What makes a good Chinese essay?

[brightsky]

What makes a good Chinese essay? What would be the differences between, say, a 17/20 essay to a 20/20 essay?

I know that explaining things clearly, and including at least 2 interesting points/events/etc. are crucial, but how do you make your essay stand out?

To what extent are we supposed to take 成语? Also, is including some 古语 in your essay appropriate?

Thanks.

[Gloamglozer]

A good SL essay consists of:

• Indents two boxes at each new paragraph.
• Stays within the word limit.
• Contains the relevant structure.  For example, if it is a letter format, make sure all the elements that make up a letter are contained in the essay.
• Use of different sentence structures.
• If permissible, 成语 is used.  It is used appropriately and flows with the essay.  Do not go overboard and use one in ever sentence.  For SL, one to three should suffice.
• Unlike English where we use conjunctions to link sentences, I've found from past experience that when writing essays in Chinese, commas are used a lot more (at least that's one the things my teacher complained about with my first few essays).

I'm sure there's more which current students will be able to tell you but that's all I can think of right now.  Also, I know a few points there are very trivial but in a subject like Chinese where competition is extremely fierce, you want to make sure that you nail those things because although minor, they can be costly in an exam.

[brightsky]

Thanks for the reply.

I've got a question...how many people that do the Chinese SL exam actually do nail these facets? In my Chinese class alone, there are plenty of students that can already write really clearly and really well, and, I feel, can nail them quite easily. So is ensuring that you "nail" these facets necessarily enough to score highly?

NB: I saw in one of your earlier posts that it is good to use "idioms" in your essay? What exactly do you mean idioms (i.e. in Chinese?)?

Thanks again.

[Gloamglozer]

Thanks for the reply.

I've got a question...how many people that do the Chinese SL exam actually do nail these facets? In my Chinese class alone, there are plenty of students that can already write really clearly and really well, and, I feel, can nail them quite easily. So is ensuring that you "nail" these facets necessarily enough to score highly?

NB: I saw in one of your earlier posts that it is good to use "idioms" in your essay? What exactly do you mean idioms (i.e. in Chinese?)?

Thanks again.

The number of people who nail the facets?  A lot I would imagine, especially the background students and hence the competition.  But you have to remember though, that there'll be heaps of people who can nail it during practice essays, but on exam day things could be different.  Surprise essay topics, pressure, nervousness, etc is what really separates students.  I remember my Chinese school teacher saying, "You'll be surprised at how many top students neglect minor details in their essay and it really costs them quite dearly."  Scoring highly is partly determined on how you perform on the day.  The top Chinese student who is going to get 50 is out there somewhere but on exam day, are they going to get 50?  That's why it is essential to get plenty of practice and make your essay (since it is worth the majority of the marks in the written exam) stand out, which is the question you're asking. 

By "idioms" I meant 成语.  It's been ages since I've touched Chinese and I'm not sure if it's correct but I use them interchangeably.  In my dictionary, 成语 translates to "idioms" and "proverb".

To score highly, I would recommend writing a variety of practice essays - presentations, letters, diary entries.  Try different styles as well: informative, evaluative, persuasive.  I would, however, steer clear of imaginative essays.  In general, they are very hard to write and very hard to score highly if you are doing SL.  In the exam, it's not which topic you choose, it's about the calibre of your essays that counts.  The examiners aren't (or shouldn't at least) be biased to any topic and mark each essay according to the quality and quantity, not by which topic students chose.  Also, try experimenting with 成语 (idioms).  I used an Oxford Concise English-Chinese and Chinese-English dictionary (the one with the red cover) and that had heaps of idioms in it.  You could also ask your teacher to give you some idioms.  I remember both my Chinese school and day school teachers gave me a list of idioms.  Obviously, the list from Chinese school was longer, but had many that I found pretty irrelevant.  The day school one, however, had idioms specifically for my detailed study and for some of the popular essay topics which was pretty nice.  I've been looking for both lists for a long time and it seems that they've just grown a pair of legs and ran away.

[brightsky]

Thanks for the advice, it's really helpful! 

When you say steer clear of imaginative writing, would you suggest steering clear of personal writing as well due to the obvious similarities between the two?

Also, you mentioned before not to overuse "Cheng Yu". Why is it that examiners dislike this? Surely, using a lot of "Cheng Yu", but obvious not to the point where you use it for every second word, adds flamboyancy to your piece? Especially when your describing scenary, describing a person, illustrating an embedded moral, etc., wouldn't it be "good" to add a lot of "Cheng Yu" (or more than 3), in lieu of simple, trite descriptions?

Thanks.

[Gloamglozer]

Thanks for the advice, it's really helpful! 

When you say steer clear of imaginative writing, would you suggest steering clear of personal writing as well due to the obvious similarities between the two?

Also, you mentioned before not to overuse "Cheng Yu". Why is it that examiners dislike this? Surely, using a lot of "Cheng Yu", but obvious not to the point where you use it for every second word, adds flamboyancy to your piece? Especially when your describing scenary, describing a person, illustrating an embedded moral, etc., wouldn't it be "good" to add a lot of "Cheng Yu" (or more than 3), in lieu of simple, trite descriptions?

Thanks.

What sort of personal writing?  Is that like a diary entry?

With Chengyu, it really depends on what you're writing about.  I find that it usually contains a few characters (3-4) and with the word limit, it really did restrict my essay because I found that I was just describing one thing and on a few occasions just being too redundant and wasn't going into much detail into the rest of my essay.  Both teachers (Chinese school and day school) complained about this and told me to use Chenyu, especially if you want to emphasise a particular point, but don't be too excessive with it because although it adds flavour, you can say the same thing in fewer characters and use the remaining word count to add more points in my essay. 

But again, like I said it depends on the context and if you feel that using more than 3 Chenyu is going to enhance your essay, go for it.    When I meant overuse, I was meant to say putting heaps in one sentence and making it sound really awkward.  That's what I meant by examiners not liking it.  But if you do use it and use it well, examiners will reward you accordingly.

[brightsky]

Oh ok. :p

Um..for the personal writing, I meant just the text type, in any format. Personal writing is basically just imaginative writing but on past events right? So most of the time it would require some imagination?

[Gloamglozer]

Oh ok. :p

Um..for the personal writing, I meant just the text type, in any format. Personal writing is basically just imaginative writing but on past events right? So most of the time it would require some imagination?

I guess there would be some elements of imagination, especially if you want to spice it up a bit.  My advice would be to do it just for practice.  But in the exam, try and do the evaluative or persuasive pieces because they are usually pretty easy.  They have an easy structure to follow and it's pretty easy to brainstorm.  Personal preference also comes into play here, so if you find evaluative and persuasive hard (which I know some do) and personal easy, then do practice on both for the exam, but in the exam if you find the personal easier, do the personal.  All in all, practice all text types (excluding imaginative unless you've got plenty of time) and in the exam, do whichever topic floats your boat.

[brightsky]

Ok, thanks for the advice!