By English Test Coach · Updated
Lesson 2 of 8 · Both Task 2 formats
Develop one idea into a paragraph
Connect a claim, its explanation and a relevant example without padding.
Give the paragraph one job
A paragraph should help the reader follow one main strand of your argument. Begin with a claim you can support, then explain the mechanism behind it. Practical university assignments can help students apply theory: the useful explanation is how making decisions in a realistic problem reveals gaps in their understanding. Merely repeating that practical assignments are useful does not develop the claim.
Make the example do work
Use a small, relevant situation to demonstrate the explanation. An engineering student choosing a material for a model bridge makes an abstract trade-off concrete. Explain how that choice connects to learning. You do not need invented survey percentages or a fictional authority. If a situation is hypothetical, present it as an example rather than claiming it happened in a published study.
Link meaning, not every sentence
Cohesion comes from relationships as well as linking words. A pronoun, repeated key term or clear sequence can connect sentences naturally. However signals a contrast; therefore signals a consequence. Adding either word where that relationship does not exist makes the paragraph less clear. Read without the linking words first, then add only the connections the reader actually needs.
Worked example
Before
Projects are good. Furthermore, projects are useful. Moreover, students like projects.
After
Projects let students test an idea against practical constraints. For example, designing a simple bridge requires them to balance material strength with cost. That decision gives a concrete purpose to the theory studied in class.
The paragraph develops one educational benefit and uses an example to show how it works. It does not rely on a chain of near-identical claims.
Use the education essay guide to connect a project activity to evidence of learning, then test the limits of that argument.
IELTS Task 2 examples: illustrate a reason without inventing evidence
An example should help the reader understand why your reason matters. Official IELTS guidance allows relevant examples from knowledge and experience and warns against made-up statistics or research. You do not need to manufacture a study to make an ordinary situation useful.
Keep the example connected to the claim
For our university theory-and-practice question, suppose your claim is that practical projects can help students apply theoretical knowledge. Saying “universities offer many courses” stays on the topic but does not show that application.
For example, an engineering student could use principles about material strength to choose between two designs for a model bridge. Explaining the choice would require the student to connect an abstract principle with a practical decision. This illustrates how a project can create an opportunity to apply theory.
The situation, decision and learning opportunity form a chain. “Could” and “would” make this an illustration, not a claim about a documented experiment. It supports a possible benefit of practical work; it does not prove that every project improves learning or that theory should be removed.
Personal experience has a useful but limited role
If you have relevant experience, select the detail that demonstrates your reason and explain its connection. You do not need a long account of who attended, what everyone wore or every stage of the day. Use an experience you actually know; do not present an invented event as your own history.
For a learner who really made this decision, “In a college project, I had to use a material-strength principle to justify my design choice” would identify a relevant observation. The explanation should say what that decision illustrates. “Therefore, practical courses are always better than theoretical ones” would go beyond the observation and create an unsupported comparison.
Repair an invented authority and an overgeneralisation
This deliberately flawed practice sentence supplies no real research: “A university survey proves that 99% of students learn more from projects, so lectures are useless.”
1. Identify what the sentence fails to support
The survey and percentage are invented, “learn more” does not specify the comparison, and “lectures are useless” is stronger than a claim that projects have a benefit. Deleting the number alone would leave the unsupported authority and conclusion.
2. Compare one defensible revision
“Practical projects can help students apply ideas introduced in lectures. For example, selecting a material for a model bridge requires a student to use a principle about strength in a specific decision. Projects can therefore complement theoretical teaching.”
The revision replaces a false authority with an explicit mechanism and illustrative situation. Its conclusion is proportionate to that reasoning. It does not establish that all projects succeed, and a complete discussion still needs to develop the other view and your position.
For your own paragraph, underline the claim, mark the detail that illustrates it and explain the connection. Then test the final inference: does it claim more than the example shows? Choose enough support to develop the idea; there is no example count in this lesson that guarantees a band score.
IELTS cohesion: linking words and clear references
Choose the relationship before choosing the linking word. This paragraph from our original university essay develops one view through an explanation, an example and a related benefit.
Those who favour academic study argue that universities should offer more than training for a first job. A student who understands the principles behind a subject is better placed to respond when current techniques become outdated. In engineering, for instance, learning why a structure carries a load is more transferable than memorising the steps in one design program. Academic work also encourages students to question assumptions and evaluate evidence. These habits can remain useful throughout a career, even when a graduate changes employer or moves into a different field.
- “For instance” introduces an illustration
- The engineering example makes the preceding claim about transferable knowledge concrete. It shows what understanding a principle can mean in one subject. The marker is useful because that example has a clear connection to the claim.
- “Also” adds a related reason
- Questioning assumptions and evaluating evidence are another benefit of academic study. This sentence still develops the same view. Adding also to a repetition of the first claim would not create a new reason.
- “These habits” points to identifiable actions
- The phrase refers back to questioning assumptions and evaluating evidence. The noun habits makes that reference clearer than an unexplained this or they. The following sentence can then explain their lasting value without repeating the entire previous sentence.
Repair an unclear reference
“Universities can offer projects and careers talks. They help students apply theory.”
Does they mean the universities, the projects, the talks or both activities? If the intended claim concerns projects, write: “Practical projects help students apply theory.” Keep a pronoun when its meaning is clear; name the idea again when the reader would otherwise have to guess.
In your next paragraph, underline each referring phrase and identify what it refers to. Label whether each new sentence explains, illustrates, adds to or qualifies the main claim. If the relationship is missing, repair the reasoning before adding a connector. There is no fixed quota of linking words that guarantees a band score.
When individual sentences connect but the essay still feels disjointed, trace paragraph jobs across a complete healthy-food discussion. The assessment guide connects those choices to the coherence descriptors.
Read the complete original essay and paragraph notes →
Repair the order before adding connectors
Every sentence below is relevant to our original university question, but the first arrangement makes the reader work backwards to discover what the example and consequence refer to. Compare the same four sentences in a different order.
Before: context arrives too late
This flexibility can remain useful when the methods used in a workplace change. For example, an engineering student could use general principles to compare two bridge designs rather than memorise instructions for a single project. Universities should preserve time for academic theory because it can help students apply what they know to unfamiliar problems. Understanding why a method works allows a graduate to adapt it instead of simply repeating familiar steps.
After: each sentence has a clear job
Universities should preserve time for academic theory because it can help students apply what they know to unfamiliar problems. Understanding why a method works allows a graduate to adapt it instead of simply repeating familiar steps. For example, an engineering student could use general principles to compare two bridge designs rather than memorise instructions for a single project. This flexibility can remain useful when the methods used in a workplace change.
The first version opens with This flexibility before identifying the flexible skill. Its example also arrives before the claim it illustrates. The revision begins with the position, explains adaptation, makes that process concrete and ends with a related longer-term benefit. No new evidence or linking words were added; the order now supplies context before asking the reader to use it.
This sequence fits the chosen argument; it is not a compulsory paragraph template or a band-scored extract. Another paragraph could begin with a concrete example and then interpret it. What matters is that the reader can follow its purpose and identify what each reference means.
Try another paragraph order
Reorder these three sentences without adding connectors: (1) This experience can make the first workplace task less unfamiliar. (2) For example, a supervised placement could let a student explain a technical problem to a client. (3) Practical university training can give students a supported introduction to workplace communication.
Compare one coherent order
One coherent order is 3, 2, 1: the claim about communication comes first, the placement illustrates it, and This experience then has an identifiable reference. The example supports practical training; it would not by itself establish that universities should abandon academic study.
Apply the check to your own draft: give each sentence a short job label, circle phrases such as this benefit and draw a line to the idea they refer to. If a consequence arrives before its cause or an example lacks a clear claim, try moving the sentences before adding more connectors.
Use this checklist
- State one main claim for the paragraph.
- Explain why or how it works.
- Connect the example back to that explanation.
Practise the lesson
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Try it in your own writing
Develop this claim in three sentences: Community gardens can help neighbours get to know one another. Include a mechanism and a specific illustrative situation, without inventing statistics.
0/4,000 characters. This writing is not automatically marked.
- Does each sentence develop the same benefit?
- Does the example show a mechanism instead of restating the claim?
- Have you avoided presenting invented research as evidence?
Transfer the skill to a full response
Open a related original question and use the checklist. Your exercise text is not transferred or saved automatically; download your review before leaving.
Practise a related questionStudy the complete example: Universities and practical skills
Compare the technique from this lesson with a full response, then use the format guide to plan your own answer.