welcome back to in vid today we are
looking at how to structure an argument
in particular we're going to be looking
at an IELTS writing task - if you're
doing the general paper but this is a
lesson that's relevant to anyone looking
to improve their means of presenting two
sides of an argument
anyone who's engaged in any type of
formal writing okay so here we have a
sample question that you might be
confronted with if you're doing an eye
out it's not particularly well written
itself this question it's really
long-winded they need to learn to be a
little bit more Kern concise using a few
less words what we're gonna do is we're
going to read it and we're gonna
highlight or underline yeah I'm not
gonna highlight I'm gonna underline what
the key words are because this is what I
recommend when you're doing something
like this so you just have write this is
what I need to do and you understand
okay right some people believe that
teaching children at home is best for a
child's development while others think
that is important for children to go to
school okay right so it's talking about
home education so I'm going to put so
what's better for a child going to
school or not is what that says in 5,000
words what do I need to do discuss the
advantages of both methods so that's
going to school or not going to school
and give your own opinion give reasons
for your answer and include any relevant
examples from your own knowledge or
experience okay so key words here I
would say advantages opinion reasons
well obviously would put reasons it
doesn't need to tell us to do that for
your answer and include any examples
from your own knowledge or experience
what do you think and why okay I'm gonna
flip it over and show you how I would
structure a 250 word answer to this
question let's just think about 250
words so that's on a side of a 4 that's
like a side and a half one and a half
pages so you know you could have a good
what five paragraphs in that let's see
how to do it okay so from the first page
we got that we need to be talking about
home schooling saying whether it's good
or bad and giving our examples and
experience okay so maybe once you've
read through your very long-winded
question you could just make a note
similar to that just to go right this is
what I have to do okay so what I've done
here is I've written how I would write
the introduction and then I have
provided some useful phrases from making
points and expanding on them expanding
to grow okay so with your introductory
paragraph you want to be giving the sort
of the overall story what's going on are
many people using home education lots of
people going to school what a what's the
rough idea why are some people choosing
home education this is how I write it
whilst the vast that means the large the
bigger majority so majority most people
of people choose to have their children
educated in mainstream that means sort
of normal government education a growing
minority small amount of people enjoy
the freedom of a less structured
approach approach okay listen quite so
advanced words in here let's just make
sure we fully understand so vast big so
most people vast majority of it's just
another way of saying most people choose
to have their children educated in
mainstream education great
structure terms of structure that means
you're doing this at this time this at
this time okay
approaches a way of doing something I
approach London by using the m3 motorway
okay approach is your way to something
approach to education okay so what kind
of phrases are going to be useful to get
talking about something what are the
kind of phrases that you can use again
and again again when it comes to writing
an essay like this first one one thing
that is noticeable about home education
students in normal schools is that they
have loads of homework for example one
thing that is noticeable so I can notice
I it it strikes me a key point is that
home educated children will probably do
better if there are other home educated
children nearby that they can do
activities with another example of an
advantage for home education is that
there are lots of resources available
perhaps I have noticed that in
government schools the standards of
education are rising
yep is talking about our yet we've been
asked to talk about our experience so
phrases like I have noticed is exactly
what you're meant to be doing go into as
much depth as you can expanding let's
grow these ideas this is significant
because this is important because it
shows that this is it so let's think of
a point here it's good for children to
go to school because they make friends
this is significant because it will help
them to develop their social skills
this is a crucial difference because
home educated children may have to spend
more time on their own words for
comparing and contrasting
okay so we've had whilst we had it here
whilst students in mainstream schools in
normal schools have a timetable of
homework that they are meant to do each
week okay then I say something about
home educated children in contrast home
educated children are free to choose
what they want to do in comparison okay
another word for comparing in comparison
students in normal schools did a digital
to do
although okay so this sort of shows that
there is a change like I can I good to
have this at the beginning of a sentence
all those students in mainstream
education have access to theaters
swimming pools not many of them will be
using those facilities after 3 p.m.
when most children go home ok or you
could have it in the middle of a
sentence mainstream in mainstream
schools students have access to these
facilities although for some okay so I'm
showing a difference words for building
ok also ok here's another idea another
point is that ok
moreover now I'm going to build on that
idea
okay so moreover it's just a word for
saying here's some more reason about
that in addition ok it's just a it's a
smart way of saying and ok addition to
add something you need to have a
conclusion so you're going to start that
overall and you'll have this of overall
picture of both sides okay so we've got
lots of phrases how would you actually
organize your answer in terms of the
paragraphs that you write so it suggests
an introduction where you're looking at
the the story so far the the big picture
I would then maybe do two points on the
two paragraphs on the first side big
reason another big reason really talk
about it in as much detail and then go
up onto the other side and have two main
paragraphs about the other side of the
argument and then have a conclusion at
the end so that'd be six paragraphs in
total which would give you about 250
words okay very quick recap how do we do
a writing task like this you go through
the question you highlight you underline
so you understand exactly what you have
to do you plan before you write you plan
these paragraphs okay so you go right
what are the main ideas here
okay so I'll have a quick introduction
I'll say that then I'll have my first
paragraph I need to say that my second
paragraph I'll say that my third
paragraph I'm looking at the other point
of view my fourth paragraph I'm going to
be talking about home education making
that point fifth paragraph is that other
point but the argument and then we
finish with a conclusion maybe giving
one more idea in the conclusion I hope
that's clear
remember time spent planning his time
well spent fail to prepare and you
prepare to fail why don't you prepare to
succeed by doing today's quiz see you in
the next one toodaloo