IB Mock preparation – POTENTIAL WRITING TASKS FOR PAPER 2
· Write a letter to the editor
Respectful introduction – give some context/background information
Ideas
· I am writing this letter in order to express my annoyance/disgust/ disappointment
· Having recently read your article dated 17th November, I felt compelled to write this letter in order to express my opinions
· I regularly read your ______ and it has for a long time provided many interesting ideas…
· I am a fan of your work and I would like to offer you my point of view on…
Logical order –
Introduction explaining who you are
Clear order of paragraphs – background information
address what the issue is
explain purpose of letter
give opinion (forceful or respectful, positive or negative!)
offer alternatives
ask question/look for decision
finish respectfully (I look forward to receiving your response)
· Write an essay
§ Remember to TONE is ACADEMIC and purposeful.
§ NO Rhetorical Questions!
§ Make the point of the essay clear in the first paragraphs!
§ Order your ideas
§ Use lots of connectives!
Useful structures
Introduction
•It is generally accepted nowadays that …
•A controversial issue/topic/problem which often divides opinion is …
•A crucial issue nowadays is the
•A challenging issue/problem …
•Nowadays, ______is becoming an increasing concern.
•Nowadays, there is widespread concern about …
•Over the last 20 years, ________ has been a
•The issue of _______ opens up a very interesting debate …
•It is a vital/ critical/ crucial/ fundamental/ essential/ key problem or issue in society.
•Originally / At first / Initially
•Currently / At the moment / Nowadays
•In recent history …
•Since the beginning of time …
•History has been littered with examples of …
•For many old/young people, this issue is crucial because it has a direct impact on their lives.
•Clearly, such a development can have both positive and negative implications
•Thus it is having a huge impact ON …
•In view of this/ in light of this …
Opinions and arguments for MAIN BODY
•Some argue that the problem began…
•Whereas others trace it back to ….
•Some sceptics claim that …
•While I understand this point …
•Taking this into consideration,
•Although I think… others believe that …
•While there is certainly … there is also …
•As well as …., there is also …
•To achieve this, society/the government should …
•The short/long term effects may be …
•However, a positive impact has been …
•Moreover, this may mean that …
•Without a shadow of a doubt/needless to say/clearly/in
fact
•Firstly/secondly/Thirdly
•In addition to + gerund (in addition to increasing ….), we
also need to …
•For this to be successful, there should be …
•In theory this seems like … however in practice …
Time phrases
• Shortly afterwards / shortly before
•In the short term… / In the long term
•Recently there has been an increase in …
Set structures
•Due to the fact that …
•Due to the lack of …
•Despite the fact that …
•As a direct consequence,
•This is in part due to …
Passive voice structures
•It is often suggested that …
•It has been suggested that …
•It is widely believed that …
•It is often said that …
•It has been suggested that…
Conclusion
• In conclusion,
•Hopefully / It is hoped that …
•The … is expected to …
•While I believe that we should … others strongly
believe that …
•Taking all this into account, it is clear that ...
•All in all, ...
•To sum, this crucial issue needs to be dealt with by
implementing ...
•In conclusion, the facts suggest that ..
CONNECTIVES
1) To add: and, furthermore, in addition, what is more, to add, moreover
2) To contrast: but, although, though, despite, in spite of, however, nevertheless, yet, whereas, while, conversely, alternatively
3) To give reason: because, since, due to, as, owing to,because of
4) To give a result: therefore, consequently, so
5)To show sequence: firstly, secondly, finally, lastly, last
but not least
6) To summarise/ conclude: to sum up, in conclusion, in brief, in summary, in short, to conclude
· Write a leaflet
DO NOT FOLD YOUR EXAM PAPER UP
Audience is very important – this will determine the type of language that you use.
Consider the purpose of the leaflet – is it to persuade people to take part in activities? is it to persuade people to join a club? IF SO – you need to use persuasive devices, you need to make it sound very appealing, you need to describe it well and make it very clear. Lots of personal pronouns and finish with plenty of imperatives! Go and do it! You can make the difference!
Consider the purpose of the leaflet – is it to inform people about a health issue? is it to inform people about an upcoming event or change in school /university/ town centre?
This will mean that persuasive devices are not needed – you will need to give lots of clear information and give some background history. Details! will be the key to this type of leaflet. Think: Does this leaflet inform people of what to do?
Lots of sub- headings are needed. You can use bullet points but they need to make sense and help the purpose of your leaflet.
· Write a blog
Blog is the space for personal thoughts and personal opinions. You can be funny, creative and inventive.
But remember - the order, and paragraphs of your blog post need to make sense. Have in mind that the audience are one click away if they get bored. So your task is to keep them entertained and make them feel like they know what is going on.
It would be a good idea to make reference to the fact that it is online so “check the link out below” “click here to view more” etc.
But the blog is personal – consider the purpose of the post. What is the topic? Who will read the blog post? Change your language according to this…
You can have a look at Mr Sellick’s blog from England to get a sense of what blog posts are and how varied they can be http://555words.com/topics/ – but remember, all posts have been planned in detail before being written. This is not an easy task but it is, or rather, could be a very enjoyable one.
· Write an article for a school magazine
An article is opinion based. But, it has to have more of a formal structure than the blog. You will need a heading/headline for your article and this will be judged when being marked.
Again, paragraphs are vital and the order of what you are saying is key.
Normally, articles have one clear point that they wish to make. They often use statistics and anecdotes/examples to support their claims and give them more substance. Where your article will appear determines the change in language style and you must again consider the purpose of the article.
You will not use personal pronouns as much as you would in a blog post. This is because you are talking to a more of a general and varied audience. e.g in a BLOG = “here you are sitting reading this post that I wrote”, ARTICLE = “many people will be wondering why this is such an important issue to consider”
· Write an email/ letter to a friend
It is your friend, so make sure it is obvious that you actually know them. You must open by sounding happy “great to hear from you” etc. Maybe ask a few relevant, informal questions at the start or “hope the family is well and your Dog hasn’t died yet!”
Contractions always Don’t, Can’t, Won’t. But do not write WANNA and COS!!
Order is still important. Make sure you stay on topic and provide plenty of detail in the form of your own opinion!
PARAGRAPHS!! – Think about what you want to say to them before you start writing. It is not like Whatsapp where you can just randomly talk about nonsense. There needs to be some order – after all, you’re going to the trouble of writing an email or a letter.
Consider the time differences – emails will be read there and then (normally on a daily basis)… Letter will take time to arrive.
Tone will be informal but again depending on the purpose of the letter/email, you will need to maybe inform, persuade, argue etc…
· Write a talk or a speech to… class mates/ colleagues/ residents
Firstly, the audience is the key! You must write appropriate to age and relationship with the people in front of you.
Persuasive or informative – these speeches will be very differenct – consider what happens in a leaflet again.
But the key to a good speech or talk is making the audience feel important. So, inclusive pronouns “We, you, us”… Personal experience “I”, Rhetorical questions and anecdotes to give your speech more validity. Common ending is to go for imperatives with “now is the chance to make the change – do it, go there, vote for this, vote for that”.
Rhetorical devices – REPETITION REPETITION REPETITION… How many times did Martin Luther King Jr say “I have a dream”? = learn from the best!
Detail and substance are vital and therefore, like all of the above:
PLANNING AND PARAGRAPHS!
