How To Approach Extended Writing Tasks
How to approachextended writing tasksSuitable fortheAAT Accounting QualificationatAdvanced Diploma LevelandProfessional Diploma LevelAlan Dawson, B.Ed (Hons), MAATCopyright Premier Training July 2018-1-
ContentsPageIntroduction3What examiners are looking for4Read the question5Planning your answers7Selecting the format9Writing the answers11Examples14What not to write29Summary31-2-
IntroductionThe AAT have introduced extended written tasks in some of their accountingqualification units. This booklet is not intended to explain the principles of theseunits, but it does explain how to write answers which will improve your skills atwritten English.Many students have come across these units and are not prepared for the extent orstyle of English that will be required to achieve good marks in these tasks. Simplyrepeated text from the study manuals is unlikely to be awarded full marks, and inmany cases will achieve very few marks at all.The extended writing tasks are designed to assess the candidates’ extent of knowledgeand (above all) the application of their knowledge to real situations. There will neverbe just one right answer to these tasks and the nature of the required answers will varyaccording to the unit and to how the question is worded.It is hoped that this booklet will give candidates a better idea of how to approach thesequestions and how to construct well prepared answers.This booklet will not cover the details of each unit as this is given in the studymanuals. Here we will simply look at how to create well structured sentences and howto express details and ideas in a way which will achieve the highest marks.The units which will require extended writing tasks areAdvanced Diploma Level Synoptic Assessment (AVSY)Professional Diploma Level All units-3-
What examiners are looking forThe answers to the questions will be marked from several different viewpoints.1)You must be able to communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively.You must know how to write for a particular purpose (e.g. to inform or toexplain). You must know how to write in a specific form (e.g. an email, abusiness letter or a report). You must know how to write for a specificaudience (e.g. your manager, your shareholders or the general public).2)You must choose appropriate vocabulary relevant to the form, purpose andaudience. You would use a different vocabulary when writing to yourfriend from writing to your managing director.3)You must organise the information and ideas into a structured sequence.Not only do you need to have a number of ideas, but you will also need tostructure them. You should have a clear opening, a clear and logicalsequence of paragraphs and (if required) a powerful conclusion.4)Ideas should flow from one to the other and should have an overall senseof connection. If you’ve planned your answer it will show in your writing.5)Grammar, punctuation and spelling are not specifically assessed, but theyare signs of a good writer and will impress your examiner. Make sure youspell the technical words correctly. ‘Professional’ and ‘independence’ arewords often misspelled, but you ought to be able to get these right. Poorgrammar and spelling indicate a poor approach to writing your answer.6)While examiners are looking for good knowledge and understanding of thetopic(s), they don’t want to read a list of facts. Instead, they will want tosee how you can arrange selected facts into a structured response.7)You will need to interpret the subject yourself. The examiner is looking foryour analysis and not a copy of what you have read in the book or heardfrom other people. Often there are no ‘right’ answers, only good ones.They are looking for a well argued and well constructed answer.8)Make sure your answer is relevant. While you might think that includingjust about everything you know about the topic will get you more marks, itwon’t. You should only include relevant facts. Don’t speculate on possiblecauses or effects unless you are asked to. Use the facts you are given andbuild your answer around them.-4-
Read the questionThis may at first seem obvious, but many marks have been lost because the candidatehas given a good answer to the wrong question.Obviously you will need to know the subject matter, but you will also need to knowhow to organise your answer. The way you answer will often be determined by somekey words in the question. Here is a list of the most common instructions in theextended writing tasks.STATEThis requires the simplest form of an answer. There will be no analysisor explanation. You should give a clear account of the situation, or say exactly whatyou have learned. You may be asked to ‘state’ certain principles or terms. You shoulddo this without comment, but even so, make sure you give your answer in sentences –lists and one word answers are not good responses.DESCRIBEGive a detailed explanation of how and why something happens.ANALYSE Break the issue into its individual parts. Look at each part and usesupporting evidence for and against. Show how the individual parts interrelate.EXPLAINGive reasons for and say why a situation occurs or is resolved. It mayrequire you to say what is meant by the use of a particular term. You should show anysequence of events clearly, define key terms, and support your answer with relevantevidence.EVALUATE Decide on the merit of a situation or argument. You should state towhat extent you agree or disagree. Provide evidence which agrees and provideevidence which disagrees. Come to a final conclusion and, based on the evidencegiven, say why you have come to that conclusion. In many cases the evidence will beoverwhelming either for or against, but don’t be afraid to state your own conclusion.The examiner will be looking at how you have come to your conclusion more than theconclusion itself.IDENTIFYare.Say what are the key points to address and state what the implicationsCOMMENT ONPick out the main points and give your opinion. Back up youropinion with relevant evidence and/or logic.DISCUSSThis is an opportunity to show your skills at reasoning. Select yourevidence and be sure to show evidence both for and against. Make sure you arrive at aconclusion and explain why you have come to this conclusion referring to theevidence you have provided.REVIEWLook thoroughly into an issue. You should make a critical assessmentand not simply a description.-5-
COMPARE You must identify the similarities and the differences between two ormore issues or situations. It will not be sufficient to show only similarities. You mustalso show the differences. Comment on whether you think the similarities ordifferences are more important.ILLUSTRATEGive examplesINDICATEPoint out, but not in great detail.SHOWDemonstrate with supporting evidence.DEMONSTRATESame as SHOW.RECOMMENDThis is similar to ‘compare’ but you will be given a specificperson or organisation to whom or to which you should address your answer. Youranswer must end with a decision one way or another.-6-
Planning your answersGood answers to extended writing tasks cannot be achieved without some sort ofplanning. How much planning will vary from person to person and question toquestion.If you are asked to ‘state’ there won’t be a lot of planning. You will simply need toremember the facts and write them out.If you are asked to ‘evaluate’ you will need much more planning.Let us take an example. Suppose we need to answer the question“Are we too dependent on technology?”You should write down the main things you want to say. To start with you shouldwrite down anything that comes into your head. It makes us less active Examples of technology – computers, iphones, games consoles, satellitenavigation systems Makes our lives easier Easier communication More access to information Technology can be expensive Makes business more efficient People lose mental skills People lose physical skills People don’t get as much exercise People may lose the ability to interact.There are a lot of ideas here, but you should select those that are relevant to what youwant to say and reject those that are irrelevant or don’t fit with what you want to say.It doesn’t matter how good an idea is; if it’s not relevant you must reject it. However,make sure you keep a balance between the positives and the negatives.-7-
The next stage is to develop these ideas. Let’s look at one attempt to develop theideas.1Why technology is a good thing2Why we should have more technology3How we could not survive without technology4Conclusion that technology is essential.This plan is poor. It considers only one point of view The points are too vague There is no introduction Although there is a conclusion it doesn’t show how this conclusion has beenarrived at.Consider another attempt1Introduction – what do we understand by technology – computers,iphones, computer games consoles2What are the good points – makes our life easier – access to moreinformation and more quickly – makes businesses more efficient and givesmore people access to them – makes communication easier and wider3What are the bad points – makes us less active – we may lose the mentalskills – we may lose physical skills – people lose the ability to interact4Conclusion – technology is useful but we must not let it dominate ourpersonal lives.This plan is much more useful. It shows the structure of our answer. It shows what wewant to write and where in the answer we should write it. It will avoid the ramblinganswers given by some candidates and it will help produce a logical sequence ofideas.You will note that we have left out some of our original ideas. ‘Technology can beexpensive’ doesn’t fit with what we want to say. ‘People don’t get much exercise’ isalmost the same as ‘it makes us less active’.-8-
Selecting the formatSome questions will simply ask you to give the answer, but others will ask you towrite a letter or send an email. You may also be asked to write a report.No formatSome questions will simply ask you to write an answer. This doesn’t mean that youshould abandon all the planning and preparation we covered on the previous pages.However, it does mean that you won’t need to bother with stating the subject matter,recipients and senders.Double check that there is no answer format required as you will lose marks if youdon’t follow the correct format (see below).EmailYou won’t be given a real email to send but it will have the same format.Make sure you include an email address. The email address should be given to you,but if not, make up a suitable one. It’s unlikely you will have the subject title given toyou so what you put must be appropriate. Make sure it’s long enough to explain thecontents, but not so long that it’s difficult to fit into the space available.You will be expected to show who the email is from. There may be a scenario whereyou have to give the name suggested in the question. If there isn’t one you should putyour own name or your own position. This could be john.smith@business.co.uk or itcould be trainee.accountant@office.com-9-
The business letterBusiness letters must use formal language. You will probably be given a house styleletter heading. There must be the name and address of the person who the letter isgoing to. There must be a date.You will start the letter with either ‘Dear Sir or Madam’ or with ‘Dear ’ and thenthe name of the person. If you name the person either state Mr Jones or Mrs Smith,Remember that the closing for ‘Dear Sir or Madam’ is ‘Yours faithfully’ and ‘yourssincerely’ in all other cases.DAWSON SUPPLIES45 Scartho Street,Immingham,IM15 2BHThe Purchasing DepartmentPatel Fabrics132 Anglian Way,Norwich,NR3 6FG1st December 2015Dear Sir or Madam:The reportIf you are asked to write a report it will be a short report for all units except ISYS.This will be covered in another booklet.However, the report must include a person who it’s going to (along with their positionif you know it), a person who it’s from, a date and a subject. You may again be givena scenario complete with names and dates, or you may have to put appropriate namesand dates. In any case, be sure not to leave them out.To:Nikoloz Gilauri, Finance ManagerFrom: Maria Fekter, Accounts AssistantDate: 22nd January 2016.Report on Staff Training Requirements for the coming year.- 10 -
Writing the answerYou should always refer to your plan when writing the answers. Start by introducingwhat you intend to discuss.ParagraphsEach topic should be in its own paragraph. Start the paragraph with a topic sentence.This is like a sub-heading. For example“Technology can be useful to us in our lives”.The remaining sentences in the paragraph will develop the idea in more detail.Paragraphs should follow a logical sequence. You will need to use connectives. Theseare words and phrases to show how your ideas are linked together. ConnectivesincludeAt firstLaterConsequentlyAs a resultIn contrastBecause of thisConnectives keep your ideas together. They allow the reader to follow your reasoningand to see how one idea links to another.Being objectiveYou must ensure that the reader doesn’t see your personal involvement being moreimportant than the point you are trying to make. Avoid “I”, “me”, “we” or “us”.Instead of “We made a decision to ” write “The decision was to .”.Instead of “I calculated the answer to be ”, write, “The answer was calculated tobe .”- 11 -
AmericanismRemember that this is a UK qualification and so you should try to avoid AmericanEnglish. Below are some common differences you may come across when writingyour laboranalyseanalyzelicencelicenseColloquial languageAvoid colloquial language in your answers. Try to avoid informal language whenwriting a formal answer.“the business went bust” is better expressed by “the business became bankrupt”“the figures were rubbish” is better expressed as “the figures were poor”.Non academic languageIn less formal language it is common for non specific language to be used. People willoften say “in this country”, or “we can see”. In academic language this is not specificenough. The questions arise ‘in what country?’ or ‘who can see?’. It would be betterto write “in the United Kingdom”, and “it can be seen”AbbreviationsTry to avoid literary abbreviations. You should not use “e.g.”, but use “for example”.Don’t use “i.e.” but use “that is”.Acronyms are abbreviations of an organisation, procedure or apparatus. HMRC is theacronym for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. EC is the acronym for theEuropean Community. Some acronyms are so common that they need no explanation(such as USA or DIY), but the convention on less common acronyms is that youshould write it in full the first time it occurs with the acronym in brackets after.Subsequently just the acronym can be used- 12 -
Absolute termsWords such as “never”, “always” and “forever” should be used with caution. Itdoesn’t mean that they can’t be used, but you should ensure that never means never.For example“You will never lose your money if you invest in Icelandic banks”. The statement isalmost true, but as many local authorities found to their cost, on rare occasions youcould lose your money.Cliché’sSome expressions come into such frequent use that they lose their original meaning.“At the end of the day”“Take the bull by the horns”“Time will tell”“Reading between the lines”“Every cloud has a silver lining”.Take the following paragraph.“Time was running out for the business. It had been in the red for many a long yearand the bank laid its cards on the table. It looked like the writing was on the wallwhen they were saved by the bell. The directors pulled out all the stops and gave thebusiness a glimmer of hope, by propping up the business with an injection of cash.The business went from strength to strength and now the shares have gone through theroof”.The paragraph can only be understood if you understand all the cliché’s. Obviouslythere are far too many cliché’s here for a suitable academic answer.It is better to avoid cliché’s altogether, but certainly they should not be used in closeproximity like this.- 13 -
ExamplesLet’s look at some example questions and some example answers.It doesn’t matter if you have studied the relevant topics at this point. What you needto take from these examples are the principles.Example Question 1State the elements of the triple bottom line in relation to sustainable development.So here the important word to look at is ‘State’. This means that you simply need torecall the elements without comment or explanation.Planning will simply be the list of elements: Social equality Environmental protection Economic growthFor such a short list you may not want to write this down, but be careful with longerlists. Writing them down will help to ensure you haven’t left any out.Remember that a list is unlikely to get you full marks so you may need to put it in asentence or two.Example Answer 1The triple bottom line has three elements. They are social equality, environmentalprotection and economic growth. This is sometimes abbreviated to ‘people, planetand profit’.Because the question asks you to ‘state’ there is no need for you to write anythingelse. You won’t lose marks if you write more, but you will lose time.- 14 -
Now let’s look at a question which at first appears to be the same, but will require avery different answer.Example Question 2Describe the elements of the triple bottom line in relation to sustainable development.Here you should see that the key word is ‘describe’. Example answer 1 wouldstruggle to get you half marks here. ‘Describe’ will require a detailed explanation aswell as stating the elements.Don’t go headlong into writing your answer – prepare it first. If you don’t you couldfinish up with a rambling answer with possible omissions. You want to organise yourideas and make sure you have answered the question fully.You first need to collect your ideas. Your initial planning could look something likethis:Care for environmentEconomic benefit to the whole communityAvoid cutting down treesContribute to local communityHappy workersSave energyRecycleDonations to local charities and clubsSafe workingDeal with only ‘green’ suppliersGiving back to the communityBruntland report- 15 -
You may be able to think of other ideas, but next we need to organise our ideas.Introduction – Bruntland report - state the elements – people, planet and profitSocial equality – people – ensuring employees are happy – contribute to localcommunity – social impact of the business – safe working environment – fair workinghours – giving to the community – health care – donations to local charities – care forsociety in general – overseas suppliersEnvironmental protection – planet – care for the environment – avoiding destructivepractices – avoid cutting down trees – save energy – reduce waste – recycleEconomic growth – profit – not traditional profit – economic benefit of the wholesociety – creating wealth not only for business – creating employment – profits willsustain the community.We don’t need a conclusion because we are only asked to ‘explain’.Now let us construct our answerExample Answer 2The triple bottom line arose from the Bruntland Report of 1987. The report identifiedthree components of sustainable development. They are social equality,environmental protection and economic growth. It can be abbreviated to people,planet and profit.Social equality means sustaining the well-being of people. The people referred towould include employees. A socially responsible organisation would ensure thatworkers are paid a fair wage and work for a suitable number of hours a day/week. Itmay provide health care for the employees, education and training, or evenrecreational facilities. However, social equality is not restricted to the organisationsown workforce. It would extend to the local community as well. A socially responsibleorganisation would give donations to l
The answers to the questions will be marked from several different viewpoints. 1) You must be able to communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively. You must know how to write for a particular purpose (e.g. to inform or to explain). You must know how to write in a specific form (e.g. an email, a business letter or a report). You must know .
6.2 writing the extended essay 7. formal presentation of the extended essay 7.1 the length of the extended essay 7.2 title 7.3 abstract 7.4 contents page 7.5 illustrations 7.6 bibliography 8. how the extended essay is assessed? 9. extended essay assessment criteria checklist 10. extended essay tutees and supervisors
The process writing approach treats writing not as a completed product but as a process. Writing studies are carried out as a part of the process before the written text is completed. This approach focuses on the student in writing lessons, and the teacher only acts as a guide. The process writing approach involves activities occurring
work/products (Beading, Candles, Carving, Food Products, Soap, Weaving, etc.) ⃝I understand that if my work contains Indigenous visual representation that it is a reflection of the Indigenous culture of my native region. ⃝To the best of my knowledge, my work/products fall within Craft Council standards and expectations with respect to
Best Practice Book for IELTS Writing. Table of Contents IELTS Writing 1 IELTS Writing 9 IELTS Writing - Overview 9 IELTS Academic Writing 10 IELTS ACADEMIC WRITING 10 IELTS General Writing 11 IELTS Writing Task General (Task 1) 12 Sample 1 12 Sample 2 12 Sample 3 13 Sa
Academic Writing Quiz xvii Part 1 The Writing Process 1 1.1 Background to Writing 3 The purpose of academic writing 3 Common types of academic writing 4 The format of long and short writing tasks 4 The features of academic writing 6 Some other common text features 6 Simple and longer sentences 7 Writing in paragraphs 8 1.2 Reading: Finding .
(CCSS) for Writing, beginning in early elementary, will be able to meet grade-level writing goals, experience success throughout school as proficient writers, demonstrate proficiency in writing to earn an Oregon diploma, and be college and career-ready—without the need for writing remediation. The CCSS describe ―What‖ writing skills students need at each grade level and K-12 Writing .
Writing Spectrum is available in these titles for second grade success: Carson-Dellosa Publishing LLC P.O. Box 35665 Greensboro, NC 27425 USA carsondellosa.com SPECTRUM Writing GRADE 2 Focused Practice for Writing Mastery Writing a story Writing to inform Writing an opinion
Traits and Strategies 1. The Six Traits approach to writing instruction makes writing accessible for all learners by breaking a complex cognitive process into six key component processes. 2. Writers use Writing Strategies to solve problems they encounter while writing. 3. By teaching the Six Traits and Writing Strategies for each of the traits .
