Guide to spelling, punctuation and grammar

A
SSESSING THE ESSAY
Put yourself in the position of the assessor who has to grade this essay.
Ask yourself these questions:
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7 – S
AMPLE ESSAY
2:
LITERATURE

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•
Does the opening paragraph address the topic of the question and
say something specific about it, indicating the kind of ground that
will be covered in the remainder of the essay?
•
Does it avoid empty waffle?
Consider each of the next six paragraphs. 
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Do they each have a key sentence? 
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Do they all deal mainly with one key point? 
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Is this key point developed and backed up by close references to the
text? 
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Are relevant quotations used? 
•
Does the final sentence of each paragraph act as a kind of
summarising sentence for the paragraph or point towards the next
paragraph?
•
Are these six paragraphs linked together by a linking word or phrase?
•
Is there a sense of continuity or flow to these six paragraphs, the body
of the essay?
•
Does the essay indicate in the final paragraph that some kind of
conclusion is being reached?
•
Does the final paragraph act as kind of summary of the case the
writer has been making?
•
Does the final paragraph round off the essay appropriately, bringing
the essay squarely back to the overall topic of the question?
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H
OW TO WRITE ESSAYS

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8
SAMPLE ESSAY 3: 
WRITING ABOUT POETRY
When you write about poetry, you have to be aware that it is not the
same as when you are writing about prose or drama. The specific
characteristics of poetry such as concentration or weight of language, the
form, rhythms and cadences, the figurative language and imagery, must
be acknowledged and dealt with. Of course, prose at times uses
figurative language and imagery and often has its own rhythms as well,
so prose and poetry often share literary characteristics. It is possible to
talk about ‘poetic prose’ and ‘prosaic poetry’ when one or the other is
permeated with features commonly associated with the other mode.
Generally, however, in poetry it is the importance that the language – or
diction, as it is called in poetry – is given, the concentration of meaning
that poets give their words, that creates the resonance of meaning that
creates the effect the poet is seeking.
Indeed, whatever subject area you are writing about in essays, it is
important that you use with confidence the specific vocabulary and
terminology associated with the particular subject. For example, history
and geography as areas of study each have their own terminology, their
own specific modes of discussion and vocabulary. That is not to say that
you should lapse into subject ‘jargon’ for the sake of it, but you should
display to your assessors that you are aware of the kind of terms that are
generally employed in writing about particular subjects. 
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Read the poem below by Robert Browning and then consider the sample
essay that follows in response to the following question:
What, in your judgement, makes ‘Meeting at Night’ an effective
poem?