Comment
The writing plan
Does your plan include notes for the introduction?
Does your plan include notes for the body of your text? For every paragraph, you should have notes for …
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the main argument of the paragraph
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supporting evidence in the form of facts, quotations, statistics, or examples
Form: Is the plan visually structured into the introduction and the body paragraphs? Did you use bullet points instead of whole sentences to make the most of your planning time?
Form
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The length of your text is above the minimum word count.
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You skip every second line, and you skip two or more lines between paragraphs.
Content and Structure
Content
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Does your introduction
… catch the reader’s attention (with a hook)?
for FOSBOS students: … lead up to a paraphrase of the essay question as a direct or indirect question?
for everyone else: … lead up to a thesis statement, which sums up your opinion about the subject on which you were asked?
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You present your personal opinion with compelling1 arguments and answer the question you were asked / fulfil the task you were given.
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You support your opinion with detailed explanations and evidence. Depending on your task, you rebut2 reasons against your argument.
For the last sentence of your introduction, see also the checklist for writing a thesis statement or paraphrase of the essay question.
Structure
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The introduction leads up to and presents a concise thesis statement (for FOSBOS students: the paraphrase of the essay question). The introduction introduces the topic briefly in general terms. It should be approximately 10-20% of your word count.
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You divide your text into paragraphs, and for every body paragraph, the topic sentence (first sentence of the paragraph) presents one claim, related to the thesis statement / essay question.
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The supporting sentences of every body paragraph support the topic sentences and do not introduce new ideas.
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If you have more than one body paragraph, you order your paragraphs from least important (your weakest argument) to most important (your strongest argument). Your later body paragraphs should be longer since you will want to go into more detail for your strongest argument(s).
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The comment ends in a concluding paragraph, which sums up the main points and restates the thesis statement in a new way. The conclusion does not present new arguments.
For the structure of a paragraph, see also the checklist for writing a paragraph.
Language
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You use the first person and different verbs and phrases to express your opinion.
Talk to your teacher about where in your comment you should present your personal opinion using first-person pronouns. They may expect you to write about your personal opinion throughout your comment or to only present it in the conclusion of your comment. At FOSBOS, you should only present your personal view in the concluding paragraph.
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You use a wide range of sentence structures correctly, e.g. conditional sentences, relative clauses, and subordinate clauses.
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You show a good command of a broad lexical repertoire. You can vary3 formulation to avoid frequent repetition4 and you find paraphrases when you do not know a word you need. You make few spelling mistakes.
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You use the correct tenses. Generally, the present tense is used in comments unless you talk about events in the past.
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You connect ideas with different linking / transition words, including different subordinating conjunctions (e.g. although, wherever, so that, ...) and adverbial conjunctions (e.g. however, nevertheless, meanwhile, ...).
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Register: You use formal language. You do not use contractions (they’ve => they have; won’t => will not; isn’t => is not) and you use no slang or colloquialisms.