1. The Original Composition
Some Hints

2. Make in interesting
If you are bored writing it, your marker is bored reading it
Think about the obvious answer to the prompt and then avoid it!
We recommend writing a narrative essay
Would you rather listen to a lecture or go see a movie?

3. Plan your response Spend time thinking and planning your response
Most prompts have two parts; be sure to answer both sides.
Ex. Certain events mark the beginning of maturity.
Avoid the stone skipping method by quickly touching on several topics
Choose one and do it really well

4. Think carefully about negation
Seriously think if you want to negate the topic
To negate: to argue against
Some don’t quite work, but you might be halfway through before you realize

5. Use the correct writing style
“In conclusion” and “In summary” are not narrative writing techniques
Make sure you know what a narrative essays looks like

6. Show don’t tell
I was angry when I entered the room and my teacher was annoyed.
VS.
The walls shook violently as I slammed the classroom door upon entering. My English teacher, Ms. McCann, glanced over, coked on eyebrow and shot me a cold stare as she waited for me to take a seat.

7. Think about diction Happy, mad, sad, glad bad VS
Elated, irate, glum, appeased, unfortunate

8. Be careful with dialogue
If you know how to correctly integrate dialogue, use it
If you don’t, be careful!

9. Don’t do this! In this paper I will …
It is very interesting/important because…
As you can see…
It was a dark and stormy night…
The universe is a strange and wonderful thing…
And then I woke up…
So you can see that I have proven…