Writing Test tasks: Task types III (articles)

An article for a magazine

Tips for articles:

• ANSWER THE QUESTION
• PLAN your article.
• Give your article a title.
• Make sure you have at least 4 paragraphs.
• Ask rhetorical questions to get your readers' attention. Eg. What would the world be like without oil? What will life be like in 20 years time?
• Speak directly to your readers. Eg. Let's just imagine some of the possibilities.
• Give examples where appropriate.
• Use humour where appropriate
• Give a conclusion and summary in the last paragraph.
• Finally, give your opinion where appropriate.
• REVISE your article to correct mistakes.

Useful phrases for ESL Article Writing

Rhetorical phrases:

• Have you ever ........?
• What do you think about ........?
• Are you one of those people who thinks that ......?
• Are you one of those people who .......?
• What would life be like if ......?
• Will the future bring us ..... ?

Introducing your first point:

• Firstly
• In the first place
• First of all
• The first thing to consider is
• One thing to consider is
• To begin with

Introducing more points:

• Secondly
• Another consideration
• Yet another consideration
• Another thing to consider is
• Added to that
• Apart from that
• In addition to this

Introducing your final points:

• In conclusion
• To conclude
• To sum up
• So

Introducing your opinion:

• I think
• In my opinion
• Personally I believe that
• In my view
• If you ask me
• To my mind
• My personal opinion is