How To

Think of
Ideas
HOW TO THINK OF RELEVANT IDEAS FOR
ANY IELTS WRITING TASK 2 ESSAY

by Louise Bollanos
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Disclaimer

The information in this ebook is provided to help you study for the
IELTS Test. This is for your personal use and information purposes only.
The material provided in this ebook has been created by experienced
IELTS teachers and ex-examiners.

IELTS is a registered trademark of University of Cambridge, the British

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ESOL, the British Council, and IDP Education Australia.  

Page 1
Table of Contents

Page 3: Introduction

Page 4: Read more

Page 5: Plan your essay

Page 6: Quick essay plan

Page 7: The mind map

Page 8: Be positive

Page 9: Interact

Page 10: Reflection

Page 11: About the author

Page 2
Introduction

In this section, we will look at how to think of ideas for writing

task 2 questions.

Many of my students struggle to think of ideas when faced

with a question, especially when it is on a topic they feel they
know little about.

They worry that their examples will not be relevant or they

often find it difficult to think of any examples at all.

You must practice thinking of ideas for various questions,

finding a method that suits you.

OK - now let us see how you can start thinking of ideas!

Page 3
Read More

This is really obvious, to improve both vocabulary and

knowledge reading is the best thing that you can do.

If you are on Facebook, 'like' the pages of well-known news

sites, like >

BBC News
The Guardian 
The Telegraph
The New York Times
The Economist 

This is a super easy way to stay informed and read articles, as

you scroll through your newsfeed.

Reading the news will give you many ideas for your essays
when giving examples to my students I often say 'I read
something about that the other day...'.

Read around topics that come up again and again, like

health, education, technology, the environment and crime.

Also read articles that interest you, on art, movies and

anything else.
When you find words you do not know the meaning of, look
them up and make a note.

Most phones/tablets have a built-in dictionary, so it is very

easy to look up the meaning of a word or cut and paste
sections of an article.

Page 4
Plan Your Essay

Before you start writing the essay, make a plan with your ideas
in note form.

When I plan any essays or blog posts I start by making a bullet

list of my ideas.

This helps me to visualise the information and organise it.

It might not work for everyone, but it is a good way to start

planning, getting those thoughts out onto the paper.

By creating a quick plan before you start, you can think of

your main ideas and get your structure sorted.

Think about your structure - what do you need to include in

each paragraph?

What ideas do you have for your main body paragraphs?

Do they answer the question? (this is a big one to check - you

must make sure you are answering the question)

What examples can you think of to support your main body

paragraphs?

Page 5
Quick Essay Plan
Make a quick essay plan before you start, so you know exactly
what information you are going to use in each paragraph.

Page 6
The Mind Map

You could create a mind map if you like them - to plan out
your ideas.

You could write the main topic in the middle then add
branches for all of your paragraphs and main ideas.

Page 7
Be Positive

Many students when they are given a question, straight away

say 'I don't know anything about this topic...' almost shutting
down before they have even started.

If you have a question, with a topic that you feel you know
little about, don't stress out and don't feel frustrated.

When you are thinking of ideas and examples, you are

allowed to be creative, making up statistics/data from an
article or survey. As long as the example is relevant and
believable.

Push yourself to generate ideas and keep it light and

enjoyable.

Negativity is death to creativity, meaning that if you have a

negative mindset from the beginning, this will crush your
ability to get those creative essay writing juices flowing! 

Page 8
Interact

Imagine you are talking about this question with someone.

Sounds simple, think about reaching out and chatting with

other people who engage you intellectually and creatively.

If you were discussing this question with a friend or work

colleague, what would you say/they say?

Thinking about conversations with others can help you to

generate ideas.

Page 9
Reflection

Think about what you know about the question/topic

already......

What have I read about or seen that stands out?

What do I know about this topic?

What did I read/see that could be used as an example?

What is the main issue?

Why is this happening?

Use your responses to these questions as writing prompts.

For example, if you know that obesity is becoming a huge

strain on the NHS in the UK because of the increase in costs,
where did you read that information?
 
Was it on the news?

Think about how you could turn that information into an

example.

Page 10
Thank You!

To view free IELTS study materials, visit the bookshop or to

join the IELTS Achieve Academy please visit
www.ieltsachieve.com

About the author - Louise Bollanos

Louise had been teaching in the UK for over 10 years in further

education. She worked in colleges for a number of years
before deciding to teach online.

Louise has experience teaching IELTS to nurses and doctors

from around the world, with many starting out at a 6.5 or
lower and passing with band scores of 7, 8 or above.

She writes IELTS study materials for schools internationally

and has completed extensive IELTS training.

Louise loves to meet new IELTS students and works hard with
them to improve their band scores. Louise is originally from
the UK and currently lives in Corfu, Greece with her husband
and dog.

Page 11