In this post: How to recognise a Discuss both views question, the four-paragraph blueprint, whether the side you do not support must come first, and sentence frames you can reuse.
Discuss Both Views Essays · 3 parts
- 1. The question, blueprint and frames (you are here)
- 2. Body paragraphs and my five essays
- 3. Rewrite, mistakes and practice
✦ In this post
The first Task 2 essay I wrote during my period of intensive marking was a Discuss both views question (Essay 1, Cambridge 14 Test 1: should we accept a bad situation or try to improve it?). The four criterion scores were TR 6, CC 6, LR 6 and GRA 7, giving 6 overall. A little over a month later, Essay 30 (Cambridge 19 Test 1: is competition or cooperation better?) was the same question type and scored TR 8, CC 8 and 7.5 overall.
The difference between the two essays was not vocabulary. It was whether I understood what this question type asks for: both views must be discussed fairly, but the reader must know which side you are on from start to finish. This post collects what I learned from these five essays.
“Essay N” refers to the order in which I submitted my essays for marking. The scores are the four criterion scores and overall band given by the marker; the analysis is my own, written against the public IELTS band descriptors.
1. Recognising the question: two views plus your opinion
A Discuss both views question looks like this: Some people think A. Others believe B. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion. The question always gives two opposing (or at least different) views.
| What the question looks like | Question type | Difference from Both views |
|---|---|---|
| Some people think A. Others believe B. Discuss both views and give your opinion. | Discuss both views | Discuss both views + give your position |
| View A + To what extent do you agree or disagree? | Agree/Disagree | Only one view; you can write only the reasons that support your position |
| Do the advantages of A outweigh the disadvantages? | Outweigh | The pros and cons of one thing, not two views |
| Discuss the advantages and disadvantages and give your opinion. | Advantages/disadvantages + opinion | The good and bad sides of one thing, not two camps |
The most common mistake is writing a Both views essay as an Outweigh essay. That is exactly what I did in Essay 1. The question asked about two views, “accept a bad situation” and “improve it”, but my introduction turned it into “do the advantages of accepting a bad situation outweigh the disadvantages?”:
Considerable public debates surround on whether the merits of accepting a bad situation outnumber the demerits.
This sentence shrinks two views into “the pros and cons of one view”, and the paragraph plan for the rest of the essay falls apart as a result (more on this in section 6, in Part 2).
2. Paragraph blueprint: four paragraphs, the side you do not support first
| Paragraph | Content | Pattern | Words |
|---|---|---|---|
| Introduction | S1 paraphrase both views | S2 preview your position | Some individuals believe that A, while others claim that B. The purpose of this essay is to analyze both sides of this argument and explain why I believe that B is more advantageous. | 40–50 |
| Body 1 | The side you do not support: why some people think this (two points) | There are some reasons why A seems to be beneficial. First and foremost, … Secondly, … | 100–115 |
| Body 2 | The side you support (two points, written more specifically) | On the other hand, as far as I am concerned, … / However, there are various reasons why I support the view that B. Primarily, … Furthermore, … | 105–125 |
| Conclusion | Four steps | In conclusion, I believe that both sides have merits. On balance, it is my opinion that B. This is because … | 40–50 |
Two principles from my notes:
- Write the side you disagree with first, and in that paragraph “give reasons, not judgements”: explain why people in this camp think the way they do, and do not rebut them in this paragraph.
- Write more for the side you support: put it in the third paragraph, right before the conclusion, so that the last body paragraph the reader finishes leads naturally into your position.
“Write more” really means “write more solidly”
When I went back and counted the words in my body paragraphs, I found that the side I supported was not actually much longer:
| Essay | Body 1 (written first) | Body 2 (written second) | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay 1 | 117 words (not supported) | 161 words (supported) | 6 |
| Essay 3 | 119 words (not supported) | 119 words (supported) | 7 |
| Essay 4 | 114 words (not supported) | 122 words (supported) | 7 |
| Essay 30 | 105 words (supported) | 101 words (not supported) | 7.5 |
In Essay 1 I wrote the most for the side I supported, yet it got the lowest score; in Essay 30 the two paragraphs were almost the same length and it got 7.5. So “write more” is not a word-count contest. A better way to understand it is that the examples for your side should be more specific and the reasoning more complete, so the reader feels this side’s reasons are stronger. Having roughly equal word counts is completely fine.
3. Paragraph order: must the side you do not support come first?
To be honest, Essay 30, which scored 7.5, used the opposite order: first the side I supported (“competition”), then the side I did not (“cooperation”). Trial Essay 3 (29A, on advertising) also put the supported side first and got 6.5 (mainly because of language). So paragraph order itself is not a marking criterion. The examiner looks at whether both sides are discussed and whether your position is clear.
So why do I still recommend putting the side you do not support first? Three practical reasons:
- It leads into the conclusion more smoothly: with your side in the third paragraph, the conclusion’s On balance, it is my opinion that… comes straight after your strongest arguments.
- Your position is less likely to get blurred: if you write your side first, the opposing side in the third paragraph can easily become too persuasive, and after the last body paragraph the reader is no longer sure which side you are on.
- It is easier to manage your time in the exam: the opposing side “only gives reasons”, so it is easier to write and works as a warm-up.
If you prefer to write your side first, that is fine too, but the start of the third paragraph must clearly signal that this is the other side’s view. Essay 30 does this with However, the option of cooperating with each other is attractive for some reason, and the conclusion then clearly returns to my own position.
4. Sentence frames you can reuse
Second sentence of the introduction: three ways
I maintain that + B. (Essay 3: While some people believe that the extinction of species is more important, I maintain that there are other important threats to our environment.)
The purpose of this essay is to analyze both sides of this argument and explain why I believe that + B. (Essay 30, Trial Essay 3)
I firmly believe that + B + grants more benefits. (Essay 4)
Essay 3 uses While…, I maintain that… to put “other people’s view” and “my view” in one sentence, which is very concise. Essay 30’s The purpose of this essay is to… previews both that “both sides will be discussed” and “my position”, which matches the two requirements of the question most closely.
Topic sentences for Body 1 and Body 2
| Position | Pattern |
|---|---|
| Body 1 (side not supported) | There are a variety of reasons why A seems to be beneficial. |
| Body 1 (side not supported) | A is sometimes beneficial. / Many people believe that A for two reasons. |
| Body 2 (side supported) | On the other hand, as far as I am concerned, B is more advantageous. |
| Body 2 (side supported) | However, there are various reasons why I support the view that B. |
| Body 2 (side supported) | The option of B is attractive for some reasons. |
| Sequencers within a paragraph | First and foremost, / Secondly, / Primarily, / Furthermore, / The main one is that… / Another factor is that… |
Two points per paragraph
A four-paragraph essay needs two points in each body paragraph, so each point gets only one kind of support: Point A (1.5 sentences) + an example or explanation (2–2.5 sentences), then Point B + an example or explanation. The first body paragraph of Essay 3 does exactly this:
First and foremost, the extinction of species poses a threat to human life. In other words, since humans cannot survive without the help from animals and insects, it is necessary to stress the importance of species extinction. Bees, which are responsible for pollination, are good examples of this matter, since the growing of plants, vegetables, and fruits all rely on pollination by bees.
Point (species loss threatens humans) → explanation (human survival depends on animals and insects) → example (bees and pollination): one point made clearly in three sentences.
The four-step conclusion
| Step | Function | Pattern |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Signal the conclusion | In conclusion, |
| 2 | Acknowledge that both sides have a point | I believe that both sides have merits. |
| 3 | State which side you prefer | On balance, it is my opinion that B. |
| 4 | Give your reason (using arguments you have already made) | This is because … / as I feel that … |
The conclusion of Essay 30 follows the four steps:
In conclusion, both sides have merits. On balance, it is my opinion that competitions grant more benefits to community, as I feel that fostering potential and making people dedicating on their work increase the competitiveness of society, which is an essential part for achieving long-term success in developing the whole nation.
The reasons in step four, “fostering potential” and “making people commit to their work and raising the competitiveness of society”, both come from the body paragraph on competition. Nothing new is added. A small error: making people dedicating should be making people dedicate.
Continue reading · Part 2 of 3
IELTS Notes in English · Task 2 Structure (post 4 of 9)
← Previous: How to Write an IELTS Agree/Disagree Essay: Full vs Partial Agreement, with Seven Real Essays
Next →: How to Write an IELTS Advantages/Disadvantages Essay Without Repeating Yourself
Task 1 Structure · Task 2 Structure · Topic Guides · Writing Language · Band Score Samples · Practice Methods · Speaking & Study Tips
✦ Target Your Future
Some days you practise for hours and the score still does not move. I hope these notes remind you that the setbacks are part of the road: every recording you replayed, every essay you rewrote and every sentence you finally dared to say is progress you have already made.
I wrote this down so the next person can take fewer detours. You do not have to follow my method exactly. Find a rhythm that works for you, rest when you need to, and come back for the next small step.
I hope what you take away is more than a number on a score report: a little more confidence in yourself, and the courage to step a bit closer to the world.
— Ting
← Back to IELTS notes in English
Leave a Reply