Things to take into account when writing

by Nina Dearle

Answer the question1. Read the question carefully. It can be your guide to how to organize your answer. An essay question should have at least 3 paragraphs and a topic sentence. Form a thesis sentence before you start and stick to it. Be sure you stick to the question, and don’t digress to something that was not asked. Answer the entire question. Choose important points. You can’t say it all.

2. Give yourself a few minutes before you begin to make a scratchy outline and to think about what you are going to say. Write down key words or make a rough outline to trigger your memory. Then you can take the pressure off yourself to remember and write the same time. As you have little brain storms and remember things, add them to your outline. I promise that in the long run this method saves time and produces more coherent essays. Dr. Sara N. James Art History Study Guide

Separate the wheat from the chaff

When you separate the wheat from the chaff, you select what is useful or

valuable and reject what is useless or worthless.

PARAGRAPHSLike a juicy hamburger, a paragraph needs two things to hold it together.

Topic sentence

Conclusion sentence

Paragraphs A paragraph is a group

of related sentences that develops one main idea.  Although there is no definite length for a paragraph, it is often from five to twelve sentences long.

Clearly indent the first word of every paragraph about 1 inch (5 spaces).

Most paragraphs contain one main idea to which all the sentences relate.

The topic sentence states this main idea.

The body of the paragraph develops and supports this main idea with particular facts, details, and examples.

ELEMENTS OF STYLE

CHOICE OF WORDS

Good writers are concise and precise, weeding out unnecessary words and choosing the exact word to convey meaning.

CHOICE OF STRUCTURE

A good writer varies structures to hold the readers' attention. Writing the same types of sentences with the same structures over and over and over and over makes for dull writing

In this context, "domestic issues" and "foreign policy" are used in a general sense in the first sentence. The writer then elaborates by clarifying specific kinds of issues ("welfare reform" and "peace in the middle east") referred to by the more general terms in the earlier sentence.

SPECIFIC AND GENERAL WORDS

The president's knowledge of domestic issues is superior to his understanding of foreign policy. He has been more successful with welfare reform, for example, than with peace in the Middle East.

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/write/we/ch5/19b.htm

Choice of words and structures

make s/g better improve Women can’t

work long hours because they feel more responsible for their children and household chores.

improve s/g enhance Women do not view

child rearing and domesticity in the same way as men do, and as a result are unable to commit to extreme work demands.

It’s not the same to write …

… as to write …

practice (n) to practise (v)

1. Read about precision and choice of words and adding clarity to your written work with specific nouns.

2. Choose two sentences from your written test and rewrite them.

3. Try this exercise.

A pronoun is used in place of a noun or another pronoun. The word a pronoun stands for is called the antecedent.

Often antecedentless pronouns indicate a lack of clarity in the writer's thoughts.

1. Highlight, underline or circle pronouns in your essay.2. Draw an arrow from the pronoun to its antecedent.3. Revise all pronouns without antecedents for clarity.