Original Writing

Sue Morkane is coordinator of English Language at Richard Huish Sixth Form College, and is a Senior Examiner in English.

• Acknowledgements.  Introduction.  Assessment Objectives.  How Can you Use this Book?  1. The Commentary  Some of the Best Writing Breaks the Rules.  Why do you Have to Write a Commentary?  That Initial Inspiration.  Doing the Background Research.  Designing your Text.  Identifying the Significant Features.  Drafts and Redrafts.  Audience Feedback.  Differentiation.  The Style Model.  Putting it all Together.  2. Writing to Entertain - The Short Story.  Finding your Voice.  The Structure.  Beginnings.  Point of View.  Showing not Telling.  The Effectiveness of Humour.  Writing to Entertain - Other Ideas: Poetry, Song Writing, Writing for Children.  3. Writing to Entertain - Spoken Text  The Dramatic Monologue.  Sketch Writing.  Radio, Television, Play and Film Scripts.  And Now for Some Ideas for Plots.  4. Writing to Inform (a) The Personal Voice.  The Feature Article.  Know your Genre - Newspapers, Magazine Writing, Reviews, the Interview.  (b) The Public Voice - Investigation and Public Information.  Who 'Owns' the Text?  The Issue of Formality.  5. Writing to Instruct and Advise.  Think of your Audience.  What are the Features of an Instructive Text?  How to Make it Interesting. More Advice than Instruction.  And Finally, Some Advice from Aunty.  6. Voicing Argument: The Art of Persuasion.  (a) Friends, Romans, Countrymen Persuasive Speech  (b)Persuasion in Print  The Issue of Plagiarism.  How to Get Started