Essay Writing EAP Worksheets & Games
Academic Style
EAP Academic Style Worksheet - Vocabulary and Reading Exercises: Matching, Identifying, Providing Synonyms
In this free academic style worksheet, students learn and practice some common rules of academic style for essay writing. First, students match sentence halves together to reveal six common...
Body Paragraphs
EAP Body Paragraphs Worksheet -Reading and Writing Exercises: Writing Sentences, Creating a Paragraph Outline, Writing Paragraphs
In this informative body paragraphs worksheet, students practice planning and writing body paragraphs that support a thesis statement. To begin, students...
Concluding Paragraphs
EAP Concluding Paragraphs Worksheet - Reading and Writing Exercises: Paraphrasing, Writing Sentences from Prompts, Writing a Concluding Paragraph
In this useful concluding paragraphs worksheet, students learn and practice writing concluding paragraphs that restate a thesis statement, summarise key...
Essay Cohesion, Coherence and Unity
EAP Essay Cohesion, Coherence and Unity Worksheet - Reading and Writing Exercises: Categorising, Gap-fill, Identifying, Rewriting a Paragraph
In this comprehensive essay writing worksheet, students learn and practice essay cohesion, coherence and unity. Students start by reading information about...
Essay Outlines
EAP Essay Outlines Worksheet - Reading and Writing Exercises: Identifying, Brainstorming, Creating an Essay Outline, Writing an Essay
This productive essay outlines worksheet helps to teach students how to create outlines as part of the essay writing process. To start, students read about the...
Essay Structure Running Dictation
EAP Essay Activity - Reading, Writing and Speaking: Comprehension Questions, Writing Explanations, Discussion, Freer Practice - Pair and Group Work
This essay writing running dictation activity helps students practice the key components of essay structure. First, one student in each pair stands up, runs to...
Essay Writing Review
EAP Essay Writing Review Worksheet - Reading and Writing Exercises: Writing Paragraphs, Identifying, Error Correction, Matching, True or False Questions
In this handy essay writing review worksheet, students revise basic academic essay writing and practice the skills covered in previous worksheets in this series...
Fragments, Run-ons, and Comma Splices
EAP Fragments, Run-ons, and Comma Splices Worksheet - Reading and Writing Exercises: Identifying, Categorising, Error Correction
In this insightful sentence structure errors worksheet, students practice identifying and correcting fragments, run-on sentences, and comma splices. First...
Introduction Paragraphs
EAP Introduction Paragraphs Worksheet - Reading and Writing Exercises: Ordering, Writing a Thesis Statement, Paragraph Completion, Writing Introduction Paragraphs
In this engaging introduction paragraphs worksheet, students learn and practice how to write introduction paragraphs that have a background and thesis...
Paragraph and Essay Structure Comparison
EAP Paragraph and Essay Structure Worksheet - Reading and Writing Exercises: Table Completion, Short Answer Questions
In this detailed paragraph and essay structure worksheet, students compare paragraph and essay structure to familiarise themselves with the basic parts of an academic essay. Students begin by reading...
Parts of an Essay
EAP Parts of an Essay Worksheet - Reading and Writing Exercises: True or False, Matching, Labelling, Brainstrorming, Creating an Essay Outline, Writing an Essay
In this free parts of an essay worksheet, students learn about the various parts that make up an academic essay and practice writing a structured, logical,...
Peer Feedback Workshop
EAP Peer Feedback Worksheet - Reading and Writing Exercises: Writing Sentences, Peer Review - Speaking Activity: Discussion, Communicative Practice - Pair Work
This informative essay writing worksheet develops students' ability to give effective peer feedback for academic writing, focusing on content, organisation, and...
Hedging Language
EAP Essay Writing Worksheet - Reading and Writing Exercises: Identifying, Rewriting Sentences, Unscrambling, Sentence Combining, Changing Sentence Structure
In this useful hedging language worksheet, students learn and practice words and phrases that can be used in academic writing and speaking to soften a claim...
Essay Writing Dominoes
EAP Essay Writing Game - Vocabulary: Matching - Group Work
Here is a fun essay writing game to help students review and reinforce their understanding of key terms and concepts in essay writing. To begin, students turn over the top domino from the pile and place it face-up on the table. The first player...
Understanding Academic Essay Writing
Academic essay writing involves developing a focused response to a question through logically organised paragraphs, relevant support and clear language. An effective essay makes the relationship between its central position and supporting points clear, so readers can follow and evaluate the reasoning.
This page contains fourteen resources across B1 and B2, including worksheets on planning, paragraph development, cohesion, sentence accuracy, academic style and peer feedback, alongside a running dictation activity and a dominoes game. Two worksheets are available as free downloads.
The table outlines common essay components and their purposes. Adapt the organisation to the assignment; an essay does not always require a fixed number of paragraphs or the same introduction pattern.
| Component | Purpose | Planning or checking question |
|---|---|---|
| Essay outline | Arrange relevant points before drafting | 'How does each planned paragraph help answer the question?' |
| Introduction | Establish the topic and the essay's focus or position | 'Does the reader know what this essay will examine?' |
| Thesis statement | Express the central position or controlling idea | 'Is my main point specific enough to guide the essay?' |
| Body paragraph | Develop a relevant point through support and explanation | 'Have I explained how the support relates to my point?' |
| Connections between ideas | Make relationships and references clear | 'Does this connector express the relationship I intend?' |
| Conclusion | Bring the response together in light of the discussion | 'Does this conclusion follow from the points I developed?' |
How to Develop Academic Essay Writing Skills
Read the task before choosing a structure: Ask students to identify what the question requires them to explain, compare or evaluate. Select and organise ideas around that purpose rather than fitting every task into a memorised essay pattern.
Develop support rather than length: When a paragraph feels thin, check whether it needs a relevant example, evidence or an explanation of the connection to the main point. Adding another sentence is useful only when it develops the reasoning. Where sources are required, use verifiable material and follow the assignment's referencing guidance.
Revise in separate passes: Review the response to the question and the organisation first, then check paragraph connections and sentence accuracy. This helps students avoid polishing sentences that they may later need to remove or substantially rewrite.
3-Step Framework for Teaching Essay Writing
Use this progression across B1 lessons to move from understanding organisation to developing paragraphs and revising a complete response.
1. Turn an essay question into a plan: Students use a model essay to complete an outline, then analyse a new question and brainstorm relevant ideas. They organise those ideas into their own outline before writing an essay. Use the relationship between the plan and the draft to identify points that need more development.
2. Develop points into connected paragraphs: Students write topic sentences that support a thesis statement, choose one and create a paragraph outline using keywords and phrases. They expand it into a paragraph, then write a follow-up paragraph that develops an additional related point. Apply this practice when strengthening the body of the earlier draft.
3. Review structure and language together: Students practice completing an introduction, writing a related body paragraph and using an outline to form a conclusion. They also revise register, correct sentences and select cohesive devices. After this guided review, ask them to apply the same checks to their own essay and explain one revision that makes their response clearer.
Common Mistakes with Academic Essay Writing
Joining complete sentences with only a comma: Two independent clauses need suitable punctuation or a conjunction. Choose the correction that preserves the intended relationship. Incorrect: 'The course is demanding, students need time to prepare.' Correct: 'The course is demanding, so students need time to prepare.'
Including a related detail that does not support the paragraph's point: A sentence can concern the broad topic and still break paragraph unity. In a paragraph explaining how public transport can reduce travel costs, a detail about bus colours needs a relevant connection or should be removed. Off-topic detail: 'The buses in my town are blue.' Better approach: Remove the colour detail and develop the cost point with relevant support.
Common Questions About Teaching Essay Writing
How can I teach students to give feedback on essays?
The worksheet Peer Feedback Workshop helps students replace vague comments with specific feedback on content, organisation and language. They examine unhelpful comments, practice feedback phrases and respond to an example introduction. Students then write their own short introduction and exchange feedback using a form, applying the guidance to a partner's writing.
What free worksheet helps teach essay structure?
The worksheet Parts of an Essay connects essay terminology with a model text. Students match key terms to definitions and identify the parts in an example essay. They then create an outline about healthy eating and write a short essay, moving from recognising the structure to organising their own ideas.
What game helps students review essay writing?
The game Essay Writing Dominoes asks students to match sentence halves that explain essay writing terms and concepts. Players add matching dominoes to either end of a chain, drawing from the pile when they cannot play. The first to use all their dominoes wins, giving concept review a clear game objective.
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