1. Essay writing

2. Good writing
Skill  CAN
Exams Have to

3. How can I improve my writing?

4. The key to improving one’s writing is… PRACTICE!
Writing is a process and to write a really good piece of writing you need to go through different stages

5. Planning Planning your essay is very important
Time spent planning is never time wasted. Spend 5 or 10 minutes planning your essay.
In the ‘planning’ stage you should…

6. Read the essay question carefully
Identify the key words in the question and underline them
Explore these key words by jotting down ideas, brainstorming, etc

7. Write a plan which addresses these key words and orders your ideas
Allow yourself the time to think your ideas

8. STRUCTURE

9. PARAGRAPHS

11. EXAMPLE:

12. Drafting After planning, you start writing your draft, rough, copy
You should refer to your plan regularly at this stage
This is not your finished product, but it may need just a little bit of editing.

13. Editing When you finish writing your draft, read through it
You should then go through the vocabulary, connectors and mistakes checklist
This will help you to identify your mistakes and polish your work

14. CONNECTORS
To conclude the topic: In conclusion/ To sum up/ In short/ All in all/ Overall
To express personal opinions : On balance/ In my opinion/ I believe (that)/ I feel (that)/ It seems to me/ In my view/ As I see it/ I agree/ I don’t agree/ I think/ Personally
To show purpose: / In order to/ so as to/ so that/
To list ideas: Firstly/ secondly/ finally/ In the first place/ Lastly
To contrast ideas: However/ although/ In contrast/ Whereas/ but/ Nevertheless/ in spite of/ Despite
To show a sequence: First of all/ Then/ After that/ Eventually/ In the end or Finally
To describe a cause: Because/ Since/ As/ Due to
To describe a consequence: Consequently/ As a result/ Therefore/ So/ Thus/ For this reason/ That is why
To add information: In addition/ Moreover/ What’s more/ Besides/
Too/ Furthermore/ And

15. COMMON MISTAKES Everybody have. Everybody has.
When somebody, somebody,anybody, everybody etc are subjects, the verb must be singular *
I’m very surprised see you here. I’m very surprised to see you here. We use infinitives after adjectives describing feelings.
I like go shopping. I love going shopping.
Write letters is boring. Writing letters is boring.
An –ing form is usually the subject/object of another of a verb.
In a few years will have a new communication system.  In a few years we will have a new communication system.
A verb always needs a subject .
More fast. Faster
Comparatives: with 1 syllable (or 2 ending in vowel), add -er
People is .  People are. Mensmen
Irregular plurals Person/ people, man/men, woman/women, fish/fish…

16. Just to end, ask yourself…
Have I kept in mind the audience and the purpose of this piece of writing? (register)
Have I used punctuation correctly?
Have I used the correct grammar tenses?
Have I made any spelling mistakes?
Have I kept to the word limit?

17. Final Version
Always remember the importance of legible handwriting and good presentation

18. Self-evaluation
After the teacher corrects your work, read through the comments and the corrections and reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of that essay

19. Try not to repeat the same mistakes in your next piece of writing and follow any tips, suggestions and feedback given by your teacher

20. Key to symbols used in marking essays

21. Essay Marking Meaning in Full
Grammar T
Tense
VOC
Vocabulary
(wrong choice of word)
( )
Unnecessary words P
Punctuation ?
Difficulty to follow ∧
Missing word S
Spelling WO
Word Order