How would you plan a 'to what extent' essay?

Firstly, take a look at the essay title and go through with a highlighter, picking out any key words you think you will need to address when writing the essay. For example, say the question was: 'The size of water stores in the water cycle change over time due to human activity' To what extent do you agree?. I would recommend highlighting the words 'size', 'water stores', 'change' and 'due to human activity'. Then, I would underline or circle the command words, 'to what extent do you agree' as this is what the examiner is asking you to do when writing your essay. Now you know what the question is asking you, I would start planning out the structure of your essay. To do this, I would do 4 sub headings: Introduction, Argument 1, Argument 2 and Conclusion. Whilst planning your introduction, I would write down any key words that you will need to define and put in here. Then, at the end, I would introduce the direction your essay is going to take by saying 'This essay will argue...'. For this case, let's say we will argue that 'the size of water stores in the water cycle change over time due to human activity to a large extent.' Then under each 'Argument' heading, write a few bullet points to summarise the argument. Additionally, at the end of each section complete a mini-conclusion to help keep the structure clear for you when you come to write your essay. When you write your essay, I would always suggest putting your mini conclusions at the end of each argument as this alert your examiner that you know what you are doing and that you are on track to answering the question. For example, I would suggest putting a short sentence at the end, such as 'Therefore, the changes of the size of water stores in the water cycle are due to human activity to a large extent'. Finally, I would suggest doing a quick few points when planning your conclusion. To do this, bring together all your mini conclusions from the end of each argument you planned. And there you have you a clear, but detailed plan which will help you answer your essay.