1. Keep it simple

· Don’t use unnecessary words (i.e. don’t use three words when one will do)

· Don’t include unnecessary information just to “fill the page”

2. Keep it neat

1. Know your audience and gauge its expectations. Are you writing for your friends or a professor? In general, it is in your best interest to write in a less colloquial style for papers you are submitting for grading. This is not to say that there will never be a circumstance when a more colloquial tone will be appropriate.

You will need to answer two of these questions on the exam. They will be choosen from a group of two and a group of three. To be completely prepared you will need to be able to answer four out of the five.

1. Visit the Communication homepage and print an extra copy of the appropriate critique form.

2. While viewing your tape in the lab, mark comments on the critique form.

Scholarship committees are looking for students with the ability to communicate effectively through the written word. Here are some tips to writing a great essay.

Following are three essays illustrating the scores “5”, “3” and “1”. The essays are written on the topic

“Does democracy always win in democratic elections?”

Grade: 5

a hundred points of light