Year 8 English
November 2015
Assessment Task – Writing a Guidebook entry
“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.”
Lao Tzu
Travel is one of the great joys of life. Many of you that have travelled may have, at one time or another,
used a guidebook to help you satisfy your wanderlust. Perhaps you needed to find a place to bed down
for the night, were unsure of which bus to get on or wanted to find the nearest Pizza Hut. Nowadays the
chunky brick-like paper guidebooks are being replaced by online guides, however the precise, focused
and descriptive prose involved in writing for a guidebook is perfect for writing online as well, where
much of today’s travel information is gleaned.
This task is an opportunity for you to:
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
develop your descriptive writing skills
show that you are able to adjust your writing to suit a certain audience.
Task
You must choose a city and write the introduction to your city’s guidebook entry. Your introduction
should include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
an explanation of your target audience (10 words or fewer)
a photo with a caption (20 words or fewer)
an overview of the highlights your chosen city offers a visitor (200 words)
a “Top Reasons to Go” section, with three or four highlights (100 words)
You must think carefully about the audience your guidebook is targeting, and the content and language
that will appeal to them.
Your work must be typed and printed for submission.
Assessment.
Your work will be assessed on the following Areas of Focus:
Writing AF2 – produce texts which are appropriate to task, reader and purpose
Writing AF6 – Write with technical accuracy of syntax and punctuation in phrases, clauses and
sentences
Writing AF7 – use the best vocabulary for the task
Timeline
You will have class time on Friday 13 November to work on your guidebook entry.
Your work is due at the start of class on Tuesday 17 November.