The Ministry of Education (MOE) text type of Secondary English compositions always follow a certain protocol.
Understanding this protocol is fundamental to scoring well in your Secondary English composition paper.
MOE text types have certain standards and if you observe carefully, they are almost always the same for every exam.
There are 2 important factors which you have to take into consideration:
1. Style
2. Content
I am going to lay out the ground rules for Style and why it is so important.
What is Style?
This is an important question and if you have never asked yourself this, you should be asking yourself this question now.
Style is a lot of things.
I) Firstly, it is Organisation
The way you lay out your paragraphs in Secondary English composition and give space to whatever you wish to write.
Style is about your Template.
How do you actually write out the entire Secondary English composition essay and comply with the way your marker expects you to write an essay?
You need to have a certain standard in your style of writing and you Do need to make it professional.
Just how do you do that?
When you have figured out that you need to lay out your essay in neatly written paragraphs consisting of Points, Evidence and Elaboration, you need to impress your marker with the way you handle this format.
For instance, when you write your Point, do not make it too short.
The Point and the Link back may be shorter but the evidence and elaboration portion should be consistently longer.
There must be consistency in your Secondary English composition writing.
Never allow the lines between one portion and the next to overlap.
You need to maintain the outline of each in a very accurate way so that the reader or examiner will know that you have conformed to your arguments according to the template.
When you write your Evidence and this is the most important part of your writing, please make sure that it stands out from the rest of your paragraph.
Ok, then what else is Style supposed to be about?
II) Style also refers to your handling of words and the creative aspect of writing
You may choose to write more stylishly or factually.
If you opt to write creatively, you will obviously rely on vocabulary to impress your marker.
As they say, ‘there are many ways to skin a cat.’
And if you want to make that grade, writing creatively with flair is one such way.
There are a myriad of styles you may choose to write from but Please make sure that it is something you are comfortable with.
Do not overreach or try something too ambitious.
Settle for something which is clear and creative.
Use an eclectic range of words to incite sympathy or arouse passion and always provide that twist at the end if you have chosen a narrative genre.
What is Content?
Ok. This is not really rocket science.
We all know what is content but the question is what sort of content should you choose in Secondary English composition?
That is more along the lines of this tiny blog.
Content should always be up-to-date and if you want to write about an anecdote that is several years old, give a reason for your selection.
If your content is based on news events from 10 or more years ago, make sure that it stands out from the rest.
For example, you may wish to write about the genocide in Germany during the Nazi regime.
That took place during the second world war in the 1940s. It has been 80 years since but it was such a cataclysmic event that no one is likely to forget it as it is part of our history.
Choose your Secondary English composition content carefully.
Make sure that it is appropriate to the question and always write it clearly.
And make sure that your facts are accurate.
You may choose to embellish your ‘elaboration’ with your personal views but ‘content’ should always be accurate.
Content should be presented with What, Where, When followed by Who and How if possible.
The why factor may not be applicable in all cases but the What, Where and When are an absolute necessity when you write anything which is factual.
This can also be a good way to start presenting your ‘evidence.’
Lastly, make sure that your content starts with the most revelatory material and work your way down to the least gripping point.
This is the standard way of Secondary English composition writing and all MOE texts for compositions are expected to follow this method.
Always comply with the Secondary English composition protocol and make sure that you find a method that you are comfortable with.
I have written the 2 main ways of ensuring that you keep up with MOE standards.
The rest is up to you!
Just follow the tips and you will gain rapid strides in your composition writing.