IELTS Essay – How to Plan Paragraphs

Last December a new IELTS student sent me an essay with nine (!!) paragraphs, some of which had only one sentence. An examiner would mark this essay down for “Coherence and cohesion” since such paragraphing can be regarded as “inadequate”, meaning not more than Band 5 for this criterion.

Let’s see the optimal number of paragraphs for IELTS essay

The usual strategy is to plan:

introduction – 1 paragraph
body – 2-4 paragraphs
conclusion – 1 paragraph

Total: 4-6 paragraphs.

The best approach is to plan the number of paragraphs according to the number of parts in the task. If the task has one part only, use 2-3 paragraphs for the essay body. If the task has 2 parts, use 2 paragraphs for the body; if the task has 3 parts, use 3 paragraphs. Then add introduction and conclusion, as a result of which you will have your 4-6 paragraphs. Never use only one paragraph for the body. Try not to use more than 4 paragraphs for the body either, because it will be extremely difficult to develop your arguments adequately.

Example 1:

Although many dieticians claim that fast food is negative for health, more and more people are eating it. Why do people consume fast food? What can be done to solve this problem?

introduction – 1 paragraph
body – 2 paragraphs (reasons and solutions)
conclusion – 1 paragraph

Example 2
More and more people are consuming fast food and taking less exercise. What are the reasons for this tendency and what can be done about it?

option A
introduction – 1 paragraph
body – 2 paragraphs (reasons and solutions for fast food consumption; reasons and solutions for the lack of exercise)
conclusion – 1 paragraph

option B
introduction – 1 paragraph
body – 4 paragraphs (reason for fast food consumption, reasons for the lack of exercise, solutions for fast food consumption, solutions for the lack of exercise)
conclusion – 1 paragraph

Example 3

Television has had a significant impact on people all over the world. To what extent has television positively or negatively affected people’s lives?

introduction – 1 paragraph
body – 2-3 paragraphs (reasons for your opininon)
conclusion – 1 paragraph

When you plan the ideas for your paragraphs, make sure to have enough information and examples to reach the balance of paragraphs inside your essay. Introduction should be balanced with conclusion, and each body paragraph should have approximately the same length. That means, you can’t have one body paragraph of 5 lines and one paragraph of 9 lines. Also, it’s not advisable to have an introduction of 7 lines and conclusion of 3 lines.

Now, let’s check your understanding.