opinion essay group work

How to write a Reflection on Group Work Essay

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

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Here are the exact steps you need to follow for a reflection on group work essay.

• Explain what Reflection Is
• Explore the benefits of group work
• Explore the challenges group
• Give examples of the benefits and challenges your group faced
• Discuss how your group handled your challenges
• Discuss what you will do differently next time

Do you have to reflect on how your group work project went?

This is a super common essay that teachers assign. So, let’s have a look at how you can go about writing a superb reflection on your group work project that should get great grades.

The essay structure I outline below takes the funnel approach to essay writing: it starts broad and general, then zooms in on your specific group’s situation.

Disclaimer: Make sure you check with your teacher to see if this is a good style to use for your essay. Take a draft to your teacher to get their feedback on whether it’s what they’re looking for!

This is a 6-step essay (the 7 th step is editing!). Here’s a general rule for how much depth to go into depending on your word count:

• 1500 word essay – one paragraph for each step, plus a paragraph each for the introduction and conclusion ;
• 3000 word essay – two paragraphs for each step, plus a paragraph each for the introduction and conclusion;
• 300 – 500 word essay – one or two sentences for each step.

Adjust this essay plan depending on your teacher’s requirements and remember to always ask your teacher, a classmate or a professional tutor to review the piece before submitting.

Here’s the steps I’ll outline for you in this advice article:

Step 1. Explain what ‘Reflection’ Is

You might have heard that you need to define your terms in essays. Well, the most important term in this essay is ‘reflection’.

So, let’s have a look at what reflection is…

Reflection is the process of:

• Pausing and looking back at what has just happened; then
• Thinking about how you can get better next time.

Reflection is encouraged in most professions because it’s believed that reflection helps you to become better at your job – we could say ‘reflection makes you a better practitioner’.

Think about it: let’s say you did a speech in front of a crowd. Then, you looked at video footage of that speech and realised you said ‘um’ and ‘ah’ too many times. Next time, you’re going to focus on not saying ‘um’ so that you’ll do a better job next time, right?

Well, that’s reflection: thinking about what happened and how you can do better next time.

It’s really important that you do both of the above two points in your essay. You can’t just say what happened. You need to say how you will do better next time in order to get a top grade on this group work reflection essay.

Scholarly Sources to Cite for Step 1

Okay, so you have a good general idea of what reflection is. Now, what scholarly sources should you use when explaining reflection? Below, I’m going to give you two basic sources that would usually be enough for an undergraduate essay. I’ll also suggest two more sources for further reading if you really want to shine!

I recommend these two sources to cite when explaining what reflective practice is and how it occurs. They are two of the central sources on reflective practice:

• Describe what happened during the group work process
• Explain how you felt during the group work process
• Look at the good and bad aspects of the group work process
• What were some of the things that got in the way of success? What were some things that helped you succeed?
• What could you have done differently to improve the situation?
• Action plan. What are you going to do next time to make the group work process better?
• What? Explain what happened
• So What? Explain what you learned
• Now What? What can I do next time to make the group work process better?

Possible Sources:

Bassot, B. (2015).  The reflective practice guide: An interdisciplinary approach to critical reflection . Routledge.

Brock, A. (2014). What is reflection and reflective practice?. In  The Early Years Reflective Practice Handbook  (pp. 25-39). Routledge.

Gibbs, G. (1988)  Learning by Doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods . Further Education Unit, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford.

Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., Jasper, M. (2001). Critical reflection in nursing and the helping professions: a user’s guide. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Extension Sources for Top Students

Now, if you want to go deeper and really show off your knowledge, have a look at these two scholars:

• John Dewey – the first major scholar to come up with the idea of reflective practice
• Donald Schön – technical rationality, reflection in action vs. reflection on action

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Step 2. Explore the general benefits of group work for learning

Once you have given an explanation of what group work is (and hopefully cited Gibbs, Rolfe, Dewey or Schon), I recommend digging into the benefits of group work for your own learning.

The teacher gave you a group work task for a reason: what is that reason?

You’ll need to explain the reasons group work is beneficial for you. This will show your teacher that you understand what group work is supposed to achieve. Here’s some ideas:

• Multiple Perspectives. Group work helps you to see things from other people’s perspectives. If you did the task on your own, you might not have thought of some of the ideas that your team members contributed to the project.
• Contribution of Unique Skills. Each team member might have a different set of skills they can bring to the table. You can explain how groups can make the most of different team members’ strengths to make the final contribution as good as it can be. For example, one team member might be good at IT and might be able to put together a strong final presentation, while another member might be a pro at researching using google scholar so they got the task of doing the initial scholarly research.
• Improved Communication Skills. Group work projects help you to work on your communication skills. Communication skills required in group work projects include speaking in turn, speaking up when you have ideas, actively listening to other team members’ contributions, and crucially making compromises for the good of the team.
• Learn to Manage Workplace Conflict. Lastly, your teachers often assign you group work tasks so you can learn to manage conflict and disagreement. You’ll come across this a whole lot in the workplace, so your teachers want you to have some experience being professional while handling disagreements.

You might be able to add more ideas to this list, or you might just want to select one or two from that list to write about depending on the length requirements for the essay.

Scholarly Sources for Step 3

Make sure you provide citations for these points above. You might want to use google scholar or google books and type in ‘Benefits of group work’ to find some quality scholarly sources to cite.

Step 3. Explore the general challenges group work can cause

Step 3 is the mirror image of Step 2. For this step, explore the challenges posed by group work.

Students are usually pretty good at this step because you can usually think of some aspects of group work that made you anxious or frustrated. Here are a few common challenges that group work causes:

• Time Consuming. You need to organize meetups and often can’t move onto the next component of the project until everyone has agree to move on. When working on your own you can just crack on and get it done. So, team work often takes a lot of time and requires significant pre-planning so you don’t miss your submission deadlines!
• Learning Style Conflicts. Different people learn in different ways. Some of us like to get everything done at the last minute or are not very meticulous in our writing. Others of us are very organized and detailed and get anxious when things don’t go exactly how we expect. This leads to conflict and frustration in a group work setting.
• Free Loaders. Usually in a group work project there’s people who do more work than others. The issue of free loaders is always going to be a challenge in group work, and you can discuss in this section how ensuring individual accountability to the group is a common group work issue.
• Communication Breakdown. This is one especially for online students. It’s often the case that you email team members your ideas or to ask them to reply by a deadline and you don’t hear back from them. Regular communication is an important part of group work, yet sometimes your team members will let you down on this part.

As with Step 3, consider adding more points to this list if you need to, or selecting one or two if your essay is only a short one.

8 Pros And Cons Of Group Work At University

You’ll probably find you can cite the same scholarly sources for both steps 2 and 3 because if a source discusses the benefits of group work it’ll probably also discuss the challenges.

Step 4. Explore the specific benefits and challenges your group faced

Step 4 is where you zoom in on your group’s specific challenges. Have a think: what were the issues you really struggled with as a group?

• Was one team member absent for a few of the group meetings?
• Did the group have to change some deadlines due to lack of time?
• Were there any specific disagreements you had to work through?
• Did a group member drop out of the group part way through?
• Were there any communication break downs?

Feel free to also mention some things your group did really well. Have a think about these examples:

• Was one member of the group really good at organizing you all?
• Did you make some good professional relationships?
• Did a group member help you to see something from an entirely new perspective?
• Did working in a group help you to feel like you weren’t lost and alone in the process of completing the group work component of your course?

Here, because you’re talking about your own perspectives, it’s usually okay to use first person language (but check with your teacher). You are also talking about your own point of view so citations might not be quite as necessary, but it’s still a good idea to add in one or two citations – perhaps to the sources you cited in Steps 2 and 3?

Step 5. Discuss how your group managed your challenges

Step 5 is where you can explore how you worked to overcome some of the challenges you mentioned in Step 4.

So, have a think:

• Did your group make any changes part way through the project to address some challenges you faced?
• Did you set roles or delegate tasks to help ensure the group work process went smoothly?
• Did you contact your teacher at any point for advice on how to progress in the group work scenario?
• Did you use technology such as Google Docs or Facebook Messenger to help you to collaborate more effectively as a team?

In this step, you should be showing how your team was proactive in reflecting on your group work progress and making changes throughout the process to ensure it ran as smoothly as possible. This act of making little changes throughout the group work process is what’s called ‘Reflection in Action’ (Schön, 2017).

Scholarly Source for Step 5

Schön, D. A. (2017).  The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action . Routledge.

Step 6. Conclude by exploring what you will do differently next time

Step 6 is the most important step, and the one far too many students skip. For Step 6, you need to show how you not only reflected on what happened but also are able to use that reflection for personal growth into the future.

This is the heart and soul of your piece: here, you’re tying everything together and showing why reflection is so important!

This is the ‘action plan’ step in Gibbs’ cycle (you might want to cite Gibbs in this section!).

For Step 6, make some suggestions about how (based on your reflection) you now have some takeaway tips that you’ll bring forward to improve your group work skills next time. Here’s some ideas:

• Will you work harder next time to set deadlines in advance?
• Will you ensure you set clearer group roles next time to ensure the process runs more smoothly?
• Will you use a different type of technology (such as Google Docs) to ensure group communication goes more smoothly?
• Will you make sure you ask for help from your teacher earlier on in the process when you face challenges?
• Will you try harder to see things from everyone’s perspectives so there’s less conflict?

This step will be personalized based upon your own group work challenges and how you felt about the group work process. Even if you think your group worked really well together, I recommend you still come up with one or two ideas for continual improvement. Your teacher will want to see that you used reflection to strive for continual self-improvement.

Scholarly Source for Step 6

Step 7. edit.

Okay, you’ve got the nuts and bolts of the assessment put together now! Next, all you’ve got to do is write up the introduction and conclusion then edit the piece to make sure you keep growing your grades.

Here’s a few important suggestions for this last point:

• You should always write your introduction and conclusion last. They will be easier to write now that you’ve completed the main ‘body’ of the essay;
• Use my 5-step I.N.T.R.O method to write your introduction;
• Use my 5 C’s Conclusion method to write your conclusion;
• Use my 5 tips for editing an essay to edit it;
• Use the ProWritingAid app to get advice on how to improve your grammar and spelling. Make sure to also use the report on sentence length. It finds sentences that are too long and gives you advice on how to shorten them – such a good strategy for improving evaluative essay  quality!
• Make sure you contact your teacher and ask for a one-to-one tutorial to go through the piece before submitting. This article only gives general advice, and you might need to make changes based upon the specific essay requirements that your teacher has provided.

That’s it! 7 steps to writing a quality group work reflection essay. I hope you found it useful. If you liked this post and want more clear and specific advice on writing great essays, I recommend signing up to my personal tutor mailing list.

Let’s sum up with those 7 steps one last time:

• Explain what ‘Reflection’ Is
• Explore the benefits of group work for learning
• Explore the challenges of group work for learning
• Explore the specific benefits and challenges your group faced
• Discuss how your group managed your challenges
• Conclude by exploring what you will do differently next time

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 15 Green Flags in a Relationship
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 15 Signs you're Burnt Out, Not Lazy
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 15 Toxic Things Parents Say to their Children
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 15 Red Flags Early in a Relationship

2 thoughts on “How to write a Reflection on Group Work Essay”

Great instructions on writing a reflection essay. I would not change anything.

Thanks so much for your feedback! I really appreciate it. – Chris.

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Ultimate Guide to Writing an Opinion Essay

Rachel r.n..

• June 14, 2023
• How to Guides

An opinion essay is often given to students at all levels of schooling. In this type of essay, the writer has to say what they think about a certain topic or issue and back up their point with evidence and examples. Students should learn how to write opinion essays because they teach them how to think critically and how to explain and defend a point of view. Opinion essays are an important part of academic writing, but they are also a great way to learn persuasive communication skills that you can use in your personal and professional life. This article will tell you everything you need to know about how to write an opinion essay. It will also give you 50 examples and ideas to help you get started. We will talk about the basic structure of an opinion essay and how to make a strong argument and back it up with facts and examples.

This guide will give you the tools you need to learn how to write a good opinion essay, whether you are a student looking to improve your academic writing or a professional looking to improve your persuasive communication skills .

What You'll Learn

Understanding Opinion Essays

Opinion essays are a type of academic writing in which the writer has to say what they think about a certain topic or issue. In an opinion essay, the writer should back up their point of view with evidence and examples and try to get the reader to agree with them. The point of opinion essays is to teach students how to think critically and talk in a way that makes others want to agree with them. If students want to do well in school, on the job, and in their personal lives, they need to have these skills. Opinion essays are different from descriptive or narrative essays because the writer has to take a clear stance on a certain topic and back up their claim with evidence and examples. It’s also important to have a clear thesis statement that explains the writer’s point of view.

Elements of an Opinion Essay

An opinion essay typically includes the following elements:

1. Introduction paragraph : The introduction should grab the reader’s attention and provide background information on the topic. It should also include a clear thesis statement that outlines the writer’s position.

2. Body paragraphs: The body of the essay should provide supporting evidence and examples to support the writer’s argument. Each paragraph should focus on a single point and should begin with a topic sentence that relates back to the thesis statement .

3. Supporting evidence and examples: It is important to use evidence and examples to support the writer’s argument. This can include statistics, facts, quotes, and personal experiences.

4. Counter arguments: It’s also important to address counter arguments or opposing viewpoints in an opinion essay. This shows the reader that the writer has considered alternative perspectives and has still arrived at their own position. Addressing counter arguments can also strengthen the writer’s position by showing that they have thought critically about the issue .

5. Conclusion paragraph: The conclusion should summarize the main points of the essay and restate the thesis statement . It should also leave the reader with a final thought or call to action.

Opinion essays are an important genre of academic writing that require critical thinking and persuasive communication skills. To write an effective opinion essay, it is important to have a clear thesis statement , use supporting evidence and examples, address counter arguments, and provide a strong conclusion. By mastering the elements of an opinion essay, students can develop their writing skills and become more effective communicators.

Opinion Essay Structure and Outline

Let’s look at an example of an opinion essay to comprehensively understand the structure of an opinion essay

The Impacts of Globalization on Local Economies

Globalization has become a heated topic of debate, with many differing perspectives on its effects. In this persuasive essay, I will form an opinion and provide a point of view on how globalization impacts local economies. As college students interested in reading different viewpoints, you’ll learn about writing an effective opinion piece.

To begin an opinion essay, the most important thing is to establish a clear thesis stating the main argument or belief. My thesis is: While globalization creates economic opportunities through trade and investment, it also poses challenges for local businesses trying to compete with larger multinational corporations. Both the positive potentials and negative pressures of globalization must be carefully considered.

The body of your opinion essay should logically organize evidence to support your stated perspective. One key benefit of globalization is giving local producers access to international markets, strengthening export revenues. Trade agreements facilitate selling goods and services across borders. Additionally, foreign direct investment from multinational companies can create new jobs and transfer technology/skills.

However, globalization also exposes local businesses to heightened competition which can be challenging for smaller firms. They may struggle to match the economies of scale, resources, and distribution networks of huge conglomerates. Domestic companies must innovate to avoid losing market share. There are also concerns about job losses if companies move production overseas.

While globalization allows corporations to efficiently manage worldwide supply chains and operations, this same flexibility enables circumventing local labor laws and taxes. Developing nations may engage in regulatory undercutting to attract investment, harming worker rights and the environment. Governments must strike a careful balance.

In crafting this opinion essay, I defined key concepts related to globalization’s impacts through examples local and international companies. Drawing on evidence from both sides strengthened my argument that globalization has significant trade-offs for local economies. For writers and students, seeing exactly how an opinion essay is structured with a clear thesis, body paragraphs explaining the perspective, and consideration of counterpoints can serve as a useful exercise.

Ultimately, opinion essays require logically organizing one’s thoughts and reasoning on a particular topic. Drafting an outline first, and then revising and proofreading, will improve the flow and persuasiveness. While all viewpoints are important to acknowledge, a good opinion piece persuades readers toward the author’s stance through a crystal clear thesis and well-supported arguments.

This basic opinion essay provides a simple guide on how to write persuasively about globalization’s effects. By establishing a position, giving evidence pro and con, defining key terms, and directly addressing the prompt of analyzing local economic impacts, the goal is to help the reader understand both sides while making a case for the writer’s perspective. For college students starting to pen opinion pieces, examples like this can strengthen essential academic writing skills.

Writing Process of an Opinion Essay

Writing an opinion essay requires careful planning and organization. Here are the steps to follow when writing an opinion essay:

1. Pre-writing strategies: Before you start writing, it’s important to brainstorm ideas and gather information on your topic . This can include researching your topic , making a list of arguments and counterarguments, and creating a mind map or outline.

2. Outlining an opinion essay : Once you have gathered your ideas, create an outline to organize your thoughts and develop a clear structure for your essay . Your outline should include an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

3. Writing the introduction: The introduction should grab the reader’s attention and provide some background information on the topic. It should end with a thesis statement that clearly states your position on the issue.

4. Developing body paragraphs: The body of the essay should provide supporting evidence and examples to support your argument. Each paragraph should focus on a single point and should begin with a topic sentence that relates back to the thesis statement.

5. Using evidence and examples to support your argument: Use evidence and examples to support your argument. This can include statistics, facts, quotes, and personal experiences.

6. Addressing counter arguments: It’s important to address counterarguments or opposing viewpoints in an opinion essay. This shows the reader that you have considered alternative perspectives and have still arrived at your own position. Addressing counter arguments can also strengthen your position by showing that you have thought critically about the issue.

7. Writing the conclusion: The conclusion should summarize the main points of your essay and restate your thesis statement . It should also leave the reader with a final thought or call to action.

Tips and Techniques for Writing a Strong Opinion Essay

To write a strong opinion essay, follow these tips and techniques:

1. Writing with clarity and precision: Use clear and concise language to express your ideas. Avoid using too many complex words or phrases that may confuse the reader.

2. Crafting an effective thesis statement: Your thesis statement should be clear and concise, and it should clearly state your position on the issue.

3. Using transitional words and phrases: Use transitional words and phrases to connect your ideas and make your essay flow smoothly. Examples include “however,” “on the other hand,” and “in addition.”

4. Avoiding logical fallacies: Logical fallacies are errors in reasoning that can weaken your argument. Examples include ad hominem attacks, straw man arguments, and false causality.

5. Editing and proofreading: After you have written your essay, take the time to edit and proofread it carefully. Look for spelling and grammar errors, and make sure that your ideas are presented clearly and logically.

Writing an opinion essay requires careful planning, organization, and attention to detail. By following the steps outlined above and using the tips and techniques provided, you can craft a strong and persuasive opinion essay that effectively communicates your position on the issue at hand.

10 Opinion Essay Examples

To help you understand what makes a strong opinion essay, here are 10 examples of well-written opinion essays, along with a detailed analysis of what makes each essay effective:

1. “The Benefits of a Vegetarian Diet” by Jane Smith

2. The Importance of Early Childhood Education” by John Doe

3. The Negative Effects of Social Media on Teenagers” by Sarah Johnson

4. The Pros and Cons of Online Learning” by Tom Brown

5. “The Need for Stricter Gun Control Laws” by Emily Davis

6. “The Ethics of Animal Testing” by Rachel Lee

7. The Benefits of Exercise for Mental Health” by David Nguyen

8. “The Importance of Diversity in the Workplace” by Maria Hernandez

9. The Harmful Effects of Plastic Pollution on the Environment” by Alex Lee

10. The Need for Universal Healthcare in the United States” by Samantha Jones

Each of these essays effectively communicates the writer’s position on a particular issue and provides strong supporting evidence and examples. By analyzing these essays , you can learn important lessons about how to effectively structure and develop an opinion essay.

50 Opinion Essay Topics That Will Impress Your Professors

To help you choose a topic for your opinion essay, here are 50 unique and engaging opinion essay topics that are relevant and important:

1. The impact of social media on interpersonal communication

2. The benefits and drawbacks of homeschooling

3. The role of technology in modern education

4. The need for stricter penalties for hate crimes

5. The impact of climate change on the global economy

6. The ethics of genetically modified foods

7. The impact of automation on jobs and the workforce

8. The effects of video games on children’s behavior

9. The need for better mental health support in schools

10. The benefits and drawbacks of remote work

11. The impact of social media on mental health

12. The need for stronger anti-bullying policies in schools

13. The effects of the gig economy on workers’ rights

14. The benefits and drawbacks of artificial intelligence

15. The impact of fast fashion on the environment

16. The ethics of animal agriculture

17. The need for more affordable housing in urban areas

18. The impact of immigration on local communities

19. The effects of screen time on children’s development

20. The need for stronger gun control laws

21. The impact of social media on political discourse

22. The benefits and drawbacks of renewable energy sources

23. The need for stronger anti-discrimination laws

24. The effects of legalization of marijuana on society

25. The impact of automation on the environment

26. The ethics of human cloning

27. The need for more accessible healthcare in rural areas

28. The effects of income inequality on society

29. The benefits and drawbacks of online dating

30. The impact of virtual reality on society

31. The need for stronger data privacy laws

32. The ethics of artificial intelligence in decision-making

33. The effects of social media on democracy

34. The impact of globalization on local economies

35. The benefits and drawbacks of autonomous vehicles

36. The need for stronger measures to combat cyberbullying

37. The effects of air pollution on public health

38. The ethics of euthanasia and assisted suicide

39. The impact of the sharing economy on traditional industries

40. The need for better access to mental health care for veterans

41. The benefits and drawbacks of cryptocurrency

42. The impact of space exploration on society

43. The ethics of gene editing

44. The need for stronger measures to combat human trafficking

45. The effects of social media on body image and self-esteem

46. The impact of automation on the future of work

47. The benefits and drawbacks of a cashless society

48. The need for stronger measures to combat domestic violence

49. The effects of social media on relationships

50. The impact of artificial intelligence on education

Choose a topic for your opinion essay that is important to you and about which you have strong feelings. Use the ideas and tips in this article to come up with a strong argument and back it up with proof and examples . With these tools, you can write a great opinion essay that will impress your professors and get your point across clearly.

1. What is the difference between an opinion essay and a persuasive essay?

An opinion essay and a persuasive essay are similar in that they both require the writer to express their viewpoint on a particular topic or issue. However, a persuasive essay is more focused on convincing the reader to take a particular action or adopt a particular viewpoint, while an opinion essay is more focused on expressing the writer’s personal perspective on the issue.

2. Can I include personal anecdotes in my opinion essay?

Yes, personal anecdotes can be a powerful tool for supporting your argument and making your essay more engaging. However, it’s important to ensure that your anecdotes are relevant to the topic and that they support your overall argument .

3. How do I address counterarguments in my essay?

To address counterarguments in your essay, consider presenting them in a separate paragraph or section of your essay . Then, explain why you disagree with the counterargument and provide evidence and examples to support your position.

4. How do I choose a topic for my opinion essay?

Choose a topic that you are passionate about and that you have a strong opinion on. Consider current events , social issues, or topics related to your field of study.

5. What is the recommended length for an opinion essay?

The length of an opinion essay can vary depending on the assignment requirements. However, a typical opinion essay is usually around 500-800 words.

6. What are some common mistakes to avoid when writing an opinion essay?

When writing an opinion essay, some common mistakes to avoid are not having a clear thesis statement, using weak or irrelevant evidence to back up your argument, not addressing counterarguments, and not proofreading your essay for mistakes. It’s important to take the time to carefully plan and edit your essay to make sure it clearly shows your point of view and gives strong evidence and examples to back up your argument.

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Step-by-Step Guide on How to Write an Opinion Essay + Examples

A personal opinion essay is an essential part of an educational process. Wherever you study, you will surely come across this kind of work. And if you’re stuck with finding ideas, you have come to the right place. In this article, you will learn all the intricacies of writing and get some good opinion essay topics.

Let’s start!

🤔 What Is an Opinion Essay?

🖊️ how to write an opinion essay.

• 🔗 Linkers and Transition Words

💡 Opinion Essay Ideas

👨‍🎓 opinion essay examples.

An opinion essay is a type of work that involves the expression of one’s own opinion, which has become the product of processing facts and arguments. However, this does not mean there should be no argumentation in the essay. It will be a big plus if you have a couple of examples from your own life or the lives of historical figures, illustrating some facts in your stock. Writing an opinion essay requires the author to clearly state his thoughts on any occasion, without excessive water and long reasoning.

Among other things, it should be remembered that, technically, an opinion essay is a formal type of work that many graduates write at the end of their studies. And this means it has its structure and specific writing rules that must be adhered to. To fully understand the meaning of this type of work, try reading a couple of our free essay samples .

🎯 The Purpose of an Opinion Essay

An opinion essay is an excellent tool for teaching students how to express their position correctly. And also to test the depth of their knowledge and thinking. An opinion essay can help you to boost your skills:

• Ability to convey your thoughts . Regardless of the topic of the essay, the teacher wants to see that his wards, leaving the educational institution, will be independent individuals. Therefore, the student needs to show the ability to convey their thoughts on any occasion.
• Competent writing skills . Even in the modern world, writing skills do not lose their relevance. This type of work allows you to form it as efficiently as possible. So if you want to impress your boss, remember to pay attention to grammar and punctuation.
• Topic knowledge . Unfortunately, there is no error-free way to test a student’s ability. However, opinion essays allow the teacher to examine everyone and ensure that the topic has been mastered. This is especially true for subjects such as history and literature.

And, of course, you should understand that the purpose of any text is to be read. So just be creative, and you will have a fantastic essay!

🗝️ Key Features of an Opinion Essay

Like any other type of writing, an opinion essay has characteristics that make it unique. And, of course, to compose a competent text, you need to know about them.

• Focus on the author’s clear and well-reasoned subjective opinion . All proofs, as well as the conclusion, are based on it.
• Logical-based structure . Moreover, it entirely depends on the intentions of the writer.
• Examples and arguments come primarily from personal experience . However, an author may use history and social life quotes and examples of literary heroes to prove their position.
• Speech instruments used . As an author, you will benefit significantly from using a variety of speech constructs . They can help you influence other people. Connecting constructs and clear speech will keep the reader interested and get the most out of the reader.

You just need to get used to all the features to get a little practice. You will succeed!

⚖️ Argumentative, Opinion or Persuasive Essay: the Difference

Before proceeding directly to writing the text, it is worth learning one more important thing. Even towards the end of high school, many people confuse opinion and persuasive essays. These papers look similar.

To help you distinguish the argumentative, opinion, and persuasive essays, we prepare a table of comparisons where you can easily indicate the difference between these papers:

Now let’s move on to which sections the essay consists of and how it should be written. You can safely use this information as a synopsis when completing the assignment.

So, the first one!

📃 Opinion Essay Format

As mentioned earlier, a specific opinion essay structure must be followed. Therefore, before you prepare writing, make up a small outline, which will contain all the components of the text and your ideas for their content. So, how to start an opinion essay?

Opinion Essay Introduction

Of course, any text starts with a short opening. This section should summarize the essence of the problem you are writing about. The main task of the introduction is to entice the audience and familiarize them with the paper’s main topic. Therefore, by the first paragraph, a person will build an impression of your talents.

Moreover, remember that the introduction should be catchy. How to write a hook for an opinion essay? In simple words, this is a proposal that should interest the reader and draw his attention. It should be subject-related and relatively accurate. All you have to do is show the reader that the topic of the essay will be critical and even touch it.

Let’s take a look at some opinion essay introduction examples from our authors, in which you can see all the listed components:

• As Ronald Reagan said in one of his speeches, everyone who advocates abortion has been born. The topic of abortion is very controversial, and people still cannot come to a standard solution. That is why, in this abortion opinion essay, I will try to sort out my thoughts and answer whether abortion is a panacea or a hidden evil.
• Global warming is a global problem. As Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez aptly put it, we cannot sit back while our planet is on fire. But can one person influence the fate of all humanity? I think so, and in this essay, I will try to explain my position

Of course, these examples are conditional, and you can change them as you need to achieve a quality result.

Opinion Essay: Thesis Statement

The thesis statement is the final sentence of an introduction . It is an integral part of the entire text. And if your essay will be evaluated, then the absence of the thesis will significantly underestimate the point. So how do you write the last sentence competently so that the reader will like it?

At its core, in the thesis, you should summarize everything that you indicated in the introduction and, in a nutshell, make it clear what will be discussed. You are expected to state your position on the issue clearly. And then, the entire text should be directed precisely to reinforce your words.

For example, take this essay topic: “ Is globalization a positive phenomenon? ” In this case, a good thesis would be “ In my opinion, globalization has many more advantages than disadvantages. ”

See how one small phrase can dramatically improve your overall performance score. Therefore, pay due attention to it!

Opinion Essay: Body Paragraphs

Finally, you come to the main body of your essay, namely the argumentation. The body paragraphs of an opinion essay are aimed at correctly explaining the author’s position to the audience. Here you are expected to have good arguments and examples that will become your assistants in proving your case.

Body paragraphs have two parts: an argument and an example supporting what you said. For example, you might say that the lack of responsibility for actions leads to the corruption of the mind and soul. And as an explanation to these words, briefly support your statement with the story of the protagonist of the novel by Jack London, “The Picture of Dorian Gray.”

Moreover, no one limits the number of these same arguments, and often it depends on the maximum volume of the text itself. The standard case is two good arguments, supported by examples from life or literature. Then you can be sure that the reader will correctly understand your idea.

🔗 Linkers and Transitional Words for Opinion Essay

Connecting structures are an invisible companion for the reader throughout the entire essay. They are also called linkers or transitional words . At their core, these two concepts mean the exact phrases. Their task is to make the text more readable and smoothly translate the reader from one idea to another. Moreover, all these constructions are divided into subgroups depending on their purpose. Let’s take a look at a couple of examples of good transition words for an opinion essay:

• In my opinion…
• It is clear that…, etc.
• It is widely known that…
• It is a well-known fact that…
• Research has shown that…
• There are definitely…
• It is a fact that…, etc.

There are also brilliant linkers for opinion essays on these themes:

• In spite of…
• However, etc.
• To conclude…
• In conclusion…, etc.

Using these constructions, you will significantly increase the consistency of your text and help the reader to perceive it better.

Now that you have a basic understanding of writing an essay, let’s look at some good opinion essay topics. Feel free to use them for your creative work and get good points.

💡 30 Opinion Essay Prompts

So, our team has selected 30 excellent opinion essay topics for you. Look for what resonates in your soul and get to work!

• Opinion essay: success in life depends on being successful at school. Many of us were assured that it is impossible to reach heights without a good performance at school. What do you think about it?
• Mobile phone addiction is the scourge of the 21st century. Give arguments from your life and tell about personal experiences.
• Opinion essay about GMO : pros and cons. For many, this topic remains a secret. It’s time to dispel all inaccuracies and find out the whole truth.
• Should university study be free? What is your position?
• Opinion essay about technologies in our life . What impact do they have?
• Compulsory vaccination : pros and cons. If you have any personal experience with this topic, feel free to share it.
• Opinion on abortion essay: do people have the right to choose?
• US neutrality in World War II : what would have gone differently?
• Opinion essay about video games. Is it an addiction or just leisure ? What do you think?
• Does the motivation from famous people have an effect, or is it a dummy? Do you have an opinion on this matter?
• Essay opinion on junk food : how dangerous it is. Everyone was warned that junk food and junk food kill the body, but maybe it’s all about the quantity?
• Parenting is the foundation of a child’s success. Do you think that the parents are responsible for the future education and work of their child?
• Opinion essay: buy nothing day or Black Friday sales. What do you choose and why?
• The advantages of living in a metropolis and a small town . Which would you choose?
• Essay: opinion about global warming . Do you think this is a real threat, or is it just a panic among people?
• Homemade food or dining out in restaurants? What do you and your family prefer?
• Social media impact opinion essay. Billions of people spend their time on social media. What consequences can this have for humanity?
• Consequences of increasing the budget for road construction. How will this affect our cities?
• Opinion essay: television promotes violence through broadcasting abusive behavior. Do you agree with this thesis?
• Humanity is destroying the ecosystem and making the earth uninhabitable. What arguments can be for and against?
• Opinion essay about homework : is this system outdated? How do you feel about this from a student’s point of view?
• Artists and internet bloggers make vast amounts of money. Do you support this?
• Opinion essay about racism in modern life. What are the dangers of this behavior? Tell us about your personal experience or give an example from the community’s life.
• Some people dream of changing their place of residence. Do you think that moving to another country will help you in self-realization?
• The best profession to choose opinion essay. What are your thoughts? Where would you like to be after finishing your studies?
• People prefer online communication over live communication. How do you feel about this trend?
• Opinion essay about same-sex marriages. For some people, this is unacceptable. What do you think about it?
• How can movies and television affect human behavior ? Do you think certain viewing films should be limited for people with a weak mentality?
• Opinion essay about immigration . Should the state provide maximum assistance to everyone who wants to get into it?
• Should people be allowed to carry weapons with them? What restrictions can be used, in your opinion?

These themes are ideal for getting good results.

Now let’s look at some small sample essays from our authors. You can see all the listed components and highlight some interesting ideas for yourself!

Climate change opinion essay, truth or fiction? (250 words)

Climate change has been heading the news for decades. Almost everyone is puzzled by this problem in the modern world, but is there any reason to believe that this is just exaggerated media panic? I think not, and in this essay, I will try to explain my position. The first thing worth paying attention to is the changes that we can see every day. But nature is changing, and this is noticeable with the naked eye. For example, you can look at how the temperature regime has changed over the past decades. In my region, real winter began in the last days of November. Then the temperature dropped to zero, and there was already snow outside the window. However, I would be thrilled to see snowfall this year, at least at Christmas. This raises questions about the veracity of statements from the media and various organizations. You should also look at the publicly available facts. International organizations conduct ongoing research, which clearly shows that the climate is changing, and it is difficult to fix it. One of the most respected teams, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), regularly issues climate change reports. And in them, you can see what reasons for this and what it can lead to. This is excellent and detailed work that deserves everyone’s attention. In summary, we can say that climate change can be seen with the naked eye. This problem affects all people on the planet, and to ignore it is to expose yourself to great danger. Humanity is destroying our world, and can we deny it?

Opinion on death penalty essay, is it moral? (300 words)

Many international treaties have long banned the death penalty, but this does not prevent several countries from regularly using it against criminals. I think this is a terrible practice that has no place in our civilized world. The argument for this may be the simple idea that every creature has a right to life. And this right cannot be taken away under any condition because you can take a dangerous path by creating an incident. One Russian scientist Andrei Sakharov spoke very accurately about this: “The existence of the institution of the death penalty dehumanizes society. I spoke out and am opposed to the death penalty also because this punishment provides for the presence of a constantly terrible apparatus of executors, the whole institution of the death penalty ”. I fully support his words because there is no reason not to kill the second after killing once. It should also be understood that people sentenced to death are not always, in fact, guilty. There is a miscarriage of justice, and no one can be insured against it. The most resonant was the story from 1949. Timothy Evans was hanged on charges of murdering his pregnant wife and two-year-old daughter. Four years later, it wasn’t until serial killer John Christie, who had testified in court against Evans, confessed to the murder. He was hanged, and Timothy Evans was posthumously rehabilitated. The Timothy Evans case is one of the most remarkable stories in the death penalty dispute. To summarize, I can say that there are many reasons for the absolute ban on the death penalty in the world. This is not only inhuman but can lead to unnecessary deaths. Fighting crime in this way, the people who defend the law themselves break it.

Opinion essay on smoking: should the state intervene? (300 words)

Smoking is a global problem. Experts predict that in the coming decades, the number of smokers will reach one billion people worldwide. In my opinion, governments should take strict measures to limit nicotine use among the population. Firstly, smoking poses enormous hardships for addicts. All this can increase the number of cancer patients and people suffering from heart and lung diseases. At the same time, it can be tough to give up cigarettes on your own. We all understand that nicotine in quantities that a person receives from cigarettes is not characteristic of the body. Therefore, our body can react in an extraordinary way to its appearance. An example may well be my family, suffering from heart problems for several generations. All men, from my great-grandfather to my father, visit doctors all the time. And they all have one reason – excessive smoking. At the same time, they cannot quit smoking on their own due to a banal addiction. Secondly, smokers can damage the health of other people nearby. It is a well-known fact that secondhand smoke is no less harmful than the regular use of nicotine. And unfortunately, non-smokers, in most cases, have no choice. You can see it yourself in everyday life. People who are forced to breathe smoke while sitting at bus stops or in public places simply cannot do anything about it. The only way to help them is to introduce more and more restrictions from the state. So, in conclusion, we can say that smoking is not only a problem for the person addicted to cigarettes. Everyone suffers from this, from his family to strangers around him. Unfortunately, these difficulties cannot be resolved on their own. But is the state and society doing enough to help people with addiction?

❓ What Are the Characteristics of an Opinion?

The opinion is an entirely subjective position formed due to the influence of certain factors on the mind. It can be characterized as a personal judgment, point of view, and not an exact fact. However, an opinion can be valid only if it is supported by actual knowledge. Otherwise, it can be called more of a guess.

❓ How Many Paragraphs is an Opinion Essay?

The standard structure consists of four main parts: an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Nevertheless, if it is not specified in the assignment, it can deviate slightly from such a system. It is pretty standard practice to write three or more body paragraphs. Conversely, if one section fully covers the topic, then the need for other explanations may disappear.

❓ What Is the Structure of an Opinion Essay?

An essay structure is a precise sequence of your thoughts, which will help the reader to understand the topic better. The standard system consists of an introduction, two arguments, and a conclusion. In addition, there are less visible components like a hook, thesis statement, and linkers words. You can expand the structure by adding more argument parts. However, the sequence must remain the same.

❓ What Is a Supported Opinion Essay?

An essay based on a person’s personal opinion implies a clear statement of the author’s thoughts on a specific topic. However, to show understanding of the problem, one should rely on facts, research, or examples from life. A supported opinion essay is precisely when the author’s opinion is based on objective factors.

📎 References

• Basic Essay Structure. Port. Ac
• An opinion essay. British Council
• How to Write an Opinion Based Essay. UCT Language Centre
• Recognizing Transitions. MPC.Edu
• Writing Your Paper: Transitions. EWU.Edu
• Transition Sentences. The College of Saint Rose
• Writing Effective Conclusions. Richmond University
• Conclusion – How to write an essay. University of Newcastle
• Writing a thesis statement. IELTS Buddy
• CCSS Argument versus Opinion Writing
• Essay Structure. Harvard College Writing Centre
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Opinion Writing: a Guide to Writing a Successful Essay Easily

An opinion essay requires students to write their thoughts regarding a subject matter. Relevant examples and explanations back their point of view. Before starting an opinion paper, it is important to study the definition, topics, requirements, and structure. Referring to examples is also highly useful. Perhaps you need help with our admission essay writing service ? Take a look at this guide from our dissertation writing service to learn how to write an opinion essay like an expert.

What Is an Opinion Essay

A common question among students is: ‘What is an Opinion Essay?' It is an assignment that contains questions that allow students to share their point-of-view on a subject matter. Students should express their thoughts precisely while providing opinions on the issue related to the field within reasonable logic. Some opinion essays type require references to back the writer's claims.

Opinion writing involves using a student's personal point-of-view, which is segregated into a point. It is backed by examples and explanations. The paper addresses the audience directly by stating ‘Dear Readers' or the equivalent. The introduction involves a reference to a speech, book, or play. This is normally followed by a rhetorical question like ‘is the pope Catholic?' or something along those lines.

What Kind of Student Faces an Opinion Essay

Non-native English-speaking students enrolled in the International English Language Testing System by the British Council & Cambridge Assessment English are tasked with learning how to write the opinion essays. This can be high-school or college students. It is designed to enhance the level of English among students. It enables them to express their thoughts and opinions while writing good opinion essay in English.

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What Are the Requirements of an Opinion Essay?

Avoid Going Off-Topic: Always write an opinion essay within relevance to answer the assigned question. This is also known as ‘beating around the bush' and should not be included in any opinion paragraph as it may lower your grade.

Indent the First Paragraph: With most academic papers, opinion writing is not different. Therefore, it contains the rule of indenting the first line of the introduction.

A Well-Thought Thesis: The full thesis statement is a brief description of the opinion essay. It determines the rest of the paper. Include all the information that you wish to include in the body paragraphs

The Use of Formal Languages: Although it is okay to write informally, keep a wide range of professional and formal words. This includes: ‘Furthermore,' ‘As Stated By,' ‘However', & ‘Thus'.

Avoid Internet Slang: In the opinion paper, avoid writing using slang words. Don'tDon't include words like ‘LOL', ‘OMG', ‘LMAO', etc.

The Use of First Person Language (Optional): For the reason of providing personal thought, it is acceptable to write your personal opinion essay in the first person.

Avoid Informal Punctuation: Although the requirements allow custom essay for the first-person language, they do not permit informal punctuation. This includes dashes, exclamation marks, and emojis.

Avoid Including Contradictions: Always make sure all spelling and grammar is correct.

We also recommend reading about types of sentences with examples .

Opinion Essay Topics

Before learning about the structure, choosing from a wide range of opinion essay topics is important. Picking an essay theme is something that can be done very simply. Choosing an excellent opinion essay topic that you are interested in or have a passion for is advisable. Otherwise, you may find the writing process boring. This also ensures that your paper will be both effective and well-written.

• Do sports differ from ordinary board games?
• Is using animals in circus performances immoral?
• Why should we be honest with our peers?
• Should all humans be entitled to a 4-day workweek?
• Should all humans become vegetarians?
• Does a CEO earn too much?
• Should teens be barred from having sleepovers?
• Should everyone vote for their leader?
• The Pros & Cons of Day-Light Saving Hours.
• What are the most energy-efficient and safest cars of X year?

Opinion Essay Structure

When it comes to opinion paragraphs, students may struggle with the opinion essay format. The standard five-paragraph-essay structure usually works well for opinion essays. Figuring out what one is supposed to include in each section may be difficult for beginners. This is why following the opinion essay structure is something all beginners should do, for their own revision before writing the entire essay.

You might also be interested in getting more information about: 5 PARAGRAPH ESSAY

Opinion essay introduction

• Address the audience directly, and state the subject matter.
• Reference a speech, poem, book, or play.
• Include the author's name and date of publication in brackets.
• 1 or 2 sentences to make up a short description.
• 1 or 2 summarizing sentences of the entire paper.
• 1 sentence that links to the first body paragraph.

Body Paragraph 1

• Supporting arguments
• Explanation
• A linking sentence to the second body paragraph.

Body Paragraph 2

• Supporting argument
• A linking sentence to the third body paragraph.

Body Paragraph 3

• A linking sentence to the conclusion.

Conclusion paragraph

• Summary of the entire paper
• A conclusive sentence (the bigger picture in conclusion)

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Opinion Essay Examples

Do you need something for reference? Reading opinion essay examples can expand your knowledge of this style of writing, as you get to see exactly how this form of an essay is written. Take a look at our samples to get an insight into this form of academic writing.

Over the past, American popular culture has been strong in creating racial stereotypes. Images displayed through television, music, and the internet have an impact on how individuals behave and what individuals believe. People find their identities and belief systems from popular culture. Evidently, I believe that American pop culture has created racial stereotypes that predominantly affect other ethnic minorities. Analyzing the history of America reveals that African Americans have always had a problem defining themselves as Americans ever since the era of slavery. AfricanAmericans have always had a hard time being integrated into American culture. The result is that African Americans have been subjected to ridicule and shame. American pop culture has compounded the problem by enhancing the negative stereotypes ofAfrican American. In theatre, film, and music, African Americans have been associated with vices such as murder, theft, and violence.

The family systems theory has a significant revelation on family relations. I firmly agree that to understand a particular family or a member, they should be around other family members. The emotional connection among different family members may create functional or dysfunctional coexistence, which is not easy to identify when an individual is further from the other members. Taking an example of the extended family, the relationship between the mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law may be tense, but once they are outside the family, they can pretend to have a good relationship. Therefore, I agree with the theory that the existing emotional attachment and developed culture in the family is distinctively understood when the family is together.

Opinion writing is a form of academic paper that asks students to include their thoughts on a particular topic. This is then backed by a logical explanation and examples. Becoming more knowledgeable is a practical way to successfully learn how to write an opinion paper. Before writing anything, it is essential to refer to important information. That includes the definition, topics, opinion writing examples, and requirements. This is what turns amateur writers into master writers.

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is a seasoned educational writer focusing on scholarship guidance, research papers, and various forms of academic essays including reflective and narrative essays. His expertise also extends to detailed case studies. A scholar with a background in English Literature and Education, Daniel’s work on EssayPro blog aims to support students in achieving academic excellence and securing scholarships. His hobbies include reading classic literature and participating in academic forums.

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The Ultimate Guide to Opinion Writing for Students and Teachers

The Importance of Opinion Writing

Encouraging our students to express their personal opinions is an important part of the learning process; healthy even. To do this effectively, it is equally important that we help them acquire the necessary skills to express these opinions in a reasoned and coherent manner when teaching opinion writing.

Writing is one of the best possible vehicles for our students not only to express their opinions but to explore the strength and validity of those opinions.

CONSIDERATIONS BEFORE WRITING AN OPINION ESSAY

For our students to competently express their opinions in writing, they must first understand the specific requirements of the type of question they are answering. Of course, there are many types of questions and fun opinion writing prompts that are geared towards coaxing personal opinions from a student and each will require its own specific tailored response.

It’s clear that personal opinions permeate a wide range of genres and media. We find opinions everywhere from hotel reviews and infomercials to political commentary and newspaper editorials. But, despite the diversity of forms opinion writing can take, we can helpfully identify some general criteria that will assist our students in navigating the challenge of most opinion writing prompts and questions.

Let’s take a look at some of these criteria in more detail.

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OPINION WRITING CRITERIA TO ADDRESS

1. identify the audience: speak clearly.

Writing is about language and language is about communication; students should understand that we do not write in a vacuum. The purpose of an essay, letter, or any other form of writing we care to name, is ultimately to be read.

This means that it is essential that consideration be given to the character of the intended audience. Also, remind students that when they are writing, the reader is not privy to the inner workings of the writer’s mind. They must make their thoughts explicit in their writing and ensure that these thoughts are expressed in a coherent manner.

The student writer should always avoid making the assumption that the reader knows things that are not expressed explicitly in the writing.

2. Take a Stance: Stand Firm

From the very outset, the student should state their position boldly. More than that, they must stand firm in that opinion throughout the entirety of the piece.

Opinion writing is not about communicating a series of pros and cons or discussing at length the various related advantages and disadvantages, the place for that is not here. The opinion piece should open with a bold statement of opinion that is clearly expressed, and that opinion should be held unwaveringly and reinforced constantly throughout the text.

As with many other writing genres , employing a hook to grab the reader’s attention is good practice too. This hook can take the form of a quotation, an anecdote, a statistic, or even a joke. Whatever form the hook takes, it should reveal the writer’s take on things too.

To summarize, whatever the topic and however the student opens their opinion piece, they should ensure they express their opinion immediately and coherently. There should be no doubt in the reader’s mind as to where the student-writer stands on the issue.

3. Choose Appropriate Evidence: Back It Up

There is no doubt that subjectivity is an important aspect of opinion writing in general. That does not mean, however, that opinions do not need to be substantiated.

Your students will need to recognize that each and every statement of opinion will need to be supported by appropriate evidence. This will also help students to develop their critical reading skills as they will be able to better recognize when unsubstantiated claims are made by other writers. Opinions backed up with evidence help lead the reader along the writer’s pathways of thought; making the writing more convincing as a whole.

This evidence can take a wide variety of forms, ranging from personal anecdotes and quotations to statistics and references to scientific studies. Students should also always be encouraged to choose evidence that is broadly suited to the subject they are writing about.

4. Draw Conclusions: Wrap It Up

In the well-organized piece of opinion writing, as with many other types of extended writing, the writing should be structured in paragraphs. Paragraphs are essential elements of good writing organization.

Generally speaking, an opening paragraph gives way to body paragraphs. These body paragraphs, or development paragraphs, describe in more detail the ideas laid out in the initial opening paragraph by further exploring, explaining, and providing supporting evidence for each point.

The final concluding paragraph serves to close the circle by restating the central points in a closing endeavor to drive home the writer’s opinion.

5. A Word on Words

Writing is an art form. Attention to detail is important. But, it isn’t only important to look at the big picture things like structure, students should be encouraged to shift their focus from the text level down to the word and sentence levels too. In an opinion piece, strong, forceful verbs should be the order of the day. There is little space for passive forms when engaged in the construction of convincing arguments.

Things should be kept interesting too. Students should vary their sentence structures grammatically and in length. Variety is key.

 As always in writing, editing should be emphasized. The editing process polishes the well-wrought opinion piece by putting the final gloss on the student’s work.

The OREO Opinion Writing Process Explained

As with all genres, there’s a lot to remember here and acronyms are a helpful way to commit these important things to memory. Luckily, few things can be easier to commit to memory than the name of a delicious cookie:

O – Opinion

R – Reasons

E – Evidence or Examples

O – Opinion (restated)

This memorable acronym will help students remember some of the main elements of opinion writing as outlined above. But, sometimes the hardest thing for students to do is to get the writing ball rolling.

Opinionated Sentence Starters

Sentence starters provide students with great ways to kick-start their writing. Reminding students of simple ways of introducing opinion sentences can be helpful. Here are a few for ‘starters’ for starters:

●     In my opinion…

●     I think that…

●     It seems to me that…

●     It appears to me…

●     I feel that…

Once the student-writer has effectively expressed their opinion on a matter, they then will need to provide the reader with the reasons for why they think what they think. In an essay, these reasons will usually be found in the body paragraphs or development paragraphs. Normally, these paragraphs will explore a single reason each.

Some helpful sentence starters for introducing these reasons include:

●     One reason I feel this way is…

●     Evidence to support this can be found in…

●     I believe this to evident in…

Opinion Writing Activities for Students

Students will certainly need practice completing sustained pieces of opinion writing, but some of the most valuable activities to help students evolve their opinion writing abilities barely require a pen to be put to paper.

While the following two activities do not require students to engage in extended pieces of writing, the activities below will assist students in grasping some essential concepts. These activities demonstrate good practice through modelling and also encourage dialogue, discussion, and debate as a means to strengthen opinion writing.

Activity 1: Opinion Writing – What Is It?

This exercise is a good follow-up to introductory work outlining the criteria of opinion writing as described above.

●     Start by passing out copies of a piece of opinion writing you have selected to read with the class. Read the text aloud as the students follow along with their copy. The opinion text chosen can come from a wide range of genres, including advertisements, letters, editorials, essays, articles, or reviews.

●     Assign students a talking partner and instruct students to take five minutes to identify the various criteria employed in the text. Encourage students to mark and annotate their copies of the text accordingly. You may even wish to supply students with a checklist compiled from the criteria mentioned previously in this article.

●     As a whole class, discuss how successfully the text fulfills the criteria. What did the writer do well? What could they have done better? You can record their responses on the whiteboard.

The aim of this exercise is for students to hone their critical faculties while internalizing the criteria. This will reap rewards when the students later engage in their own extended opinion writing.

Activity 2: The Collaborative Case

This activity employs collaboration to help students build a stronger case for their opinion on a divisive issue.

●     First, define the parameters of the exercise by presenting an either/or conundrum to the class. This doesn’t have to be overly controversial in nature, just stated in such a way that it forces the students to take one side or another. This could be stated simply as a choice, e.g. Dogs or cats? City or countryside? Beach or Mountains? Sweet or savory?

●     Students then divide into two groups according to their stated preferences. In their groups, they then discuss and compile as many supporting reasons for their choice as they can come up with. As a group, they will discuss the relative merits of each reason, before agreeing on their top five.

●     The groups then share their reasons in a debate format, using arguments and counter-arguments, leading into an open, free-ranging discussion.

The value of this exercise lies in the collaborative and ‘combative’ natures of the exercises. Just as our physical muscles can grow through resistance, so too can the strength and resilience of our opinions and arguments.

This activity can also be used as a lead-in to opinion writing as it works well as a prewriting preparation exercise. The complexity of the issue to be discussed and debated can easily be modified to suit the abilities of the students too.

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OPINION WRITING VIDEO TUTORIALS

These videos from teaching without frills are an excellent starting point for opinion writing. You can view the entire collection here.

  The Wrap Up

Opinion writing is a higher-level skill that makes many demands on our students. It will challenge them to move beyond parroting the facts and figures they have acquired in their learning to formulate their own thoughts on topics they have learned about in class, or in the wider world beyond the school gates.

It will make demands on their skill as writers too. Our students must learn to mold and mechanically manipulate the language on the page to express their beliefs persuasively and effectively. To do this successfully, they will need ample opportunities to practice their writing craft. Once a firm understanding of the structures involved has been established, the student can become more fluid in their expression. They will add art and flair to their craft. But first, they must build on these firm foundations.

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How to write an opinion essay

Published September 27, 2020. Updated May 17, 2022.

Opinion Essay Definition

An opinion essay is a piece of writing that reflects the author’s point of view on a particular topic.

Overview of an Opinion Essay

Learning how to express your opinion and back it up in a constructive argument is an important life skill. Whether in a casual conversation or a more serious situation, being able to express yourself and your opinions will help you in the long run. There are a few steps to be followed to create a successful opinion essay: prewriting (finding the best topic), developing a strong thesis, writing an enticing introduction paragraph, writing three clear body paragraphs, writing a gripping conclusion, revising, and editing, polishing, and consulting an expert.

Worried about your writing? Submit your paper for a Chegg Writing essay check , or for an Expert Check proofreading . Both can help you find and fix potential writing issues.

Prewriting: Finding the Best Topic

Your essay will only be as good as your opinion, so spending some time prewriting will work in your favor. Prewriting literally means “writing before” and refers to preparation you do before you start writing. It is an important step of the process to organize your thoughts.

Brainstorming all possible opinion ideas is a great way to start. This is a good time to go over the professor’s instructions and review the parameters.

• Are there any overarching topics that you need to focus on?
• Are there any topics that must be avoided because they are trite, controversial, or don’t fit the motif of the class?
• Finally, consider what YOU feel strongly about. If you choose an opinion that you already have some passion about, the whole process will be easier.

The final step in prewriting is to do some research if needed. You might hold an opinion but not know everything about it. This is a great time to get your facts straight and to find out what you need to know. By organizing your thoughts first, you will know what holes you need to fill in your knowledge, and you will have a better understanding of what needs to be researched.

Develop a Strong Thesis

A thesis sentence is like the road map for the paper. If you write a strong thesis, your paper will be easier to write AND to read. The thesis statement is (typically) one sentence that expresses your opinion and shows what the paper is about. Make sure that your thesis statement includes all of the following:

• An explicit opinion that you will be able to elaborate on. Choose something unique so that it stands out from the crowd, and make sure you already have some knowledge about it to get you started.
• Clear, specific vocabulary that makes your opinion sound strong. Since this thesis sentence is so important to the scope of the paper, take great care in choosing each word.
• Use the third-person point of view . This means using pronouns like he, she , and they (avoiding pronouns like I, me , we , and you ). Using the third-person perspective strengthens your argument right from the thesis sentence.
• Write a complete sentence with a strong action verb. Along with the specific vocabulary mentioned above, make sure to use a strong action verb that will add energy and specificity to your writing.

Write an Enticing Introduction Paragraph

A solid introduction paragraph needs to ease the reader into the paper and help them make connections to their own lives. A good introduction will also make your opinion clear, so the reader knows just what to expect throughout the rest of the paper. Take special care to entice your reader into reading. If the first few lines of the paper don’t grab the reader’s attention, they will not want to continue reading. Taking a few moments to set up the paper in an interesting way will pay dividends as you complete the project and gain the reader’s interest.

An introduction has three basic sections. Including these three sections and using transitions between them will ensure a great introduction paragraph.

• Begin the introduction paragraph with a startling fact, quote, or statistic . This strategy helps to get your audience’s attention and will lure them into the rest of the paper.
• The second section is a connection section . This section sets up the entire essay and clarifies what it will be about. The connector section links the anecdote or fact to the thesis, and shows the reader what they can look forward to in the paper.
• The third part of the introduction paragraph is the strong thesis statement. Use the sentence you already created in the section above.

Write Clear Body Paragraphs

Now you come to the meat of your essay and the section where you will try to persuade the reader why your opinion is justified or matters. Here are some general tips to help you write a clearly articulated and organized paper.

Have at least three main points

In order to organize your writing, it is important to have at least three body paragraphs, each focusing on a different point. Before you begin writing these, ask yourself which three main points you would like to make to back up your opinion. These become your body paragraphs.

Put the ideas in the best order for maximum benefit

Organization is key to a strong opinion essay. Many opinion writers like to put the strongest idea at the end of the essay to pack the most punch.

Use transitional words to link your ideas

Transitions are words that show a relationship. If you are stuck, a quick search for transitional words and phrases will give you many more to choose from. Here are a few example words:

• Ordinal words : first, second, last
• Proving words : definitely, evidently
• Words introducing exceptions: yet, but, however

Use strong language

When writing an opinion essay, it is important to use strong and descriptive language. You can’t sit on the fence for this one, so you need to use vivid language to show your side of the opinion. For example:

Weak: He went to school.

Strong : He ran hurriedly to school.

Weak: Without water , the plants would die.

Strong: Without life-saving water , the plants would shrivel up and die.

Think of it as painting a picture with your words. You want the reader to be able to picture what you are talking about and understand why you feel so strongly about the topic.

Be specific

When possible, it’s better to be specific than general. For example, if you are writing about how it is important to get involved in extra-curricular activities , be very specific. Saying “Join a club” is generic, but if you say “Join the Chess Club” or “Join the Fishing Club,” your reader will be able to picture what you are talking about.

Use vocabulary correctly

Use the right word for the job and write as an educated person. For example, you wouldn’t include a sentence like, “OMG, that experiment totally rocked” in a formal essay. Writing with an educated voice adds to your credibility, which strengthens your opinion.

Also, avoid the thesaurus trap, where you just plug in words and choose any random synonym. Use vocabulary you already know, especially since this is your opinion, but make it as clear and specific as possible.

Write a gripping conclusion

Keeping the reader focused on your topic until the very end of the paper is important. Writing a focused conclusion paragraph will do just that. Just like in a strong introduction paragraph, there are three major parts, only this time they are reversed.

• Rewrite the thesis statement in different words, but keep the original meaning intact. This will help remind your audience what your opinion was and why it is important.
• Clarify the three main points of your paper as evidenced by the three body paragraphs you used. Just remember not to be too repetitive.
• Dive a little deeper as you conclude, in order to answer the question, “So what?” Why is this topic important? Why is your opinion valuable? This is also a good time to link back to your introduction paragraph. This is called framework and is a great organizational technique.

When revising your opinion essay, you need to focus on the big picture. Analyze the thesis and the paragraphs to do this.

• Look at your thesis in both the introduction and conclusion paragraphs to make sure they show what the paper is proving.
• Consider the order of the body paragraphs. Does the order make sense or could the paragraphs be rearranged to build importance?
• Are there any points or information that are missing but could be added to strengthen your argument?
• Are there any points or information included that weaken your argument and should be revised or edited?

The choice is yours, but double checking the scope of the paragraphs will make sure your writing is holistically organized and makes sense to the reader.

Before you turn in that paper, don’t forget to cite your sources in APA format , MLA format , or a style of your choice.

Edit, Polish, Consult an Expert

Editing and polishing a paper include looking at the picky little pieces. Even though you are probably tired by now and tempted to turn it in as-is, this step is important so that your work can be published.

• Double check spelling and grammar . Even if you run your paper through an automatic check, there are usually words or typos that could be missed.
• Check the flow of your paper . Make sure you have used transitional words to link your ideas.
• Think of varying your sentence structures. This helps reduce redundancy and helps make the paper more readable. Start some sentences with a subject/verb and others with phrases or clauses.
• Get an outside review of your paper . After you have completed your paper, consulting with an expert can help ensure further success. Using a tool like Chegg Writing is a great way to polish your piece and help you develop the best possible draft.

Example Opinion Essay

If you would like the downloadable version, open this opinion essay example .

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When Can ‘Group Work’ Be Productive?

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To the Editor:

I have a suggestion for the author of the essay “ I’m a Student. Here’s Why Group Work Feels So Unfair ” (Nov. 11, 2022).

In Don Meichenbaum’s and my book, Nurturing Independent Learners (Brookline Books, 1998), we reported observations that students who helped their peers and planned together had better problem-solving skills and more self-directed thinking. This was true for less advanced students as well as more advanced students. However, less advanced students rarely had opportunities to assist others in classrooms.

Graduate student Alison Inglis completed a Ph.D. thesis in 2002 on putting less advanced 4th grade students in helping situations with 2nd grade students during math lessons, which led to substantial gains in math problem-solving for 30 students. Teaching students to help was necessary to obtain gains in problem-solving; just tutoring others without support did not have the same effect.

As one byproduct of that project, I began assigning group projects for my own education students. Initially, they worked in groups of four or five. However, as the writer of the essay reported, much of the work seemed to devolve on a few—not real collaboration. I then shifted to teams of two. The problem of who did the work vanished, and a lot of real collaboration and thinking resulted.

Andrew Biemiller Professor Emeritus University of Toronto Barrie, Ontario, Canada

How to Submit

A version of this article appeared in the January 18, 2023 edition of Education Week as When Can ‘Group Work’ Be Productive?

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IELTS Writing Task 2 Opinion Essay Topic: Teamwork

Updated On Dec 08, 2021

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Table of Contents

Sample essay, band 9 sample essay.

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Teamwork offers a lot of benefits in modern society. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Opinion essay

Introduction

• Paraphrase the topic of the essay.
• Clearly state the side of the opinion you choose to be on and give an insight into it.
• Paragraph 1- Brainstorming is essential for the generation of new ideas. Scientists generally arrive at a conclusion after deep debates and conversations. The problem that had been very difficult to solve in isolation may become easier to solve with the assistance of others. People with a different perspective induce revolutionary thinking.
• Teamwork boosts the morale of an individual. Recent studies show that people were much happier to solve problems as a team. Also, collaboration fosters a learning spirit. It reduces the burden of work. Research has shown that herculean tasks are accomplished when two people work together rather than a competent individual working on it alone.
• Paragraph 2 – A single person cannot have all the prowess needed to complete a task. For example, person A may be having exceptional coding skills in area A but may lack expertise in area B. So, person A needs to be complemented by another person skilled in area B. In the process, person A acquires knowledge of area B and vice-versa. So teamwork helps in skill-building.

Conclude the topic of the essay by giving a brief extract of the essay.

Of late, teamwork is gaining a lot of significance. On a closer observation of the job postings by leading companies, we find that they require talented individuals who are also team players. Many people support this new norm. I also welcome this idea. In the following paragraphs, I shall put forth the explanations in support of my opinion.

Brainstorming is essential for the generation of new ideas. Scientists generally arrive at a conclusion after deep debates and conversations. The problem that had been very difficult to solve in isolation may become easier to solve with the assistance of others. People with a different perspective induce revolutionary thinking. Teamwork boosts the morale of an individual. Recent studies show that people were much happier to solve problems as a team. Also, collaboration fosters a learning spirit. It reduces the burden of work. Research has shown that herculean tasks are accomplished when two people work together rather than a competent individual working on it alone.

A single person cannot have all the prowess needed to complete a task. For example, person A may be having exceptional coding skills in area A but may lack expertise in area B. So, person A needs to be complemented by another person skilled in area B. In the process, person A acquires knowledge of area B and vice-versa. So teamwork helps in skill-building. They may start feeling more worthy of their competencies while they educate each other. Also, they may become courageous to explore new zones by the encouragement provided by their teammates.

Properly managed teams can be remarkably productive, albeit the argument that teamwork might relax ownership on a task. 

In conclusion, teamwork promotes individual growth and achieves goals of the organisation. Under the right supervision, teams can accomplish tenfold more than what is expected out of them.

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Our society today has been moving forth unabated and unfettered and thus needs constant efforts of the individuals residing in it. In such a scenario working as a team renders boundless anchorage to the pace of modern society. I agree with this statement and shall be propounding my reasons to be in alignment with the very thought.

If we go by the trends and the growth curves of the burgeoning society today, we could easily see the developments that have happened incessantly in recent years. In such a scenario, when the modern world is in full swing catapulted to achieve the best it can, a specific individual could get extremely weary and enervated in the process and therefore, comes the whole concept of teamwork and team management. These skills on the work front are also being looked around for pretty commonly in the current times as the businesses and companies are very well versed with the virtues and essence of working as a team and a common motive to go for. Moreover, the chances of flaws and discrepancies can be relinquished and annulled with a prudential watching over the work of other teammates, as we tend to overlook the work done by ourselves as it seems correct subliminally, that again gives a whole array of the existence of quality check and control. 

Additionally, teamwork also has an edge when it comes to drifting the chariot of an organization ahead. At times, one might either lose the interest and spark to work and could be rendered entirely banal when it comes to efficacy and the quality of work done, in such cases, team members often play a major role in rejuvenating the debilitating player to be revitalized. Also, it helps people know an arena of knowledge that they might not even be aware of earlier than working as a team. As there is a lot of exchange of knowledge, culling the ideas and finally, choosing the most optimum alternative for the business and organization the team works for. Even in the segment of research and science, teamwork has always played a major role in keeping the motive intact and brainstorming the analogies.

Though, some could say it may also culminate in clashes owing to extreme views of the people, however, maturity and intelligence always play a major part in allaying such jejune incidents.

Conclusively, thus it could be said that teamwork is of prime essence to the development of our modern society

More Writing Task 2 Essay Topics

• The Family Structure And The Role Of Its Members Are Gradually Changing
• Too Much Emphasis Is Placed On Going To University For Academic Education
• The Consumption Of The World’s Resources Is Increasing At a Dangerous Rate
• Scientists Agree That People Are Damaging Their Health By Eating Too Much Junk Food
• Students Today Can Access Information Online So Libraries Are Not Necessary

Practice IELTS Writing Task 2 based on Essay types

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Janice Thompson

Soon after graduating with a Master’s in Literature from Southern Arkansas University, she joined an institute as an English language trainer. She has had innumerous student interactions and has produced a couple of research papers on English language teaching. She soon found that non-native speakers struggled to meet the English language requirements set by foreign universities. It was when she decided to jump ship into IELTS training. From then on, she has been mentoring IELTS aspirants. She joined IELTSMaterial about a year ago, and her contributions have been exceptional. Her essay ideas and vocabulary have taken many students to a band 9.

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Essay: Working in a Group: Analyzing Benefits and Drawbacks

Essay details and download:.

• Subject area(s): Management essays
• Reading time: 3 minutes
• Price: Free download
• Published: 26 January 2020*
• Last Modified: 2 August 2024
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The debate on whether working alone or in a group is more beneficial has been a long-standing one. While personal preference plays a significant role in this decision, working in a group often proves to be more advantageous due to the diversity of ideas, the variety of skills that members bring, and the potential for higher productivity and better outcomes. This essay will delve deeper into the benefits of group work, supported by academic theories, and will also address the reasons why some individuals may prefer working alone.

The Benefits of Group Work

One of the primary advantages of group work is the plethora of ideas generated. According to Lynda Moultry Belcher , “This type of collaboration benefits the project and gives team members an outlet to bounce around ideas to find the best fit.” The concept of brainstorming, introduced by Alex Osborn in the 1940s, supports this view. Brainstorming in groups facilitates a wide range of ideas that might not emerge when individuals work in isolation. The collective intelligence of a group often surpasses that of an individual, leading to more innovative and effective solutions.

Moreover, working in a group brings together people with different skills and expertise, which enhances the quality of the work produced. Chitra Reddy states, “To solve complex problems and to complete difficult tasks, team works better than an individual.” This is supported by Belbin’s Team Roles theory , which emphasizes that effective teams are composed of individuals who fulfill various roles, such as the Plant (creative problem solver), the Monitor Evaluator (analytical thinker), and the Implementer (practical organizer). Each member contributes their unique strengths, leading to a more comprehensive and well-rounded approach to problem-solving.

Another significant benefit of group work is increased productivity and creativity. Belcher emphasizes that, “Another key advantage of group work in the office is that it can increase efficiency.” Research on social facilitation, which refers to the tendency for people to perform better on tasks when in the presence of others, supports this claim. When individuals work in groups, they are often motivated to perform better due to peer pressure and the desire to not let their team down. This can lead to higher levels of productivity and more creative outputs.

The Challenges of Group Work

Despite the numerous benefits, working in a group can also present challenges. One common issue is the potential for conflicts and disagreements among group members. Tuckman’s stages of group development (forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning) highlight that groups often go through a “storming” phase where conflicts arise. While this can be a healthy part of group development, it requires effective conflict resolution skills and strong leadership to navigate.

Another challenge is the risk of social loafing, where some group members may contribute less effort, relying on others to carry the workload. This phenomenon was identified by Latane, Williams, and Harkins (1979) , who found that individuals tend to exert less effort when working in a group compared to when they work alone. To mitigate this, it is crucial to establish clear roles, responsibilities, and accountability within the group.

The Appeal of Working Alone

While working in a group has its advantages, some individuals find working alone more convenient and productive. Sam Ashe-Edmunds argues, “If you own your own business, you only answer to your clients, who have little say over how you do your work.” This autonomy can be highly appealing as it allows individuals to work at their own pace, make independent decisions, and avoid the potential frustrations of group dynamics.

Working alone can also lead to higher levels of concentration and focus. Without the distractions and interruptions that often accompany group work, individuals can immerse themselves fully in their tasks. This is particularly beneficial for complex or creative work that requires deep thought and sustained attention.

Balancing Individual and Group Work

The decision to work alone or in a group often depends on the nature of the task and the individual’s personal preferences. For tasks that require a wide range of skills, diverse perspectives, and collective problem-solving, group work is usually more effective. However, for tasks that require deep concentration, creativity, and independent decision-making, working alone may be more beneficial.

In modern workplaces, a balance between individual and group work is often the most effective approach. Organizations can foster environments that allow for both collaborative and independent work, recognizing the strengths and preferences of their employees. This approach aligns with the Job Characteristics Model (JCM) developed by Hackman and Oldham, which suggests that providing employees with a variety of tasks and the autonomy to choose how they work can lead to higher job satisfaction and productivity.

In conclusion, while working alone and in a group each have their distinct advantages, the benefits of group work often outweigh those of working independently. The diversity of ideas, the combination of various skills, and the potential for increased productivity and creativity make group work particularly effective for complex and multifaceted tasks. However, it is important to acknowledge and address the challenges that can arise in group settings, such as conflicts and social loafing, to ensure successful collaboration. Balancing individual and group work based on the task at hand and the preferences of the individuals involved can lead to the most effective outcomes. As we navigate the complexities of modern work environments, fostering a culture that values both collaboration and autonomy can help individuals and organizations thrive.

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Teaching opinion writing tips and activities.

Today, you’re going to get a bunch of teaching opinion writing tips. I’m going to what best practices I think you can follow. I hope that you’re going to walk away with a clear understanding of what is expected when teaching this standard. I also hope you walk away with some fun ideas and activities to add to your lesson plans! All of the images you see below (except for the read-alouds) are part of my ELA writing units. The links to all grade levels are at the bottom!

Let’s dive into the opinion writing standards

Common Core writing domain focuses on three big types of writing:  informative, narrative, and today’s topic OPINION WRITING! It begins kindergarten and each year, gets progressively more in depth and detailed. Here is a look at K-5’s expectations for opinion writing, according to Common Core.

• Kinder: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g., My favorite book is.. .).
• 1st: Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion and provide some sense of closure.
• 2nd: Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply reasons that support the opinion, use linking words (e.g., because , and , also ) to connect opinion and reasons, and provide a concluding statement or section.
• 3rd: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons. (a- Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure that lists reasons.) (b- Provide reasons that support the opinion.) (c- Use linking words and phrases (e.g., because , therefore , since , for example ) to connect opinion and reasons.) (d- Provide a concluding statement or section.)
• 4th: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information. (a- Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which related ideas are grouped to support the writer’s purpose.) (b- Provide reasons that are supported by facts and details.) (c- Link opinion and reasons using words and phrases (e.g., for instance , in order to , in addition ).) (d- Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented.)

Outline of how to teach opinion writing…

• What is opinion writing?
• How do I state an opinion?
• Supporting your opinion
• Introductions explicit teaching
• Conclusions explicit teaching
• Provide lots of practice

If you teach opinion writing broken up in parts like this, your students can focus on each part. That way, they can get a true grasp of what each piece requires and how to write it.

Load up on Mentor Texts

Every single part of this blog post will include mentor texts. Each time you teach your students about a component of opinion writing, use a strong example! Mentor texts are great because students can see what they’re learning in engaging or familiar books. Then, it can help them with their own practice. Each of the book links below are affiliate links to Amazon.

• Hey Little Ant by Phillip and Hannah Hoose
• I Don’t Want to Be a Frog by Dev Petty
• My Teacher for President by Kay Winters
• The Perfect Pet by Margie Palatini
• I Wanna New Room by Karen Kaufman Orloff
• I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff
• The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
• The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
• Red is Best by Kathy Stinson
• Earrings by Judith Viorst
• Don’t Let Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems
• Click, Clack, Moo by Doreen Cronin

First, teach WHAT Opinion Writing is

When you begin your opinion writing unit, you of course need to start with teaching them what it is. You will be showing them the framework of an opinion writing piece. First, create an anchor chart (or use one provided to you in my ELA units). Then, as you explore texts, examples, and activities, you can refer back to this anchor chart to teach opinion writing framework.

Now, it’s time to get the students talking. Give them an engaging partner talk game, such as Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up or Mix-Pair-Share. When they’re with a partner, ask them questions about the actual framework. Ask them the purposes of each component. This will help strengthen their writing when it’s time to start writing independently.

After that, you can start showing them real-world examples. Start with read-alouds and mentor texts. See if students can identify the introduction, opinion sentence, support, and conclusion. Then, give them examples that aren’t tied to a picture book. Above, you see two different activities. One of them asks students to put a puzzle together of sample sentences for each component. The other is a cut-and-glue activity where they have to sort sample sentences. (Links to all resources are at the bottom of the blog post.)

Stating an Opinion

Next, it’s time to simply teach them how to state an opinion. If you’re in kinder or first grade, you may have to take a step back and teach what an opinion is and how it’s different from a fact. But… once that’s determined, you can start teaching opinion sentences.

Make a class anchor chart or display a stem poster in your classroom. This will help trigger their ability to form an opinion sentence. Then, give them a few engaging partner activities. For example, the image above shows a partner game where students are shown an Opinion Stem chart and one picture topic card at a time. They will form an opinion sentence about that topic using a different stem each time.

It’s also important to teach your writers the difference between strong and weak opinion sentences. There is a big difference between “I like pizza” and “Pizza is my favorite dinner”. One way to practice this is to have students sort different sample sentences into the strong and weak categories.

Then, it’s time to let them practice! Try using one of the templates in the ELA unit like the one shown above. It gives students a collection of sentence stems and a topic. They will have to form an opinion sentence using a mixture of all these options!

Dive deeper with reasons

Once you get into second, third, fourth grade (and above), you’re going to be required to teach students how to support their opinion. The big thing that can really help is just the word ‘why’. This helps trigger students to think of the reasons behind their opinion. Once they get to 2nd grade, they have to be able to give reasons why they like or dislike something. Try using an opinion writing anchor chart explaining support.

Now that you’ve taught your students HOW to support their reasons, it’s time to practice. Give them lots of opportunities to try supporting opinions with reasons. There are two activities shown in the image above. First, you have a picture card with an opinion sentence. Students will work with a partner to try to create a strong reason to support this opinion. Next, there is an opinion sentence strip that students will draw and try to create a strong support.

Move onto INTRODUCTIONS when teaching opinion writing

One of the biggest pieces to teaching opinion writing is the introduction. This is the hook. This is where your students are going to try to draw their audience in. First, teach introductions explicitly using an anchor chart or poster from my ELA units. Then, choose one or two mentor texts to show how they’ve used introductions to hook their readers.

It’s a great idea to show students what a strong introduction looks like with modeling. Another way is to give them a matching activity where they have to read introduction sentences and sort them.

Here is another game example for students to participate in. They will match three cards together. First, they will match the topic card and a sample introduction. Then, they will match a strong opinion sentence to follow up their introduction sentence. While playing this game, students can get a strong sense of what an introduction paragraph will look like in a multi-paragraph paper.

Finish up with CONCLUSIONS

Next, you’ll teach conclusions explicitly. Just like you did with introductions, conclusions need to start with an anchor chart or discussion of a poster. Students can learn conclusion stems, reasons for conclusions, and why they’re used. After teaching opinion writing conclusions explicitly, show students examples with mentor texts from the list above. Read one or two mentor texts and discuss what conclusions were used.

Give your students lots of practice with writing conclusions. Hands-on writing activities and matching games are two ways to give them practice singling out conclusions. Above, you see a flip book. They will fold and snip along the dotted edges. Under each flap, students will write an example of each type of conclusion (such as final facts, repeated opinions, personal experiences, and offering a suggestion.

Provide lots of opportunities to practice!

In my ELA units, I also offer 3-4 final writing pieces. They’re presented as lesson plans, so you can still walk students through these steps. First, they’ll be presented with their prompt. The prompt shown above asks which living condition would be worse: Arctic or desert. Then, the steps of the lesson plans walk students through brainstorming, pre-writing, and drafting their papers.

Finally, you’ve taught all the pieces of your opinion writing unit. Therefore, it’s time to practice, practice, practice. Once you teach students to write an opinion piece from start to finish, give them different prompts to write about in their journals. Or they could even write about these as a final opinion writing piece! Choose high-interest and engaging topics for students to write about.

Are you ready for your Opinion Writing resources?

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How to cite ChatGPT

Use discount code STYLEBLOG15 for 15% off APA Style print products with free shipping in the United States.

We, the APA Style team, are not robots. We can all pass a CAPTCHA test , and we know our roles in a Turing test . And, like so many nonrobot human beings this year, we’ve spent a fair amount of time reading, learning, and thinking about issues related to large language models, artificial intelligence (AI), AI-generated text, and specifically ChatGPT . We’ve also been gathering opinions and feedback about the use and citation of ChatGPT. Thank you to everyone who has contributed and shared ideas, opinions, research, and feedback.

In this post, I discuss situations where students and researchers use ChatGPT to create text and to facilitate their research, not to write the full text of their paper or manuscript. We know instructors have differing opinions about how or even whether students should use ChatGPT, and we’ll be continuing to collect feedback about instructor and student questions. As always, defer to instructor guidelines when writing student papers. For more about guidelines and policies about student and author use of ChatGPT, see the last section of this post.

Quoting or reproducing the text created by ChatGPT in your paper

If you’ve used ChatGPT or other AI tools in your research, describe how you used the tool in your Method section or in a comparable section of your paper. For literature reviews or other types of essays or response or reaction papers, you might describe how you used the tool in your introduction. In your text, provide the prompt you used and then any portion of the relevant text that was generated in response.

Unfortunately, the results of a ChatGPT “chat” are not retrievable by other readers, and although nonretrievable data or quotations in APA Style papers are usually cited as personal communications , with ChatGPT-generated text there is no person communicating. Quoting ChatGPT’s text from a chat session is therefore more like sharing an algorithm’s output; thus, credit the author of the algorithm with a reference list entry and the corresponding in-text citation.

When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023).

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

You may also put the full text of long responses from ChatGPT in an appendix of your paper or in online supplemental materials, so readers have access to the exact text that was generated. It is particularly important to document the exact text created because ChatGPT will generate a unique response in each chat session, even if given the same prompt. If you create appendices or supplemental materials, remember that each should be called out at least once in the body of your APA Style paper.

When given a follow-up prompt of “What is a more accurate representation?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that “different brain regions work together to support various cognitive processes” and “the functional specialization of different regions can change in response to experience and environmental factors” (OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Creating a reference to ChatGPT or other AI models and software

The in-text citations and references above are adapted from the reference template for software in Section 10.10 of the Publication Manual (American Psychological Association, 2020, Chapter 10). Although here we focus on ChatGPT, because these guidelines are based on the software template, they can be adapted to note the use of other large language models (e.g., Bard), algorithms, and similar software.

The reference and in-text citations for ChatGPT are formatted as follows:

• Parenthetical citation: (OpenAI, 2023)
• Narrative citation: OpenAI (2023)

Let’s break that reference down and look at the four elements (author, date, title, and source):

Author: The author of the model is OpenAI.

Date: The date is the year of the version you used. Following the template in Section 10.10, you need to include only the year, not the exact date. The version number provides the specific date information a reader might need.

Title: The name of the model is “ChatGPT,” so that serves as the title and is italicized in your reference, as shown in the template. Although OpenAI labels unique iterations (i.e., ChatGPT-3, ChatGPT-4), they are using “ChatGPT” as the general name of the model, with updates identified with version numbers.

The version number is included after the title in parentheses. The format for the version number in ChatGPT references includes the date because that is how OpenAI is labeling the versions. Different large language models or software might use different version numbering; use the version number in the format the author or publisher provides, which may be a numbering system (e.g., Version 2.0) or other methods.

Bracketed text is used in references for additional descriptions when they are needed to help a reader understand what’s being cited. References for a number of common sources, such as journal articles and books, do not include bracketed descriptions, but things outside of the typical peer-reviewed system often do. In the case of a reference for ChatGPT, provide the descriptor “Large language model” in square brackets. OpenAI describes ChatGPT-4 as a “large multimodal model,” so that description may be provided instead if you are using ChatGPT-4. Later versions and software or models from other companies may need different descriptions, based on how the publishers describe the model. The goal of the bracketed text is to briefly describe the kind of model to your reader.

Source: When the publisher name and the author name are the same, do not repeat the publisher name in the source element of the reference, and move directly to the URL. This is the case for ChatGPT. The URL for ChatGPT is https://chat.openai.com/chat . For other models or products for which you may create a reference, use the URL that links as directly as possible to the source (i.e., the page where you can access the model, not the publisher’s homepage).

Other questions about citing ChatGPT

You may have noticed the confidence with which ChatGPT described the ideas of brain lateralization and how the brain operates, without citing any sources. I asked for a list of sources to support those claims and ChatGPT provided five references—four of which I was able to find online. The fifth does not seem to be a real article; the digital object identifier given for that reference belongs to a different article, and I was not able to find any article with the authors, date, title, and source details that ChatGPT provided. Authors using ChatGPT or similar AI tools for research should consider making this scrutiny of the primary sources a standard process. If the sources are real, accurate, and relevant, it may be better to read those original sources to learn from that research and paraphrase or quote from those articles, as applicable, than to use the model’s interpretation of them.

We’ve also received a number of other questions about ChatGPT. Should students be allowed to use it? What guidelines should instructors create for students using AI? Does using AI-generated text constitute plagiarism? Should authors who use ChatGPT credit ChatGPT or OpenAI in their byline? What are the copyright implications ?

On these questions, researchers, editors, instructors, and others are actively debating and creating parameters and guidelines. Many of you have sent us feedback, and we encourage you to continue to do so in the comments below. We will also study the policies and procedures being established by instructors, publishers, and academic institutions, with a goal of creating guidelines that reflect the many real-world applications of AI-generated text.

For questions about manuscript byline credit, plagiarism, and related ChatGPT and AI topics, the APA Style team is seeking the recommendations of APA Journals editors. APA Style guidelines based on those recommendations will be posted on this blog and on the APA Style site later this year.

Update: APA Journals has published policies on the use of generative AI in scholarly materials .

We, the APA Style team humans, appreciate your patience as we navigate these unique challenges and new ways of thinking about how authors, researchers, and students learn, write, and work with new technologies.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

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