IELTS To what extent essays - summary

In these essays, you are given a statement and asked if YOU agree or disagree. This is different to Discuss Both Sides essays because now you are free to give only YOUR OPINION. You are free to have any opinion that you like, but I strongly urge you to have a STRONG ONE – that means that you either 100% agree or 100% disagree.

However, even though we are going to either 100% agree or 100% disagree, that doesn’t mean we are going to completely ignore the opposite view. Why? Well, if we do this, our essay will be “over-general” and this will stop us getting more than a 7.0 for TR. Therefore, in one or two of our body paragraphs, we will ADD BALANCE by using one of two techniques:

1. The Straw-Man Technique: you offer an argument for the other side that you know is weak, and then immediately refute it. For example:
Many supporters of multinational companies claim that they provide thousands of jobs worldwide. However, I would argue that when global corporations move their operations to another country, they generally only offer low-paid work. …