1) Often, the questions will ask you to take a position or give your opinion on an issue. Take a strong clear position and give at least three well articulated, detailed, extensive arguments to support your position. Develop any statements you make with examples, descriptions, reasons. Pretend your reader has to have everything explained.
2) Take some time to plan your essay. Create an outline and try to stick to it.
3) When you quote do so briefly and correctly. Essays that have lengthy quotes or are primarily paraphrases or summary of the readings will earn F’s.
4) Stick to the subject. A short, strong, to-the-point essay is much better than a long rambling one that doesn’t say much of anything. Aim for 500 words. K.I.S.S. (Keep.It.Simple.Students.)
5) There are some language mistakes you absolutely want to avoid such as misspelling common words, titles, names, and quoted text. Also, be mindful of incomplete sentences/ideas and incorrect verb tense. The goal is to avoid making so many errors that you obscure the meaning of what you write.
6) Make sure you have answered the question in the prompt and mentioned both readings. Essays that do not answer the question will receive an F regardless of how well they are written.
It is important to pay attention to keywords in a writing prompt, especially the words that begin a prompt, which often tell the writer how to approach the topic. The final questions will begin in one of the following three ways:
1) In what ways…This opening indicates that there is perhaps no one answer to the question. So key issues have to be identified, arguments made, evidence offered and a final position made clear.
2) To what extent… This indicates a similar response to questions containing “How far…”. This type of question calls for a thorough assessment of the evidence in presenting an argument.
Explore alternative explanations where they exist. It allows a student to show, not only a depth of knowledge on a given subject but also to display independent judgment in analyzing the importance of different pieces of information.
3) How might/much/can…This opening asks about methods, skills, tools, behaviors– the way in which something is done. How might X impact X? How much can X effectively create change?
Requirements: around 500words
