1. Guidelines for Writing
How to write a text correctly

2. Types of Composition
When you write a composition you need to understand the type of
writing required. These are the main types:
Letters
Articles
Reports

3. Letters
• Letters are written to a person, i.e., a
friend or to a group of people.
• Letters follow a format:
address, greeting, opening
paragraph, etc.

4. Letters
• Letters also include emails.
• They can be formal or
informal.

5. All letters should include:
• Address and date
• An appropriate
greeting (Dear Sir,
/Madam, /Lucy, )• An introduction with
opening remarks and
reason for writing.

6. All letters should include:
•A main body, in chich you write
about the specific topics of the
letter in detail
• A conclusion, in which
you write your closing
remarks• An appropriate ending
(Yours faithfully, love,

7. Articles
They are found in magazines and
newspapers

8. Types of articles
• Descriptions
• Narratives or stories
• Reviews discussing a film,
book, etc.
• News reports

9. Types of articles
•Discursive essays:
o For and against
o Opinion essays

10. Types of articles
• Reports:
o Assessment reports,
evaluating someone
or something
o Proposals reports:
discussing
suggestions or
decisions about

11. Understanding rubrics
To plan your composition you
need to understand the rubric
i. e. the composition
instructions:

12. Understanding rubrics
• The imaginary situation
you will write about
• The imaginary reader
who is going to read
your piece of writing
• The type of writing
• The specific topics you
should write about

13. HERE'S AN EXAMPLE OF RUBRIC
You work for a travel magazine. Your editor
has asked you to write an ARTICLE
discussing the pros and cons of air travel,
including factors such as cost and
convenience.
1. Situation
2. Reader
3. TYPE OF WRITING
4. Specific topics

14. Brainstorming for ideas
• Write down any ideas, words and phrases
that you can think of which relate to the
specific topics of your composition.
• Group your ideas, crossing out any
irrelevant ones, and put them into a logical
order.
• Check that your ideas are relevant to the
topic/s in the rubric.

15. Planning the layout of your composition
Your ideas should be organised
into paragraphs. The layout of
most types of writing consists of
three parts:
• an introduction,
• a main body
• and a conclusion.

16. Introduction:
• The first paragraph is a short
paragraph whose purpose is to
give the reader a general idea of
the subject of the composition.
• It should attract the reader's
attention so that he/she wants to
continue reading.

17. Main body:
• The main body usually consists of 2
or more paragraphs and its
purpouse is to develop points
related to the subject of the
composition.
• Each paragraph should deal with
points related to the same topic.
• Whenever you discuss a new topic,
you should begin a new paragraph.

18. Conclusion:
• It’s a short final paragraph in
which you can sumarise the
main idea of the subject,
restate your opinion in
different words, make
general comments, express
your feelings.
• The conclusion is not a

19. 19
Writing paragraphs
• Each paragraph has to refer to one single topic
• Don’t write about unrelated topics in the same
paragraph
• Use topic sentences

20. 20
Topic sentences
• Topic sentences are sentences that summarize
the content of a paragraph. They appear at the
beginning of the paragraph and help to explain
what you are going to talk about and link with
the previous paragraph or introduction:

21. 21
Topic sentences: example
“These days, in the UK at least, the nature of
childhood has changed dramatically. Firstly
families are smaller, and there are far more only
children. It is common for both parents…”
New English File Advanced, Student’s book, page
32.

22. Linking words and phrases
They make your writing more
interesting to the reader, and they
can be used to:

23. Linking words and phrases
• show time
• list points or show sequence
• add more points
• show cause or effect
• give examples
• show contrast
• include a conclusion

24. 24
Other cohesion mechanisms
Apart from linking words and expressions, there are
other methods to obtain cohesion:
• Explaning in the introduction the topics that are
going to be mentioned.
• Making references from one paragraph to the
other.
• Using lots of words, synonyms that are related to
the topic (if we are talking about contamination,
use as many related expressions as you can).

25. Correcting your essay
Before handing it in, make sure:
• You have used complete
sentences and that the
words are in the correct
order
• You have used the correct
grammar
• You do not repeat the

26. Correcting your essay
Before handing it in, make sure:
• There are no spelling
mistakes
• You have used the correct
punctuation