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Six Rules of Essay Writing

Posted on May 7, 2011 by | Comments Off on Six Rules of Essay Writing

  1. Plan x 2 = brainstorm ideas for the topic, organise them, then make a list of techniques you’ll use.
  2. Dramatic opening paragraph – it’s really important to grab the reader’s attention. Use a quote, or a series of rhetorical questions, a list, or a vivid description. Say something shocking or provocative. However you do it, make the reader feel eager to read on.
  3. Variety of ideas. A good way to come up with ideas when you’re stuck is to ask yourself to apply the idea to ME / EUROPE / WORLD  PAST / PRESENT / FUTURE
  4. Variety of techniques. Use your techniques plan. As you use them cross them off. Some people write well naturally & don’t need this but lots of people need reminding that it’s not just what you say that matters, it’s also how you say it!
  5. Flow.  Connecting phrases create a flow and transition from one idea to the next.
  6. Dramatic final paragraph – it’s really important to leave the reader feeling satisfied. Use a quote, or a series of rhetorical questions, a list, or a vivid description. Say something shocking or provocative. However you do it, make the reader sad that your essay is over. Some writers like to come full circle & begin & end with the same idea.

It’s hard to say exactly how long your essay should be. A brilliant debate 3 pages  long will do better than a boring 7 page article. A guideline is between 3&half & 5 pages but quality is always more important than quantity! Choose your essay title based on the topic but also on the genre – which style of writing suits you best???

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Essay Topics

Posted on May 7, 2011 by | Comments Off on Essay Topics

It is impossible to predict what will appear in the essay section. However, certain topics have come up more than once since the new course began in 2000.

  • CHANGING THE WORLD / THE FUTURE X 7
  • TEENAGERS (responsibilities / stress / culture of youth) x 4
  • EDUCATION X 4
  • NATIONAL IDENTITY X 4
  • THE PAST X 5 (memory was the theme in 2012)
  • SCIENCE X 2
  • HEROES X 2 + Debate: we live in an “unheroic” era
  • CELEBRITY X 2
  • CONSUMERISM X 2
  • FUN / HAPPINESS X 2
  • ROMANCE / RELATIONSHIPS X 2
  • BOOKS/LITERATURE x 2
  • TRUTH / LIES  x 2
  • CLOTHES x 2 (how they reveal your personality)
  • MUSIC x 2
  • COMMUNITY / NEIGHBOURS x 2
  • THE PRESENT x 2

Other topics that have only appeared once include tv & radio, celebrating ordinary people, tourist attractions, urban vs rural lifestyles, family, sport, performance, travel, laws, gossip, discrimination, smoking ban, mobile phones, technology, time, marvels in the world today, glimpsed moments.

Feelings come up almost every year but they always name a specific one – so far they’ve included: freedom, indecision, daydreams, imagination, hope, wonder and the ones that came up twice listed above (happiness, love, truth).

Some topics that haven’t appeared yet but that MIGHT come up (& I’m just guessing here!) include:
RECESSION
INTERNET / SOCIAL NETWORKING
THE PRESENT (the importance of living in the moment) –  *I WAS RIGHT!!! This came up in 2012! (Write about having “all the time in the world”) & 2013 (“the everyday treadmill & the gilded promises of life”).
INJUSTICE

Some feelings that haven’t appeared yet but that MIGHT come up (& again I’m just guessing here!) include:
FEAR
SADNESS
PRIDE

You could collect ideas for topics without having to write the entire essay. See below!

TOPIC: _________________

LIST:

RHETORICAL QUESTIONS:

QUOTES:

STATISTICS / FACTS:

JOKE:

VIVID IMAGERY: Picture the scene….

ANECDOTE: (don’t forget the hyperbole)

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From word to paragraph…

Posted on May 7, 2011 by | Comments Off on From word to paragraph…

When you brainstorm you’ll often just have individual words written down but if you want to turn a word into a paragraph of prose how do you do it?

I showed my leaving certs how the other day. I asked them for a word. They came up with ‘sex’ (hormones, hormones, hormones).

Then I wrote a list on the board as follows:

  1. Imagery = 5 senses = SIGHT   SOUND   SMELL   TASTE   TOUCH
  2. Rhetorical question
  3. Repetition
  4. Thoughts & Feelings
  5. Short snappy sentences
  6. Suspense
  7. Twist

As we used each technique we crossed it off.

Here’s the paragraph we came up with:

Does he seriously think I’m going to sleep with him? I’m really really drunk and I can smell the stale sweat of his armpits, see the yellow plaque on his teeth. I can taste the puke in my mouth and the thump of a dance tune hammers into my brain. He reaches over and grabs my ass. I’m definitely going to puke again. ‘Get me out of here’ a voice screams in my head. But I can’t leave. You see this is my job. And if I don’t sleep with him my children don’t eat”. 

As a rule I find students need to think less about what they write and more about HOW they write. Having a list of techniques written down forces you to be more stylish in your writing.

Now over to you. Pick a word, any word. Try to write 8 or 10 stylish sentences. As you use each of the techniques above cross them off.

You’ll probably be pleasantly surprised at the result but disheartened at how long it takes.  Practise writing one paragraph every day and you’ll get quicker at it.

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Sample speech

Posted on May 7, 2011 by | 2 comments

Sometimes a persuasive speech will be so well written that you find yourself agreeing with something completely illogical. Look at the example below – it doesn’t make sense logically but it manipulates your emotions and thus convinces you almost in spite of yourself.

Studying it should make you more aware of why people go along with some really crazy ideas (scientology, suicide bombings…). It’s all because of how the writer/speaker makes you feel:

Blowing Hot Steam

Ladies & gentlemen, the time has come to outlaw that most dangerous of domestic appliances – the kettle! We may well smile as we picture our whistling friend as a hatchet-wielding killer; yet this seemingly innocent chrome contraption causes chaos in our homes every year, whilst the media remains suspiciously silent on the issue.

Well I for one am tired of these lies of silence, and for this reason I have spent the last month touring the A&E departments of our countries hospitals, doing a little market research of my own!

Mayo General revealed a shocking array of third degree burns caused by clumsy kettle carrying. One ashen-faced 25yr old (who does not wish to be named) tripped carrying a fully loaded kettle and ended up with the contents searing his nether regions. Needless to say his crown jewels are tarnished beyond repair! Nearby, a dazed and confused pensioner with a nasty purple lump on his temple described being attacked by his kettle-wielding Missus after he refused (one time too many) to get up off the couch and make them a cuppa! Meanwhile, a nail-chewing mother looked on in horror as her darling daughter howled in pain & clawed at the bandages covering her left arm from shoulder to wrist. Never again would making hungover Mommy an industrial strength cup of coffee for Mother’s Day seem like a good idea!!!

And so I say to you my friends, declare war on kettles. Let this marriage-wrecking, family-destroying, genital-mangler of a device be criminalised for once and for all. Canvas your local politician now and let this serious yet swept-under-the-carpet issue take it’s rightful place alongside the war on terror, the war on drugs and the war on organised crime.  

Look at the techniques used here – connect to audience, alliteration, hyperbole, emphatic words, vivid imagery, eye-witness testimony, sarcasm, list, an order (canvas you local politician), repetition of a key phrase.

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Unseen poetry

Posted on May 4, 2011 by | Comments Off on Unseen poetry

Generally speaking you can answer one 20 mark question or two 10 mark questions so we’ll deal with them separately here.

The 20mark question usually goes a little something like this:

  • Write a personal response to this poem, highlighting the impact it makes on you.
  • Describe the impact this poem makes on you as a reader.

As with studied poetry you are expected to include sentences which use the pronoun ‘I‘.

  1. Talk about how the poems made you feel.
  2. Identify what they taught you, how they made you look at an issue(s) in a new way.
  3. Mention how these themes are relevant to your life.
  4. Discuss what you enjoyed in the poet’s style of writing. 

Remember though, no matter what the question, you are expected to quickly figure out the message/theme of the poem, identify some techniques, and comment on the feelings created in the poem and in you. DO NOT go off on a long rambling tangent about how this poem reminds you of this thing that happened to you once. Mention the poem’s relevance to your life in passing but stay focused – your job is to discuss and interpret the poem and how the poem affects you emotionally/intellectually not to talk about yourself (you can do this in Paper 1 QB and essay).  

10 mark questions

Questions on the mood/feelings/atmosphere (see poetic techniques & terminology)

  • What is the mood of this poem and how is it conveyed?
  • How does this poem make you feel? Explain by detailed reference to the poem.
  • How well does the poem capture the boy’s sense of excitement and hope?
  • Choose two phrases which best capture the girl’s feelings. Give reasons for your choices.

Questions on the setting (see language of narration / descriptive writing)

  • Do you like the world that the poet describes in this poem? Give reasons for your answer.

Questions on the imagery/ style of writing (see poetic techniques & terminology)

  • Choose one image/line from this poem that appealed to you. Explain your choice.
  • The poem uses beautiful imagery to capture an ugly reality. Discuss.
  • The poem makes effective use of irony – discuss.

Questions on the poet/speaker/characters in the poem

  • What impression do you get of ….. the poet’s father – the father/son relationship? (see list of character traits).
  • What impact does this childhood experience have on the poet/speaker?
  • What kind of life do you think the speaker lives?

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