Planning


 * __Formal Writing Themes__**

**__Process__**

Who are the victims or war? How can we avoid wars? Where are wars being fought today? What are the side-effects of war? What do we learn from war? What do wars tell us about humanity? Why do we continue to start wars? ||
 * If the theme was WAR, the following questions could be posed.

Choose your theme. Brainstorm some focus questions to do with that theme.

Choose one focus question. Check your selected question to see if it can be developed into a good essay (some questions are difficult to do or find research for). Try to create possible answers for you focus question – just simple answers to discover whether it can be answered at all.

|| These brief answers can later be improved with crafting (making your writing more convincing and making more specific topic sentences:) Some of them may be good as topic sentences e.g.: Humans can be cruel and selfish.
 *  For example the focus question what do wars tell us about humanity?, answers could be:
 * Humans do not learn from history
 * Humans will kill to protect themselves and their property
 * Humans can be cruel and selfish
 * Some humans value money over others’ lives
 * The ongoing existence of wars tells us that humans do not learn from history.
 * The brutality of wars tells us that humans will kill to protect themselves and their property.

__ Do's and Don'ts of Formal Writing __
 * **Do ** || **Don’t ** ||
 * * Have an engaging opening
 * Make your point of view straightforward and clear in the introduction
 * Have clear topic sentences for each paragraph
 * Have references from texts studied in class
 * Have evidence from history, current events, statistics
 * Make a comparison between two events or ideas
 * Have definitions of key words
 * Introduce quotes e.g. While some people prefer precise language, Dr Barbara Bell says: “Text language is in fact the new way of English with which older generations should become familiar.”
 * Make links between the evidence and the essay question
 * Have an overall judgment to your question in the conclusion

Some do’s for language use.
 * Use linking words/connectors
 * Use some persuasive language features we taught you
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Use harder vocabulary at times
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Use a range of sentences – questions, exclamations, statements, imperatives. || * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Generalise about people and events
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Use personal anecdotes as the main sources of evidence
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Use abbreviations/txt lingo
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Dump quotes
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Use long quotes e.g. 5-7 lines
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Conclude each paragraph too simply/obviously
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Interpret ideas simply
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Over-use harder vocabulary so the meaning of your ideas is unclear. ||

__**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Some sentence starters **__ <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- There are many things <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- This shows… <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- We need to start <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- A recent …report… <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- The issue is discussed in … <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- Two main lines clarify the issue… <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- By choosing… <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- Clearly this points out… <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- In addition to … <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- Probably the most important action they can take is… <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- These types of … <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- While everyone recognizes… <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- Conversely there are… <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- As…believes… <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- Given… <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- Something that is not always considered is… <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- In fact, according to… <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- At this point in time…

__**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Formal Writing Themes **__ <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Survival <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Media <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Individuals and gangs <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">‘Outsiders’ <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Group Mentalities <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Technology <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Individual rights <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Power <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Ambition and Dreams <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Relationships <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Bullying <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Poverty <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Modern Superficial Ideals/Trends/Lifestyle – living trends <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Advertising <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Reality TV