will make credible arguments for and against it.

Always research for enough factual points about a topic that will balance your arguments. Also, ensure that during research you formulate a thesis statement, opinions, and a conclusion that will serve as the parting shot of your essay.

Step 3: Create an Outline

After research, create a rough draft of how you want your essay to flow. Here include introduction points, thesis statement, supporting arguments, opposing arguments, and a rough conclusion paragraph.

This draft will help you write the essay without instant stops that are caused by running out of content halfway through.

Also, through outlines the ideas you present in the essay will look organized because you have already planned how they will flow. There is no recommended way of formulating this draft as long as you make sure that you do all the above tasks.

Step 4: Write the Introduction

To introduce a discussion essay, all issues relating to the topic and important background information must be involved. The introduction should effectively set the pace of your essay preparing the reader for the arguments that you will present.

The thesis statement that reveals to the reader what the essay will be all about should conclude the introduction. The statement should summarize both sides presented in the essay.

It also sets the scene for your essay. Therefore, it should be a specific and strong closing statement to your introduction paragraph.

Step 5: Write the Discussion in the Body Part of the Essay

Each issue in the body paragraphs should be presented impartially. There should be no cases of mix-up. This implies that arguments for should be presented separately from arguments against.

Paragraphs that present the facts should be equal to give the impression that they are balanced. Also, each paragraph should start with a topic sentence that introduces an argument that is then supported by the body sentences.

The last sentence in the paragraph can serve as a transition to the next. When presenting your arguments, start with the strongest to ensure that the reader can keep up with the flow of your essay.

Always ensure a smooth transition to arguments against if you started in arguments for and vice versa. Sources and quotes should be balanced for both arguments.

For example, if you use four scholarly sources and 3 quotes for arguments against, the same should be replicated in supporting arguments.

Step 6: Write the Conclusion

To conclude a discussion essay, summarize the overall information that has been presented in your essay. There is no requirement that you favor one side of the argument in your essay but if you do, make sure that you present your own opinion that is not similar to the body paragraphs to avoid repetition.

Write the conclusion in a way that the reader will know that the essay is coming to an end and notice your point of view.

Step 7: Proofread

After writing the essay, always ensure that you go through it to correct any mistakes that you may have committed. Most of them include grammar mistakes and incorrect pronunciations that can make your work lose clarity.

After proofreading, always ensure that you have not copied anything directly from a source that can lead to your work being flagged as plagiarized. Once this is done your work is ready for submission.

How to Start a Discussion Essay?

Just like other essays, discussion essays start with an introduction. Here you must introduce both sides of the argument and include a thesis statement to help the reader comprehend what the essay will be all about.

To start a discussion essay you will have to take a position on a topic and start agreeing with it. Also, investigate your stance and present the opposing side before continuing to the introduction and thesis statement.

Tips When Writing a Discussion Essay

The following tips can be helpful when writing a discussion essay:

Tip 1: Be clear

All paragraphs in your essay should be written in clear language that is easily understandable by the reader. After writing paragraphs always make sure that you proofread to correct any mistakes that may distort their meaning.

Tip 2: Take a good stand

Always choose a stance that you are comfortable with. This way you will be able to provide a view in your own words that present your stance on the topic.

A controversial stand will always be harder to write and prove with evidence.

Tip 3: Consider Opposing Views

A discussion essay is not complete if the opposing views are not fully presented. They are the ones that prove there is a relevant discussion about a particular topic that has two opposing views that can be supported and opposed.

Tip 4: Break down Opposing Sides with no Inclination

Do not lean on one side of the arguments when presenting them. Always ensure that both arguments are presented fairly.

Balance the points for each argument to avoid giving the impression that you favor a particular side. The side you take should be revealed in the introduction or conclusion of the essay and not in the body paragraphs.

When proofreading your essay always make sure that there is a fair approach between the two arguments.

Tip 5: Use a reliable tone

Remember that discussion essays are for academic use. Therefore, always ensure that the tone you use is formal. Use specialized terms that are common in the field of the essay topic.

It is up to the reader to establish what they mean.

Always ensure that you do not exaggerate anything you write because arguments presented must always sound real.

Tip 6: Be detailed

Always avoid shallow arguments. All arguments you present in your discussion must be detailed. Your aim is to show both sides of a topic and shallow arguments will not help achieve that.

Jessica Kasen is experienced in academic writing and academic assistance. She is well versed in academia and has a master’s degree in education. Kasen consults with us in helping students improve their grades. She also oversights the quality of work done by our writers.

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It’s the roadmap to your essay, it’s the forecast for your argument, it’s...your introduction paragraph, and writing one can feel pretty intimidating. The introduction paragraph is a part of just about every kind of academic writing , from persuasive essays to research papers. But that doesn’t mean writing one is easy!

If trying to write an intro paragraph makes you feel like a Muggle trying to do magic, trust us: you aren’t alone. But there are some tips and tricks that can make the process easier—and that’s where we come in.

In this article, we’re going to explain how to write a captivating intro paragraph by covering the following info:  

• A discussion of what an introduction paragraph is and its purpose in an essay
• An overview of the most effective introduction paragraph format, with explanations of the three main parts of an intro paragraph
• An analysis of real intro paragraph examples, with a discussion of what works and what doesn’t
• A list of four top tips on how to write an introduction paragraph

Are you ready? Let’s begin!

What Is an Introduction Paragraph? 

An introduction paragraph is the first paragraph of an essay , paper, or other type of academic writing. Argumentative essays , book reports, research papers, and even personal  essays are common types of writing that require an introduction paragraph. Whether you’re writing a research paper for a science course or an argumentative essay for English class , you’re going to have to write an intro paragraph. 

So what’s the purpose of an intro paragraph? As a reader’s first impression of your essay, the intro paragraph should introduce the topic of your paper. 

Your introduction will also state any claims, questions, or issues that your paper will focus on. This is commonly known as your paper’s thesis . This condenses the overall point of your paper into one or two short sentences that your reader can come back and reference later.

But intro paragraphs need to do a bit more than just introduce your topic. An intro paragraph is also supposed to grab your reader’s attention. The intro paragraph is your chance to provide just enough info and intrigue to make your reader say, “Hey, this topic sounds interesting. I think I’ll keep reading this essay!” That can help your essay stand out from the crowd.

In most cases, an intro paragraph will be relatively short. A good intro will be clear, brief, purposeful, and focused. While there are some exceptions to this rule, it’s common for intro paragraphs to consist of three to five sentences . 

Effectively introducing your essay’s topic, purpose, and getting your reader invested in your essay sounds like a lot to ask from one little paragraph, huh? In the next section, we’ll demystify the intro paragraph format by breaking it down into its core parts . When you learn how to approach each part of an intro, writing one won’t seem so scary!

Once you figure out the three parts of an intro paragraph, writing one will be a piece of cake!

The 3 Main Parts of an Intro Paragraph

In general, an intro paragraph is going to have three main parts: a hook, context, and a thesis statement . Each of these pieces of the intro plays a key role in acquainting the reader with the topic and purpose of your essay. 

Below, we’ll explain how to start an introduction paragraph by writing an effective hook, providing context, and crafting a thesis statement. When you put these elements together, you’ll have an intro paragraph that does a great job of making a great first impression on your audience!

Intro Paragraph Part 1: The Hook

When it comes to how to start an introduction paragraph, o ne of the most common approaches is to start with something called a hook. 

What does hook mean here, though? Think of it this way: it’s like when you start a new Netflix series: you look up a few hours (and a few episodes) later and you say, “Whoa. I guess I must be hooked on this show!” 

That’s how the hook is supposed to work in an intro paragrap h: it should get your reader interested enough that they don’t want to press the proverbial “pause” button while they’re reading it . In other words, a hook is designed to grab your reader’s attention and keep them reading your essay! 

This means that the hook comes first in the intro paragraph format—it’ll be the opening sentence of your intro. 

It’s important to realize  that there are many different ways to write a good hook. But generally speaking, hooks must include these two things: what your topic is, and the angle you’re taking on that topic in your essay. 

One approach to writing a hook that works is starting with a general, but interesting, statement on your topic. In this type of hook, you’re trying to provide a broad introduction to your topic and your angle on the topic in an engaging way . 

For example, if you’re writing an essay about the role of the government in the American healthcare system, your hook might look something like this: 

There's a growing movement to require that the federal government provide affordable, effective healthcare for all Americans. 

This hook introduces the essay topic in a broad way (government and healthcare) by presenting a general statement on the topic. But the assumption presented in the hook can also be seen as controversial, which gets readers interested in learning more about what the writer—and the essay—has to say.

In other words, the statement above fulfills the goals of a good hook: it’s intriguing and provides a general introduction to the essay topic.

Intro Paragraph Part 2: Context

Once you’ve provided an attention-grabbing hook, you’ll want to give more context about your essay topic. Context refers to additional details that reveal the specific focus of your paper. So, whereas the hook provides a general introduction to your topic, context starts helping readers understand what exactly you’re going to be writing about

You can include anywhere from one to several sentences of context in your intro, depending on your teacher’s expectations, the length of your paper, and complexity of your topic. In these context-providing sentences, you want to begin narrowing the focus of your intro. You can do this by describing a specific issue or question about your topic that you’ll address in your essay. It also helps readers start to understand why the topic you’re writing about matters and why they should read about it. 

So, what counts as context for an intro paragraph? Context can be any important details or descriptions that provide background on existing perspectives, common cultural attitudes, or a specific situation or controversy relating to your essay topic. The context you include should acquaint your reader with the issues, questions, or events that motivated you to write an essay on your topic...and that your reader should know in order to understand your thesis. 

For instance, if you’re writing an essay analyzing the consequences of sexism in Hollywood, the context you include after your hook might make reference to the #metoo and #timesup movements that have generated public support for victims of sexual harassment. 

The key takeaway here is that context establishes why you’re addressing your topic and what makes it important. It also sets you up for success on the final piece of an intro paragraph: the thesis statement.

Elle Woods' statement offers a specific point of view on the topic of murder...which means it could serve as a pretty decent thesis statement!

Intro Paragraph Part 3: The Thesis

The final key part of how to write an intro paragraph is the thesis statement. The thesis statement is the backbone of your introduction: it conveys your argument or point of view on your topic in a clear, concise, and compelling way . The thesis is usually the last sentence of your intro paragraph. 

Whether it’s making a claim, outlining key points, or stating a hypothesis, your thesis statement will tell your reader exactly what idea(s) are going to be addressed in your essay. A good thesis statement will be clear, straightforward, and highlight the overall point you’re trying to make.

Some instructors also ask students to include an essay map as part of their thesis. An essay map is a section that outlines the major topics a paper will address. So for instance, say you’re writing a paper that argues for the importance of public transport in rural communities. Your thesis and essay map might look like this: 

Having public transport in rural communities helps people improve their economic situation by giving them reliable transportation to their job, reducing the amount of money they spend on gas, and providing new and unionized work .

The underlined section is the essay map because it touches on the three big things the writer will talk about later. It literally maps out the rest of the essay!

So let’s review: Your thesis takes the idea you’ve introduced in your hook and context and wraps it up. Think of it like a television episode: the hook sets the scene by presenting a general statement and/or interesting idea that sucks you in. The context advances the plot by describing the topic in more detail and helping readers understand why the topic is important. And finally, the thesis statement provides the climax by telling the reader what you have to say about the topic. 

The thesis statement is the most important part of the intro. Without it, your reader won’t know what the purpose of your essay is! And for a piece of writing to be effective, it needs to have a clear purpose. Your thesis statement conveys that purpose , so it’s important to put careful thought into writing a clear and compelling thesis statement. 

How To Write an Introduction Paragraph: Example and Analysis

Now that we’ve provided an intro paragraph outline and have explained the three key parts of an intro paragraph, let’s take a look at an intro paragraph in action.

To show you how an intro paragraph works, we’ve included a sample introduction paragraph below, followed by an analysis of its strengths and weaknesses.

Example of Introduction Paragraph

While college students in the U.S. are struggling with how to pay for college, there is another surprising demographic that’s affected by the pressure to pay for college: families and parents. In the face of tuition price tags that total more than $100,000 (as a low estimate), families must make difficult decisions about how to save for their children’s college education. Charting a feasible path to saving for college is further complicated by the FAFSA’s estimates for an “Expected Family Contribution”—an amount of money that is rarely feasible for most American families. Due to these challenging financial circumstances and cultural pressure to give one’s children the best possible chance of success in adulthood, many families are going into serious debt to pay for their children’s college education. The U.S. government should move toward bearing more of the financial burden of college education. 

Example of Introduction Paragraph: Analysis

Before we dive into analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of this example intro paragraph, let’s establish the essay topic. The sample intro indicates that t he essay topic will focus on one specific issue: who should cover the cost of college education in the U.S., and why. Both the hook and the context help us identify the topic, while the thesis in the last sentence tells us why this topic matters to the writer—they think the U.S. Government needs to help finance college education. This is also the writer’s argument, which they’ll cover in the body of their essay. 

Now that we’ve identified the essay topic presented in the sample intro, let’s dig into some analysis. To pin down its strengths and weaknesses, we’re going to use the following three questions to guide our example of introduction paragraph analysis: 

• Does this intro provide an attention-grabbing opening sentence that conveys the essay topic? 
• Does this intro provide relevant, engaging context about the essay topic? 
• Does this intro provide a thesis statement that establishes the writer’s point of view on the topic and what specific aspects of the issue the essay will address? 

Now, let’s use the questions above to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of this sample intro paragraph. 

Does the Intro Have a Good Hook? 

First, the intro starts out with an attention-grabbing hook . The writer starts by presenting  an assumption (that the U.S. federal government bears most of the financial burden of college education), which makes the topic relatable to a wide audience of readers. Also note that the hook relates to the general topic of the essay, which is the high cost of college education. 

The hook then takes a surprising turn by presenting a counterclaim : that American families, rather than students, feel the true burden of paying for college. Some readers will have a strong emotional reaction to this provocative counterclaim, which will make them want to keep reading! As such, this intro provides an effective opening sentence that conveys the essay topic. 

Does the Intro Give Context?

T he second, third, and fourth sentences of the intro provide contextual details that reveal the specific focus of the writer’s paper . Remember: the context helps readers start to zoom in on what the paper will focus on, and what aspect of the general topic (college costs) will be discussed later on. 

The context in this intro reveals the intent and direction of the paper by explaining why the issue of families financing college is important. In other words, the context helps readers understand why this issue matters , and what aspects of this issue will be addressed in the paper.  

To provide effective context, the writer refers to issues (the exorbitant cost of college and high levels of family debt) that have received a lot of recent scholarly and media attention. These sentences of context also elaborate on the interesting perspective included in the hook: that American families are most affected by college costs.

Does the Intro Have a Thesis? 

Finally, this intro provides a thesis statement that conveys the writer’s point of view on the issue of financing college education. This writer believes that the U.S. government should do more to pay for students’ college educations. 

However, the thesis statement doesn’t give us any details about why the writer has made this claim or why this will help American families . There isn’t an essay map that helps readers understand what points the writer will make in the essay.

To revise this thesis statement so that it establishes the specific aspects of the topic that the essay will address, the writer could add the following to the beginning of the thesis statement:

The U.S. government should take on more of the financial burden of college education because other countries have shown this can improve education rates while reducing levels of familial poverty.

Check out the new section in bold. Not only does it clarify that the writer is talking about the pressure put on families, it touches on the big topics the writer will address in the paper: improving education rates and reduction of poverty. So not only do we have a clearer argumentative statement in this thesis, we also have an essay map!  

So, let’s recap our analysis. This sample intro paragraph does an effective job of providing an engaging hook and relatable, interesting context, but the thesis statement needs some work ! As you write your own intro paragraphs, you might consider using the questions above to evaluate and revise your work. Doing this will help ensure you’ve covered all of your bases and written an intro that your readers will find interesting!

4 Tips for How To Write an Introduction Paragraph

Now that we’ve gone over an example of introduction paragraph analysis, let’s talk about how to write an introduction paragraph of your own. Keep reading for four tips for writing a successful intro paragraph for any essay. 

Tip 1: Analyze Your Essay Prompt

If you’re having trouble with how to start an introduction paragraph, analyze your essay prompt! Most teachers give you some kind of assignment sheet, formal instructions, or prompt to set the expectations for an essay they’ve assigned, right? Those instructions can help guide you as you write your intro paragraph!

Because they’ll be reading and responding to your essay, you want to make sure you meet your teacher’s expectations for an intro paragraph . For instance, if they’ve provided specific instructions about how long the intro should be or where the thesis statement should be located, be sure to follow them!

The type of paper you’re writing can give you clues as to how to approach your intro as well. If you’re writing a research paper, your professor might expect you to provide a research question or state a hypothesis in your intro. If you’re writing an argumentative essay, you’ll need to make sure your intro overviews the context surrounding your argument and your thesis statement includes a clear, defensible claim. 

Using the parameters set out by your instructor and assignment sheet can put some easy-to-follow boundaries in place for things like your intro’s length, structure, and content. Following these guidelines can free you up to focus on other aspects of your intro... like coming up with an exciting hook and conveying your point of view on your topic!

Tip 2: Narrow Your Topic

You can’t write an intro paragraph without first identifying your topic. To make your intro as effective as possible, you need to define the parameters of your topic clearly—and you need to be specific. 

For example, let’s say you want to write about college football. “NCAA football” is too broad of a topic for a paper. There is a lot to talk about in terms of college football! It would be tough to write an intro paragraph that’s focused, purposeful, and engaging on this topic. In fact, if you did try to address this whole topic, you’d probably end up writing a book!

Instead, you should narrow broad topics to  identify a specific question, claim, or issue pertaining to some aspect of NCAA football for your intro to be effective. So, for instance, you could frame your topic as, “How can college professors better support NCAA football players in academics?” This focused topic pertaining to NCAA football would give you a more manageable angle to discuss in your paper.

So before you think about writing your intro, ask yourself: Is my essay topic specific, focused, and logical? Does it convey an issue or question that I can explore over the course of several pages? Once you’ve established a good topic, you’ll have the foundation you need to write an effective intro paragraph . 

Once you've figured out your topic, it's time to hit the books!

Tip 3: Do Your Research

This tip is tightly intertwined with the one above, and it’s crucial to writing a good intro: do your research! And, guess what? This tip applies to all papers—even ones that aren’t technically research papers. 

Here’s why you need to do some research: getting the lay of the land on what others have said about your topic—whether that’s scholars and researchers or the mass media— will help you narrow your topic, write an engaging hook, and provide relatable context. 

You don't want to sit down to write your intro without a solid understanding of the different perspectives on your topic. Whether those are the perspectives of experts or the general public, these points of view will help you write your intro in a way that is intriguing and compelling for your audience of readers. 

Tip 4: Write Multiple Drafts

Some say to write your intro first; others say write it last. The truth is, there isn’t a right or wrong time to write your intro—but you do need to have enough time to write multiple drafts . 

Oftentimes, your professor will ask you to write multiple drafts of your paper, which gives you a built-in way to make sure you revise your intro. Another approach you could take is to write out a rough draft of your intro before you begin writing your essay, then revise it multiple times as you draft out your paper. 

Here’s why this approach can work: as you write your paper, you’ll probably come up with new insights on your topic that you didn’t have right from the start. You can use these “light bulb” moments to reevaluate your intro and make revisions that keep it in line with your developing essay draft. 

Once you’ve written your entire essay, consider going back and revising your intro again . You can ask yourself these questions as you evaluate your intro: 

• Is my hook still relevant to the way I’ve approached the topic in my essay?
• Do I provide enough appropriate context to introduce my essay? 
• Now that my essay is written, does my thesis statement still accurately reflect the point of view that I present in my essay?

Using these questions as a guide and putting your intro through multiple revisions will help ensure that you’ve written the best intro for the final draft of your essay. Also, revising your writing is always a good thing to do—and this applies to your intro, too!

What's Next?

Your college essays also need great intro paragraphs. Here’s a guide that focuses on how to write the perfect intro for your admissions essays. 

Of course, the intro is just one part of your college essay . This article will teach you how to write a college essay that makes admissions counselors sit up and take notice.

Are you trying to write an analytical essay? Our step-by-step guide can help you knock it out of the park.

Ashley Sufflé Robinson has a Ph.D. in 19th Century English Literature. As a content writer for PrepScholar, Ashley is passionate about giving college-bound students the in-depth information they need to get into the school of their dreams.

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IELTS Preparation with Liz: Free IELTS Tips and Lessons, 2024

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IELTS Discussion Essay Model Answer

This IELTS discussion essay sample answer is estimated at band 9. See comments below the essay for advice and tips.

Completing university education is thought by some to be the best way to get a good job. On the other hand, other people think that getting experience and developing soft skills is more important. Discuss both sides and give your opinion.

It is considered by some that being a university graduate is the key to securing a good job, while there are others who think that it is better to have experience and soft skills. In my opinion, I believe that having university education is essential for academic jobs, while soft skills and experience are more useful in business.

On the one hand, many think it is easier for most people to find a good job if they are university graduates with a good degree. In other words, having tertiary education puts people one step ahead of others who do not and this can be the deciding factor in getting a good job. The competition to get in to universities and the increasing number of graduates show just how significant this level of education is for people’s future work opportunities.

On the other hand, having work experience and soft skills, such as leadership skills and other interpersonal skills, can also throw the balance in favour of the applicant, according to some. For many positions there are an overwhelming number of applicants and, therefore, it is often thought that having relevant experience in that line of work or having acquired useful soft skills that can be valuable to a company, can put one ahead of the game when applying for a position.

Finally, in my opinion, whether needing high level education or skills and experience, depends on the position being applied for. Take for example law, medicine or teaching, it is impossible to be considered for a position without the required educational background. In contrast, in business, it would be more important for a candidate to have soft skills and experience in that line of business so they can step into a position without further training and be of immediate benefit to the company.

In conclusion, getting a good job requires a relevant background either in experience or education depending on the type of work and field. People should make sure they attain the necessary skills or degrees before applying for a job in order to be sure of success.

Comments : This is a a band score 9  essay. It has over 300 words but all sentences are relevant, focused and well written. Band score 8.5 and 9 students can attempt long essays successfully but students from band 8 to band 6, should aim for around 270 to 290 words. Both sides are clearly discussed and the opinion is also clearly given. Linking devices are well used.

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Hi Liz need your guidance.. today was my IELTS exam and in writing portion I wrote 4 paragraph and forget to leave line spacing.. but I wrote arrow sign before starting my next paragraph.. will it affect my score??

I’ve never actually heard of someone using an arrow sign to indicate a paragraph in an IELTS essay. When I advise people to leave an empty line between paragraphs, it because this is how we write these days and it also makes the paragraphs 100% clear and easy to see. The examiner needs to see paragraphs to give you a score for paragraphing. So, leaving an empty line ensures there is no confusion. However, it isn’t a rule to leave an empty line. It is possible to indent the first word instead. The reason I don’t recommend this is because it is often not obvious or clear to the reader that the word in indented. So, to avoid unclear paragraphing leaving an empty line is much better. Regarding your choice of using arrows, if the examiner realises that you are indicating paragraphs, it will be ok. But I don’t know whether this will be the case because I’ve never heard of someone doing it in an IELTS essay. My recommendation is to talk it over with your test centre and see what they say. Having clear well organised paragraphs is part of the marking criterion of Coherence & Cohesion, which counts for 25% of your marks. Not having paragraphs at all would lower your score in that marking criterion, but would not impact any other part of the marking for writing task 1. Hopefully, the examiner will understand your arrows and you will be fine.

Hi liz, your lessons helped me a lot when I was applying to study abroad. Now, Im in my dream country and after 2 yrs here I am again to learn from you. Thank you so much for all the lessons you provide, I pray for your better health and happiness.

It was lovely to read your message and hear how well you are doing. I wish you all the best with your future life in your dream country 🙂

Dear Madam with reference back to the advanced lesson on the opinion essay, I’m just wondering how to write a good one when IELTS opinion essay is followed by a direct question. (Test 3, Book # 8, IELTS Cambridge Series) Increasing the price of petrol is the best way to solve growing traffic and pollution problems. To what extent do you agree or disagree? What other measures do you think might be effective?

Each question will be answered in one body paragraph. So, one body paragraph will be your opinion and one will be solutions (but stick to no more than 2 solutions because otherwise it might read like a list).

Many thanks for your guidance.

Thanks for your reply.

Ma’am we don’t see you anymore on YouTube channel. Is everything alright? Your videos are very beneficial for all IELTS students and we want more from you. Thank You!

Thanks for your message. I’ve been battling a serious illness for many years. You can read my story here: https://ieltsliz.com/determination-my-story/ . This year is the first year where my health feels more stable. If my health continues to improve, I might make a couple of videos this year. But it will depend on my health. I’m glad there are people out in the world who still want my lessons 🙂

I only now found your website and just saw this very recent comment from you. I’m so sorry to hear this, but I’m glad that this year brought some health improvement and I wish you that this will continue to go on like that. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Sending you positive vibes and some healing energy.

Thanks. I really appreciate your support

Hello Liz! Greetings from India, I hope you are doing well. Will you once come live on your youtube channel? So that your followers and well-wishers can see you. Thanks in advance mam.

Thanks for your message. It made me smile. I am currently planning a video but it is taking a lot of time because I can only do very small amounts of work each week due to illness. However, if you can be patient a bit longer, I hope to have a video ready in a few weeks or a couple of months.

Hi Liz, so sorry about your health, I hope you are fast recovering. Your lectures have been very helpful

please add more samples of each and type of essays . One sample isn’t enough okay . I will wait for your response

There are plenty of sample essays on the main writing task 2 page – just use the red menu bar at the top of the website to access the different sections of this website.

Hi Liz, I hope you’re doing well. I have a question regarding your e-book, does it provide model answers or only ideas and vocabulary?

The Ideas for Essay Topics is for ideas. It’s about gaining ideas for cover 150 common essay topics so that you don’t waste time trying to think of ideas in the test. The ideas can also be used in speaking part 3. The ideas are presented as vocabulary exercises to help you remember the ideas and learn vocabulary. For model essays, you can find some free ones in the main writing task 2 section of this website.

Hi Liz, Hope you are doing well. Kindly check my response (introduction paragraph) to a discussion essay on the topic:

Some people say that advertising is extremely successful at persuading us to buy things. Other people think that advertising is so common that we no longer pay attention to it. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Response: It is considered by some people that advertisements for various goods persuade the public to purchase them while others believe that advertising does not grab any attention now as it has become a common practice. In my opinion, advertising is a useful tool to make people buy goods but making this a usual activity is not attracting the public much.

Your reply will be appreciated, Thank you.

You have the right techniques and content. The task now is to produce an essay which explains precisely what you mean with each point.

*I tried to improve my previous lengthy version* word count: 284 Whilst it is often believed by many that completing a tertiary education is essential in securing a well-paid job, I strongly believe that a robust job experience and interpersonal skills offer superior potential for success.

On the one hand, academic credentials are necessary for applying high paying jobs. Many employers often mandate university diplomas and degrees as a prerequisite for applying jobs. Therefore, individuals without them are forced to opt for more labour oriented jobs, with lower income and no potential for future advancement. Additionally, the likelihood of poverty rises significantly from the the lack of a steady stream of income. Almost 90% of the blue collar labourers in the US, for example, are either secondary or primary school dropouts. Their monthly average earnings of $2000 is unfortunately insufficient for many to lead a comfortable life.

On the other hand, some contend that work experience and acquired skills are far more beneficial. Instead of going to a university, people who enter into a workforce from a young age have better social skills and problem solving abilities. These workers learn how to handle arguments and criticism from colleagues and customers, which are invaluable skills in running businesses. Furthermore, workplaces allow the employees to learn decision making lessons from seniors to promote self-independence. These contribute to the overall success of an individual in handling various businesses ventures. For instance, many university dropouts like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerbergs have built the wealthiest technological companies of the twenty-first century after working at other companies for decades.

In conclusion, although some might argue that university graduates can apply for more comfortable jobs, in my view, people learn invaluable lessons on managing businesses by solely working for a longer time.

Some people believe that teenagers should be required to do unpaid community work in their free time. This can benefit teenagers and the community as well. To what extent do you agree or disagree? It is an undeniable fact the students are the building blocks of the nation and they should be motivated to do some voluntary tasks which will be fruitful not only for them but also for the society. However, I strongly agree with the given notion and views will be discussed along with the relevant examples in the subsequent paragraphs. To initiate with, there are multifarious reasons that clarify the fcat of how trend can have positive outcomes. First and foremost, youth can teach the value of eductaion to the parents of those children who do not let them study and force them to work. Further, they can teach them free and encourage them to study. For example, people who belong to slum areas mostly drag their offsprings in the labour work like them. Hence, it is apparent how this can bring positive changes. In addition to this, Youngters can easily vanish some problems from the society as they are physically and mentally strong enough. They can be the part of some NGOs which help the needy. They can provide them knowledge of right and wrong so that they can stop doing such things on loop. To cite an example, crimes namely child labour, Female feticide are mostly commited by the uneducated one. So , youth can curb such issues to make their society crime free. On the other hand, there are number of individuals who refute the above mentioned notion and believe that this has many deterimental effects on both scoiety and youth. Firstly, they opine that this can not tell them the value of money and also break their confidence of working in the multinational companies. More so, they can be influenced by the comapny they will be the part of. To exemplify, many NGOs faced major consequences for the sake of changing or helping the society. To conclude, there is no denying fact that every decison of life has both positive or negative outcome. However, I strongly assert that this above mentioned notion has more positive points than its negatives. So, youth must be the part of some social works in their free time.

It is believed by some that university education is essential to acquire a good job whereas other thinks that soft skills and relevant experience in that field adds more value. In my opinion, University degree is necessary for academic jobs such as Teacher or Doctor and soft skill and experience is important for business. On the one hand, tertiary education is required to apply for a job in the field of science, research, education, medicine, administrative services. Without a college degree, one can’t do justice to his role as his work will be highly dependent on the education he has received. If we see the large no of students applying for college degree worldwide, is significant which highlight the role of university degree for success in academic jobs. On the other hand, soft skills and experience is highly in demand for business. For instance, if someone has skills and experience for craft, carpenter, mechanic, electrician etc. he can easily apply for these jobs without having a college degree. Also, people working as salesman or cashier in shops like Walmart, Costco may not need higher degree and experience will be sufficient to get the job. This is justified as college education has not practical implementation in these types of job. In conclusion, Students should aim to complete the college degree and acquire experience which will enable them to get high skilled jobs job very easily, however everyone can’t complete the college for any reason, they can train themselves in soft skills of their choice and gain some experience to apply for less skilled jobs.

Please as a beginning linker for my paragraphs… In place of “on the one hand” can I start the first body paragraph with “to begin with” then the second with “however”. Or can I maintain “on the one hand” for the first paragraph then “however” for the second

Your method of linking will always depend on your main points. One linking device is not a higher band score than another. As long as they are used appropriately, they are all good.

Some people thought that the best way for finding a good job is to have a higher education whereas others thought that the best way is to have experience and soft skills. I believe that completing university education is essential for academic positions while experience and soft skills are good for non academic ones.

Academic jobs need qualified people in terms of higher education. People who complete university education dig deeply in their field, thus, they become know the roots of their field and they can deliver the information in a good way. For instance, when teachers in schools and lecturers in universities apply for a job, they are selected depending on their education. Lecturers are chosen if they have a doctorate degree in addition to some research and teachers who have master’s degrees are more qualified to teaching in schools than those with the bachelor’s degrees. Thus, the competition between applicants in the academic jobs depends on their higher education.

On the other hand, non academic jobs like business, don’t require higher education in their fields. Non academic people tend to have more experience and soft skills related to their field rather than taking a master’s or a doctorate degree. This is due to the nature of their job since it just needs knowledge in the basics and then adding the skills to it. For example, people who study the bachelor’s degree in business can improve themselves by attending conferences and have a training in their field. Such experience is going to help them in finding a good job. As time goes on, they will become experts in their field although they don’t have a higher degree. Thus, non academic positions look for the experience and the soft skills of applicants regardless of their university education.

To conclude, the best way to get a good job depends on the nature of the job. If the job is academic, then higher education is a must to find a suitable job because having higher degrees are reflected when people do their job in an interesting way. While if the job is non academic, then experience and soft skills are more important than higher education because people can learn their jobs while they doing them. In general, having both higher education and experience in your field makes you very qualified person and you can find the best job.

Hello, Liz! Thank you for everythng you ae doing! I have a question regarding the essay! Is it ok to say “in my opinion, I believe…”. Is it not redundancy here? You don’t believe “in your opinion”, do you?

You can use it the way I’ve stated or just use simply “In my opinion” or “I believe that”. You can choose just one definitely.

Hi Liz It is a discussion essay, is it okay to write “in my opinion” in thesis statement of such type of essay where opinion is not required in question? Also is it okay to us “I” and “my” in introduction paragraph? I m confused.

This is a discussion essay which asks for your opinion: Discuss both sides and give your opinion. You should introduce all in the introduction and that means using I or my.

It is considered by some that best way to get a job can be done by completing tertiary education , while there are others who think that it is better to have job experience and improving soft skills plays more important. I consider that having university education and having soft skills both plays very important role in getting job.

On the one hand , having a bachelor degree is the crucial in order to get a job. In other words, most employers only choose the candidates who have a higher education because most jobs are required academic studies which only can be learnt in university and it is impossible to do that job without studying in undergraduate such as : medicine , law , engineering . Furthermore, students learn how to compete with their peers in university which makes them more competitive and deal with harsh conditions. For example, many project has to be done in specific date and students has to complete their homework before the deadline.

On the other hand , working in business require candidates to have some specific skills and experience in order to work rather than just a degree because there are so many candidates who has a university degree apply to position and having necessary experience and soft skills put one steps ahead than others. Another reason is that , nowadays, business model always change and requires employees to have experience or soft skills such as leadership , teamwork which can not be learnt in university. So , having these skills are crucial to get a job. Finally, I believe that having university degree and having experience are both crucial for getting a job . Take for example medicine, law. Employees can not handle the job requirement without having either necessary degree and softs skills . In conclusion, having degree or experience and soft skills are very important to get a job nowadays. I believe employee has to fulfill these requirements before applying to job.

Nowadays landing a dream job is like some achievement in life. For getting a good job it is necessary to have a good experience related to the studies and also soft skills plays a vital role in landing in a good job. Let us discuss this in detail in this essay. Firstly, in today’s competitive world education is the key to success to proceed way forward in our life for getting a good job with decent pay. To achieve an education from the university is not only the key factor but also other factors such as getting a good practical experience while studying and also it is important to develop individual soft skills such as communication, problem-solving, Leadership, and adaptability. Companies are highly in need of people with good technical skills as well as mentioned soft skills so that they can get the job done with good quality. So it is very indeed to develop the soft skills along with university education so the students can tune themselves to land into their dream job. Along with the education, students should have practical knowledge such as applying the theory in labs, and in real life so that creativity and innovation will come up which makes them epic among other students so that chances of getting a job is high when compared to other people. In an organization, it is vital to have good communication and leadership skills to execute the project in a successful manner, and also this will make them successful in their career and to achieve good heights in their job. In a conclusion, I would like to add that both education and practical experience along with soft skills make an individual as successful in their life by getting a good job with a good salary.

Many believe that the key to getting a great job is completing your tertiary education. However, others assume that it is more advantageous to get your hands dirty by doing real jobs that will make them learn real-world challenges, and will also upgrade their skill sets over time. I believe that finishing academics first, will lead grab the desired job.

Most insist that colleges play a paramount role in shaping students’ futures. Every student has dreamt of a job and certainly, some require specialized or specific certifications, it is mandatory to attend universities. For example, Dream jobs like Doctors, Engineers, or Scientists. Moreover, in colleges students will get hands-on experience under the supervision of their tutors.

Conversely, some assume that it is more advantageous to get hands dirty while working and gaining knowledge. Some jobs like marketing do not require any professional degree because in colleges you gain theoretical knowledge rather practical. A recent study shows that majority of successful people in the field of marketing and sales never attended universities. For instance, Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs never went to college but, still, he brought a whole new dimension in the field of mobiles and laptops.

Consequently, I do agree that certificates or degrees are not the only paths to success, but it is not like everyone is Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, it is just like they were lucky enough to get opportunities which they were able to capitalize. Therefore I believe it is necessary to complete your education rather than directly go to the real world.

In conclusion, it is not like, to be successful a person has to be graduate, Nither not. But I believe that seeing the real-world scenarios, One should first complete their education and then explore jobs.

It is widely believed that having an academic degree is dramatically valuable in setting up a good career path, while some consider experience and soft skills are more significant. In my perspective, I suppose that either knowledge or experience and skills are essential factors which determine whether a potential applicant can be hired for a great job.

On the one hand, taking tertiary education has been the most classical method to prepare for entering the labor market. It can be seen that since the first university was established, there have been numerous students taking part in this academic institution in order to access a huge range of knowledge. Moreover, college life is considered one of the most crucial times in developing one’s characteristics and mindset. The only downside of university, however, is the opportunity costs that force students to waste several chances to get involved in other activities such as making money or traveling.

On the other hand, being well-qualified for the experiences and skills collected is not only remarkable but also puts the applicant one step ahead of others. Furthermore, if these acts, such as volunteering for a charity or learning leadership skills, are certified by a legit organization, it will be a huge step towards the success of getting a job. For example, nowadays, HR professionals from top-ranking companies have preferred the number of working experiences and related skills rather than just focus on the academic performance when filtering the resumes.

Finally, I strongly believe that the requirements of any job not only ask for these qualifications but also depend on the working conditions and the position that we aim for. For instance, a doctor or lawyer must have appropriate levels of knowledge in specific fields while a businessman needs more practical challenges.

In conclusion, preparing for a career is definitely an inevitable mission for everyone. To climb that career ladder, job-seekers should attempt both qualifications including the GPA and certifications for participating in other activities or acquiring any soft skill. Although it may vary in different companies and fields, illustrating an outstanding and comprehensive background can be significantly advantageous in impressing the recruiters.

Some of the people believe that University educations plays an essential role for attaining a good job, whereas others anticipate that soft skills and experience are they key factors for find a Job. In my opinion, education and experience together makes a person successful for earning perspective. It is considered by many people to University degree helps them to find work easily. In other words, the competition for enrolling students in institution each year illustrates that university degree helps one to get an easy Job such as doctors, engineers and lawyers. Therefore, many people first part to consider their higher studies after their High school according their desire and Job market. On the other hand, many people had a mind set to make their child in soft skills or get them engage in low Jobs in order to achieve experience. They believe that experience will make them familiar with Market strategy and soft skills will raise their demand in the Job opportunity. In addition, various industries the experiences are listed as mandate requirement for recruitment such as business & sales job offers. However, few cases are due to their financial conditions which opt the education and select job for their family survival. In my opinion, the leading indicators to be successful in earnings one shall possess higher education studies as well experiences. Although, the initial days will be on less wages but with passage of time they will be considered as pioneer of relevant field. For example, the doctor as expert surgeon when he posses hands of experience. To sum up all, it is mandatory one shall achieve higher education and get some experience in order to develop the required skills for performing. For a successful future, it is combination of both necessities University degree and relevant experiences.

It is considred by some that the best approach to obtain a decent job is through completion of university education, while there are others who thick that achieving the required experience and building up soft skills is more essential. This essay will briefly discuss both views and will draw my personal opinion.

On the one hand, many think that completing graduate and post-graduate studies will help them to obtain the most needed jobs. In their opinion, getting bachelor degree and even master degree will enable them to work in a more professional and academic jobs. In other words, without these degrees, it will be impossible for to be hired professional positions since nowadays there is a high competition to acquire these positions. For example, many jobs require completion of graduate studies including law, medicine, engineering and sciences.

On the other hand, many believe that it is more crucial to develop and enhance the person’s soft skills in addition to build up a good work experience. These people after graduation from high school will start immediately looking for jobs in order to accelerate their work experience and to acquire soft skills such as cummunications, interpersonal and leaderships skills. Moreover, they can work in different fields and expand their knowledge in many areas to meet certain jobs requirements such as multi field consultations, employment supervisions and management.

In conclusion, after a carefull analysis of both sides, the choice whether to continue college studies or to achieve experiences and soft skills is dependent on the person’s targeted job. In my opinion, continuation of graduate studies is necessary and it will open more opportunities in the future.

Some people believe that a university degree is the most effective way to attain a decent job. In contrast, other people argue that work fields need more experience and soft skills than educational background. In my perspective, university graduates fit the academic career whereas soft skills are more needed in technical jobs. University is the best place for people to develop their way of thinking. In college, students are taught to think scientifically. In order to attain this skill, students need to complete their studies by completing various tasks, such as daily assignments, group work, and final papers. Most of the subjects that are taught in university are theoretical. As a final result, university graduates are expected to not only mastering a particular knowledge but also a critical way of thinking. That is why university education is suitable for those who seek careers that require strong academic backgrounds, such as doctor, lawyer, judge, and teacher. On the other hand, some professions require experience and soft skills more rather than merely an educational background. Experience is needed especially in the work fields that produce utilized products such as business, manufacture, and software industry. In these industries, the works need people who technically master how to produce the product. Therefore, experienced ones with soft skills are more needed in this field. I believe that both educational background and experience with soft skills matter in terms of building our careers. Educational background can build our mindset to be critical and creative. On the other hand, experience and soft skills can support our hard skills to make ourselves more qualified. The thing that we should consider is which one we should emphasize more, which depends on the career path we wish to pursue. In summary, we should decide first what career we would like to seek, therefore we can decide what kind of educational background and other qualifications requirement we should attain.

Your website is very helpful in preparing for the IELTS writing section, and I really appreciate it. also, there is confusion, that it was told to me by my IELTS trainer and in few youtube videos that whenever we give an example to support the essay we shouldn’t be writing “for example” but here you’ve used that form so is it okay to do so because that’s how I prefer to write.

Of course it’s fine to use “For example”. It is 100% appropriate and suitable for essay writing. However, a good score for Coherence and Cohesion requires that you show flexibility and range – this means don’t repeat the same linking words unless there is no choice. There are many such linking words you can use as a paraphrase: such as, for instance, namely and so on. One linking word is not a higher score that the other. They are all suitable. Here is a link of linking words: https://ieltsliz.com/linking-words-for-writing/ and a link to my main writing task 2 page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/

Some people consider having university degrees as the key to employment whereas others think building and developing soft skills and experience is an effective way to get a job. In my opinion, having both degree certificates and relevant skills is essential for getting the targeted position due to the growing competition. On the one hand, Most people strive for earning university credentials to get hired to the workplace of their choice. They consider so because some jobs typically require candidates to have qualifications related to the job position as employers may consider this as an essential tool to gauge applicant’s knowledge about their areas of work. Job postings, for example, doctors, teachers, professors, engineers, etc. require a certain level of knowledge about the concerned field which can only be reflected from the qualification of the job applicant. On the other hand, some people start working for building soft skills and experience rather than joining colleges and universities to crack their target job. Employers of some areas such as business, technical, IT basically look for candidates having relevant experience and soft skills rather than degree certificates for the post they want to hire ensuring low cost of hiring and quick adaptation of the new employees to their workplace. Thus, in response to such hiring trends, candidates get to indulge in training for soft skills development to reserve their position in a job market from their early stage of learning. However, both graduate degree certificates and essential skills are important factors in the competitive job market. Due to the growing number of university graduates and limited job positions, employers nowadays look for the best candidate who can competitively give a good return to the company after getting hired. For this reason, people work for earning both qualifications and skills to assure their future career. To give an example, the employer is more interested to hire a university graduate scholar with the computer, analytical, and organizing skills than the one having either of them. To recapitulate, both qualification and experience are equally crucial in getting a job depending upon the nature of the job people are looking for. Thus candidates should make sure about the emphasizing factor of getting hired before applying for employment. However, Earning both university degrees and relevant soft skills and experience is the best method to secure the demanded job position.

Your website is very helpful and I love all the lessons you provide. I have a question. In a discussion essay where do we need to keep the sequence in which the opinion is presented in the question. E.g. If I agree with the second opinion should my first body paragraph have the second opinion (and I restate that I agree with it) or should I follow the sequence as the question.

Also, can I use “you” in my essay e.g. “On the one hand, some people think that if a friend differs from some of your actions, he acts as a deterrent to the deeds that might turn out bad and I agree with that”

Is it correct?

The body paragraphs present the two sides in the order that you have written them in your introduction. Keep a logical order at all times so that the reader knows what is coming next. The pronoun “you” is rarely used because we mainly refer to the third person in formal essays. Your example is not written in a way that I can understand. Unfortunately, the meaning is not clear and I can’t help you with it. If you post a clear example, I’ll be able to help.

Please expert in the house help me vet this

Nowadays, people who move from one country to another for work. Some people think children of these families suffer because of this, while others think it is helpful to them.

Discuss both views and give your opinion.

It is recently believed by certain individuals that children whose families travel across the globe due to their nature of job suffer a lot while others think these children enjoy the benefits. In my opinion, such happening has both negative and positive impacts on them, however, it depends on whether the parents travel with their kids or not.

On the one hand, children whose parents move around nation to nation leaving them behind due to their job may be led into waywardness. In other words, the absence of proper guidance would result them into committing crimes and behaviors that are nonchalant. Consequently, they may get into troubles that would affect their entire lives such as being jailed or rusticated from school. Another point is that such kids would lack companionship because the primary people to display love to them are absent. For instance, a female child who is raped would want to discuss the matter with her mother but if she is unavailable, the kid would return to her shell and fight it alone. Thus, resulting to depression and suicidal because of absence of love and care.

On the other hand, exploring other traditions and cultures can also be beneficial to kids that travel with their families. This means that, they would have wide knowledge of what the cultural beliefs are in the other countries which will help them to network globally when they become adults. For example, kids expose to other traditions and beliefs does not usually experience cultural shock and therefore would be able to represent their nation at any point. Another plus side is that it will keep the family bond solid which means that children will not be far from their parents and other siblings.

Finally, in my opinion, whether children are affected negatively or positively when their families travel around the world depends on if they embark on the journey together. Take for example, kids that are around their families every time will not engage in actions that can affect their lives because they would be cautioned. In contrast, those that are far from their relatives can be easily controlled by peer pressure.

In conclusion, the plus side and downsides depend solely on families embarking on these journeys with their children.

Liz, I simply love your site. Thank you so much!

You’re welcome 🙂

Hello thank so much now I am using your books and they really help me😊✌️

Hello Liz, you mentioned before that one shouldn’t be impartial in an opinion essay and that you should agree or disagree but not something in between. i am sensing that this isn’t the case here in the model essay. it simply didn’t take one side.

if you feel it did, would it be possible that you give an example to a “wrong impartial” opinion to this essay topic? Thank you

I think you are confusing the term “impartial”. Being impartial means you are sitting on the fence. This means you are turning an opinion essay into a discussion essay with no clear opinion of what you really think – it’s just 50/50. An opinion essay requires a clear opinion or you will get a low score. This might be a one-sided opinion or it might be a partial agreement/disagreement or a specific opinion. Please see my advanced lessons to learn about this. It is available to purchase in my online store: https://elizabethferguson.podia.com/ . It takes me 1 hour to explain this essay in full in that advanced lesson.

Hi Mam! i hope you are doing good. I want to appreciate your effort for playing a positive role in helping to educate people free of cost in today’s era of materialism. thank you for all the tips and tricks to score high in ielts. Stay blessed. Reagrds

You’re very welcome. Happy 2021 !!

Dear Liz, Thank you for all your free classes and materials. Your grammar book helped me a lot.

I just had my LRW exam today and these were my questions for Task 1 and 2 Your post is not delivered yet ( forgot the exact wordings. Write a letter to the post office manager. State your details Describe the documents Say what you want them to do

Task 2 People argue that spending a lot of money on marriage parties, birthday parties, and other celebrations is a waste of money. Others, however, believe that these celebrations are important for individuals and society. Discuss both sides and give your opinion.

Thanks again Take care

Glad the Grammar E-book is useful. Good luck with your results !!

Dear Liz, I found your site by chance and it is amazing. Coud you look at my discussion essay and give ypur opinion please? Many thanks in advance!!!!!!!!

It is considered by some people that traditional shopping is the only way for making purchasing properly while there are others who prefer online shopping. In my opinion, it depends on many factors and premises. On the one hand, online shopping is more effortless. With just a click of a mouse or a tap on a screen, people can buy within seconds. Online shopping has become popular due to its convenience, accessibility and speed. With the continued success of e-commerce, many now question the existence of traditional stores. It is so great that you can shop anytime and anywhere. For example, you can easily visit the website, find the product you want to buy and wait for the product being delivered to you. If you need time to reconsider about the products, all you have to do is put the product in the virtual shopping bag or on the virtual wish list. On the other hand, only traditional shopping allows to touch, try and “smell” your purchase and understand whether you need this one or may be it is just an impulse. Besides, only real shopping gives the possibility to assess the quality and features of goods, while online shopping can be misleading in respect of authenticity of products to reality. One more problem of online shopping is the safety of online payments, which also might be an advantage in favor if traditional shopping since the payments are being controlled. In conclusion, both kinds of shopping have merits and shortages. The benefits of both shopping online and shopping in real stores are countless. However, it is true that sometimes merits could become shortages and vice versa, depending on the different perspectives that people hold.

Some people think doing the university education is the best way to get a good jobs. However, some other people believes that experience and improving the soft skill is more important than education for getting a better job. in today’s labor market both are important, in my opinion education is playing more important role at first to get the better job and carrier development. Education is an ability how to find jobs, learn to earn, as much you learn that much you earn, what a democracy, human can learn as much he or she wish to, this new technology make is very easy to access to the books, journal and all the social media, education is a great advantage teach you how to work, clarifies your favorite carrier path, it guide you how to grow and further develop your future and enjoy your favorite field of interest and so no….. Education and the experience is an interchangeable, whiles experience is to develop future what you have learn in the university, wider your understanding of knowledge, and deep dive on your carrier field, researches, inventions an innovations and so no, to grow to the highest level of the economy and knowledge in the world, in addition soft skill is import as others, but education is the first priority, gives you an opportunity make to you understand well the skills and knowledge. In conclusion, both educations and the experience is an opportunity to find the best job. without proper education cannot find the best jobs and without experience cannot grow and wider the knowledge. however, if we look to the history we have some scholars the touched the ceiling without school educations, now we study their principles in the schools, thy were hard worker and talents.

Thanks for the good work Liz, we are praying for you to get get back to your feet asap.

Ahead of the game sounds like an idiom, isn’t it?

Yes, “ahead of the game” in an idiom. Some idioms are suitable for writing task 2, but only a few. The idiomatic language that is safe to aim for are phrasal verbs that are clearly not informal.

Question: In some countries owning a home rather than renting one is very important for people. Why might that be the case? DO you think this is a positive or negative situation?

Answer: Buying your own apartment now becomes more familiar in certain countries than renting an apartment. However, I assume that this trend has positive aspects and it also has several benefits.

One of the lucrative benefits is that people would become owners of permanent accommodation by buying a home. Besides, it can be possible to get huge facilities for instance saving money. People have to pay relatively less money when they will have their own apartment. In addition, it is easy to furnish them according to their own ways as well as their own apartment is secure rather than renting. Because you will have no worries about moving to another renting house when you have your own apartment.

Another issue is there are several countries such as in Finland renting a house is much more costly. Every month people have to pay 800-900 euros per month if they want to rent a private family apartment. I think this is too much to afford. On the other hand, if I have my own apartment, at the same time I can save the rest of the money. In this case owning a home is much better and flexible than renting.

Finally, I would say owning an apartment has other benefits. For example, people can get a spacious living room with a beautiful veranda which provides huge daylight. Moreover, most of the private apartments have 2 bedrooms where rooms are larger than rented houses. It is possible to set up any furniture in the way that people want. Living in an apartment is much more relaxing, comfortable and cosy.

In conclusion, although people have different views about this issue, my opinion supports the positive side of owning an apartment rather than renting.

Governments give a lot of support to artists, even though some people think it is a waste of money that could have been used elsewhere.Discuss both views and give your opinion? An artist receives too much assistance from local government while some argued that money should be utilized on other neccessary matters rather than wasting on artists . I agree with this statement that government should take notice of important tasks on priority basis for a developed nation . On the one side , artists performs national representation at international level for earning name and fame in field through competition .As we know that not a single task is easy to master whether it is a game or dance, all this demands enthusiasm and dedication towards goal which is impossible for everyone to achieve . Therefore, this is not a big deal if a government is sending funds or prizes to artist because without money capability is nothing in today’s world . On the other side, for a developing nation such as India , discoveries in each and every field has been essential for the growth of a nation .Government should assist scientists for inventing treatment for death causing diseases such as cancer and free of cost treatment for every citizen so that nobody can die because of lack of money.In addition , free education to poor children must be provided so that they could stand on their feet one day . In conclusion, although artists represents a nation but fulfilling basic amenities of citizens in relation of food , education and health has been prioritized by the governments. Please review my essay mam

If the essay requirement says we need to discuss both sides and give our opinions (like this model essay), can I say that I prefer one option over another? Because in this model essay, the author suggests that both opinions are good and there is no preference. I’m just wondering if we would be marked on this.

Thank you so much

When you give your own opinion, you can choose any opinion you want – either one sided or balanced (partial/specific agreement) approach.

Hi Liz, I have been posting many essays to get your feedback …Can you please give me your feedback. thanks a lot. 🙂

To being with, many people think that the university education is important to get a decent job. Firstly, at universities, students learn and graduate in a desired specialization which is important to land up in a good job in that area. For example, if someone graduates as Chartered Accountant from a University, then they can get a good job in the Financial sector. Secondly, proponents of this theory believe that academics are important to carry out certain types of jobs which on the other hand cannot be done alone with gaining experience. For instance, doctors cannot perform surgeries without learning basic anatomy of the body which they learn though academics at Universities. Also, many universities offer internships programs in various companies which help the students to gain extra practical knowledge. This improves their chances to get a good job once they get graduated.

On the other hand, others believe that jobs can be a carried out by acquiring experience and soft skills. However, this holds applicable and true in certain types of jobs only. For example, jobs like housekeeping and driving, only relevant experience and some soft skills are required. Also, they believe that more experience they gain, more efficiently they can carry out their jobs and in-turn they can be more productive.

Hence, in conclusion, I believe that University education provides theoretical knowledge as well as hands-on practice through internships which tents to get a better job. I also agree that gaining experience and soft skills are equally important for getting a job in certain professions.

Sorry I do not offer this service. Please read the HOME page to learn more about how to use my site 🙂

Hi liz, My question is, can we write information that is completely made up to support our ideas? For example, “A recent study done by University of Melbourne shows that men who eat at least 10 grams chocolate a day can run faster than those who do not eat it.”

Why would you choose to do that? It won’t help your score. You never need to state the source of information and you don’t need to present numbers in your task 2 essay. Just explain your idea in your own language.

Dear mam, In opinion essay , when we give separate opinion on one side . Can we go both side in conclusion or should we have the same position in conclusion and opinion ? I am totally confuse in it. Please guide me. Thank you.

Please get my Advanced Lessons which will give you all your answers and lots of details: https://elizabethferguson.podia.com/

Also, I tend to have occasional long sentences, is it ok to use a semi-colon? Or do we just stick to comma and full stop for this test?

Thanks a bunch in advance!

Just stick to commas and full stops. To add information using clauses which are considered complex grammar features.

Thank you for the amazing model answers you provide, your website is really helpful! I finished watching your advanced video on the discussion essays and I have a question regarding writing them, since I want to follow your structure.

If I agree with one side of the argument, I understand from your video that I should state my opinion in the introduction, right? Because a teacher told me that I shouldn’t write my opinion in the introduction (even if the question says give your opinion) but should instead explain it throughout the BP of the essays and the conclusion. So I want to make sure, it is okay if I paraphrase the question (people’s arguments) in a statement then express my opinion in the next statement “In my opinion, I believe that….” and agree with either side?

Also coming to the BPs, I was told by that teacher that if I explain reasons for people’s arguments in BP1 and BP2 (even though I added “I agree” in the BP that I agree with) it will affect my CC and TR. They said that I should explain that I do not agree with one BP and giving reasons for the opinion of people that I don’t agree with would mess up my TR & CC. Is this true? In your video, you explained that it’s okay to explain reasons for both sides then simply add I agree in the BP you agree with. So I’m a little lost here, I wish you can tell me what is right in this point.

Thanks in advance. I really appreciate all your efforts.

Has your teacher completed the IELTS examiner training course? Possibly not. It is 100% fine to put your opinion in the introduction – you are introducing your opinion. It is also 100% ok to state you agree with whichever body paragraph you agree with – in that paragraph you will state that you and other people agree (or disagree) and then give reasons. You only need a separate body paragraph when your opinion does not agree fully with either side (a specific opinion/partial agreement). Is your teacher telling you IELTS rules? No. Your teacher is giving you advice based on their own opinion of IELTS. Always differentiate between rules and advice when it comes to IELTS. Always ask your teacher if they are giving you fixed rules for IELTS or just their own personal advice. There is a lot of conflicting information about IELTS because of exactly that problem.

Hi Liz thank you for your imformative website. I ‘ve got a question. Is the hook and general statement the same? Thank you

In the following link you will find a video lesson about writing an introduction. That lesson will explain about the hook and background statement: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/

Hi Liz, I had Ielts computer based based exam today, in the writing 2 task I had written nearly about 270 words, but in conclusion part when I was writing my last sentences, time is up and the computer shuted down. I could not finish my last senteces and there was some unsense words. Is it a huge problem or not? Also, thank you sharing your information with us.

The most important thing is that you wrote a conclusion, even if you didn’t finish it. Having a conclusion is crucial. An incomplete conclusion will not affect things as much as an absent conclusion. Don’t worry too much about it.

I am planning to start this essay with “Few people believe that…..” can we paraphrase “some” with “few”

The meaning of “few” is “not many”. It means a small number. “Few people” = a small number of people. This is not the same as “some”.

thank you liz

Hi Liz, Many thanks to you for the service!

My question is, if I start with one tense form, should I follow the same tense throughout the essay? Or can I use different tenses in the essay?

Thanks in advance!

It isn’t possible to use one tense all the way through. You might need to use a perfect tense or a passive or a conditional statement. The tense will depend on what you want to say. It isn’t something you can decide beforehand. See my model essays and review how many different tenses are used: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/

For Discussion Essays: Some books like IELTS Preparation & Practice, Reading & Writing Academic published by Oxfird suggest writing a 4 paragraph essay: intro+ first group+second group+conclusion(which restates the writes opinion). However you suggest a separate paragraph for the writer’s opinion(4th body paragraph). Does that mean that their style is wrong or could lead to a lower score?

It means that there are other options. There is no rule stating you must have 4 paragraphs in total. It is fine to have 5. You can get band 9 with either 4 or 5.

Hello liz, i have read in many books that the opinion discussive essay, the opinion is only given in the conclusion unlike the opinion personal view point( the agree or disagree type). The books write, this essay will discuss both sides and give a concluding view and rather give the opinion in the conclusion. Can you please clarify that for me, thank you

Unfortunately, I am not able to control what is written in other books. The instructions from IELTS do NOT state to “discuss both sides and conclude your opinion”.

Hullo Liz, Firstly I would like to thank you to help all of us selflessly…thanx to u. Today I gave my ielts in essay it was a discussion essay wherein I wrote my opinion in introduction as u say then main body paras Discussing both the sides but then I gave the conclusion n did not elaborate on my opinion… Will I lose marks? Plz tell…really worried. Thanx

I don’t understand. You said you gave your opinion in the introduction, body paragraphs and conclusion. At what point do you feel that you didn’t explain it?

Everybody told me that examples are not cardinal for essay but in some great ielts experts point of view like you mam and jay sir shows examples are vital. Through this students get more brand. Mam help me to solve my query.

Please mam help me my ielts exam on 17 August .

Please mam🙁🙁

I have never said examples are vital or 100% essential to an IELTS essay. I’m not sure what you are referring to. Examples are one way to support and illustrate a main point – you choose whether to illustrate that way or not. I suggest you review my model essays.

Hi Liz, From my observation of the given example, I understood that , in the conclusion especially for discussion essays, we have to give a brief of our view on the topic and we should not include anything from the other paragraphs. Is my understanding correct?

Your reply here would be much appreciated.

There is no such rule in IELTS. Your conclusion is a summary of the main points.

in the salad days of millenium, the society polarised into two groups. first, some people have a say that passing from University provide best to way to grab a good profession while other opinion that it is a bad to acquire proficiency and soft skills the following paragraphs would shed the light on both the approaches before making notes To commence with the first notion, there are Myriad things to be shared in its favour, first and foremost, it is undeniable education is essential part of one’s life. the majority of individuals believe that getting a degree from University Open the doors of word class opportunities and student can obtain a fine occupation for their future. In the other words, tertiary education help the students to understand the various concept which is related to their career which they have chosen by them. with the help of education they enhence their creativity on particular subject which is significant for future work opportunities

shifting towards the second school of thought, having experience of work and soft skills such as communication skills leadership skills and other interpersonal skills act as a boon for people to access a great livelihood. if individuals have a great proficiency in their skill which helps in getting a job as we all know more than half of companies prefer those employees who have a great experience in their work instead of University credentials. for instance if someone want to get a job in insurance company then they must be have a good communication skills for this job

Sorry, I don’t offer marking or comments on writing. However, I will say avoid learning phrases that you think will impress the examiner such as “in the salad days of millenium, the society polarised into two groups”. Such phrases damage your score. This is not creative writing. In a test, each sentence must be created by you in the test room. Also don’t use hook, it isn’t needed for IELTS essays and is a complete waste of time. Go to the main section for writing task 2 on this site and learn how to write an introduction for IELTS = click on the RED BAR at the top of the site. Or get my paid Advanced Lessons to learn more.

Hi Liz, Thank you so very much for your helpful blogs. I am following only you for my IELTS GT preparation. I have one doubt, I am aiming to score 7.5 or 8 band in writing. Is it fine if I write approx 300 words of essay? Definitely related to demand of question. I always try to write around 270-280 words but I feel that there is still something missing which I should add on to make it more accurate. Kindly suggest.

If you are adding words to your introduction or conclusion, it won’t help your score. If you are adding more to your body paragraphs, think carefully if it is actually 100% vital. More words open you to the possibility of more errors or a less focused essay.

It is considered by some people that finishing university education is the most effective way to get a decent job, however, have experience and developing soft skills are the keys for finding good jobs still thought by many people. In my opinion, although experience and developing soft skills are important for finding good jobs, I believe the completing university courses can improve the person’s knowledge and other skills in a very effective way as well as the best way for people to prepare their careers.

Attending the university courses can let people gain knowledge effectively, most universities offer high-quality courses both online and offline, students can achieve professional theory knowledge from different aspects through interaction with their professors, once they have questions they can get feedback and answers quickly. On the other hand, universities offer many practical classes which allow students gain experience, students also have plenty opportunities to discuss in their groups and cooperate with other students from other majors which also cultivate their social skills. Both knowledge and practical skills, as well as social skills, are very essential for finding a good job.

There is no doubt that work experience and developing soft skills or social skills are vital for finding jobs, the companies are more likely to employ the person who has job experience which people usually can find on job recruitments’ qualifications. When people find a job, he/she should be a good work player who is not only professional about her/his area but also should know how to communicate with others as well as cooperate with others. A report says that persons who have strong communication skills are much more welcomed in a work environment.

In conclusion, although both experience and developing soft skills are vital factors for finding jobs, I still believe that attending the universities is the best way for people who prepare their careers because people can gain experience and social skills in the campus as well.

hello ! thanks for your tips . And i have a question , is it okay to write ” in this following essay i will shed light on both views and state my own position” in last sentence ?

Never memorise a sentence to put in your essay. Each sentence should be entirely created by yourself in the test. If the instructions say “discuss both sides and give your opinion”, you do not need to repeat those instructions. The examiner knows what you are going to do – what the examiner doesn’t know is what ideas you will use. Use my model essays to guide you or get my Advanced lessons to learn in depth.

I just watched your advanced task 2 lesson and have couple questions on it. For the discussion essay, the balanced opinion seems more profound than one-sided opinion. Will I get lower band score if I choose to write one-sided opinion? Or will I get higher band if I choose to write balanced opinion. And can I choose one-sided opinion in any topics?

Thank you! 🙂

The balanced opinion essay means the discussion essay with specific opinion. Sorry for that. 🙂

I taught both options so that you would have a choice. The choice will depend on the question and the ideas you have for it. Sometimes a one-sided approach isn’t always the easiest option. No, you don’t get a higher or lower score for one or the other. Your score is not based on your choice of one-sided or specific view point. It is based on how relevant your ideas are and if you addressed the task with a clear opinion.

Thank you very much Liz!!!!:)

I am writing to seek your help with double views and opinion statement essay type.

Here is the question prompt I am practicing: Some people say that advertising encourages us to buy things that we rarely do not need. Others say that advertisements tell us about new products that may improve our lives. Which viewpoint do you agree with?

Here is the introductory paragraph I have written with my opinion: Aggressive product promotions are considered to be one of the efficient ways of attracting new customers. While some people believe that advertisements allures the buyers and instigates them to purchase the unnecessary items, the others consider it to be an effective method of promoting awareness about the latest trends – I second this thought.

Please guide, is it write way of supporting an argument in a formal way? If not, please suggest how can I improve.

Thanks Jasmeet Kaur

Paraphrase the statement given and then present your opinion. Two separate statements. Try writing that and post it. See this page if you don’t understand: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2-how-to-write-an-introduction/

I’m struggling to reach a higher bandscore than 6.0 in writing. Therefore I bought your advanced writing lessons to spot some of my possible mistakes. Beside the fact that I have problems to structure my thoughts quickly, I’m sometimes confused by the question itself. After watching your lessons, I have tried to answer some essay questions and I came across with some I don’t know how I should organise them.

Firstly, for example, the discussion essay about the death penalty on your website. This question only mentions that I have to discuss both side. So, I’m not sure if I have to write a balanced view or can I also write a one-sided view? Moreover, I think I should not give my opinion, however, a one-sided view seems to reflect my personal point of view. How would you organise your essay?

Secondly, I’m really confused with the question “Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?” You said, it doesen’t matter whether there is a “do you think” include or not, because I have to make a choice which side outweigh the other…admittedly there are many official Model answer from IELTS books, which don’t give an opinion in terms of this question. Are there any differents I didn’t recognise?

I would be really grateful if you could help me.

Kind regards, Wiebke

In my Advanced lesson for the Discussion Essay there is a model essay for a Discussion without an opinion. Please take a look at it. Any question that is asking you to choose options will require an opinion – there are many ways to voice an opinion.

Dear Liz. Your advanced lessons are so helpful and clear.

Unfortunately I can’t say the same regarding the Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS which contains 8 full practice tests with sample answers for writing. I have to say that the sample answers for task 1 are very good but the ones for task 2 are so confusing. For instance, a discussion essay was turned into advantage disadvantage one.. the opinion is not mentioned in the introduction or in the BP, it is given in the conclusion… I wish I can send you a picture of it so you can mark it.

Another issue that confuses me; can we use questions in the essay? In one example of adv. Outweigh Disadv. they ended up the introduction with a question: is this a development we should welcome? The opinion is also put in the conclusion only… Thanks in advance

IT is not the task of IELTS to make their test easy. That is the task of teachers and ex-examiners. We provide the easy to follow models, not IELTS. About your second query, you should present supporting points which are statements, not questions. There isn’t enough length in the essay to start creating questions which will then need addressing further. Just stick with statements.

Hi liz In the introduction can I write “in this essay I will deliberately discuss the both views and formulate my opinion at the end of the essay ” instead answering directly in the introduction

Do not memorise sentences or phrases. You can learn words and linking devices. All sentences and phrases should be created by yourself. See my model essays.

then what do you recommend? and how do they examine grammar?

Grammar is marked by using a range of tenses that are suitable and appropriate to the essay and the subject. You can’t push a future prefect into your essay because you think it will give you a higher score. All tenses must be used correctly. The examiner will also pay attention to sentence structures, so you need to pay attention to not being too repetitive. Furthermore, the examiner will look at the density of grammar errors, for example band 5 = frequent errors, band 6 = some errors, band 7 = few errors. So, you can see your aim is to produce a range of suitable grammar and also reduce the errors you make. At all times, you only use the grammar you are familiar with to reduce errors. I am currently putting together a grammar e-book which will explain all this in great detail.

How can I buy your grammar book?

It won’t be available to buy for a few months. It is 90% complete, but it will take me a few months to edit it and get it ready for people to buy.

Hi Liz, thank you a lot for your useful advice and if it is possible, please give feedback, this is my first essay.

Instruction is simply to discuss not to give opinion.

In last decades, with the impact of growing globalization, it is noticed significant positive affects in the economy of the world, whereas this globe challenges brings some negative aspects with itself. Regarding the advantages of the globalization, a number of leading companies of the world gain more profits, while some affected countries are forced to lose their cultural values.

On the one hand, there is a competition between huge international companies over the world. They compete to produce products in better quality and lower prices. As a result, this overseas rivalry helps to boost world economy, at the same time, people all over the world take advantages in connection with buying more qualitative and less expenses products. For instance, it is obviously seems that the products which are manufactured by Samsung, Apple, Huawei and some other main companies have wide functions and simultaneously they are sold in lower prices.

On the other hand, there are some affected countries that people who live in these countries are obliged to get used to customs and traditions of the hegemon countries. In this manner, impacted society uses international languages, listens to singers who are famous all over the world and eats meals which are popular overseas and so on. To illustrate, McDonalds, KFC, Mado serve to people in more than half of the world countries, Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, Rihanna are listened by at least one of three people and English, German, Russian languages have been more important than their native languages.

In conclusion, the monosemous acceptance of globalization is not proper approach. When this term is talked over, both sides should be taken into account.

Mam, why your advanced writing task 2 lessons have only 1) opinion, 2) discussion and 3) adv/disadvantages type essays lessons? What about a) problems/solutions, b) two-part (direct question) and c) positive/negative development type essays? Kindly reply, because I want to learn structure of each type of IELTS (GT) essay. Thank you.

Because I became too sick to make more videos.

First of all, thank you for your prompt reply, Hope you are doing well now. I will pray for your health and speedy recovery. Can I expect video lessons on those missing type essays in near future? Or do you think it is sufficient enough to just go through your sample essays on those type of essays to get an idea of written structure?

The three Advanced lessons available teach you enough skills to be able to apply the same logical. However, you will need to review model essays and other tips. Did you see my free writing task 2 lessons? See this page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/ . Yesterday I put up a lesson about a mixed task essay with tips: https://ieltsliz.com/model-essay-for-tv-weight-problems/ . Just take a look around my site. It is unlikely I will make a new video soon. I’m still too sick for videos. But I post regular lessons on my site and am working on e-books “Ideas for IELTS Essays” and “Grammar for Writing Task 2”.

Yes, I already read the tips mentioned in the first link and just went through the second link now, both were so helpful. You are an indeed a blessing for students who are struggling with their IELTS score. Thank you for your help and tips. I am desperately waiting for your e-books. Best wishes and prayers for your health.

Thanks. I do plan to get back to making videos, but not until my health is completely recovered which might take a long time. As soon as I can, I’ll be making Advanced lessons for every single part of the IELTS test.

Hopefully you’ll be able to make more videos for your students very soon. Lot of respect and prayers for you mam. One of your students from other part of the world 🙂

Pleaaaase shed some light on the following: in the introduction of Task 2, what is the best waybto phrase that the X will be discussed in the essay. Do you say ‘This essay will discuss/This essay disagrees” or do you make use of pronouns such as ‘I’ “I agree that/ I will discuss X” . So confused as someone (online tutors) would say one thing, someone something different again. So now I don’t know which would be acceptable by an IELTS examiner.

You don’t need to use it at all. It is not required for IELTS. As you see, none of my model essays use that kind of sentence.

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Guest Essay

A Dangerous Game Is Underway in Asia

By Mike M. Mochizuki and Michael D. Swaine

Dr. Mochizuki is a professor at George Washington University. Dr. Swaine is a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

This month, President Biden threw one of the most lavish state dinners in Washington’s recent memory. Celebrities and billionaires flocked to the White House to dine in honor of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan, posing for photos in front of an elaborate display of Japanese fans. Jeff Bezos dropped by; Paul Simon provided the entertainment.

The spectacle was part of a carefully orchestrated series of events to showcase the renewed U.S.-Japan relationship — and the notable transformation of the United States’ security alliances in Asia. The next day, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines was also in the U.S. capital for a historic U.S.-Japan-Philippines summit, during which a new trilateral security partnership was announced.

Both events were directed at the same audience: China.

Over the past several years, Washington has built a series of multilateral security arrangements like these in the Asia-Pacific region. Although U.S. officials claim that the recent mobilization of allies and partners is not aimed at China, don’t believe it. Indeed, Mr. Kishida emphasized in a speech to Congress on April 11 that China presents “the greatest strategic challenge” both to Japan and to the international community.

China’s recent activity is, of course, concerning. Its military has acquired ever more potent ways to counter U.S. and allied capabilities in the Western Pacific and has behaved aggressively in the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and elsewhere, alarming its neighbors.

But Washington’s pursuit of an increasingly complex lattice of security ties is a dangerous game. Those ties include upgrades in defense capabilities, more joint military exercises, deeper intelligence sharing, new initiatives on defense production and technology cooperation and the enhancement of contingency planning and military coordination. All of that may make Beijing more cautious about the blatant use of military force in the region. But the new alliance structure is not, on its own, a long-term guarantor of regional peace and stability — and could even increase the risk of stumbling into a conflict.

The security partnership rolled out this month in Washington is only the latest in a string of new defense configurations that reach across Asia and the Pacific. In 2017 the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, known as the Quad, was revived, promoting collaboration among the United States, Japan, Australia and India. In September 2021, Australia, Britain and the United States began their partnership, known as AUKUS, and the United States, Japan and South Korea committed to closer cooperation in a summit at Camp David last August.

All of these moves have been motivated primarily by concern over Beijing, which has, in turn, castigated these countries as being part of a U.S.-led effort to create an Asian version of NATO designed to contain China. None amount to a collective defense pact like the NATO treaty, whose Article 5 considers an armed attack on one member as “an attack against them all.” But China will nevertheless almost certainly regard the latest agreement among the United States, Japan and the Philippines — with which it is engaged in an active territorial dispute — as further confirmation of a Washington-led attempt to threaten its interests.

It’s not yet clear how Beijing will respond. But it may double down on the expansion of its military capabilities and intensify its use of military and paramilitary force to assert its territorial claims in the region, especially regarding the sensitive issue of Taiwan. Beijing could also promote further Chinese military cooperation with Russia in the form of enhanced military exercises and deployments.

The net result may be an Asia-Pacific region that is even more divided and dangerous than it is today, marked by a deepening arms race. In this increasingly contentious and militarized environment, the chance of some political incident or military accident triggering a devastating regional war is likely to grow. This is especially likely, given the absence of meaningful U.S. and allied crisis communication channels with China to prevent such an incident from spiraling out of control.

To prevent this nightmare, the U.S. and its allies and partners must invest much more in diplomacy with China, in addition to bolstering military deterrence.

For a start, the United States and key allies like Japan should make a sustained effort to establish a durable crisis prevention and management dialogue with China involving each nation’s foreign policy and security agencies. So far, such dialogues have been limited primarily to military channels and topics. It is critical that both civilian and military officials understand the many possible sources of inadvertent crises and develop ways to prevent them or manage them if they occur. This process should include the establishment of an agreed-upon set of leaders’ best practices for crisis management and a trusted but unofficial channel through which the relevant parties can discuss crisis-averting understandings.

The immediate focus for the United States and Japan should be on avoiding actions that add to tensions across the Taiwan Strait. The deployment of American military trainers to Taiwan on what looks like a permanent basis and suggestions by some U.S. officials and policy analysts that Taiwan be treated as a security linchpin within the overall U.S. defense posture in Asia are needlessly provocative. They also openly contradict America’s longstanding “one China” policy , under which the United States ended the deployment of all U.S. military forces to Taiwan and does not view Taiwan as a key U.S. security location, caring only that the Taiwan issue be handled peacefully and without coercion.

Japan, for its part, has also become more circumspect about its own “one China” policy by being reluctant to reaffirm explicitly that Tokyo does not support Taiwan’s independence. Recent statements by some political leaders in Tokyo about Japanese military forces being ready to help defend Taiwan will almost certainly inflame Chinese leaders, who remember that Japan seized Taiwan after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 and ’95.

Washington and Tokyo should clearly reaffirm their previous commitments on the China-Taiwan dispute. Tokyo also should confirm that it does not support any unilateral move by Taiwan toward independence and resist U.S. efforts to compel Japan to commit to Taiwan’s defense. Although American officials have reportedly been prodding Japan to join military planning for a Taiwan conflict, a large majority of Japanese residents do not favor fighting to defend Taiwan. Tokyo can best contribute to deterring China by focusing on strengthening its ability to defend its own islands.

Washington and its allies should shift to a more positive approach to China, aimed at fostering accommodation and restraint. This could include working to secure credible mutual assurances regarding limits on Chinese military deployments, such as amphibious forces and missile capabilities relevant to Taiwan, in return for U.S. limits on the levels and types of arms that it sells to the island. They could also explore increasing security cooperation with China regarding cyberattacks, the defense of sea lanes and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as well as better collaboration to combat climate change and the outbreak of another pandemic.

China, of course, has its own role to play. In the end, Beijing, like the United States, wants to avoid a crisis and conflict in the region. Given that, it should respond to a more cooperative American and allied approach by moderating its own coercive behavior regarding maritime disputes.

None of this will be easy, given the intense suspicion that now exists between Beijing and Washington and its allies. But new thinking and new diplomatic efforts could incentivize China to reciprocate in meaningful ways. At the very least, it’s necessary to try. Focusing on military deterrence alone won’t work. Trying to find a way to cooperate with China is the best way — perhaps the only way — to steer the world away from disaster.

Mike M. Mochizuki is a professor at George Washington University and a nonresident fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Michael D. Swaine is a senior research fellow focusing on China-related security topics at the Quincy Institute.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , WhatsApp , X and Threads .

Utah high school removes class assignment on student essay titled ‘It Is So Hard to Be Trans’

The essay, published in the new york times, contained no explicit or “pornographic” content that would have required its removal under utah law..

(Google Maps) Herriman High School, as shown in a 2021 Google Maps image, in Herriman, Utah. Jordan School District officials ordered that a class assignment at the school involving a transgender student's essay be removed.

Jordan School District officials ordered that an assignment involving a Texas student’s essay published in The New York Times titled “It Is So Hard to Be Trans” be removed from a Herriman High School class’s curriculum after it was brought to the attention of administrators.

“We apologize to any student offended by a Herriman High School classroom assignment involving a New York Times student essay and the disruption to learning it may have caused,” district spokesperson Sandra Riesgraf said in a statement Monday.

The district investigated the assignment, “which asked students to break down parts of speech in the essay,” after school administrators were notified, Riesgraf said. The assignment was ultimately removed and is “no longer part of the class.”

“Appropriate administrative action will be taken,” the statement continued, though the statement did not specify what that action would entail.

The district also did not specify why the assignment was removed. The content does not seem to violate Utah’s sensitive materials law .

But it did seem to prompt outrage after photos of the printed-out, stapled essay made rounds in conservative social media circles as early as last Thursday, with some posts claiming students were required to write a response to the essay explaining why being transgender “isn’t a choice.”

Riesgraf said that claim was false. “Students were not required to take a stance or form an opinion on why being trans isn’t a choice,” Riesgraf said. “The assignment was to review the writing, not the subject.”

Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, weighed in on X , formerly Twitter, arguing that he didn’t see how the essay would “fit into any curriculum that is state approved.”

“I’ve asked the district to investigate,” he wrote.

McCay did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Salt Lake Tribune.

The assigned essay had been selected as one of the Top 11 winners in a 2023 student editorial contest through the The Learning Network, a free resource for teachers curated by The New York Times.

It was written by then 16-year-old Callisto Lim, a student at the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, Texas. The essay details why Callisto felt scared for their “right to exist,” citing several states that had passed anti-transgender legislation.

“I am scared that if I stay in Texas I will be denied the health care that I need because of people like Governor Greg Abbott,” Callisto wrote.

Callisto’s essay contains no explicit “pornographic or indecent material” that would make it illegal under Utah’s current sensitive materials law.

Utah law also does not explicitly prohibit classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity, though lawmakers have made attempts to pass legislation banning such topics in the past.

Earlier this year, Rep. Jeff Stenquist , R-Draper, proposed a bill that would have prevented school officials from “endorsing, promoting, or disparaging certain beliefs or viewpoints,” building upon existing restrictions meant to uphold “constitutional freedom” in Utah public schools.

The bill would have specifically added “gender identity,” “sexual orientation,” and “political and social viewpoints” as restricted topics, but it ultimately failed to pass .

A year prior, Stenquist also ran a bill that would have prohibited any discussion of sexuality, sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. HB550 took language directly from a controversial Florida bill that became more widely known as the “Don’t Say Gay” measure.

But after pushback from the LGBTQ community, Stenquist revised his draft , lifting the proposed ban on sexual orientation and gender identity but keeping the prohibition on sexuality. The bill failed to pass.

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