This document contains various samples that could be used to help students develop their writing skills, including an essay question, student essay, lecture notes, descriptions of different text types, a text analysis sample, a practice exercise, grammar notes, and vocabulary words. The samples cover topics like narrative style, descriptive writing, argumentative essays, analyzing newspaper reports, sequencing events, and vocabulary used in various contexts.

1. Work Samples

2. Essay question sample
Discursive essay
Is training animals to work for humans cruel and
unnecessary?
(First Language English for Cambridge IGCSE: 39)

3. Student’s essay sample (edited)

4. Sample of lecture notes
• Characteristics of the narrative style
– Flair for imagination
– Interesting tone throughout the story
– Well-paced (rhythmic)
– Descriptive
– Dynamic plotline
– Effective word choice
– Cohesive: flow of ideas
– Well-organised, e.g. chronological order

5. Types of Text
Text type You’ll need
Descriptive •Mood, tone & texture
•A good vocabulary
•A sharp eye for details
Discursive/argumentative •To see 2 sides of an issue
•To set out your thoughts clearly and
logically
Narrative •Ability to tell a good story
•The writer’s craft
Informational •General knowledge
•Organisational skills

6. Sample of a text analysis
Structuring a newspaper report
• The article you’ve read is an example of
journalistic writing.
• Study the characteristics of this report in The
Guardian, in terms of
Structure
Organisation
Language
Writer’s craft
Logic

7. Sample of practice exercise
1 Vocabulary
Select what you think is the most appropriate word
or phrase to fit the context of the sentence. Each
part makes up a story.
• Part 1
1 Americans think of themselves as (mobile,
nomadic, wandering) people, pulling up stakes
for new jobs, moving often.
2 But Americans tend not to (try to go, venture,
proceed) far – 2 out of 3 moves end in the same
county; only 16% cross a state line.

8. Sample of grammar notes
• Past tense used dominantly in a sentence
• It’s easy to use just the past tense to tell a story.
But we need to arrange the events from the first
time it happened to the last. We call this sequence
of events or chronology of events, e.g.,
 Eric
1.returned the novel to me,
2.thanked me for letting him read it and
3.said that he enjoyed it.

9. Vocabulary
• She stood transfixed.
• The helicopter blades
start to rotate.
• devastated: destroyed
• enormous, massive, large
• grind
• tectonic plates
• aftershocks
• European Union
• Eurail
• gypsies
• pickpocket
• depressed
• rural
• urban
• illegal immigrants
• malaria scare
• materialise

10. Vocabulary
• She stood transfixed.
• The helicopter blades
start to rotate.
• devastated: destroyed
• enormous, massive, large
• grind
• tectonic plates
• aftershocks
• European Union
• Eurail
• gypsies
• pickpocket
• depressed
• rural
• urban
• illegal immigrants
• malaria scare
• materialise