Introduction – Seven Steps to a Band 9 Writing
Seven Steps to a Band 9 Writing: Writing task 2 of the IELTS test is a formal essay that will last for 40 minutes and it requires test takers to write at least 250 words. Some think 250 is too much to write, but it isn’t. All you need is to have rich content to answer the question and to follow the seven steps to writing a band 9 response which will be discussed in this post.
The Seven Steps Explained.
Paying attention to the seven steps that will be discussed will help you achieve a good essay with the right organisation and structure. Also, it will help you meet up with the word count and provide the examiner with the right content that answers the question asked.
Step 1: Analyse the question and understand it.
Find out if they are asking for your opinion on the question or not. Because if your opinion is sought, you have to give it and make it clear throughout the essay, especially in your introduction and conclusion.
Step 2: Generate your ideas to answer the question.
You do this by drawing from what you know about the world around you, your experience, and the world at large.
Your ideas should be
- Relevant and specific to the question
- Simple and not complex
- Clear and not vague
- Understandable
- Explainable
Step 3: Paraphrase the information given in the question—
question prompt or background statement.
How to Paraphrase:
There are four ways you can paraphrase your question prompt. You can use one of them or combine some of them to paraphrase the question prompt.
- Pay attention to the keywords and replace them with appropriate synonyms.
For example, build can be replaced by construct.
- Changing of word form: You can change the word form of one word to another. If the word is a noun, you can change it to its verb equivalent.
For instance, constructing is a verb; construction is a noun.
- Changing the word order: If the question prompt is made up of two simple sentences, you can change it to a complex sentence. If it is made up of a complex sentence, you can change it into two simple sentences.
In the process of changing the word order, make sure you pay attention to grammar.
For instance:
Complex sentence:
Although the advent of technology has brought many benefits, it has also brought novel problems.
Paraphrase to a Compound Sentence: The birth of technology has brought many advantages and new challenges.
(Word order change and the use synonyms are combined here.)
- Changing a sentence from active to passive voice: This is allowed in IELTS academic writing because it is a method often used for academic writing. This paraphrasing style is not used when stating your opinion.
For Example:
Active sentence:
The school invested 5 million naira to build the new laboratory.
Paraphrased to a passive sentence:
5 million naira was invested to construct the new laboratory. (changed to passive voice and build was replaced with its synonym construct.
The best way to master how to paraphrase is to get many practice questions and paraphrase their question prompts, making sure your feedback on them from a trained IELTS tutor.
Step 4: Write your introduction
An introduction just as the name connotes means to introduce the reader to what the essay is all about. To do this, you have to paraphrase the background information and give the answers to the question asked. You will give a thesis statement to answer a question that asked for your opinion and an outline statement for a question that did not ask for your opinion.
Step 5: Write your body paragraph
Writing 2 to 3 body paragraphs is enough. The ideas you mentioned in the introduction to answer the question asked must be what you develop as your topic sentences in your body paragraphs. Each body paragraph should include the following component:
- Topic sentence (the idea you generated that you want to use to answer the question)
- Explain it
- Back it up with an example
- Tell us the effect of the idea that you have developed or the result of the idea.
Step 6: Write your conclusion
Summarise the essay by stating your opinion (if asked) and the ideas you developed in the essay.
Step 7: Proofread
Proofreading is the last step. You should proofread to make sure that you have done justice to the question given to you.
What you should pay attention to when proofreading
TAGES INVOLVE
Check if:
- The response you provided shows that you clearly understand the question you were asked.
- Your ideas are relevant to the question.
- You structured your answer in the body paragraph appropriately, following the components of a body paragraph
- Your paragraphs are well-linked
- Your paraphrase is effective and the introduction is strong.
- You summarised your ideas well in your conclusion
- Your position is clearly presented throughout the essay if it was asked.
- Your grammar (tense usage, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure) is accurate and appropriate.
- You expressed a range of vocabulary and accurately used it.
Keep reading Understanding the Reading Skills Needed in IELTS
