Join Our Groups
TOPIC 5: WRITING USING
APPROPRIATE LANGUAGE, CONTENT AND STYLE.
Writing Narrative Compositions/Essays
Composition refers to a piece of
writing on a particular topic, event or person. It can be expository, narrative,
argumentative or descriptive compositions. Composition can be written at
collage, school, and university as a part of studies or assignment given on a
particular course. In writing composition a student is supposed to generate
his/her own ideas and use them to narrate, describe, explain, argue, or
persuade a certain thing or event.
Composition involves writing essays, letter, poems, stories, debates,
speeches, dialogue, which involves a collection of ideas that are organised a
good manner / pattern on a given topic or subject.
Things to Consider when Writing a Composition
Title: Start with the title, the title should be written in capital letters. The
title should be underlined if hand written and bold if type. The title should
relate with the topic or subject given. Think of the number of words if it is
given. Put your ideas in small but detailed paragraphs. Revise and edit your work
carefully. Divide your essay into three parts namely:
Introduction which relates to the title i.e. defines, explains the key words from
the title.
Main body: This is the main part of
the composition. Discuss your ideas in point in relation to the topic or
subject given, planned. The main ideas should precede the minor ideas. Consider
the logical arrangement of your ideas and points.
Conclusion:Under this part, you may give
suggestions, views, opinions on the topic discussed. It should reflect the
whole content discussed in your essay.
 |
| Writing composition/essay |
There are various
Types of Composition, namely:
- Narrative
composition/ essay.
- Descriptive
composition/essay.
- Argumentative
/ persuasive composition/ essay.
1. NARRATIVE COMPOSITION/ESSAY
These are essays that account or give stories of events. The stories may be
personal, fiction or non-fictional, historical stories or events. Personal
autobiographical stories focus on the author’s or writers own life and
historical stories reliy on past events / happenings.
Non –fiction stories are based on truth or true events but fictional
stories depend on imagination and use of figurative language to produce a story
according to the writer or author.
Narrative essay involve telling a story about someone or something you
probably do every day in a normal conversation. You may preset and narrate or
tell your experience on a piece of paper.
Activity
Imagine you are exploring a deserted house at night when you are surprised
and captured by a member of a gang of thieves who have made the place their
headquarters. You succeed in escaping from the villain. Write a narrative story
in no less than 300 words to explain what happened.
HOW KIBONGE WAS HUNTED BY TWO WOLVES
The next morning, when I went
down to the river to fill my can, I was horrified to see a dog’s tracks that
were bigger than my fist. I turned back to my tent, made my breakfast, packed
up and get started.
But just as I was leaving I saw
two cars over a bush; it was a wolf all right. The brute shrank down out of
sight as I looked, but when I moved on it followed me, keeping under cover, and
presently I found that there were two of them walking and hunting together.
Every now and then one of them showed itself in the open and I had a shot at
it, but they were quick you’d think they saw the flash and dodged the bullet –
and I never touched them once.
After I had several shots at them
I happen to look at my belt, and I’d only one to more left. I would come but
with a heavy pack, and had cut down my ammunition to six or eight rounds to
same weight.’ No more shooting, Kibonge. ”I said you keep the rounds for
yourself’’ if they got me, I tell you I wasn’t going to turn into pieces alive.
As I went on without firing, the
wolves gradually realised that there was no danger and they got more and more
cheeky, keeping closer and closer to me and calling to one another to check up
on my movements. I had to use up one of my two last shots on them. They
followed the raft down along the sands, but eventually it drifted to the other
side of the river, and I got away. Of course the Indians said it was my own
fault for going out alone.
Exercise
1. Write an account of result of a recent family
dispute that you know about.
2. Express the meaning of these phrases in your own
words
a) Out and out
b)
Cut down my ammunition to six or eight rounds
c)
Pushing off
d)
Form to pieces alive
3. Write a story called ‘’Lost in the desert’’
(about 250 words)
4. Write a 300 words composition carefully
paragraphed, on the subject ‘’the best years of my life’’.
5. How far is it true, do you think that schooldays
are the happiest ones of our life? (write in 250 words)
2. EXPOSITORY COMPOSITIONS/ESSAYS
Expository
essays are essays that explain something with facts, as opposed to opinion.
They may describe how to do something, analyse events, ideas, objects, or
written works. They must contain an introductory paragraph, body paragraphs and
a conclusion. The introductory paragraph may contain the thesis statement or
topic sentence that introduces the theme of an essay.
Expository
essays are most written by college, school or university students during their
test and examinations. They need response to questions that asks the writer to
explain or expose a specific issue basing on a given topic or subject or
describe a process.
Characteristics
of an Expository Essay
1.
It focuses on the main topic.
2. It needs
logical supporting facts details, explanations and examples.
3. It needs
strong organisation.
4. Clarity.
5. Unity
and coherence of ideas.
Expository essay includes writing
letters, definitions, reports and research, instructions, newspaper articles,
magazine articles, etc.
Steps to Writing
an Expository Essay
1.
Select a topic – it should not be wide so as to make you manage to describe
it.( it should be a narrow enough topic).
2.
Provide an introduction paragraph. It should state the thesis of the essay.
3.
Think how to develop your essay. E.g. definition, listing, and explaining,
classifying, process analysis, etc.
4.
Think of organisation of the essay. Provide topic sentence for each body
paragraph that relates to the thesis sentence; make few suggestions related to
the essay. e.g. in conclusion………, all in all……. It is now in position to say
that………, etc.
Example:
FACTS ABOUT THE LOCUST MENACE
In spite of what has recently
done to combat the threat of the locust, they remain a menace to entire food
supply of a quarter of the world. One trouble of them is they breed, the more
they eat; and the more they eat the more they breed.
A breeding area may have up to
five thousand eggs to the square yard. And a breeding area may cover up to two
hundred thousand acres.
A large swarm, migrating from
one of these breeding grounds, may number up to five hundred million and be
capable of destroying an area of two hundred square miles. The locusts are a
menace to plants therefore effective steps should be taken to destroy their
breeding places.
Exercise
1.
Write an expository essay on the causes of HIV.
2.
Write down the duties and uses of the police force.(about 200 words).
3.
Write an essay on the causes of soil erosion (250 words).
4.
In many African countries there is the plight of children employed in mines.
Write an expository essay about the problem in about 300 words.
5.
Write an essay on “The power of water” (250 words).
3. DESCRIPTIVE
COMPOSITION/ESSAYS
Descriptive
essays are concerned with describing objects, experience or ideas. The word
descriptive comes from the verb ‘to describe'. In order to get started on your
descriptive essay, it is important to identify exactly what you want to
describe. This form relies on creative writing.
Descriptive
composition requires the writer to express, to portray, show clearly and
vividly something which one can touch, smell, hear, feel or think to the
reader. It involves giving a detailed description about a topic, person,
something, place or an incident.
Example:
A GERMAN SAUSAGE
‘If you never try a new thing,
how can you tell what it’s like? Think of a man who first tried German sausage!
It was a great success, that
Irish stew I don’t think I never enjoyed a meal more, there was something so
fresh and piquant about it. One’s palate gets so tired of the old things; here
was a dish with a new flavour with a taste like nothing else on earth.
And it was nourishing too. As
George said, there was good stuff in it, peas and potatoes might have been a
bit softer, but we all had good teeth, so that did not matter much, and as for
gravy, it was like a poem, a little too rich, perhaps, for a week stomach, but
nutritious.
We finished up with tea and
cherry tart. Montmorency had a fight with the kettle during tea time and come
off a poor second.
Exercise:
1.
Write carefully paragraphed composition of about 300 words on “trees”
2. Write a
300 word essay on “People I Envy”
3. Write a 250
word essay composition titled “Things I like Doing”
4.
Write a composition on “The kind of boy or girl that I liked at school” (250
words)
4. ARGUMENTATIVE COMPOSITION/ESSAY
Argumentative
essays are written to present on opinions which either favours or disagrees
with a controversial topic. The writer must prove his/her view point by
supporting it with convincing facts and evidences from reliable sources.
The
function of argumentative essays is to show that your assertion (theory,
opinion, and hypothesis) about some phenomena is correct or more truthful than
other's.
Argumentative
writing is an act of forming reason, making inductions, giving supporting
examples, drawing conclusions and applying them to the case of discussions. It
also involves a clear explanation of the process of reasoning from the known or
assumed to the unknown and without doing this you do not have argument; you
have only an opinion or theory. It is used to convince the readers to believe
in the opinion of the writer /author of a particular material.
It
aims at arguing ,convincing , motivating or persuading the reader to accept
,change and take the required action or step on something, a topic or subject
that might affect the society in one way another . Example; political written
speeches, on the uses of a certain traditional medicine to treat HIV or Malaria
patients which needs convincing power with clear arguments/reasons.
Argumentative
composition involves the use of contrastive words such as whereas, although, on
the other hand, yet, however, nevertheless, despite, but, meanwhile, etc.
Example:
CORRUPTION IS RAMPANT
Corruption is a most problem
in African countries. On the other hand, it is one of the causes of poverty to
the majority citizen in most African countries. Although people are always
struggling to combat poverty but their economy is hampered by corruption which
denies them basic rights such as the right to employment.
On the contrary, the economy
of the most African countries is in the hand of the few minorities whereas the
majority is suffering from bad conditions.
Consequently, children retard
due to malnutrition caused by lack of a balance diet. However, African
countries have many minerals and forests, but these resources are not fully
utilised as are result of poor investment caused by corruption.
Furthermore, corruption has
caused lack of proper transport facilities such as roads, which is one of the
factor for speeding up development and in fact, many roads are not all weather,
meanwhile, they are used during dry seasons only. Therefore, these are the
consequences of corruption in most African countries.
Activity
1. Write
on argumentative composition on forums of child labor. (about 250 words)
2.
Using the following contrasting conjunctions: while…, conversely,
notwithstanding, despite, whereas, and although. Write a composition on the
importance of a new constitution in Tanzania .(300 words)
3.
Argue for the subject “Animals, friends, and enemies of man”. (300 words)
CREATIVE WRITING
Creative
writing refers to an art which involves writing fiction or non-fiction stories
with the figurative use of language. It depends on a person’s masterly of a
particular language and can be inform of a novel or short stories, poem, and
memories in our life. It involves creating the environment or scene, plot,
style, character, and proper, language, to use in your story.
How to Write Creatively
1.
Think on topic of your story.
2.
List down the general ideas to be included in your story.
3.
Think of the style and vocabulary which will complete your work.
4.
Plan the characters in your story.
5. Consider
the setting i.e. environment that will be reflected in your story.
Exercise:
1. Write
a short story titled “a misfortune woman”(500 words).
2. Write
a five stanza poem titled “A village woman”
WRITING SPEECHES
A
speech refers to a vocalised form of human communication. It may also denote a
formal presentation on a given topic or subject. A speech may also refer to a
formal faculty or act of speaking, expressing or describing thoughts, feelings
or perceptions through the articulation of words. Speech is written first
before presenting. Normally, speech can be presented during seminar,
graduation, workshop, political campaigns, report, project presentations,
religious speeches, meetings, public meeting, ceremonies and functions.
How to Write a Speech
1.
Think on the purpose of the speech- why do you want to prepare a speech?
2.
Think on the context and audience whom do you want to write a speech.
3.
Plan for the heading/ title of your speech. The title/heading should be taken
from the topic or subject given. It should relate with the event that takes
place and requires a speech.
4.
The title/heading should be very brief, clear and readable. It should be direct
to the event/function that takes place.
5.
Make a good introduction, starting with, greeting from the superior/guest of
honor to the least people.
Example;
Honorable
Guest of Honor,…,Your Excellency……,Secretary General…..Mr. president….., the
highness…….., the majority……., etc. It will depend with the title/position of
the guest of honor during the event.
6.
After introduction/greeting, clarify a little bit about the event, clarify the
function taking place.
7.
The main body – concentrate on ideas as conveyed in the question/topic given,
put each idea in a new paragraph giving examples and evidences. Observe a
logical arrangement of ideas with good grammar.
8.
If you have a guest of honour, address your speech to him/her, but if there is
no a guest of honour and your speaking to general audience use the words’’
ladies and gentleman “in every beginning of a new idea.
9.
Use appropriate vocabulary.. Do not use contractions example; I’ll, I don’t,
we’ve, I’ve, etc. Use link words/connectors such as besides, finally, moreover,
despite, on top of that, etc.
10.
Give your own suggestion / view opinions on what you have discussed in your
speech.
Activity
1. You are given a
chance to address the people on the topic ‘Environmental Conservation’
2.
Write a speech of not more than 250 words.
3.
Organise words in a logical order.
4.
Revise and edit your speech.
 |
| Writing a speech |
Delivering a
Speech
Delivering
a speech requires some things to take into consideration to make your argument
more effective and interesting. The following are some of these things:
1.
Stand upright or in the place where you can be seen by all the audience.
2.
Look all side so as to hold your audience.
3.
Allow eye contact with the audience, a glance to your speech is enough.
4.
Avoid repetition, speak moderately, enrich your speech by using proverbs,
idioms to make it more colourful (but this will depend with the audience)
5.
If you feel nervous in front of the audience, take a deep breath and put your
legs apart and wait for several minutes before continuing.
6.
Observe the time duration so that your speech could not bore the audience.
7.
Avoid using offensive and aggressive language/comments that are embarrassing to
the listener/ audience.
Activity
Imagine
you’re the one of the political leaders campaigning for votes in an election.
Prepare a speech to give to voters. Use this point;
1.
Increase in wages
2. Increase crop prices
3.
Lower taxes
4. Spend more on education
5.
Unite the people
6.
Improvement of transport and communication.
7.
Building of more schools and laboratories.
 |
| Delivering a speech |
WRITING CURRICULUM VITAE (CV)
Curriculum vitae is a document that lists a person's education
qualifications, work experience and interests. A curriculum vitae (CV)
sometimes is required as an attachment application letters as an advertisement
for your skills. Your personal information should keep changing in order to
suit with each new job application. The Americans call as CV ‘resume” while the
British calls it Curriculum vitae (CV).
There are three (3) basic types of CV namely:
1. Chronological CV –put emphasis on historical
development on your career / professional.
2. Functional CV—emphasis on skills and
capabilities,
3. Combine both functional and chronological styles
(CV).
Example:
A Sample of a CV
PERSONAL INFORMATION/ DATA:
SURNAME: MARWA
FIRST NAME: LAMECK
MIDDLE NAME: SAMWEL
DATE OF BIRTH: September 24, 1988
NATIONALITY: TANZANIAN
SEX: MALE
MARITAL STATUS: SINGLE
HOME ADDREES: P.O.BOX 4292, DAR ES SALAAM
PRESENT ADDRESS: P.O.BOX, 1923, DAR ES SALAAM
TEL. NUMBER: 0719 55171/0763 24543
E-MAIL: lamekism@yahoo.com
EDUCATION QUALIFICATION:
YEAR
|
INSTITUTION
|
AWARD
|
2011-2014
|
UNIVERSITY OF DODOMA
|
BACHELOR DEGREE
|
2009-2011
|
CHANG’OMBE HIGH SCHOOL
|
ADVANCED LEVEL CERTIFICATE
|
2005-2008
|
TIRAV SECONDARY SCHOOL
|
ORDINARY LEVEL CERTIFICATES
|
1998- 2004
|
SOMBA PRIMARY SCHOOL
|
PSLE CERTIFICATE
|
PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATION/ WORKING EXPERIENCE:
2013-2014 - Tutorial Assistant – University of
Dodoma
2014-2015 - Teacher at Green Acre Secondary School
2011-2013 - Teaching Practice at Ohio High School
2010 – Training on Computer Literacy- Certificate.
2015 - Part time Lecturer at Edinburgh University
PERSONAL INTEREST /HOBBIES:
Reading newspapers
Sports and games
LANGUAGE FLUENCY:
Kiswahili – excellent
English – very good
EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES:
Reading novels
Doing body exercise
REFEREES:
Mr. Faustine Masath
Assistant Lecturer
Faculty
of Education
Dar Es Salaam University College of Education (DUCE)
P. O. Box 2329
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
Mobile: 0714 66206
Mr. Godwin Nnko
Assistant Lecturer
Faculty
of Education
Dar Es Salaam University College of Education (DUCE)
P.O.Box 2329
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
Mobile:
0717 21207
Mr. Samson Martin
Teacher
Amani
Primary School
Dar
Es Salaam, Tanzania.
P.O.Box
4634
Mobile: 0754 76632
Activity
Imagine
you want to secure a job
at Maven Tea Producers Company, write a CV which should beattached with your
letter.
EmoticonEmoticon