Learn to Write an Effective Introduction For IELTS Essay

Bad introduction in IELTS writing part 2 can confuse the examiner and force him to give you lower marks. No matter how good you were in the rest of the examination, if you are unable to prove your point in the essay writing, you’re surely gonna pay for it with good marks. Despite this warning, many good IELTS candidates go on to produce introductions with a few common glitches in them. 

Common Problems

• Making the topic too general

Most of the candidates start off their essays with ‘In modern life’ or ‘Nowadays’  followed by usual information about the topic. This is the wrong approach. Talking about the topic generally can make your examiner confused and deviate from the main issue. Keep in mind that you are supposed to answer the question not write generally about the topic. 

• Not including a thesis statement

The thesis is the most crucial part of the essay. Not including a thesis can make you lose marks as your introduction should be able to maintain the interest of the reader and present an outline of the essay. 

• Trying to be entertaining

IELTS is a professional language proficiency examination, not a university examination. There will be no extra points for being slangy or informal, in fact being boring will probably help you. This will keep you from using the language which is ' flowery. ' Know your audience. Give them what they are expecting you to write. 

Now, how to write a good introduction? 

An opinion essay should have three sentences and the three sentences should be: 

1. Paraphrase question
2. Thesis statement
3. Outline statement

If you use this method, you'll not only earn higher scores but also save time in the test. When you practice enough, writing interesting introductions will become simple and you make more sense to the examiner. Moreover, you can invest more time in the main body to give a complete look to your essay. More marks in your bag!

Let’s talk more about these three important sentences. 

• Paraphrase Question

Paraphrasing can reveal a great sense of your vocabulary. Stating the question in the form of an answer is the first thing that you should start with. Use synonyms and flip the order of the sentences around. 

• Thesis Statement

A thesis statement tells the examiner that you have understood the question and will lead to a clear and coherent essay. A thesis statement doesn’t need to be a long paragraph, it should conclude in one or two sentences. The sentence should contain the micro-keywords and not the general sense of the topic. A thesis is very pivotal but not every question does not ask you for your opinion and in these cases, you can leave it out. 

• Outline Statement

Now that you have paraphrased the query and told the examiner what you think in the sentence of your paper, you will now tell the examiner what you will be covering in the main body paragraphs. Outline what the examiner is going to read in the rest of the essay, this should conclude in one sentence only. 

To Conclude

Writing an IELTS essay is an art. To be an artist you need to polish your skills. Practice as many essays as you can to avoid writing lousy and boring introductions. Hang with your IELTS coaching buddies and invent new ideas to write an eye-catching introduction of your essays. We assure you, this practice will only help you gain more IELTS score than ever before.