Opinion essay” Plan: Opinion essay

Sample essays
Below, we’re going to look at a couple essays my students have come up with together with the feedback they’ve received. The sample you’ll see were the first drafts of the essay.
The task:

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  Write an Opinion essay on the following topic: “Nowadays, food has become easier to prepare. Has this change improved the way people live? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer”
  
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  Use specific reasons and examples to support your viewpoint.
  
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  Word count 200-250
  

Sample 1


You can see the feedback below.
The basic idea in providing feedback here is to try to guide the student to correct their mistakes themselves rather than provide them with the answers. It helps them to better assimilate the material.
As you can see from the essay above, the student had some issues with applying the correct structure together with some language errors. The next step is to work on the second draft and try to improve it following the comments and referring to the background information presented during the class.
Sample 2


You can see the feedback below:


As you can see, this essay was much better formulated (this is a much stronger student), most of the comments have to do with word choice and formulation. The task for the second draft is the same – improve it based on the comments.
Useful language
To be really brilliant, one should know to use the right language to reach that effect. Apart from a correct structure, the essay should also be rich in linking devices, phrases and expressions that help the speech sound more sophisticated, well thought, cohesive and coherent. Below are some phrases that I’ve been using with my students to make their writing more connected and fluent.
Supporting your argument
Expressing opinion