Contributions

Subcategories

• Slice of Life

  Slice of Life writing deals with a describing a moment in time. This needs to be framed with what happens just before and just after in order to stay within the moment and give the piece of writing a suitable structure. Slice of Life writing is highly descriptive, using the senses, painting pictures in the reader's mind with carefully selected adjectives and adverbials, the best use of precise nouns and powerful verbs, onomatopaeia, alliteration and suitable simile, metaphor or personification (depending on the level of expertise of the author). The reader should be able to get an idea of the author from the writing (the author's voice). Above all, the author should 'show, not tell' in order to give the reader a more rewarding experience.

• Descriptions

  Descriptive writing is an essential part of fiction writing, whether it's Slice of Life, Narrative or Poetry. It harnesses the senses, painting pictures in the reader's mind with carefully selected adjectives and adverbials, the best use of precise nouns and powerful verbs, and figures of speech such as onomatopaeia, alliteration and suitable simile, metaphor or personification (depending on the level of expertise of the author). The reader should be able to get an idea of the author from the writing (the author's voice). Above all, the author should 'show, not tell' in order to give the reader a more rewarding experience. Here the descriptions stand on their own, although they could be used as part of longer pieces of writing.

• Animal Reports

   Non fiction reports let a reader gain a better understanding about both living or non living subjects. The report could contain facts about a contemporary or historic event, something in nature, or even something in space. These can be in the form of less formal articles, found in newspapers, magazines, books or on the Internet. Or they can be more formal information reports that will have an introduction; facts in paragraphs, usually under headings; and a concluding summary. Reports will usually be complemented with photographs and sketches with captions and labels, maps, diagrams, fact boxes and a glossary. More formal information reports should have a bibliography with at least three sources. The tone in non fiction is always more formal than in fiction, with facts, not opinions, used, and a minimal author's voice, limited to the introduction and conclusion.

• Letters

  Letters come in all shapes and sizes. They can take the form of a handwritten note on paper, put in an envelope and mailed using the old-fashioned postal system. They can be on the back of a postcard. But mostly, now, our written correspondence happens in the form of email, sent via the Internet. Letters and email can be very informal and chatty, written to friends and family, or more formal, written to a person you may have only met or communicated with briefly before, or they can be very formal, to a business or to an official in a government office, where you don't know the name, or don't wish to use the name of the person who will receive the correspondence.

• Poetry

  Poetry lets you express ideas in a very powerful way through the use of imagery, rhythm and the musical qualities of the language used. It can take many different forms. It can be long or short. It can rhyme or not rhyme. It uses words in a much shorter and sweeter way than prose does, not needing its more logical and complete structures.

• Language Building

  This section has the finished products of exercises undertaken by the students to build up vocabulary, make their sentence structure more complex and use grammatical forms such as direct speech correctly, to help make their writing more interesting. These activities can be found to download under the Resources Menu.

• Instructions

  Procedural writing or writing instructions can range from recipes to 'how-to' manuals. They all follow a similar pattern: Title, a list (possibly bulleted) of items and sequenced (possibly numbered) instructions which utilise bossy or imperative verbs. Further illustration can be provided with photographs or labelled diagrams. A brief introduction and conclusion can be included which may have some limited personal voice.

• Explanations

  Explanations are non fiction texts that tell why something happens or explain how a particular phenomenon occurs. These, like informational reports, contain formal language where the author's voice is less obvious and the material is factual. They are arranged in sections under headings with an introduction and a summarising conclusion. Diagrams, photographs, sketches, maps and boxed information may be present, accompanied by headings, captions and labels. 

• Narrative

  Narratives, as opposed to Slice of Life stories, have an orientation giving you a setting and introducing the main characters, then creating a problem which the plot line goes on to solve. Because they are longer, they are often split into smaller chapter sections. Look for development of setting and character throughout, dialogue to move the storyline along, and descriptive writing that harnesses the senses and shows, not tells.

• Persuasion