Before you write you're C1 Advanced essay you need to plan but how can you plan if you don't know the
structure of the essay you're planning? You can't! But don't worry! No! Because SMASH English is here
to help you! My name is Toby, this is SMASH English and here is everything
you need to know about structuring your essay for the C1 Advanced Cambridge exam.
For a C1 Advanced Cambridge essay we need to write between 220 and 260 words. Every essay question
will ask us to basically do the same thing: compare two prompts and say which has the biggest
impact or which has the biggest benefit or which is the most important. It's usually one of these
three things. But instead of me trying to explain to you what a question could be why don't we
look at some essay question examples? Exciting! For example in this question the topic is news
and the question is what is the best source of news and we have three prompts two of which we
should use in our essay. We also have some ideas expressed in a panel discussion and you can use
these if you want but it's not mandatory. So for example in this essay we must talk about the news,
we can compare and contrast tv and the internet and say which we think is the best source of news.
In this question our topic is sport. Our question is what is the biggest benefits to playing sports.
Again we have three prompts and we need to use two. We also have some ideas written down for
us but we do not have to use any of these if we don't want to. So for example in this essay
we must talk about sports, we can compare and contrast being healthy and working in a team
and say which we think is the biggest benefit of playing sport. And lastly in this essay our topic
is the environment. Our question is what measure would have the biggest
impact on saving the environment. We have three prompts and as always we need to use only two
and we have some ideas but we don't have to use them if we do not want to. So for example in this
essay we must talk about saving the environment, we can compare and contrast laws and education.
Now let's look at the C1 Advanced marking scheme for the writing part of the exam. When it comes to
how our essay structure can improve our marks we need to look at two categories "content"
and "organization". In order to get full marks in CONTENT we need to ensure that everything we
include in the essay is "relevant" and also that "the target reader is fully informed". Making sure
that everything is relevant means we only include information that is necessary in order to complete
the task. Remember that for the C1 Advanced essay we should only talk about two prompts.
Some students will talk about three and this means they have included irrelevant
information and they will lose marks for doing this. Very very important! Only write about two
prompts and this should be integrated into your structure obviously... Making sure that the target
reader is fully informed means that the reader can understand the topic, the question and the prompts
only by reading your essay. Our essay structure therefore should make this very very clear.
In order to get full marks in ORGANISATION we need to make sure our essay is an organized and
coherent whole. This means that every part of our essay should be connected in some way. This means
connection within paragraphs so our ideas are logically connected but also connection between
paragraphs so our paragraphs should be logically connected. This is where our essay structure comes
into play! So we need to ensure that our essay does four things. Number one: it includes all of
the relevant information. Number two: it does not include any irrelevant information. Number three:
it ensures that the target reader is fully informed. The target reader should be able to
understand the topic, the question and the prompts only from reading the essay. And number four:
it should be organized and coherent. So how can we do all of that with a structure? Well let me tell
you! But first, remember there are many different structures that you could use to stay relevant,
not including relevant information, keep the target reader informed and be organized and
coherent. This structure is just a suggestion so if you don't like it don't get angry with me! It's
just a suggestion! Use it if you want... if you don't want to use it then don't! Jesus.... I'm
not forcing you to do anything! You don't even have to watch this video... all right... gosh.
The first thing we need is an introduction. So what should the introduction do? Well we need to
inform the target reader. We need to make sure they're informed. They should know what they're
reading by reading our introduction. So the introduction should inform the target reader of
the topic, the question and the prompts. Here is an example for our essay about sport. Notice how
the introduction introduces the topic generally. Then it poses the question of the essay.
I used three rhetorical questions: one to pose the question and one to introduce each prompt.
You don't have to do it this way. Why have I done it this way? Because I love rhetorical questions!
Why do I love rhetorical questions? Because I love questions! All right? But there are many
other ways that you can inform the target reader in your introduction. If you want to discuss the
topic more generally and introduce the prompts more generally without using rhetorical questions
then that's fine! I've just done it my way, you do it your way! Just make sure that your
introduction informs the target reader of the topic, the question and the prompts you
have chosen to talk about in the essay. That's what's important in your introduction! Yes? Yes!
After your introduction we need two paragraphs. That's one paragraph for each prompt. So in
the case of our essay about sports that's one paragraph about teamwork and another paragraph
about being healthy if these are the prompts that I have chosen to talk about. These paragraphs
should relate the prompts to the topic. Use it as an opportunity to talk about the positive
arguments in favor of each prompt. And the order of these paragraphs doesn't matter. Maybe you
could do introduction, being healthy, teamwork. Or introduction, teamwork, being healthy. It doesn't
matter. Alright? It just does not matter. So for our essay about sports we have our introduction
then a paragraph about sports and being healthy and then a paragraph about sports and teamwork.
These paragraphs should be descriptive. Your goal in these paragraphs is to use as much
specific vocabulary related to the topic and the prompts as possible. Really try and show
off with your language here. We will talk more about how to do that in another video.
If our introduction is about 40 words long these two paragraphs should be about 50 words each.
Now here comes the important paragraph.... Paragraph 4! And this is where we will compare
and contrast! This paragraph should acknowledge the benefit, the impact or the importance of
one prompt however it should conclude that the benefit, the importance or the impact of
another prompt is greater. You are taking both of the prompts and you are putting them at war
with each other and only one of them can win! Yeah. That's what you're doing in paragraph
four. Let's look at an example, hopefully it will become clearer. Here is my example.
Notice how in this paragraph we start with a rhetorical question to let the reader know that
we are going to directly deal with the essay question. Now you don't have to do this with
a rhetorical question, we will talk about other techniques related to this in another video. Then
we acknowledge what was said in relation to one prompt with a concessive clause and then contrast
this with why our other prompt is a greater benefit. This is what paragraph 4 should do.
It's a synthesis of paragraphs 2 and 3. As for the word count about 60 to 70 words would be good.
And our last paragraph is our conclusion. It is here that we summarize our essay and present
our personal opinion. This is very very important. Our opinion MUST MUST
MUST be linked to what we said in paragraph four and the contents of paragraph four MUST MUST MUST
be linked to what we said in paragraphs three and two. That way our essay is a coherent whole and
that's very important for marks in ORGANISATION. So in this conclusion we have given our opinion
and we've linked this opinion to what was said in paragraph four which was itself linked to what
was said in paragraphs two and three. This ensures that every part of our essay is connected forming
a logical whole. This is super important for high marks in ORGANISATION. So then to summarize:
paragraph one is our introduction. It is here where we introduce the topic, we present the
question and we let the target reader know what two prompts we have chosen to write about. In
paragraph two we discuss one prompt in relation to the topic and the question. In paragraph three
we discuss another prompt in relation to the topic and the question. In paragraph 4 we should
compare and contrast both of these prompts and explain why one of them has a greater benefit,
greater importance or greater impact than the other one. And paragraph 5, our conclusion,
should summarize our essay and present our opinion and remember our opinion must be linked to what
we said in paragraph four. Yes? Yes! And with that we are finished! Now you know everything
you need to know about one possible structure for a C1 Advanced essay! Maybe you know another one
and if you know a better one leave it in the comments and educate me and my viewers! Because
that's a fantastic thing! If you liked the video don't forget to SMASH that like button, subscribe
if you haven't already, leave a comment down below! My name is Toby and this was SMASH English.