Chapter 68

'Brainstorm' an essay title. Pair up with a partner in your class. Together, pick a suitable essay title from a past exam paper. Using the spider diagram or another technique, individually 'brainstorm' the title. Meet afterwards, compare your ideas, and discuss their relative merits and disadvantages.

Improve your writing technique. From the following checklist, identify the three weakest aspects of your writing, either in your own opinion or from essay/assignment feedback: grammar; \- paragraph organisation; \- presentation of work; \- punctuation; \- scientific style; \- sentence structure/variety; spelling: \- structure and flow; \- vocabulary. Now either borrow a book from a library or buy a book that deals with your weakest aspects of writing. Read the relevant chapters or sections and for each aspect write down some tips that should help you in future.

Improve your spelling and vocabulary with two lists. Create a pair of lists and pin these up beside your desk. One should be entitled Spelling Mistakes and the other New Words. Now, whenever you make a mistake in spelling or have to look up how to spell a word in a dictionary, add the problem word to your spelling list, showing where you made the mistake. Also, whenever you come across a word whose meaning is unclear to you, look it up in a dictionary and write the word and its meaning in the 'new words' vocabulary list.