IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
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We have lots of free videos that will help you improve your English and also advice and tips that will help you in English proficiency examinations like TOEFL and IELTS.
IELTS Writing test lasts for 60 minutes. You can take either the Academic test, or the General Training test. You are required to complete two writing tasks.
Narration:
In this IELTS writing course you will find a number of different lessons that will help you improve your academic writing. In this lesson, we will look at some of the basic points you need to consider. Let's look back at the bad paragraph you saw at the beginning of this lesson.
The first rule of academic writing is that you should avoid contractions such as don't and hadn't. Writing the complete word such as do not is better academically, and also adds an extra word to your word count. The second point for academic writing is that you should avoid using phrasal verbs such as give up. A phrasal verb is created when using a verb and another word together to create a particular meaning. It would be much better in this example to use a word like 'concede'.
Academic writing also means that you should avoid emphasising with capital letters or being too direct. Using a word like stupid for example, will definitely lower your academic presentation. You should also avoid emphasising with exclamation marks. Although you may be asked for an opinion in academic writing, you are not being asked to show emotion and your writing should remain formal at all times. Another area in which this paragraph is weak is that the candidate has used the same word twice.
You should avoid repeating the same vocabulary as much as possible, either by finding a different word or by changing the structure of the sentence. In this paragraph, for example, instead of using quit a second time, the candidate could have said 'abandon their studies' or were 'unable to continue studying'.
The final point about academic vocabulary is to use the most academic vocabulary possible. For example, the candidate has started a sentence with but. Changing this to 'However' would have been far more academic. Another example of poor vocabulary in this paragraph can be seen in the final words - in academic writing, avoid phrases that carry no information such as 'or something'.
IELTS Task I writing - writing an introduction to Task I
Narration:
When writing an introduction to Task I, there are a number of points you need to consider. First, you need to show the examiner that you have a clear idea of what you are writing about. An introduction should be only one or two sentences long, and is simply a general introduction to the information you are given.
The second point is that you should avoid using words from the title where possible. By copying from the question title, you are not showing the examiner your ability to use your own vocabulary. The third point is that you are required to transfer information, not give opinions. Remember that for Task I, your aim is only to transfer information from what you see on the exam paper. The final point is that you should be using academic vocabulary and sentence structures. These points can be applied to all Task I essay types.
First of all, let's look at the table we used in the tables lesson. The first point to note is the keywords from the table. Then quickly think of any keywords that can be rephrased. In this example, we can find the following. Of course, do not waste time trying to rephrase words like New Zealand. The third step for writing an introduction is to give some additional information about one of the axes. In this table, we could focus on the information on the vertical axis. For example, we could refer to the eight year period up to 2005. Putting all this together, we can now create an introduction like this.
The reason for keeping your introduction relatively short and only giving a basic overview is that you can describe the trends or main points in your body paragraphs and you will need a closing sentence in your essay. This will be discussed later in this lesson.
More Lessons for English as a Second Language
Welcome to our collection of English as a Second Language (ESL) tools & resources for students, teachers, and educators.
We have lots of free videos that will help you improve your English and also advice and tips that will help you in English proficiency examinations like TOEFL and IELTS.
IELTS Writing test lasts for 60 minutes. You can take either the Academic test, or the General Training test. You are required to complete two writing tasks.
IELTS Academic Writing
Task 1: You are given a task based on some graphic or pictorial information. You are expected to write a descriptive report of at least 150 words on the information provided. You are advised to spend about 20 minutes on this task.
Task 2: You are expected to produce a written argument on a given topic and to organise your answer clearly, given some examples to support your points. You will have to write at least 250 words. You are advised to spend approximately 40 minutes on this task.
IELTS General Writing:
You are allowed one hour to complete two tasks, of 150 and 250 words, as in the Academic Writing. However, Task 1 is always a letter, while Task 2 is an essay based on a given topic.
Narration:
In this IELTS writing course you will find a number of different lessons that will help you improve your academic writing. In this lesson, we will look at some of the basic points you need to consider. Let's look back at the bad paragraph you saw at the beginning of this lesson.
The first rule of academic writing is that you should avoid contractions such as don't and hadn't. Writing the complete word such as do not is better academically, and also adds an extra word to your word count. The second point for academic writing is that you should avoid using phrasal verbs such as give up. A phrasal verb is created when using a verb and another word together to create a particular meaning. It would be much better in this example to use a word like 'concede'.
Academic writing also means that you should avoid emphasising with capital letters or being too direct. Using a word like stupid for example, will definitely lower your academic presentation. You should also avoid emphasising with exclamation marks. Although you may be asked for an opinion in academic writing, you are not being asked to show emotion and your writing should remain formal at all times. Another area in which this paragraph is weak is that the candidate has used the same word twice.
You should avoid repeating the same vocabulary as much as possible, either by finding a different word or by changing the structure of the sentence. In this paragraph, for example, instead of using quit a second time, the candidate could have said 'abandon their studies' or were 'unable to continue studying'.
The final point about academic vocabulary is to use the most academic vocabulary possible. For example, the candidate has started a sentence with but. Changing this to 'However' would have been far more academic. Another example of poor vocabulary in this paragraph can be seen in the final words - in academic writing, avoid phrases that carry no information such as 'or something'.
Narration:
When writing an introduction to Task I, there are a number of points you need to consider. First, you need to show the examiner that you have a clear idea of what you are writing about. An introduction should be only one or two sentences long, and is simply a general introduction to the information you are given.
The second point is that you should avoid using words from the title where possible. By copying from the question title, you are not showing the examiner your ability to use your own vocabulary. The third point is that you are required to transfer information, not give opinions. Remember that for Task I, your aim is only to transfer information from what you see on the exam paper. The final point is that you should be using academic vocabulary and sentence structures. These points can be applied to all Task I essay types.
First of all, let's look at the table we used in the tables lesson. The first point to note is the keywords from the table. Then quickly think of any keywords that can be rephrased. In this example, we can find the following. Of course, do not waste time trying to rephrase words like New Zealand. The third step for writing an introduction is to give some additional information about one of the axes. In this table, we could focus on the information on the vertical axis. For example, we could refer to the eight year period up to 2005. Putting all this together, we can now create an introduction like this.
The reason for keeping your introduction relatively short and only giving a basic overview is that you can describe the trends or main points in your body paragraphs and you will need a closing sentence in your essay. This will be discussed later in this lesson.
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