Writing

LSS2 Writing Assessment

For the writing assessment, you will be given a selection of texts and articles on a topic. This is called your ‘Exam Text Pack’ (ETP). You will have approximately 5 days to read, annotate and understand the ETP. On the day of the exam, you will be given an essay question which you will answer in exam conditions. You should use the sources in the ETP to support your answer. You can bring your annotated copy of the Text Pack into the exam, but the annotations must be in note form only, in English, and only on the text pack itself.

Assignment information

You will have two hours writing time
You should use some of that time to plan your essay (we recommend at least 15 minutes)
Date of the exam: The exam will be in week 13. Check your timetable. Your teacher and coordinator will give you full details nearer the time.
You will have a formative exam in the middle of term 2. It is important you take this exam seriously and learn from the feedback.

Learning outcomes

Everything you have studied during your time at the IPC will contribute to your performance on this exam. By the time you take this exam, you will be able to:

create effective, detailed essay plans
formulate a clear stance in a piece of academic writing
make clear, reasoned arguments using academic language
select relevant information from source texts to support arguments
paraphrase and synthesise information from source texts, and cite them correctly
use appropriate features to structure an essay and show cohesion within paragraphs

What can you do to prepare and improve?

Look back at what you have studied on previous modules. It is important you connect and apply the skills and knowledge you have learnt on other modules.
Attend class, engage with the content, do the homework, use the materials on the VLE and/or Classroom.
The EAP Toolkit (found on the VLE) is a useful resource. Spend time not just reading but doing the tasks which concern academic writing.
There is a lot of material online which can help improve your writing skills, e.g. here
There are many books and e-books which can help improve your academic writing, e.g. this one . These books can be borrowed from the University Library.
Practise writing in your own time. Try to limit your use of a dictionary, and generally speaking, using an online/smartphone translator is not likely to help you much (especially when preparing for an exam!)

How will your work be marked?

In order to produce a strong piece of work, you will need to incorporate the language and study skills that we are covering in class. Specifically:

Argument and task response

Have you answered the question?
Is your stance and argument clear?
Have you analysed and evaluated the texts in enough detail?

Structure

Does your essay have a good introduction, main body and conclusion?
Is your writing clear, cohesive and easy to read?
Are your paragraphs organised, well-structured and logical?

Referencing and use of sources

Have you summarised and paraphrased from the texts using your own words?
Have you acknowledged all your sources?
Have you cited correctly and accurately?

Language range and accuracy

Does your writing use good grammar and vocabulary?
Do you use a range of grammatical structures and vocabulary?
Is your writing appropriate for the task? i.e. are you using good academic style?

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