SASS 3E Situational Writing Manual

1 St Andrew’s Secondary School Situational Writing Sec 3E

2 Introduction to Situational Writing Situational Writing in Paper 1, Section 2 carries 30 marks. It assess students’ ability to read and analyse given information and to expand the information intelligently to satisfy the task requirement. Situational writing is not letter writing. It can be a report, a letter, a brochure, an article etc. Even a report can be an incident report, a school report on a project etc. 1. Text Type In situational writing, you must know the text type required. Is it a report, a letter, an article in a magazine etc.? 2. Audience Who are you supposed to write to? If it is a speech, who are your listeners? This is very important because it will decide on your choice of words, formality etc. 3. Purpose What is the purpose of the writing? Is it to persuade, inform, raise an awareness? 4. Tone Just as with speaking, the tone in writing is affected by the writer's attitudes toward the reader and subject. Tone is VERY important. For example: If it is a letter to someone close to you, you need to be warm and friendly. But if it is a letter to an official organisation you need to be distant and serious. Usually the question will advise you on the appropriate tone. If the question does not do so, think very carefully what the appropriate tone should be before writing. 5. Task Fulfillment What does the question expect you to write? What details or elaborations do you need to add? Are there any words in bold in the question? If there are, you need to remember to give attention to them in your writing. 6. Format You must observe the format carefully. Format is marked under task fulfillment section. If your format is wrong, you might go one band down in Task Fulfillment. 7. Allocation of Marks Task Fulfillment: 10 marks Language: 20 marks 8. Writing Time Spend about 45 min on this section. Try not to spend more than 45 min. It might be a good idea to start with Situational Writing because many students tend to spend too much time in Section One (Free Writing), leaving themselves too little time for Situational Writing. However, if you begin with Situational Writing, do not spend more time than you should. If not, you will find yourself struggling to complete the Free Writing piece. 9. Length of Writing DO NOT write way beyond 350 words for Situational Writing. In this section, the text types you write are very specific. If you write too long, you would lose the effectiveness of the piece of writing. E.g. if a leaflet is too long (has excessive

3 information) or if a speech is too long, no one is going to read your leaflet or listen to you respectively. LETTER WRITING Basically, there are two types of letters: formal & informal. Areas of Focus Formal Letter Informal Letter Purpose To give feedback (commendations, complaints). To persuade (proposals, suggestions). To raise awareness (about an area of interest/concern or a pro