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Agree or Disagree Essay
Cambridge O Level (Economics 2281)
Cambridge College
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Agree or Disagree Essays: IELTS Writing
Task 2 Lesson
This lesson will teach you how to write ‘agree or disagree’ or ‘opinion’ IELTS task 2 essays that could score a Band 7, 8 or 9.
Agree or disagree question types are one of the most common on the IELTS writing paper, so it’s important that you learn how to write them properly.
In this post we will look at:
- Structure
- Deciding Opinion
- Idea Generation
- Writing an Effective Introduction (ieltsadvantage/2015/03/05/how-to-write-introduction-ielts- writing-task-2/)
- Writing Supporting Paragraphs
- Writing a Conclusion (ieltsadvantage/2015/06/14/ielts-writing- conclusions/)
We will use a question from an IELTS past paper to help us understand the task.
IELTS Agree or Disagree Writing Lesson
with a Sample Answer
(ieltsadva ntage/)
Structure
Many students fail to do well in this type of question because they do not have a clear opinion and they do not use an appropriate structure (ieltsadvantage/2015/03/03/ielts-writing-task-2-essay-structures/).
The best structure you can use for this type of essay is:
Paragraph 1- Introduction
Sentence 1- Paraphrase Question
Sentence 2- Thesis Statement
Sentence 3- Outline Statement
Paragraph 2- Supporting Paragraph 1
Sentence 1- Topic Sentence
Sentence 2/3- Explain Topic Sentence
Sentence 3/4- Example
Paragraph 3- Supporting Paragraph 2
Sentence 1- Topic Sentence
Sentence 2/3- Explain Topic Sentence
Sentence 3/4- Example
- This essay disagrees that governments should tax fast food
I think I will have more ideas for A, so I’m choosing that one. Always choose the one that YOU feel comfortable writing about – even if you don’t personally feel that way. You don’t get extra marks for writing about how you feel, you just want to give the examiner what they need to score your essay a Band 7+.
Idea Generation
Now we have to think of ideas for why governments should tax fast food.
Here are some:
Cigarettes and alcohol are taxed in the same way The money raised could be used to treat people with health problems Fast food companies should be punished for selling unhealthy food to people Making the food more expensive would stop people eating it The money raised could be used to educate people about healthy eating
We don’t need to use all of these, just two for our supporting paragraphs. I’m going to pick the first and the fourth ones because I know a little about these two and feel confident I can expand on them with explanations and examples. Remember the examiner wants you to fully support your arguments, not just list a lot of ideas.
Now we have two supporting ideas we can move on to our introduction.
Introduction
As previously stated, we will use the following structure:
Paragraph 1- Introduction
Sentence 1- Paraphrase Question
Sentence 2- Thesis Statement
Sentence 3- Outline Statement
For a more detailed explanation please see our post on writing an effective introduction.
In order to paraphrase (ieltsadvantage/2015/03/31/paraphrase-ielts/)the question we simply restate it with a different meaning using synonyms. I will also reorder the question. Here is the question again:
In some countries, an increasing number of people are suffering from health problems as a result of eating too much fast food. It is, therefore, necessary for governments to impose a higher tax on this kind of food.
Paraphrased: It is argued that governments should levy a tariff on junk food because the number of health risks associated with consuming this kind of food is on the rise.
This is our first sentence.
We now need to write our thesis statement. This is our opinion in one sentence. This essay will agree with the above statement and will therefore look like this:
This revenue has been used to treat health problems associated with these products and has proven useful in advertising campaigns warning people about the dangers of alcohol and tobacco abuse. Tax from fast food could be used in the same way.
We should now think of an example to support our point. Think about any recent news stories, studies or adverts. If you can’t think of one, make one up. The examiner won’t check if it is real or not.
The United Kingdom is a prime example, where money from smokers is used to treat lung cancer and heart disease, while at the same time, pumped into health campaigns in schools to warn children about the dangers of smoking.
That’s it. Four sentences. The full paragraph should look like this:
Higher excise on liqueur and cigarettes has proven to be successful at curbing the harm caused by these substances. This revenue has been used to treat health problems associated with these products and has proven useful in advertising campaigns warning people about the dangers of alcohol and tobacco abuse. Tax from fast food could be used in the same way. The United Kingdom is a prime example, where money from smokers is used to treat lung cancer and heart disease.
Supporting Paragraph 2
We now repeat the same formula with our second supporting point- higher taxes will increase prices and reduce consumption.
Our topic sentence:
Increasing taxes would raise prices and lower consumption.
Explaining this further:
Fast food companies would pass on these taxes to consumers in the form of higher prices and this would lead to people not being able to afford junk food because it is too expensive. Junk food would soon become a luxury item and it would only be consumed occasionally, which would be less harmful to the general public’s health.
We now support our point with an example:
For instance, the cost of organic food has proven prohibitively expensive for most people and that is why only a small percentage of the population buy it regularly.
The full paragraph would look like this:
Increasing taxes would raise prices and lower consumption. Fast food companies would pass on these taxes to consumers in the form of higher prices and this would lead to people not being able to afford junk food because it is too expensive. Junk food would soon become a luxury item and it would only be consumed occasionally, which would be less harmful to the general public’s health. For instance, the cost of organic food has proven prohibitively expensive for most people and that is why only a small percentage of the population buy it regularly.
Four sentences.
Conclusion
As stated before a good conclusion for agree or disagree essays should include:
Sentence 1- Summary of main points
Sentence 2- Your opinion
Don’t write any new ideas in this paragraph.
A good conclusion should just restate your thesis statement and your main supporting points.
Agree or Disagree Essay
Course: Cambridge O Level (Economics 2281)
University: Cambridge College
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