My theory about how to write essays

[Nova]

Well, Here we go. There are four main points:

1. Generation of ideas: who, when, why, why not, etc. Try to think about what examples from your own life you can add later. These examples are very important because they are usually easy to write, and very good addition to your essay in terms of word quantity.

2. Know how to begin!!!! This is the most important part. If you know how to start/write the first paragraph, you will be fine. From my experience people spend much time figuring out how to begin.

So, there are two types of tipics: controversial (agree/disagree), and the ones that want your opinion/story about something.

Try to build multi-purpose/universial introduction paragraphs.

For example, the simplest one:

"Some people think that.... At the same time others claim that... Personally, I think that this question is a controversial one, and is open for debate. For several reasons, which I will mention bellow, I think that ..."

or

"The issue whether to ... or ... is a controversial one. However, in my opinion an intermediate position can be taken. I base my suggestion on the following points. "

or when you totally disagree.

"Some people think that .... They claim that .... I have to totally disagree with this statement. From my everyday experience and observation I can stand that ... For several reasons, which I will mention below, I believe that ..."

or

"I cannot completely agree with the statement that .... In this essay I will first focus on the reasons why I agree with this statement and then list a few points why i disagree."

or (my husband just loves this one. If a topic had something to do with technological progress, learning, evolution, writing the first paragraph was our favorite part. I bet you will smile when you see this one in different variations in our essays ):

"A man through the ages has undergone many changes from the time when he depicted a herd of mammoths on the walls of his cave to these days when he can ... (stuff about progress related to the given topic).

So, rule number two: know how to begin.

3. Try to add examples from your life. They help a lot.
4. It is important to use "water words". They make your story look good, be structured, easy to read.

For example:

First of all, I think (can be your first paragraph)
Second of all, (second)
Finally, (third)
To sum up, (conclusion)

I like this one: "From my everyday experience and observation, I can stand that..."

So, this is basically it.


Good luck everyone, We did it and you will do it too!
Nova

[masha]

Re: My theory about how to write essays

thank you

you've got a very detailed approach to essay writing that will be very useful for future ielts examinees - guess you've got high results on this section of the exam

by the way you wrote that you took toefl a year ago - do you think that there are major differences between ielts and toefl writing sections?

[Cherry]

Thank you, Nova!

I am sure your experience will help us a lot! My husband and I are going to take the IELTS this year, so I really appreciate your advices!

[Nova]

Re: My theory about how to write essays

thank you

you've got a very detailed approach to essay writing that will be very useful for future ielts examinees - guess you've got high results on this section of the exam

by the way you wrote that you took toefl a year ago - do you think that there are major differences between ielts and toefl writing sections?

About TOEFL vs. IELTS

I would say that that the TOEFL writing section is a little tougher. Just a little. Because you've got only 30 minutes instead of 40 (or even more if you manage to finish a letter in less then 20 minutes and it's very doable).

A year ago my writing was awful. So I made myself write 4 topics every day for a month that's how I came up with 120. And I really saw a progress. In the topics I've sent you this evolution is seen. At first, it took me 1.5 hour to write, to be more precise, squeeze something from my brain. After a while I developed a strategy: I knew every time how to begin, and I always tried to mention the other side. Like if you are asked whether you agree or disagree, I agreed with one side and always tried to tell why those people on the other side may have their right to be right (I hope this sentence makes sense).

This writing exercise helped me with speaking too. These areas are closely related. If you build sentences freely, it does not matter what way of communication you use.

Back to TOEFL.
I think some of the topics in TOEFL (they all are available to public ) are tougher. Sometimes it's difficult to came up with something worthy. But I guess you never know what you will get on IELTS. But both of them are nothing compared to writing in GMAT (took it too).

I got 8 in writing. I guess I made a mistake: I finished writing and I had a about 8 minutes left. So I decided to add something else because it's always difficult to estimate how many words you have on paper. So my topic had a conclusion and then as a bonus some "ересь" about government and early pregnancy. I think my structure was bad because of this. Lesson: made a good plan first.

Good luck to every one on this test.
If you have other questions, shoot.

Nova

[masha]

Re: My theory about how to write essays

So I made myself write 4 topics every day for a month that's how I came up with 120. And I really saw a progress.

great! and it took you just a month. did you ask anybody to check them?

But both of them are nothing compared to writing in GMAT (took it too).

The GMAT Essay Section
The Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) is how business schools evaluate your writing skills. The AWA section has two 30-minute essay questions. One essay is the "Analysis of Issue," in which you state your opinion on an issue. The second is the "Analysis of Argument," in which you analyze the reasoning in an argument. The two essays require completely different strategies.

is it really so difficult?

[Nova]

Re: My theory about how to write essays

great! and it took you just a month. did you ask anybody to check them?

What do you mean by this? I did not have anyone with better English then mine at that time. So no one really checked them except my husband.

All of them do have mistakes, I am sure. I did not use Word checking feature. So this way I memorized how to spell words. So if you see mistakes, good for you. My goal was to learn how to come up with ideas fast and make up stories if I don't have a clue about the subject.

The GMAT Essay Section
The Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) is how business schools evaluate your writing skills. The AWA section has two 30-minute essay questions. One essay is the "Analysis of Issue," in which you state your opinion on an issue. The second is the "Analysis of Argument," in which you analyze the reasoning in an argument. The two essays require completely different strategies.

is it really so difficult?

It was, is difficult for me. Not because I cannot build sentences but because I don't know what to write. I've discovered that I am quite a "narrow" person: I am only interested in what I am working with, nothing else (I am exaggerating but it's true in the long run )
GMAT requires basic knowledge of many things: politics, economics, etc.
It is difficult to express your opinion about things you don't know. And of cause, good and broad vocabularly plays a crucial role.

Are you going to take GMAT? If you are, I have some topics I wrote. I can share them with you. Let me know.

Nova

[masha]

Re: My theory about how to write essays

great! and it took you just a month. did you ask anybody to check them?

What do you mean by this? I did not have anyone with better English then mine at that time. So no one really checked them besides my husband.

All of them do have mistakes, I am sure. I did not use Word checking feature. So this way I memorized how to spell words. So if you see mistakes, good for you. My goal was to learn how to come up with ideas fast and make up stories if I don't have a clue about the subject.

Oh, I don’t mean mistakes in your essays. I was just interested in your tactics of getting prepared for the writing section. When I was about to take IELTS, I tried to write a decent essay several times , but actually I succeeded only two or three times.
It seemed to me that all of my ‘masterpieces’ were utter ‘epecb’s and it was extremely difficult to make myself read them again. I felt that the topics were not interesting for me and that my essays resembled each other enormously. So it could probably be that I just couldn’t see my mistakes (not in spelling, but in grammar, semantics and stylistics) because I was too ‘accustomed’ to them and actually I saw no point in sheer repeating them again and again as they would recur in all my compositions. Besides I also had some troubles in getting ideas of what to write about as the topics are quite... well... different..
So I arrived at an idea that it would be wonderful to have somebody check my essays – someone who had enough knowledge of English to correct my errors, enough critical reasoning to improve my ideas and introduce his point and enough free time to waste it on me . And I got nobody of that kind That’s why I understand people posting their essays here, trying to get any ‘feedback’… and you wrote some 120 within just a month without any help except your husband’s – that’s really terrific!

GMAT requires basic knowledge of many things: politics, economics, etc.
It is difficult to express your opinion about things you don't know. And of cause, good and broad vocabularly plays a crucial role.

Are you going to take GMAT? If you are, I have some topics I wrote. I can share them with you. Let me know.

Guess not, but it seems like I am getting interested in everything that concerns English That’s why I am so ‘boring’ with all my questions (excuse my curiosity )
I would appreciate if you could send me the GMAT topics (perhaps, other people can also be interested in them) and share your experience in passing the test.

Thank you

[Bot]

So I made myself write 4 topics every day for a month that's how I came up with 120

Wow!
No, WOW!!!

How did you make yourself sit and write this incredible number of essays?! Did you promise yourself to buy a chololate bar for every written essay, or something?

I've got a test coming in two weeks and I haven't completed a single essay or letter yet, though I tried a couple of times. Every time I got stuck, unable to write anything for several seconds, I thought - 'ah, %%%% it, there's no point in writing something that nobody is going to read'.

Like if you are asked whether you agree or disagree, I agreed with one side and always tried to tell why those people on the other side may have their right to be right (I hope this sentence makes sense).

It does make sense, but do you think that this is the kind of essay they expect from you? I thought that even if you don't care a bit about the topic, you just have to choose one side or another - otherwise, there's simply no reason for writing in the first place! It's like in court - you are either defence or prosecution, you cannot be both at the same time. You can, and probably should mention other the side's arguments, but only to beat them, to show that they are false, incorrect, or just irrelevant.
I've never actually heard anything to justify this opinion, but for some reason I feel that too much ambivalence can hurt.

[Nova]

How did you make yourself sit and write this incredible number of essays?! Did you promise yourself to buy a chololate bar for every written essay, or something?

I've got a test coming in two weeks and I haven't completed a single essay or letter yet, though I tried a couple of times. Every time I got stuck, unable to write anything for several seconds, I thought - 'ah, %%%% it, there's no point in writing something that nobody is going to read'.

I had some time to kill.

It does make sense, but do you think that this is the kind of essay they expect from you? I thought that even if you don't care a bit about the topic, you just have to choose one side or another - otherwise, there's simply no reason for writing in the first place! It's like in court - you are either defence or prosecution, you cannot be both at the same time. You can, and probably should mention other the side's arguments, but only to beat them, to show that they are false, incorrect, or just irrelevant.
I've never actually heard anything to justify this opinion, but for some reason I feel that too much ambivalence can hurt.

From my experience sometimes it's difficult to come up with enough arguments when defending one side. So, if I felt like I would not make it, I used

"The issue whether to ... or ... is a controversial one. However, in my opinion an intermediate position can be taken. I base my suggestion on the following points. " "

What will they do? Trash your work because you did not agree with either side? I don't think so. It's your opinion.

About 120 topics and ideas. I forgot to mention one more thing. At first I tried to come up with ideas all by myself. I strained my brain like mad. Then I realized that I need help. So I changed my system. I found the same written topic on the internet, read it, closed it, and tried to come up with my own ideas. That was a huge help.

Check this resource: www.testmagic.com.

Nova

[pautinka]

I'd like to tender THANX!

Dear Nova, Artem and other people, who with practical advices, aids and very useful documents help others to improve knowledge in English, thank you so much! Your assistance is so considerate!

Excuse me for possible mistakes

[Stepan]

Thank you, Nova. I enjoyed your beginnings very much, especially the one about evolution and progress.

I think that a good conclusion is also very important. Do you have any prepared phrases or something? If you do, please share it with us.

[zhuchka]

Some conclusions I have:

Taking these points into consideration, I would like to conclude that there are many choices and it is for … to weigh up both sides of the issue and come to their own conclusions.

Taking these points into consideration, I would like to conclude that the best course of action is to attempt to achieve the balance between ... and ...

In conclusion, although the problem of… may seem impossible to eliminate, there are concrete steps, that can be taken. If the authorities and individuals took these steps, the result would be… The danger from… is too great to ignore.