5 Reasons why your Introduction is not up to the mark in IELTS Writing Task 2
The first paragraph in IELTS writing task 2 is introduction in which you tell the examiner what you are going to exhibit in rest of your essay. This part of the essay is very important as the examiner judge your content from it. This paragraph makes your first impression on the examiner. So, this part of the essay has to be very impressive and organized.
If you give your essay a messy beginning, the examiner will get unhappy and we cannot expect good scores from an unhappy examiner. Nearly all the students know this but still they don’t work on it or face some common problems. Today we will discuss 5 Reasons why your Introduction is not up to the mark in IELTS Writing Task 2.
1. Talking too generally about the topic.
Normally the students start their essay with ‘Nowadays……’ or ‘In modern life…. Or ‘In today’s digital era’ then gives some general information about the topic. I think this is not a good start for an essay as you are not supposed to talk generally about the topic as you are answering the question and it’s not a general conversation.
2. Missing a thesis statement
Thesis statement is the most important sentence in the essay. It should be included in the introduction, if you don’t include this statement than your scores will be deducted.
3. Not outlining what you are going to do
In the introduction passage the outlining sentence should also be included. If you don’t outline than it will be difficult for the examiner to know what you are going to write about in the rest of your essay. This will also support in the deduction of marks.
4. Trying to be an entertainer
In IELTS you will not get any extra mark for entertaining the examiner so don’t try to be frank or use ‘flowery’ language. You can get some extra score if you are bit boring.
5. Using an informal style
According to the norms of IELTS you should write essay in an academic style so use formal style. If you switched your style to informal you will be penalized for it.
Now, after looking at the common mistakes done by the examiners let’s now learn some strategies to write an impressive introduction.
Strategies
An effective introduction conveys important information briefly but clearly. For making your introduction effective, clear and impressive take it as a roadmap, guiding you and examiner for the rest of your essay. This roadmap will guide the examiner about the topic of discussion, as well as your position in relation to the topic. In this you may also briefly explain your planning to develop the essay. Below are some strategies for writing an effective introduction:
• Read and analyze all the information properly provided to you.
Introduction is the first step to respond the question so you should know what the question is asking for. You whole should revolve around the topic and for doing this it is mandatory to read and understand the demand of the question. This will also help you to explain all the parts of the prompt.
• Do NOT copy material from the prompt.
You will get some clues from the question about how to approach your opening paragraph, make sure you use your own words (paraphrasing) when writing your introduction. If you use the same words or phrases as in the prompt, the examiner can think that your range of vocabulary is limited and can affect your band score. Instead, use synonyms, put the information in a new order, and break down more complex ideas into smaller ones, while making sure you’re accurately stating the topic.
Thank You 🙂
