Improving Expression

[GGWP VCAA]

Over the last 2 sacs, I have lost marks on my ''expression'' (ie how well i explain stuff) of the essays that I have done. My question is what things can i do to improve the expressions of my essays in the holidays as well as under exam conditions (ie finals)

TIA

[dmitridr]

Over the last 2 sacs, I have lost marks on my ''expression'' (ie how well i explain stuff) of the essays that I have done. My question is what things can i do to improve the expressions of my essays in the holidays as well as under exam conditions (ie finals)

TIA

Hey there!

By expression I assume your teacher doesn't mean 'elaboration', but rather how your write cohesively, coherently and fluently. I would recommend sourcing A+ responses and then comparing the expression in these responses with yours and finding ways to improve your expression that way.

I hope that helps!

Dmitri.

[odeaa]

Make sure you don't try to be too wordy- simple and clear is always better than complicated and chunky. I've read at least 10 essays from this guy at our school who got a 50 a few years back, and a 10 year old kid could easily understand his essays- thats what makes them so good; they are clear and well structured so that his argument is as cogent as possible

that being said, the occasional big word used accurately never hurts, but only if it is truly the right word for that sentence and you arent just trying to force it in

+synonyms are helpful, you dont want to repeat the same word (lexeme?) too many times or you risk sounding kinda shallow

[GGWP VCAA]

+synonyms are helpful, you dont want to repeat the same word (lexeme?) too many times or you risk sounding kinda shallow

expect for identity that is...

but anyways thanks lads!

[zsteve]

I would add that it varies somewhat with teacher - e.g. my school teacher is quite minimalist on expression and crosses stuff out on my work, but my tutor in general regards it as quite good and sufficiently concise. To give you an idea: my teacher recommended keeping intro sentences out of AC's and launching straight in to analysis (on the grounds that 'it doesn't add anything to discussion').
However, asking other teachers, they advised to do an introduction sentence... so idk!

[odeaa]

I would add that it varies somewhat with teacher - e.g. my school teacher is quite minimalist on expression and crosses stuff out on my work, but my tutor in general regards it as quite good and sufficiently concise. To give you an idea: my teacher recommended keeping intro sentences out of AC's and launching straight in to analysis (on the grounds that 'it doesn't add anything to discussion').
However, asking other teachers, they advised to do an introduction sentence... so idk!

My teacher and the teacher today at a lecture both said that very simple topic sentences make the commentary more coherent and flow better, and considering how little time they take to write it's worth your while just to make it clear to the assessor what you will cover in that paragraph

[GGWP VCAA]

My teacher and the teacher today at a lecture both said that very simple topic sentences make the commentary more coherent and flow better, and considering how little time they take to write it's worth your while just to make it clear to the assessor what you will cover in that paragraph

i agree with zsteve on this one. My teacher is a VCAA examiner and she says not to put introducory sentences in paragraphs as they gain no marksand a ''waste of time'', but its not to say that the examiner doesnt prefer introductory sentences, so do what the teacher instructs you to do and you'll be alrigh.

[Joseph41]

I struggle/d a bit with this. In general, I use way too many words, leading to accurate but convoluted responses. This makes it more difficult to be awarded marks, because assessors need to sift through unnecessary words.

Here is my advice. I hope that it will benefit you across a number of subjects.

Find a text. Any text of substance, really. And then summarise it.

And then summarise your summary.

And then summarise your summary of your summary.

And then summarise that again.

If you can end up having one or two sentences that clearly explains the contention and nature of a much longer text, you're going a long way to understanding it on a deep level. But more than that, you're learning how to say the same things in many fewer words. Being able to write concisely is an important skill, especially for a subject such as this one. In general, I have found that good summarising skills correlate nicely with concise writing skills.

Best of luck. Let us know how you fare.

[GGWP VCAA]

I struggle/d a bit with this. In general, I use way too many words, leading to accurate but convoluted responses. This makes it more difficult to be awarded marks, because assessors need to sift through unnecessary words.

Here is my advice. I hope that it will benefit you across a number of subjects.

Find a text. Any text of substance, really. And then summarise it.

And then summarise your summary.

And then summarise your summary of your summary.

And then summarise that again.

If you can end up having one or two sentences that clearly explains the contention and nature of a much longer text, you're going a long way to understanding it on a deep level. But more than that, you're learning how to say the same things in many fewer words. Being able to write concisely is an important skill, especially for a subject such as this one. In general, I have found that good summarising skills correlate nicely with concise writing skills.

Best of luck. Let us know how you fare.

Thats quite unique... I'll definitely give it a try!

[Joseph41]

Thats quite unique... I'll definitely give it a try!

Ooh, my linguistic juices started to flow at this, haha.

If you're willing to give it a crack, try to start either on course content (more relevant) or something about which you are passionate (more enjoyable). For example, I summarised a number of articles from afl.com.au and espncricinfo.com.

All the best.