O n Part II of the GED Language Arts, Writing Test, you will be asked to write a short essay about a general topic, such as whether there is too much violence on television or what makes a good par- ent.You will have 45 minutes to demonstrate how effectively you can express your ideas in writing. A strong GED essay will have these five key elements: 1. Response to prompt (Does your essay present a well-developed main idea and a focus that responds to the assigned prompt?) 2. Organization (Have you presented your ideas and support in a logical order?) 3. Development and details (Have you explained your ideas?) 4. Conventions of EAE (Have you followed the conventions of Edited American English?) 5. Word choice (Is the word choice accurate, diverse, and appropriate?) As a general guide, you will need to write about four or five paragraphs to have a sufficiently developed essay. That includes an introductory paragraph that states your main idea, two or three paragraphs developing and sup- porting that main idea, and a brief concluding paragraph. Your essay should be approximately 250 to 300 words. CHAPTER Writing an Effective Essay PART II of the GED Language Arts, Writing Test has only one ques- tion—an essay prompt. But this test is just as important as Part I, and you must pass the essay test to pass the writing exam. This chapter will teach you how to write an effective essay for the GED. You will learn six steps to take during an essay exam, including how to brain- storm and organize ideas and how to write with style. 10 75 General Writing Strategies To do well on the essay exam, you need to have a solid grasp of general writing strategies. These strategies are those basic techniques writers use to develop a readable and engaging text. They include: ■ writing in a way that is appropriate for audience and purpose ■ providing appropriate and sufficient support ■ crafting effective introductions and conclusions ■ using effective transitions ■ revising for more effective writing Audience and Purpose At its core, effective writing has a constant awareness of and attention to audience and purpose. Good writers are always thinking about their readers: Who are they? What do they know about the subject? What prejudices or pre- conceived notions might they have? What will keep their attention? Good writers are also always thinking about purpose. Is their goal to teach a lesson? Provide information? Entertain? Answer a question? Convince or persuade? WRITING FOR YOUR AUDIENCE Knowing your audience will help you make a couple of key writing decisions. First, it helps you determine your level of formality. Will you use slang or very formal lan- guage? It depends upon your relationship with your reader. On the GED, you will be expected to write for a general audience. That is, you should assume your read- ers are “everyday” people with a wide variety of interests and backgrounds. You will need an appropriate level of formality for this audience. Treat your readers with respect, but do not put them off by sounding too formal or pretentious. Avoid slang (too informal) or jargon (technical or specialized language). Let your writing be natural without being too informal. Your audience also determines the level of detail and specificity in your essay. Because you are writing for a gen- eral audience and not friends, you cannot assume that readers know the context of your ideas and experiences. For example, if you are arguing that Internet sites should be censored, do not assume that readers have seen the kind of sites you are talking about—or even that they have been on the Internet. You will need to briefly describe those sites to give your readers sufficient context. KNOWING YOUR PURPOSE As important as knowing whom you are writing for is knowing why you are writing. What is the goal of your essay? What are you hoping to convey through your writ- ing? The more clearly you can articulate your purpose while you outline your essay, the more effective your writing and revising states will be. Here are some verbs you might find helpful for describing your purpose: show describe explain prove convince demonstrate compare contrast review inform summarize propose defend explore encourage Of course, your specific goals will be guided by the prompt you receive on the GED. In a narrative essay, for example, your main purpose will be to describe. In a per- suasive essay, your main purpose will be to convince. In an expository essay, you may aim to inform, compare, propose, or explain, depending upon your topic. As you think about how to write your essay, think about how you would fill in the blank in the following sentence: My goal in this essay is to: . Beginnings, Middles, and Ends As you know, essays have three distinct parts: ■ beginning (introduction) ■ middle (body) ■ end (conclusion) You will be expected to have all three parts in your GED essay. INTRODUCTIONS First impressions count, and that’s why introductions are so important in writing. A good introduction: 1. indicates what the essay is about (its topic) and what the writer is going to say about the topic (its main idea). 2. grabs the reader’s attention. 3. establishes the tone of the passage. – WRITING AN EFFECTIVE ESSAY– 76 Techniques to grab attention include opening with: ■ a question ■ a quotation ■ a surprising fact or statement ■ an imaginary situation or scenario ■ an anecdote ■ interesting background information ■ a new twist on a familiar phrase For example, a more attention-grabbing introduction to the Batman passage in the pretest might be something like the following: Pow! Bam! Zap! Batman triumphs again, saving the citizens of Gotham City from evil. This opening plays upon a convention of comic strips and the Batman television series. And because it is unique and action-filled, it generates interest and excite- ment in the reader. C ONCLUSIONS Conclusions, too, should be powerful. After all, people tend to remember most what comes first and last, and the final words have the power to ring in readers’ ears for a long time afterward. A good conclusion will: 1. restate the main idea. 2. provide a sense of closure (not “open a new can of worms” by introducing a new topic). 3. arouse readers’ emotions to make the ending and main idea memorable. The Batman text, again, provides a good example. In Batman, Kane gave us an image of our own superhero potential. This concluding sentence sums up what makes Batman so popular, rounding out the passage in a way that makes readers think about their own similarities to Batman and what sort of superheroes they could be. Many of the same introductory techniques can be used to help make conclusions memorable: ■ a quotation ■ a question ■ an anecdote ■ a prediction ■ a solution or recommendation ■ a call to action For example, the conclusion to an essay about a healthy diet might end with a call to action: Take a good, long look in your refrigerator and pantry. What unhealthy foods call your icebox and cabinets their home? Find them, get rid of them, and stock up on foods that will help you live a longer, healthier life. Effective Essays and the Writing Process Experienced writers know that good writing doesn’t hap- pen all at once. Rather, it develops in stages. That’s because writing is a process, not just a product. And it’s difficult to get a good product without going through each step in the writing process. The writing process can be divided into three steps: 1. planning 2. drafting 3. revising and editing When you are under pressure to write a winning essay in just 45 minutes, you may be tempted to skip these steps and just write your essay in one shot. You may end up with a successful essay with this approach. But your chances of doing well on the GED Writing Test—or, on any writing task—will increase dramatically if you take the time to work through each step. Even though you only have 45 minutes, the ten minutes you spend plan- ning and proofreading your essay will be time well spent. In fact, for essay exams, the planning stage is so impor- tant that it has been divided into six separate steps in the following section. – WRITING AN EFFECTIVE ESSAY– 77 How to Divide Your Time on an Essay Exam When your time is limited, how long should you spend on each step in the writing process? On an essay exam, use this general rule for dividing your time: ᎏ 1 4 ᎏ of the time: planning ᎏ 1 2 ᎏ of the time: writing ᎏ 1 4 ᎏ of the time: revising and editing Your 45 minutes on the GED can be divided as follows: 10 minutes planning 25 minutes writing 10 minutes revising and editing Six Steps to a Strong Essay These six steps will help you write a strong, effective essay on the GED. Step 1: Understand the Writing Prompt Before you can begin to plan your essay, you need to be sure you understand the kind of essay you need to write. As noted earlier, it is essential that you respond accu- rately to the writing prompt you are given on the exam. If you write about a different topic, you will not receive credit for your essay. It’s therefore critical to understand exactly what the prompt is asking you to do. Earlier in this section, we divided the essay prompts into three types: narrative, persuasive, and expository. How do you know which kind of essay the prompt is ask- ing for? Each prompt will have key words that can help you understand what to do. These key words include terms such as: tell describe identify explain Notice, for example, the underlined key words in the two prompts below: The Internet includes many websites with images and content that are inappropriate for children. Other sites on the Internet promote violence or intolerance against certain groups of people. Should websites like these be censored? In your essay, stat e your p osition on this issue and e xplain why you take that position. Use your personal observations, experiences, and knowledge to support your essay. Sometimes, events take an unexpected turn and things turn out differently than we imagined. T ell about a time when something unexpected happened to you. In your essay, d escribe what was supposed to happen and how things actu- ally turned out. Use supporting details through- out your essay. You are on your way to a successful essay if: 1. You understand what kind of essay to write: narrative (tell a story), persuasive (make an argu- ment), or expository (explain an idea or respond to a situation or scenario). 2. You follow the directions exactly and directly answer the questions in the prompt. In the first example, you must state your position on the issue raised in the prompt—censorship of cer- tain types of Internet sites. In the second exam- ple, you must tell a story about a specific kind of experience—a time when something unexpected happened. Step 2: Formulate a Clear Thesis Before you begin to write, you need to decide what you are going to write about. Once you are sure you under- stand the prompt, how will you answer its question? Your answer will form the core of your essay. It will be the main idea that controls everything you write and deter- mine the kind of support you will provide. In other words, your answer to the question in the prompt is your thesis—your main idea. It is the “argument” that you are going to make and the idea you need to support. A thesis does not just repeat or paraphrase the ques- tion or prompt. It does not simply make general state- – WRITING AN EFFECTIVE ESSAY– 78 ments about the topic or state how others might respond to the question. A good thesis takes a clear, personal posi- tion. For example, look again at the following prompt: Our relationships with our neighbors are very important. Sometimes, these relationships are the source of great joy in our lives; other times, they can be the source of great trouble. In your opinion, what makes a good neighbor? In your essay, identify the characteristics of a good neighbor and explain why these characteristics are important for people living side by side. Use your personal observations, experiences, and knowledge to support your essay. The following sentences are not thesis statements (they do not answer the question). ■ There are all kinds of neighbors. ■ What makes a good neighbor? ■ There are many characteristics of a good neighbor. These, however, are thesis statements. They respond directly to the question. ■ Good neighbors are helpful and kind. ■ The best kind of neighbors help when asked and otherwise mind their own business. ■ Good neighbors are friendly, helpful, and respect- ful of boundaries. Step 3: Brainstorm Support for Your Thesis Once you have decided how to answer the question(s) in the prompt, decide how you will support your answer. On your piece of scrap paper, list at least three to five rea- sons, examples, or specific details to support your thesis or events to develop your story. Because you are still in the planning stage, write down whatever comes to mind. You don’t have to include everything you list in your essay. And the more ideas you put down, the more freedom you will have to pick the best (strongest) support for your thesis. For example, here’s how you might brainstorm sup- port for the previous prompt: T hesis: Good neighbors are friendly, helpful, and respectful of boundaries. W hy ? Friendly neighbors are pleasant to have around, make it nice to live where you live. Helpful is important—know you can count on them for small favors, when you are in need. Need to respect boundaries, not take what is yours, not get too involved in your life— otherwise, they will not be welcome. E xamples: Friendly—my neighbor Selma and her family— always saying hello, often chatting, cookies at Christmas. Helpful—lending tools to Dad, borrowing sugar etc., babysitting. Respecting boundaries—don’t just walk in, don’t be nosy; they’re your neighbors, not your family. Listing is just one brainstorming strategy. You can also map your ideas. This is especially effective if you are a visual learner, as shown on the map on the following page. Freewriting If you are totally stuck and can’t think of how to answer your question or how to support your thesis, try freewriting. This brainstorming tech- nique is what it says—free writing. Write down whatever comes to mind about the question or topic. Don’t worry about grammar or structure. Write in your own language if you like. Just write. If you keep your hands moving for even two or three minutes, you are bound to come up with some good ideas. – WRITING AN EFFECTIVE ESSAY– 79 – WRITING AN EFFECTIVE ESSAY– 80 Good Neighbors Nice to be around Friendly Makes you feel welcome Feels good Greetings Helpful Small favors Watering garden Accepting packages Baby-sitting Borrowing things Sugar Tools Respect boundaries Donít have to avoid Pleasant for everyone Respect privacy Respect property Don’t be nosy Mind own business Don’t take each other’s things . What do they know about the subject? What prejudices or pre- conceived notions might they have? What will keep their attention? Good writers are also always thinking about purpose. Is their goal. an essay exam, use this general rule for dividing your time: ᎏ 1 4 ᎏ of the time: planning ᎏ 1 2 ᎏ of the time: writing ᎏ 1 4 ᎏ of the time: revising and editing Your 45 minutes on the GED can. scenario). 2. You follow the directions exactly and directly answer the questions in the prompt. In the first example, you must state your position on the issue raised in the prompt—censorship of