DRAFTING AN OPINION ESSAY: ESSENTIAL STRATEGIES. Khimki 2010 Lyceum №17 ELENA DANILYANTS

PARAPHRASING THE INTRODUCTION: Step 1: finding out the issue of the essay you are going to write about. Step 2: choosing synonymous words and expressions to those ones given in the suggested statement. Step 3: paraphrasing the statement by these synonymous words or by using a quotation or rhetorical question. Step 4: making the paraphrased introduction more emphatic by using emphatic words or expressions. EMPHATIC EXPRESSIONS: 1. There is no doubt that… 2. It goes without saying that … 3. We have no doubt that … 4. Without a doubt … is… 5. Undoubtedly … 6. We are in no doubt that … 7. There is no disputing that … 8. It’s obvious that … 9. There is no denying the fact that …

10. It’s vital / essential that … 11. It’s worth bearing in mind that… 12. It’s not certain / uncertain that … 13. It should be stressed that … 14. It should be noted that … 15. I / We should stress / emphasize / highlight the fact that … 16. We should draw attention to the fact that … WRITING THE MAIN BODY: Step 1: gathering ideas (brainstorming ideas) for the opinion you support with examples, e.g. your own opinion (not less than 5 points) and organising them in a word map Step 2: gathering ideas for the opposing view point (not less than 2) with examples and organising in a word map Step 3: editing ideas Step 4: making the main body more emphatic by using emphatic expressions Step 5: writing the main body

WRITING A CONCLUSION. Step 1: restating your opinion using one of the ideas of Step 1 (Main Body) not mentioned in your essay before Step 2: editing and writing your conclusion Sample Example. Comment on the Statement: “Many children are becoming overweight. Some people feel school should ban the sale of junk food to help solve this problem”. What is your opinion? Do you think schools should ban the sale of junk food? Write words. Step 1: finding out the issue of the essay to ban or not to ban selling junk food in schools. Step 2: choosing synonymous words and phrases for paraphrasing the introduction:

Many children are becoming overweight more and more children a lot of children lots of children are getting fatter and fatter are getting overweight are suffering from being overweight

feel think consider strongly believe believe are certain are sure ban prohibitstop being donesmth mustn’t be done junk food these days at present nowadays at this day and age

Step 3: paraphrasing the given statement by using the synonyms mentioned above. e.g. More and more children are suffering from being overweight these days, and the root of this is fast food. So, should we prohibit selling fast food in schools / school canteens? In my opinion we should. Synonyms for the word “REASON”: 1. The reason for… 2. The cause of… 3. The root of… 4. The main factor is … 5. The origin of… is… (первопричина) 6. The source is … 7. … plays a major part in ruining of … Step 4: making the paraphrased introduction more emphatic: E.g. There is no denying the fact that more and more children are suffering from being overweight these days, and the root of this is fast food. So, should we prohibit the selling of fast food in schools /school canteens? In my view we should. Step 5: gathering ideas of your own opinion, supporting with examples:

1)Health problems 2) spoiling the view of a place 3) waste of money (children are not allowed (wrappers are dropped wherever (it’s worthless spending to buy because of their real children eat) money on food which ruins health problems) your health) 4 )Addiction 5)The cause of becoming overweight (lots of fat; overweight generation) (fast food develops addiction, children can’t go past macdonalds) Junk food should be banned

Step 6: gathering ideas of opposing view point, supporting with examples: Junk food should be allowed in schools/ school canteens 1) Reasonable prices 2) tasty (everybody can afford to buy it) (children are sick and tired of soup and the like) 3) Have the right to choose 4) Comfortable to use / eat what to eat (a wide range) ( you can eat wherever and whenever you want)

Step 7: editing the ideas, making paragraphs more emphatic, writing the main body of the essay. Step 8: writing the conclusion by restating your opinion using one of your ideas not mentioned before. Step 9: rereading and checking your grammar and lexical mistakes.