Exam English
In Cambridge First or Cambridge Advanced, you might be asked to publish an article. But do you realize why is an article not the same as other styles of writing?
1 your reader is identified
a write-up is a lot like a conversation that is direct your reader. The exam question might tell you who your readers are. For instance, the students at a school, or the people living in a town or those who are thinking about sports. Anything you write must speak to that particular reader and engage their interest right from the sentence that is first.
2 It offers to obtain attention
If you’re anywhere on the web these full days, you’re going to be bombarded with articles with headlines that pull the reader in. It’s called «click baiting» and all sorts of the writer is trying to do is make you open the page to read through their article. You need to think like a journalist when you’re writing your article.
Glance at the heading and the first type of this article. How did I get your attention?*
3 It offers to be interesting
For an article to operate, it offers to enough be engaging to read all the way through. Remember how bored the examiner needs to be after reading fifty exam papers. Allow it to be easier to allow them to get a impression that is good your writing by entertaining them. Add humour, actual life or made up examples, or make up quotes.
4 This has to be easy to read
Use subheadings to break the text up and work out clear paragraphs. Write in a semi-informal, conversational style. And then make sure there was organisation to your opinions. The look stage is crucial with this. Spend 5-10 minutes brainstorming ideas and pick the best three or four. Think exacltly what the subheadings could be and then write a introduction that is short lets the reader understand what to expect.
Bear in mind you want your reader to keep reading, so do not tell them just what they’re going to read. It is not an essay! In an essay you usually restate the question, explain how you will answer it and perhaps say why it is important. In an article, that will kill your reader’s interest.
Look back only at that paragraph. What sentence style have I used which makes it semi-informal and speak straight to the reader?**
5 Write a ending that is good an essay you sum within the points that have gone before and draw a conclusion from that. But in an article, it’s far better to give the reader something to think of, perhaps by asking them another question or providing them with a call to action. Often, the greatest endings link back again to the point that is starting a way.
Here are two endings i possibly could use for this article:
- Look at your internet browsing history from the last day. Which articles got your attention? Could you observe how it was done by them?
- So, so now you learn how to write an article, the trend is essay writing to write one giving suggestions about something you realize about?
Common mistakes students make in articles
- The language is just too formal and more worthy of essays. Avoid words like: to sum up, some people say, nevertheless, on one hand etc.
- They don’t really use quotes or examples
- They either use not enough, or too many, questions. The questions, called rhetorical questions because they do not require a solution, should never be much more than one per paragraph. Good examples are:
* A title helping to make the topic immediately clear. For a few reason, people like reading lists! And a direct, rhetorical question in the first paragraph to help make readers like to find the answer out.
** I’ve used the vital to give instructions. E.g. Think??¦Keep in mind??¦Write??¦Spend??¦Article contributed by Nicola Prentis that is a trained teacher and materials writer, situated in Madrid and London. This woman is the writer of Speaking Skills (B2+) – a self study book with Collins.