What’s needed?
• A sophisticated piece of writing which is reflective - not just an account of what happened
• You must show that you have thought about the way the events influenced you
• It must make sense at first reading
• It must be well-structured
• Punctuation and spelling must be sufficiently accurate
Style?
• 1st person
• Conversational
• Informal – when appropriate – but not casual
• Well-informed
• Varied vocabulary
• Interesting sentence structure
• Uses figures of speech appropriately
Tone?
• Sincere and serious
• Humorous sometimes helps
• Self-deprecating – you can make and take a joke against yourself
Demonstrate your desirable qualities
• Honest
• Open
• Witty
• Intelligent
• Humane
• Friendly
Capture Reader’s Attention
• Make your opening paragraph interesting and engaging.
• It doesn’t have to be a ‘Once upon a time’ story
• You could start in the middle of an event
• You could start with a quotation, or an idea
• In fact, you should start any way you can in order to draw your reader in
For example –
• My mum always told me that I should never lie, but I don’t think that’s always true…
• ‘Take your dirty hands off me!’ I shouted...
• When I think back, I wonder how I ever managed before I got together with my closest friend – my ipod...
• If you wanted to take my television from my bedroom, you would have to kill me first…
Use varied sentence structure
• For example:
• The first time I went, I was really too small for horse riding. I was tiny. The animal, called ‘Lightning’, was a huge white mass of muscle towering over me…
