Formal Writing

Devil_god2101 — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 07:21:45 GMT

Hi all,

I am a student from New Zealand studying Measure for Measure by Shakesphere and we have to write a formal essay going beyond the text.

Here is the question

Context/setting:

This activity may be used as an extension to the study of a text. Students will develop an essay exploring an issue both within and beyond the text. The ideas in the essay can be developed in a variety of ways. The issue could be explored predominantly outside the text using the text as a springboard, or with a greater focus on the issue as seen within the text.

You will produce an essay of at least 500 words which explores an issue.

You will be assessed on:

Â· how well you develop your ideas about the issue within and beyond the text

Â· your ability to use a writing style that is appropriate for an essay

Â· how well you structure your writing with a introduction, body and conclusion

Â· your accuracy in spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Introduction

Texts sometimes challenge us to think more widely about the impact issues have on us or the world we live in. Students examining a range of texts linked by a âwar storiesâ theme might be challenged to go beyond the texts studied in class and explore what forces define who New Zealanders are today, given that world wars have helped define our national identity in the past.

You will take an issue raised in one or more texts you have studied in class and explore the issue beyond the text in an essay. As you develop your writing about an issue, you will guided through the process by a sample based on a âwar storiesâ theme. Your essay will be at least 500 words long. Your readers are your teacher and other students.

Task 1 Focusing on the issues in the text

a) As a class, list on the board several possible issues raised in one or more texts studied. Express the issues as questions. Which of these issues hold some relevance for you and can be explored in a modern day setting? To help you with this stage, a sample based on the âwar storiesâ theme is included.

Task 2 Taking an issue beyond the text

Choose an issue from task 1 which has relevance for you. Plan three main points you could make about the issue where you discuss the issue beyond the text and make links to the world we live in.

Task 3                       Taking a position - writing an introduction

Task 4                       Developing a structure â taking the issue beyond the text

a)          After your introduction, develop three main points where you write about the issue beyond the text. You can also refer back to the text as you develop your ideas. Each paragraph should have an S/E+C structure:

b)       Other paragraphs follow the same S/E+C structure. Identify the statement then examples and comments in each of these two paragraphs.

c)    Draft paragraphs for the three main points you will make in the body of your essay using the S/E+C structure.

d)   Draft a conclusion which re-emphasises your central opinion of the issue.

e)    Your finished essay will be at least 500 words long. It will:

Â·         develop ideas about your issue both within and beyond the text. The ideas in the essay can be developed in a variety of ways. The issue could be explored predominantly outside the text using the text as a springboard, or with a greater focus on the issue as seen within the text.

Â·         use language appropriate for a readership of students and your teacher

Â·         have an introduction, body and conclusion. Each main point will use an S/E + C structure as shown in Task 4 (a).

Â·         use writing conventions accurately (spelling, punctuation, grammar, syntax, paragraphing).

Exemplar A: Excellence (A+)

What should teenagers learn from the sacrifices of earlier generations?

What matters to some teenagers today? This stereo, those clothes, that car, whereâs the party? What about, âShould I go and fight for my country?â To many teenagers in 1914 going to war was an exciting prospect. It mattered, just like the clothes and the car matter in 2002. Would todayâs young New Zealanders react in the same way if they were suddenly faced the prospect of sacrificing their lives for their country? Not likely. We should learn from the sacrifices of earlier generations. Anzac Day is not a feeble excuse for a public holiday. It is a time for teenagers to acknowledge some important lessons about what really matters.

We lose a sense of who we as a nation if we let popular modern day events obscure Anzac Dayâs significance. Wins in major sports like rugby against other countries are often presented by the media as our defining moments. Many young New Zealanders seem to regard sporting success as all that matters to us as a nation. We need to see past the superficial glamorised way the media presents these victories as great national moments and their sports stars as heroes. Anzac Day is one public occasion in the year when New Zealand recognises its ordinary heroes, those who put their lives on the line for their country. We should also acknowledge those who honour their whakapapa and remember their ancestorsâ deeds in individual ways too. In the documentary The Last of the Anzacs Joe Pere placed soil he collected from Gallipoli where his grandfather fought and died at his motherâs grave to bring his spirit or wairua home. This kind of personal tribute is just as important as public Anzac Day ceremonies in recognising what our ancestors have done for us. It should hold greater significance for us than some media hyped sports result.

The disaster at Gallipoli also should also teach teenagers that knowledge and understanding are more powerful weapons than fighting. At the end of The Last of the Anzacs: 102 year old Anzac veteran Doug Dibley revealed a simple yet powerful insight: âIâve learned something Iâll never forget the rest of my life â how fruitless war is.â We should take notice of a man who had seen the horrors of war nearly 90 years ago. War is no game. The Anzacs had no idea of the brutal horror which lay ahead of them, the nightmare, the great misadventure. As teenagers they had hardly lived a quarter of their lives. Someoneâs child who had finished school and just started work was now charging uphill to certain death into machine gun fire at Chunik Bair. Perhaps if they had received some kind of insight into what war was about then they would have had second thoughts about going. Today we expect instant access to information in a way which was unimaginable in 1914. Imagine a teenager about to go to fight for king and country logging on to www.gallipoli.com, seeing how awful it was and saying no thanks!

There is little difference between teenage attitudes in 1914 and 2002. Young people often seek adventure and excitement. Listening to the stories of Les Leach and Doug Dibley in The Last of the Anzacs I found myself relating to their attitudes. In 1914 many young people saw war as an opportunity to take part in âthe great adventure.â It was revealed that Les Leach lied about his age in order to enlist. He was not alone. Many of those teenagers were scared when they joined up not of the risk to life and limb, but unbelievably that âit would be all over before we got there!â I appreciated how a generation of young men were scarred for life by what they thought would be a âlarkâ. Their values, their perspectives on life were changed for ever. I realised how lucky I am in that it is highly unlikely I will face anything resembling their awful wartime experiences. Some of my generationâs obsessions with superficial material things like cars, clothes and stereos seems trivial when compared to the emotional trauma the Anzacs had to deal with.

The fact that many people of all ages turn out at dawn on April 25 shows that New Zealanders still value Anzac Day and those who fought for their country. It is vital that teenagers appreciate their sacrifices in order to learn what is best for our country in the future. Lest we forget the saying âthose who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.â

Exemplar B: Merit (A/B+)

Is there any truth in fiction?

Is there any truth in fiction? We known Peter Weirâs film the The Truman Show is purely fictional and the people just characters, but there are alarmingly similar parallels between Trumanâs naivety and that of a nation being watched and monitored without knowledge and consent.

The Truman Show challenges us to consider the authenticity of our own lives, and take a look into our world today. It shows us a vision of a TV-made man, the unwitting star of a life manufactured for perpetual broadcast. Truman lives a life with actors as friends, sets for each âsceneâ of his life, and cameras watching his every move. Contemplating The Truman Show I was left wondering, is this concept really that paranoid or that far from reality? How far is it from our reality here in New Zealand?

Surveillance is everywhere in New Zealand. For example, Christchurch is said to have more surveillance than anywhere else in the Southern Hemisphere. But where are the cameras and what is their purpose? Perhaps as a nation we should be considering whether or not this is really necessary. Should we be so accepting of such an invasion of our privacy? A large department store recently installed cameras in a womenâs lingerie department. The reason for this was that many items of clothing were going missing. While the purpose of surveillance is easy to understand, we must challenge it from another perspective. It is wrong to invade oneâs privacy without their prior knowledge. How can we justify this?

Another point to consider is do the cameras that surround us really provide security and protection? In the Truman Show, Christoph is like an over-protective father figure who can also be likened to God. He created a world for his âsonâ and had total control over that world. In a rather warped sense he âprotectedâ Truman. Truman would be kept away from all danger in his world and no harm could come to him. We trust the surveillance in our country to give us protection much like Truman trusted his world to be reality. We allow ourselves to be watched and monitored in the fake belief that this will keep us safe. But at what expense do we allow this to happen? Do we really want such intrusion into our privacy? There have recently been a number of shows on television that peer into peopleâs lives twenty-four hours a day like Big Brother. The difference between these shows and real life, though, is that these people choose to put themselves in these situations. Perhaps such people are just so desperate for fame, fortune, or simply just a little attention. However, we do have a choice.

We need to weigh up the issues of safety versus our individual right to privacy. It is something we should consider very carefully. In contrast to the intrusion of privacy that took place in Trumanâs life, we, in New Zealand must be vigilant in our demand for privacy.

So far I have the main idea "Abuse of Power"

I don't no what my three points can be i think i can write about technology and corruption, but i don't know how to link technology to Measure for Measure. I want to write something like the A+. The topics are different it has to relate to NZ. I am not asking anyone to write it for me but can anyone guide me. I have 3 days to get this sorted before the actual assessment. I have a few more examples if you guys want to look at, if you want to please let me know.

So please help me prepare this formal essay.

Re: how to pronounce numbers

Eng_teach_in_germany — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 18:04:39 GMT

ok.. I would just like to clarify something - I do in fact make my students aware that zero is commonly pronounced as the letter 'O'. I teach to German people, most of whom are already aware of this due to years of English courses in school, etc..

In German, the word for 'zero' is 'Null' and it's always used for phone numbers. SO, 'Null'='zero'. That is the unamiguous, technically correct and exact translation. I teach the students that it is more correct to say 'zero' because it is literally not the letter 'O', no matter how post-modern you wish to be. I don't make a fuss over it, I'm fully aware that many/most people use 'Oh', and I don't care if my students use 'Oh'. I even use it sometimes myself. It's just not a big deal. As I stated in a previous post, I just tell the students 'the full story'. They are never confused about it afterwards and very little time is required to be spent on it. Similarly, I've spent enough time on it here as well. The End.

In regards to the related topic - whether or not there is actually such a thing as 'correct' English, my response is simply that in practice, 'on the ground' so to speak, an 'anything goes' approach is inappropriate. In a philosophy class it might be fine to discuss how everything's relative and so on, but in real world ESL teaching it's advisable to 'stick to the rules' of English grammar as much as possible. Of course language changes over time. Of course there's no perfect, absolute, master version of English set in stone forever. There are very cohesive standards and rules however(which change gradually over time) which make it possible for us to communicate clearly with each other, and to pass on the knowledge of our language to non-native speakers.

Take for example this (now online) book written 90 years ago, entitled 'How to Speak and Write Correctly':
<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/hwswc10h.htm" target="_blank" title="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/hwswc10h.htm">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/hwswc10h.htm</a>
While the author's writing style may seem slightly antiquated, it's still fine and 99% of his description of English grammar still applies today, nearly 100 years later. The other 1% consists of the sort of changes and developents that are often discussed on this forum.

The problem of what is correct or not of course often comes up in TESL when British and American English use different words or spelling. At the end of the day you have to teach either one or the other, or teach both. Usually it depends on which one the client/student is most likely to need.

Search results for 'tag:Writing styles tag:Spelling' matching tags 'Writing styles' and 'Spelling'

Formal Writing

Task 1 Focusing on the issues in the text

Task 2 Taking an issue beyond the text

Task 3 Taking a position - writing an introduction

Re: how to pronounce numbers