This lesson looks at how planning better can help you write better essays. I focus in particular on “ideas” – something that catches many candidates out. The two key points are that the ideas you need to write an IELTS essay are fairly simple and it helps to make a difference between ideas, reasons and examples.

　　Problem 1 – not enough ideas 观点不够

　　This is one of most common reasons for candidates to go wrong in the writing paper. They see a question. Try to think of ideas. Come up empty and panic. You will find part of my solution to this below. For now, I will just say that you need very few ideas to write a good essay and those ideas can be simple ideas too. Don’t buy a book on ideas for essays, instead learn this tip:

　　Tip – you need only 2 ideas to write an essay and those ideas are often found in the question

　　Problem 2 – the ideas are confused 观点混淆

　　This is also a very common mistake. There are plenty of ideas to write an essay. The problem is that the reader/examiner does not know what the main ideas are.

　　Tip – make sure you have one main idea per paragraph. This should be clear from the first sentence of the paragraph

　　Problem 3 – too many ideas 观点太多

　　Yes, some people do have too many ideas. This is a trap for candidates aiming for a high score. In particular, if they are used to writing academic essays. IELTS is a 250 word essay marked on language. That means it is probably much shorter than you are used to and there are no marks for quality and quantity of ideas.

　　Tip – select only enough ideas to write a complete essay – that means one per paragraph

　　Finding ideas for essays 怎么确定观点呢?

　　Step 1– understand the difference between ideas, reasons and examples 区分观点、原因、例子的区别

　　When I ask my students in a class for “ideas”, they quite often stare at me in silence. When I ask them the question “why” or ask them to give me an example, they (normally!) have plenty to say. That should tell you there is a difference between ideas, reasons (why) and examples. The good news is ideas are not the problem in IELTS, what you need are reasons and examples. They are normally much easier to find.

　　A paragraph is one idea: supported with reasons and examples. You only need two ideas.

　　Step 2– learning where to find ideas for essays?试着从问题里找观点

　　The ideas you need for an essay are nearly always found in the question. They are typically so big that you think they are too easy to be a real idea. That’s the trap. What do I mean? Take this example:

　　Human activities have endangered many animal and plant species. Some people think it is too late to save them, while others think humans should still take some action. Discuss both views and express your own opinions.

　　This is one of the harder questions I have seen recently, but the ideas you need are simple enough.

　　It is too late to save endangered species

　　It is not too late to save species

　　It is that easy. Those two ideas are your two main topic paras. All you need now are some reasons and examples.

　　Step 3 – finding reasons and examples – ask yourself questions 通过问问题来确定原因和例子

　　Here you have different options. One trick is simply ask yourself the questions “why?” or “how?” or “when?” or what?” That is often enough.

　　Step 4 – thinking vocabulary gives you more “ideas” 通过词汇来激发灵感

　　This is something else I use with my students a lot. It might also work for you. The concept is that once you have words, then “ideas” come naturally from those words. Try thinking of “planning words” and see if it works for you.

　　Organising and selecting your ideas reasons and examples

　　Key concept – one idea per paragraph supported by reasons and examples 一段一观点

　　Look at these two sample paragraphs from the essay and see how I use simple ideas from the question:

　　Much of the argument against taking any action to save these species is that the process is irreversible. Just to take one example, there are now so few Giant Pandas left in the wild, they will in all probability become extinct in the foreseeable future. There are simply too few bamboo forests left in order for them to survive. This is also the case with many other endangered species who have lost, or are losing, their natural habitat.

　　NotesThe first sentence outlines what the paragraph is about. It is the idea from the question: Some people think it is too late to save them. The rest of paragraph is an explanation of that idea

　　Giant Pandas arre threatened and will die out (example)

　　Problem with habitat (extended example)

　　Other species have same pattern (explanation of example)

　　与此相反的观点是，它是人类行动和尝试，并保存这些物种posterity.There这种说法是一个道德方面负有责任，因为大多数这些物种濒临灭绝，因为人的行为，这是我们的责任来弥补。另一个考虑是，在科学，尤其是在遗传学领域的进步，意味着我们能够重新创建一些自己的栖息地消失。它不再是的选择就是为后代保护这些物种在动物园和植物园的情况。

　　笔记

　　你应该看到，这一段遵循几乎相同的模型。有一个明确的和简单的想法，在个句子。它涉及到的问题的话：也有人认为人类还是应该采取一些行动。该段的其余部分解释这一想法：

　　道义上的责任，因为它是我们的错(原因)

　　现在可以帮助科学，遗传学(第二个原因)

　　动物园是不是的解决办法(扩展的第二个原因)

　　关键的概念 - 你不需要包括所有的理由和例子

　　我的“注意事项”这篇文章的这一切。他们是我的笔记，所以你并不需要了解所有这些。我希望你能看到的是，我已经不包含一切。在学术文章中，我可能有。在这里，我选择的想法，是最容易写的。

　　动物园(例如)

　　在人工饲养的品种(例如延长)

　　保存(如何)

　　大熊猫(例如)

　　医疗福利(为什么)

　　栖息地的丧失(为什么)

　　淡水豚(例如)

　　生物多样性(原因)

　　记录和热带雨林(例如)

　　水坝(例如)

　　进步的人(为什么)

　　毁林(如何)

　　竹林(其中)

　　科学(为什么)

　　克隆(例如)

　　遗传学(例如)

　　道义上的责任(为什么)

　　关键概念 - 平衡段落

　　有很多不同的可能的论述结构。我的默认(正常)结构是有2个段落，彼此平衡 - 令人惊讶的是，往往这种结构工程。作文的连贯性，这是好事，这也使得它更容易编写 - 特别是如果你是短期的“想法”。您可以使用第二个内容段可以反映在段的想法，但是从相反的观点。