How to improve essay-writing

1. How to improve essay-writing

2. PROCESS WRITING • THE MINDMAP • Focuses thoughts and ideas • Helps you see if you have enough ideas • Orders thoughts logically • THE FIRST / ROUGH DRAFT • Formats the basic structure of the essay • Introduction, body, conclusion • Paragraphing / links / development essential focus • Editing and proofreading should be done here: there must be clear evidence • thereof. • THE FINAL DRAFT • Only done when proofreading and editing completed • Represents the “polished” final product • Word count essential • Always use rubric as a reference tool

3. 1. WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW • Ignore topics that you don’t like, understand or cannot relate to. • Do not write off the topic. • Dismiss the topic if you’re unsure of the format. • Choose an essay and topic type which suits your personality and ability. • Be original but avoid over-the-top situations. • This must not, however, stump your creativity 2. WRITE IN FULL SENTENCES • Sentences must all have a subject and a finite verb. 3. VARY PARAGRAPH AND SENTENCE LENGTHS • Don’t be afraid of using short sentences: She cried. They ran. I begged him, etc. 4. VARY SENTENCE CONSTRUCTIONS • Use simple, complex and compound sentences.

4. 5. MAKE SURE CONCORD IS CORRECT. 6. DECIDE ON THE BEST TENSE. Use the same tense, as far as possible, throughout. 7. USE DIRECT SPEECH/ DIALOGUE SPARINGLY • It enhances your writing and allows the reader to relate to characters. • The reader can visualise the character • Avoid overusing “He said…” or “She said…” 8. INCLUDE THE SENSES IN YOUR WRITING • Decide which senses are relevant to your topic • Be reasonably descriptive (not too much)

5. WHAT TO AVOID THE REPETITION OF WORDS AT THE BEGINNING OF SENTENCES REPETITIVE SENTENCE STRUCTURES THE OVERUSE OF ADJECTIVES AND ASVERBS OVERUSED WORDS: “A lot of, got, lots of, stuff, things, nice, good, etc” SLANG – unless used in direct speech to make a point CLICHÉS – “red as a tomato”, “to err is human”, etc REDUNDANCY AND TAUTOLOGY – “Your personal opinion” VERBOSITY: Avoid the use of too many words, where the same idea could be stated simply and clearly. UNNECESSARY “BIG” WORDS – could lead to malapropisms. AMBIGUITY: “Peter told James that his father had left.” Whose father? NUMERALS: Generally numbers should be written in words.