Writing folio advice - Calderglen High School

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Higher Folio
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Higher Folio
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Your folio is worth 20% of your final grade.
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It consists of two essays (10% for each one).
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Each essay is marked out of 25 and can only receive an odd
number.
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If your essay has too many technical errors it will fail because
of lack of accuracy and receive a maximum of 11.
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The two types of essays you must complete are, 1.
Personal/Creative and 2. (broadly) Discursive.
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Each essay has a limit of 1300 words. Essays above this are
referred to the SQA principal assessor and may lose marks.
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Personal/Creative
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Some pupils know from previous experience which is their
strongest type of essay and decide based on this.
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Some pupils attempt both. It is a good idea to try this if you
have the time as a broad range of writing can sometimes
allow you to produce your best work.
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A good personal essay is creative – you should include
imagery (similes, metaphors…) to describe real places and
people.
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A good story should feel personal because we feel the
characters and situations are believable.
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Personal
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A personal essay at Higher level must contain a high level of
reflection. You are trying to express your experience of the
world as a young adult.
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Difficult experiences often produce strong emotions, but strong
emotions badly expressed will not produce a good essay. You do
not have to write about a tragic event.
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Your essay should not cover too many events without discussing
them in depth or linking them appropriately.
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You don’t have to stick to events/incidents. You could write an
insightful essay about how you feel about ‘embarrassment’,
‘regret’ or ‘shame’. Stronger candidates may want to consider
trying this.
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Personal Topics
Common Topics (Will these allow you to write well?)
• Holidays
• Sporting events
• Death of a grand parent
Interesting Topics
• Relationship with a family member
• Incident that made you change/see things differently
• Exploration of your passions and their impact on you
Something Different?
• Write about the concept of blame. When were you blamed for
something? How does blame work in wider society and the media?
• What is the purpose of embarrassment? Who or what embarrasses
you? Why do we need this emotion?
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Creative
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Creative work has to show a control of language to reveal subtle
characterisation, setting and plot development. This is not easy to do
well.
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Pupils who read and who have previously written stories are more likely
to succeed in this essay.
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Avoid using plots that lean heavily on things you have seen in tv shows
or read in books. Try to be original if you can.
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Be prepared to work on various drafts independently if working on a
creative essay.
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The most effective stories are moving because the reader can relate to
them or believe in them. A Brazilian gangster who gets a lucky break
and plays for the national team in the world cup final to go on and score
the winning goal etc, is not what is being asked of you.
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Creative Ideas
Common stories (Can you really make these original?)
• Army/detective/hero
• Sporting stories with
• The above often rely too much on dialogue - a bad sign
Interesting stories
• Ambiguous ending
• Realistic characters and relationships
• Surprising developments or ending
Something different?
• Split narrative (diff characters or first/third person)
• Focus on description of setting with character involvement minimal.
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Personal/Creative - Tips
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Do create an interesting
opening that does not reveal too
much.
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Use a variety of appropriate
similes and metaphors.
Experiment with these before
completing a final draft.
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Ensure that your resolution is
interesting and that your piece
ends that way for a reason. You
can make your ending link to
your opening for a circular feel.
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Work on more than one idea.
Fluency and a broad range of
work leads to good writing, not a
10th redraft of an average essay.
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Share your work with your peers
and discuss strengths/areas for
improvement.
Vary your sentences. Effective
manipulation of punctuation is
the sign of a strong candidate.
Think carefully about structure.
Use flash backs or start your
story at an unusual point for
impact.
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Personal/Creative – What to Avoid
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The biggest problem with many
essays is weakness in
expression. So…
Do not get the basics wrong.
Computers do not mean error
free writing. It is surprising
how many mistakes are never
corrected by the candidate
despite their teacher pointing
them out.
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Do not use work/ideas from
fourth year(or your previous
course if in S6). Keep your
writing fresh and challenge
yourself.
Tears streamed down my face
AVOID CLICHED LANGUAGE!
Such as…
I had butterflies in my stomach
I froze like ice
Time stood still
The problem with these
expressions is they are common
and don’t add anything about
your specific experience/ideas.
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Discursive Essay
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For most candidates this essay is more difficult to complete.
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Your essay can be balanced and show a range of issues relating to a
topic or it can be one sided.
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You must include a bibliography of the sources that you used when
researching online. In the event of suspected plagiarism these will be
checked.
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Choosing a good topic and researching well will make this essay much
easier to write and a much better read.
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Your essay can be serious or humorous. Strong candidates may be able
produce wry pieces of writing about seemingly flippant topics.
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Try to choose something that you genuinely care about. This will come
across in your writing.
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Choosing a Topic
Common Topics (Can you maturely write with insight
about these issues?)
• Size 0 Models/Toddlers and Tiaras
• Technology in football/Are footballers paid too much?
• Euthanasia/Death Penalty
Interesting Topics
• Pressures on the NHS
• Specific issues relating to technology
• Issues in Education
Something Different?
• Local Issues
• Personal issues (relative suffering from effects of an illness)
• Are film remakes worth the effort and finance?
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Discursive - Process
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Spend time really considering all
aspects of your possible topics.
Choose the one you know about and
care about.
Narrow your topic down to a
particular aspect of an issue. Is the
internet causing harm for example is
far too big a question. Should Ask.fm
be banned given the recent suicides,
would be a better idea.
Gather all materials – research
books, the internet, documentaries,
newspapers, speak to people
(parents, teachers, peers). Take
notes and don’t discount anything at
this stage.
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Choose quotes to put in.
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Only then - try to organise your
material into a logical order. 8/9
paragraphs including your intro and
conclusion should do it .
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Complete your first draft without too
much care for the final word count
(but try to keep it under 1600 or
editing will be tricky)
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When finished rewrite your intro to
make it striking and give a concise
summary of the issues.
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Also check that the topic sentences
of your main paragraphs effectively
link your ideas.
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Discursive – What to Avoid
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If you have chosen a poor topic
change it. Numerous redrafts will not
improve it.
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Try not to sound immature. Some of
the issues you are writing about are
highly complex. Really think about
the impact of what you are
discussing. Making for or against
points without full discussion will
weaken you work.
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Do not rely heavily on American
statistics. Many pupils seem to write
their essay about American issues
without ever making this clear
(statistics talk about dollars spent
etc) and then finish by discussing
British issues. This shows a lack of
clarity.
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Try to plan your ideas then decide what
quotes and statistics to put in. Don’t
base your paragraphs around quotes.
This will impact on you fluency.
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Quotes that are too long waste words
and suggests a lack of confidence in
editing your work.
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A short conclusion which fails to build
on the arguments made and sum up
your own opinions will bring your
grade down.
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Some discursive essays can be very
‘dry’. They should also be creative. The
sign of a good discursive essay is when
imagery and sentence structure has
been used to reinforce your points.
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Final Points
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Experiment with your writing. You will not produce your best work by
struggling to come up with 1000 words then sticking with that no matter
what.
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Your teacher only marks each essay once in depth. Beyond that you are
responsible for editing and redrafting. Your teacher will have brief chats
with you about the essay but don’t expect another detailed marking.
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Print your final copies in the same font and size. Double space them.
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They examiner reading your work should have a flavour of your
personality. To do this you need to be creative in all elements of the
folio. That means varied vocab, imagery and sentence structures.
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Enjoy it! Many younger pupils enjoy writing creatively. If you see each
essay as a creative work then it might not be as onerous as you think.
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