Lesson 2 Writing an Essay – Opinion Essay

1. Define opinion essay;

2. Discuss the structure;
3. Differentiate opinion essay with other essay;
4. Discuss the strategy in writing opinion essay;
5. Compose an opinion essay.

The success of writing any types of essay depends on the writer’s ability to understand the topic to be
developed and the structure used in writing the task.

Opinion Essay

A big salary is much more important than job satisfaction. 

Do you agree or disagree? 

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from
your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Three Common Mistakes

1. Not stating an opinion.
2. Giving arguments for both views.
3. Not supporting your opinion with clear reasons.

The most common mistake that students make is not giving an opinion. The question will clearly state
that you must choose one side of the argument. If you fail to do this, you will get a low score for task
achievement.

It doesn’t matter which side of the argument you take or even, that you agree with it. Choose the one
you can develop the best argument for.

Make sure that you don’t change your opinion part way through the essay, and don’t give reasons for
the opposing view.
Essay Structure
1) Introduction
Paraphrase the question
Give your opinion
State two supporting reasons
2) Main body paragraph 1
Topic sentence – outline 1st reason for supporting this view
Explanation – explain this idea
Example – give an example or expand the idea
3) Main body paragraph 2
Topic sentence – outline 2nd reason for supporting this view
Explanation – explain this idea
Example – give an example or expand the idea
4) Conclusion
Summarise opinion and key reasons

This structure will give us a well-balanced essay with 4 paragraphs.

We now need some ideas to add into the structure and we’ll have everything we need for our
essay.

How to plan for opinion essay

1. Decide on your opinion

A big salary is much more important than job satisfaction.

Do you agree or disagree?  

For this essay, I’m going to disagree with the statement and argue that job satisfaction is more
important than a big salary.

2. Generate ideas
The second task is to generate some ideas to write about.
Since I‘m going to argue that job satisfaction is more important than a large salary, I
need ideas to support this view.

Here are my examples and some ideas they generated.

Uncle Barry – boasted about high salary but hated his job. Nervous breakdown –
lost job & can’t work.

Me – gave up teaching. Now enjoy my work and am much more relaxed and
happy even though I earn much less money.
Ideas:

High-salary jobs are generally more stressful

Stress leads to ill health, both mental and physical
40 hours a week at work – a third of the day

Money doesn’t bring happiness

Better quality of life
Sense of fulfilment
Less stressed – healthier and happier

Here you are going to pick two to develop in the essay – one for each of the
main body paragraphs.

Idea 1 – High-salary jobs are generally more stressful and can lead to ill health.
Idea 2 – Job satisfaction gives a sense of fulfilment.

3. Vocabulary
It’s important to be able to say the same things in different ways, either by paraphrasing
and/or using synonyms. During the planning stage, quickly jot down a few synonyms of
key words you could use to save you having to stop and think of the right language while
you’re writing.

For example:
satisfaction – fulfilment, achievement, sense of accomplishment, content, sense of well-being
salary – income, wages, pay, earnings
important – significant, valued, has more meaning
job – work, employment, position

How to write an introduction

A good introduction has a simple 3 part structure:
1)  Paraphrased question
2)  Thesis statement
3)  Outline statement

An introduction should:
Have 2-3 sentences
Be 40-60 words long
Take 5 minutes to write
1)  Paraphrase the question
Start your introduction by paraphrasing the question.
     Question: A big salary is much more important than job satisfaction.
                       Do you agree or disagree?  

Paraphrased question: 
It is argued that earning lots of money has more significance to people than being content in
their work.

2)  Thesis statement

The thesis statement is where you state your opinion. For example,

Thesis statement: 
This essay totally disagrees with that statement.

That’s all you need to say.

If you decided to agree with the statement, you would write:
'This essay completely agrees with that statement.'

3)  Outline statement

Finally in the introduction, you must outline the two main points (ideas 1 and 2 above) that
you’ll cover in the rest of the essay. Do it in one sentence, or you can add them onto the end of
the thesis statement if appropriate.

Outline statement: 
I believe that people are increasingly concerned about the risk of stress-related ill-health
frequently experienced by people in highly paid positions and they care more about feeling
fulfilled at work.

So, let’s bring the three elements of our introduction together.

     Introduction

This introduction achieves three important functions:

It shows that you understand the question.
It acts as a guide the reader what your essay is about.
It also helps to keep you focused and on track as you write.

The two ideas in your introduction will become your two main body paragraphs.
Main body paragraph 1 – concerns about the risk of stress-related ill-health
Main body paragraph 2 – a sense of fulfilment at work

How to write Main Body Paragraphs

The structure of a good main body paragraph has 3 parts:
Topic sentence
Explanation
Example

A common problem when writing main body paragraphs for opinion essays is having too many
ideas. Again, we have already chosen the two ideas we are going to develop, so we are all set to
start writing.

Main Body Paragraph 1

The topic sentence summarises the main idea of the paragraph. That’s all it needs to do so it
doesn’t have to be complicated.

It plays an important role in ensuring that your ideas flow logically from one to another. It does
this by acting as a signpost for what is to come next, that is, what the paragraph will be about.

Main idea 1 – concerns about the risk of stress-related ill-health

Topic sentence: 
Employees earning a large income are generally under significant mental and emotional
pressure to perform well and achieve targets.

Next, we must write an explanation sentence. It expands the first idea.

Explanation sentence: 
This causes many individuals to suffer high levels of stress which can result in both mental and
physical health problems.

Finally, we add an example to support our main point.

Example sentence:
This happened to my uncle. He used to boast about his huge salary but the boss kept increasing
his sales targets and in the end, the stress became too great and he had a nervous breakdown.
Now he regrets being driven by the money.
That’s the 3 parts of our first main body paragraph complete. Here’s the finished paragraph.

We now follow the same process for our second main body paragraph.

Main Body Paragraph 2

Main idea 2 – Job satisfaction gives a sense of fulfilment.

First, we write the topic sentence to summarise the main idea.

Topic sentence:
Having a job that they enjoy doing, and in which they feel valued, is a major concern for most of
the modern workforce.

Now for the explanation sentence to explain this idea.

Explanation sentence:
A significant number of people are giving up well-paid positions to do jobs which pay less but
that they find more enjoyable and less stressful.

Finally, an example to support our main point. As before, I thought of this in the planning stage
so just need to form it into a couple of sentences.
Example sentence:
I am an example of this myself. A year ago I left the teaching profession because the workload
had become too great and I am now a gardener. I feel really fulfilled in this work and I am much
more relaxed and happy even though I earn far less money.

That’s the 3 parts of our second main body paragraph complete. Here’s the finished paragraph.
How To Write a Conclusion

Conclusions to opinion essays should do two things:

1. Summarise the main points
2. State your opinion

This can generally be done in a single sentence.

The conclusion is the easiest sentence in the essay to write but one of the most important.
A good conclusion will:
1. Neatly end the essay
2. Link all your ideas together
3. Sum up your argument or opinion
4. Answer the question

You can start almost any final paragraph with the words:

In conclusion, in summary, or to conclude

Now all you need to do is briefly summarise the main ideas into one sentence.
Top tip. Go back and read the introduction to the essay because this is also a summary of the
essay. It outlines what you are going to write about.

To create a great conclusion, you simply have to paraphrase the introduction.

Introduction:

Here is the same information formed into a conclusion:

Here it is with the 4 paragraphs put together.
   Question:
   A big salary is much more important than job satisfaction.
   Do you agree or disagree?

Finished opinion essay.