5 Simple Steps

There are 5 steps to writing a good essay for IELTS Academic Writing Task 1:

● Analyze the question

● Identify the main features

● Write an introduction

● Write an overview

● Write the details paragraphs

We’ll look at these in more detail below but first, I want to outline an easy to

remember 4 part essay structure.

The 4 Part Essay Structure

You can use the same basic structure for all IELTS Academic Writing Task 1

questions. Ideally, your essay should have 4 paragraphs:

Paragraph 1 – Introduction
Paragraph 2 – Overview

Paragraph 3 – 1st main feature

Paragraph 4 – 2nd main feature

You are only required to write 150 words. You won’t score extra marks for writing

a longer essay. It’s what you write that gains you marks.

With only 20 minutes allowed for the task, it’s important that you don’t try to

include too many details. Having an essay structure to work with will help you

with this. Aim for quality in your essay, not quantity – the right information written

in a logical order.

We’re now ready to work through the 5 step planning process.

Planning a Task 1 IELTS Academic Writing Essay

# 1 Analyse the question

The format of every question in IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 is the same.
Here’s a typical question. The highlighted words will always be the same no

matter what type of question you get.

The chart below shows the number of men and women in further education in

Britain in three periods and whether they were studying full-time or part-time.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and

make comparisons where relevant.

● A brief description of the graphic (sentence 1)

● The instructions (sentence 2)

● The graphic – chart, graph, table, etc.

To find out what you have to do, you need to look at the ‘instruction’ sentence.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and

make comparisons where relevant.

There are 3 things to do:

1. Select the main features.

2. Write about the main features.

3. Compare the main features.

This is the same for every question and every type of graphic.
Many graphics contain a lot of information. You do not have to write about

everything. Just pick out a couple of main features and you’ll have plenty to write

about.

# 2 Identify the main features

In this lesson, I’m going to give you a quick overview of how to identify the main

features of the graphics. I go into far more detail in the lessons on the individual

question types where I work through sample questions step-by-step to create

model answers.

Here’s a reminder of the 7 question types. Click the links to go to each page for

more planning tips.

● Bar Chart

● Line Graph

● Table Chart

● Pie Chart

● Process Diagram

● Maps

● Multiple Graph
I’ve created helpful checklists for identifying the main features of the different

types of IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 questions. You’ll find them on this page:

How To Understand & Analyse Task 1 Questions

The key features of a graphic will usually be the easiest things to spot.

For a bar chart with a timeline, known as a dynamic bar chart, such as in our

sample question, look for general trends. The timeline will give you the biggest

clues as to the most significant trends.

Alternatively, a bar chart may be static with the data coming from one point in

time. For this type of graphic, you would need to compare whatever different

variables are shown. In the in-depth lesson on bar chart essays, for example,

you'll see a graph showing the different leisure activities favoured by Canadian

boys and girls.

There will be lots of information in the graphic to help you spot the main features.

Here are some useful questions to ask for both bar charts and line graphs.

● What information do the 2 axes give?

● What are the units of measurements?

● What can you learn from the title and any labels?

● What are the time periods?

● What are the most notable similarities or differences?

Two general trends in this graphic are:

Main feature 1: the overall number of students in full-time education increases.

Main feature 2: the number of women studying part-time increases steadily but

for men, it fluctuates.

The general trends you select will be the starting point for your essay. You will

then go on to add more detail.

Academic Writing Task 1 essays:

Paragraph 1 – Introduction

Paragraph 2 – Overview

Paragraph 3 – 1st main feature

Paragraph 4 – 2nd main feature

This structure isn’t going be an exact fit for every possible essay but it’s an

excellent outline to work from. Use it as a guideline and adapt it as necessary.

First, the introduction.

# 3 Write an introduction (Paragraph 1)

In the introduction, you should paraphrase the question, that is, say the same

thing in a different way. You can do this by using synonyms and changing the

sentence structure. For example:

Question:
The chart below shows the number of men and women in further education in

Britain in three periods and whether they were studying full-time or part-time.

Introduction:

The bar graph illustrates how many male and female students were studying

full-time and part-time in Britain during the years 1970/1, 1980/1 and 1990/1.

This is all you need to do for the introduction.

# 4 Write an overview (Paragraph 2)

In the second paragraph, you should report the main features you can see in the

graph, giving only general information. The detail comes later in the essay. You

should also make any clear comparisons you spot.

This is where you write about the general trends. Here are the ones we picked out

above.
Main feature 1: the overall number of students in full-time education increases.

Main feature 2: the number of women studying part-time increases steadily but

for men, it fluctuates.

Now form these ideas into two or three sentences with a total of around 40 words.

State the information simply using synonyms where possible. No elaborate

vocabulary or grammar structures are required, just the appropriate words and

correct verb tenses. For example:

Paragraph 2:

Overall, the number of students in full-time education increased over this time.

With regard to part-time education, there was a steady increase in women

choosing to study part-time but for men, the level fluctuated.

# 5 Write the details paragraphs (Paragraphs 3 & 4)

Paragraphs 3 and 4 are where you include more detailed information about the

data in the graph. In paragraph 3, you should give evidence to support your first

main idea.
In this instance, the data will be numbers of students in the respective time

periods. In other graphics, it might be percentages, age, monetary value or some

other unit of measurement.

Don’t forget to make comparisons when relevant.

Here’s our first main feature again:

Main feature 1: the overall number of students in full-time education increases.

This is an example of what you could write:

Paragraph 3:

Between the academic periods 1970/1 and 1990/1, the figures for men studying

full-time grew in steady increments, beginning at 100,000 in 1970/1 and rising to

nearly 300,000 in 1990/1. For women, the numbers had also risen to around

300,000 by 1990/1 on an increasing trend. Notably, however, the figure for females

in full-time education in 1970/1 was roughly half that of men, showing a greater

take-up than men between 1970/1 and 1980/1.

For the fourth and final paragraph, you do the same thing for your second main

feature. For example:

for men, it fluctuates.

Paragraph 4:

A different pattern is shown for part-time education. The graph reveals a steady

increase in women engaged in part-time study, rising from 750,000 in 1970/1 to

1,000,000 by 1990/1. For men, on the other hand, the figure fluctuated. From

1,000,000 in 1970/1, they had dropped by almost 200,000 by 1980/1 but recovered

slightly in numbers by 1990/1. Over the whole time period, the trend between men

and women in part-time education reversed, with male students being greater in

number in 1970/1 and female students taking pole position by 1990/1.

Here are the four paragraphs brought together to create our finished essay for

IELTS Academic Writing Task 1.

Finished essay
This sample essay is well over the minimum word limit so you can see that you

don’t have space to include very much detail at all. That’s why it is essential to

select just a couple of main features to write about.