Paper 2 will give you a topic (connected to the reading paper) and will ask you to give your opinion.
For example:
‘Homework has no value. Some students get it done for them; some don’t do it at all. Students should be relaxing in their free time.’
Write an article for a broadsheet newspaper in which you explain your point of view on this statement.
(24 marks for content and organisation 16 marks for accuracy) [40 marks]
The most important thing to do is plan your answer - what is your opinion on this topic? It is better to argue one side of the argument very strongly, although you should also consider the other side (if only to knock those points down!). Plan 4-5 points which will then be developed in paragraphs.
Above you are asked to write a broadsheet article. The type of text you are asked to write could be:
- the text for a speech
- an article for a different publication (e.g. a school newspaper, an internet site)
- an essay
- a letter
Making your writing engaging
As with persuasive writing, opinion writing requires you to engage your reader and vary your writing. Some good techniques to use to do this are:
- Longer rhetorical questions (Is it really fair to expect people to wait for hours on end to ... ?)
- Knocking down the other side of the argument (Yes, it's true that ... However, ...)
- Lists of 3 (Young people today are accused of being disinterested, apathetic and insolent.)
- Facts and statistics (Every day, millions of people all around the world wake up to ...)
- Scenarios (Imagine a school where, instead of ..., you could actually ...)
- Anecdotes (I have personally been affected by this experience. When I was ...)
- Emotive language
- Descriptive language (Before the smoking ban, bars and restaurants were permanently clouded in a fog-like haze, with ...)