HOW TO WRITE WELL IN
OUTCOME 2: CONTEXT
Identity and Belonging
Freedom Writers
THE BIG PICTURE
IDEAS- THE CONTEXT, TEXT
AND EXTERNAL SOURCES
CONTEXT
Identity and
Belonging
WRITING- HOW AM I GOING TO
EXPRESSYOUR IDEAS? PURPOSE? FORM?
AUDIENCE? LANGUAGE? TONE/VOICE?
PROMPT – YOUR STARTING POINT
What am I trying to say through the
prompt?
THE WRITING PROCESS
 By now, you have a clear idea of the style of writing you will be using this year
based on your feedback so far.
 Identify your strengths and weaknesses as a writer and work on these elements
 See yourself as an author - this time YOU are creating a text with your own
views and values to share with an audience.
 Keep a log of notes throughout the year (start now!) on ideas you develop about
Identity and Belonging
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Newspaper clippings/articles from the internet/news stories on TV
Observations
Conversations
Other texts you have read/viewed (TV shows, films, poems, plays, songs,
novels etc)
THE THINKING PROCESS
 Essay topics are not the same as Context prompts
 Strong writers show a greater conceptual understanding of the
prompt, text and context (thinking)
 Use the prompt as a springboard for your ideas and include the
prompt in your thinking
 Show a controlled use of language and evidence of deep thinking
about the prompt
USING THE TEXT
 Use the text as a vehicle for your thinking rather than the focus of
your writing- it should not read as a text response essay. However,
ideas from the film should feature throughout the writing.
 What does the text have to say about Identity and
Belonging?
 Identify elements, experiences, events, people, relationships and
situations in the film which reveal ideas about Identity and Belonging.
WRITING TO ENGAGE
 Show evidence of planning and proofreading
 Don’t retell the plot
 Practice writing in a variety of approaches
 Write with sophistication
 If choosing to write personally (diary entry in your own voice)make sure the writing is substantial and not superficial
WRITING TO ENGAGE
 Use definitions, philosophical underpinnings, real life examples,
literary examples to explore the prompt
 Introductions should be fairly substantial. Think about the order
of your topic sentences and where the writing is headed.
 Find essential ideas about the context expressed in the text and use
them as a basis for your writing
WRITING TO ENGAGE
 Write a piece with a compelling VOICE and purpose -> have a
message in your writing you want to convey to your reader
 Read the following introduction from a feature article and
explain how this piece has
• a sense of voice and purpose
• A compelling tone
• An engaging style
“Female shopping desire is a complex beast. And yet extraordinarily resilient. Regardless
of most things, women will find a way and a reason (or 12) to shop. It's our sport. Our
therapy. Our entertainment. We shop when we're lonely, bored, depressed, angry, elated
and worried. We shop when we're rich and when we're poor. We shop in sickness and in
health, 'til debt do us part from our credit cards. And then we find one of those stores
with "no interest for three years" and we shop some more. We shop for clothes,
cosmetics, books, food, gadgets, vitamins, furniture and smelly candles. We shop for
others. We shop alone and in groups. We shop with our dogs and for them. We shop to
celebrate, to treat ourselves, to console ourselves and to cheer ourselves up. We shop for
new underwear when we're single and we shop for homewares when we're loved up. We
shop to mark other new life-stages too: new jobs, new babies, new homes. We shop
when we gain weight and when we lose it. We shop to go on holidays and then we shop
again when we get there. Generally, women just like buying stuff. Quick, grab a pen and
write that down because it really is an astonishing and original revelation. You're
welcome.” – Mia Freedman
COMMON PROBLEMS
 Not engaging with the prompt, no links to the key ideas in the prompt
 No sense of the Context
 Simply retelling the plot
 Writing in a text response style – writing all about the text
 Updating the time or changing names of characters in the text in a creative
piece but otherwise identical storylines
 Creative responses which do not represent the context
 Lacking finesse and skills in creative writing
 Lacking control, sophistication, accuracy and structure