What constitutes Good Writing in A Level essays?

Good writing helps communication so should be as concise and direct as you can make it. You need to ensure that your spelling, punctuation and grammar are accurate as it will help to give you a convincing, authoritative voice in your essays. Therefore:

• Learn a range of relevant subject terminology and ensure you can spell it correctly (e.g. tragedy, omniscient, soliloquy).
• Shorter words are often preferable to longer words, unless there is some specific vocabulary that you need to include to demonstrate your skill so there is no need to keep using a thesaurus to find impressive words.
• Keep sentences clear:
• Try to keep the subject and verb as close together as possible
• Strip out clauses within clauses
• One idea per sentence
• Short to middle length sentences are almost always preferable to longer ones – you are trying to be clear, not write a Victorian novel!
• Over-long paragraphs tend to demonstrate that you are not clear about the specific points you are making.
• Try to suggest rather than assert by using modal verbs i.e. This could suggest, this might imply, this may be interpreted as…
• Adopt a suitable formal academic style; using a depersonalised voice will make your writing sound more assured, confident and authoritative. Use the personal ‘I’ voice sparingly, save it for when you’re expressing something individual or disagreeing with someone else’s idea. It’s also appropriate in the conclusion.e.g. Compare ‘I think Shakespeare uses Hamlet’s soliloquies to show the audience that he is not just mad but troubled and burdened because of the revenge he is has to take ’ with  the more sophisticated ‘Shakespeare’s  use of   soliloquies show the audience that Hamlet is not simply mad but troubled and burdened by the weight of the revenge he is has to take.’