Below are some suggestions for taking and passing exams in language arts (writing). For additional help, see the Some Hands-on Study Suggestions section on the Extra Tools page of this website.
Language Arts - Writing
Writing an Essay
Four types of writing:
Narrative - Tells a story.
Descriptive - Creates a picture using words.
Informative - Shares facts or explains how something is done.
Persuasive - Convinces readers to agree with your point of view.
The following suggestions will help you:
- Organize your thoughts.
- Develop your sentence structure.
- Use your words in the most concise manner possible.
- Proofread your essay.
Most writing exams will touch on all or some of the following points:
- Organization - Arranging thoughts and ideas in a clear and concise manner.
- Usage - Conveying thoughts and emotions with carefully chosen words.
- Sentence Structure - Using parts of speech to form sentences.
- Mechanics - Recognizing capitalization, punctuation, and spelling rules.
Some Helpful Tools
Follow the steps below to write your essay:
Writing Your Essay
Choose your topic.
Decide which type of essay you would like to write.
Write a clear sentence based on your topic. This sentence is called your topic
sentence.
It will appear in your introductory paragraph along with at least three additional sentences that will support your topic. It will also identify your intent or the point you intend to make in your essay.
Your first, second, and third paragraphs will contain each of your supporting sentences.
Your concluding paragraph will contain a summary that will wrap up your essay.
Proofread Your Essay
To proofread your essay, follow the steps below:
Read your essay aloud to make sure that your words have an easy flow instead of an awkward clunky sound.
Read each word and pay close attention to spelling, grammar, and
sentence structure.
Use a dictionary to look up the definition of words that are unfamiliar to you.
Use a thesaurus to find new words to replace overused words.
Rewrite your essay to create a final copy.
For help organizing your thoughts and writing your essay: click here
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Exam Help
