Literacy accuracy in the essay
General advice
• Your work should sound very academic and formal
– like a text book.
• Use the Find button in Word/Powerpoint to find
any of the errors listed in this Powerpoint
• Make sure you are clear in each paragraph which
film you are writing about
• Write the BC character sections in order of what
happens. For example in the Claire section, write
about the car BEFORE you write about what
happens to her in the library
Conventions
• There are conventions of soap operas,
conventions of the news etc, so you cannot
say: There are many conventions in Mean Girls
such as high school and cliques.
INSTEAD say:
• There are many conventions of teen movies in
Mean Girls such as high school and cliques.
Capital letters
• For names (Bender, Claire, Mr Vernon)
• For titles (Mean Girls, The Breakfast Club)
• Do not use capitals in the middle of sentences
eg There are lots of conventions of teen movies
such as high school. (NOT There are lots of
conventions such as High School)
Titles of films
• The titles of the films should always be in
italics or underlined but should not have
speech marks
Eg The Breakfast Club or The Breakfast Club
• The first time that you write about the films,
you should state the director and date
Eg Mean Girls (Waters, 2004)
ALSO – remember the capital letters in the titles
Numbers
• Numbers should always be written as words
• Write four, not 4
Weak words
Avoid weak words such as
• Get
• Got
• Thing
• Nice
• bit
Contractions
Do not use contractions in academic essays
eg
• write do not rather than don’t
• write it is rather than it’s
• write they are rather than they’re
Sentence structure
• Many students struggle with punctuation of
sentences.
Look at this sentence:
• There is a lot of graffiti around the school this
shows the students do not care about school.
Because the second statement is a new subject
(this shows) you must put a full stop first
• There is a lot of graffiti around the school. This
shows the students do not care about school.
Check your work carefully for sentences which are too long
Sentence structure 2
• Sentences cannot begin with Which (except
when it is a question).
eg
• Which shows that the students don’t care
about the school.
• You should not write and or but more than
once in a sentence.
Slang/ informal language
• Avoid all slang/colloquial language in formal
assignments
eg
• Dad/mum
• Mates
• Gets with
• Ripping into
• posh
Use terminology
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Long shot
Close up
Medium shot
Diegetic sound
Montage
Image
Tilt
pan
NOTE: DO NOT define
the terminology – eg
don’t explain what a
long shot is, or what a
montage is
Apostrophe accuracy
• Use apostrophes to show possession
• Bender’s locker/ Brian’s car/ the students’
detention
• DO NOT use apostrophes for plurals
• There are lots of images (NOT There are lots of
image’s)
• DO NOT use apostrophes for decades: This
song was popular in the 1980s
Their/Their/They’re
• They’re = they are (they’re going on holiday)
• Their = belonging to them (he is their friend/ it
is their school)
• There = a place (over there) OR to show the
existence of something (there are lots of shots
in the montage)
It’s/its
• It’s = it is
• Its = belonging to it (The cat licked its fur)
To/two/too
• To – for verbs (They want to go outside)
• To – as a preposition (They go to detention)
• Two – number (there are two people in the
car)
• Too – too much or too many
Gives off
This gives off a sense of confusion. This is a weak
expression. Instead try
• Suggests
Remember: This shows/
• Conveys
This suggests/ This implies
• Implies
etc must always be a NEW
• Signifies
sentence
• Symbolises
• Shows
• Indicates
• connotes