Writing Tips

Section B Paper 1:

In the exam Section B Paper 1 you will be asked to write an essay related to section A of that same paper there will be three tasks from which you choose one and these will involve the following:

Writing to argue - persuade - advise... definitions coming up :]

Here are some ways you can revise for this section of paper 1

Writing to argue - persuade - advise

Arguing - means expressing a point of view as clearly and effectively as possible. It usually will involve presenting evidence and a series of reasons

Persuade - means getting your readers to agree with a point of view or to feel something. It may involve an argument, but will usually involve other methods of trying to affect peoples feelings about something

Advise - means showing someone a way of doing something although it isn't essential you do it this way

Planning and Writing

Now, you are probably thinking you don't need to plan your essay, that you never have before so why start now... this is what I thought?

Well the answer is your essay will be more understandable, the examiner will up your marks (by a few) as it will be clear to him that you have structure and know what you are going to talk about.

A good way to plan is to do a quick spider diagram of all your ideas... I mean all your ideas not just the ones you think are best, then find the best ones, link them together and put them into some sort of order e.g paragraphs and off you go writing your essay :]

Make sure you take no more than 10 minutes doing this as you must leave time to write your essay I recommend 5 minutes for planning!!

Don't try to draft your essay as you will not have time to write it if you do this

Paragraphs - Evidence - Quotes

Remember to use paragraphs as this makes it clearer for you and the examiner to read... you can't get a C grade without using these :]

If you decide to make a point, you must use evidence to back up your idea and the best way to give evidence is to use a quote from the text you are using to answer the questions on Section 1 Paper 1 and 2.

Your should include quotations but not too many and don't make them really long. A good quotation could be one to two lines or simply a few words... a few words is what I tend to do :]

Selection - Conclusion - Style - Creativity - Answers

Selecting - when answering the questions remember not to retell the whole plot of the story. Be selective in the parts of text and the quantity of text you use. Only refer to the parts which help you answer

Answering - although it sounds obvious but you can easily forget what you are trying to answer... at the end of each paragraph read it through and check you are still answering the same question you started out answering :]

Conclusion - This should draw all your previous points together and if you are creating an essay under the argue or persuade method this paragraph should be the most forceful and witty of all

Remember to be creative with your essay so it stands out from the croud, try to think of a different take on writing the essay... the more unique, the more points :]