The final examination comprises three parts. You need to complete all the parts.

There is
no choice.

Observe the rules of formal writing in both the report and the essay.
1. No contractions. (Don’t write “don’t”. Write “do not”.)
2. No slang or colloquial words. (e.g. guy/stuff/nobody/somebody) (use no
one/someone)
3. No vague words (e.g. necessary things)

Don’t try to copy parts of the samples into your writing if you don’t understand what they
mean.

REPORT WRITING

This is the longest part, needing at least 2 pages. Spend your time wisely.

Don't forget the subject line. It doesn't make sense when you can write a report and
cannot think of a good subject line, which is a short phrase, not a sentence. Don’t forget
the heading and subheadings.

In the introductory paragraph, include (1) why you are writing this report
(authorization/permission/request, etc.) (2) what happened/ what is going on generally;
don't write causes and effects/advantages and disadvantages here/ there is always a
problem or set of problems, so mention it/them briefly.) (3) how you gathered the
information for your report, both primary (personal observations/interviews) and
secondary (records/data from relevant departments/offices) sources.

In the “Findings and Analyses” part, you have to use either causes & effects (several
short paragraphs) or advantages & disadvantages (two big paragraphs) style organization.
DON'T write only one paragraph. Use appropriate connectives.

The “Recommendations” part is based on the problems you have presented in the
previous part. Give suggestions to address all the problems stated.

Avoid "imperatives". (These lines are the examples to avoid.)

Be specific.
Don't write something that cannot be done. (e.g. Don’t ask the general public to do
something, because they won’t do it.)
Don’t use the same subject for all the recommendations. (e.g. Don’t use “the
government” as the subject for all sentences.)

In the final “Conclusion” part, you need to connect your recommendations to the
problems. Write generally how your recommendations will help solve the problems.
Don't give any suggestions in this part. They are IRRELEVANT.
CRITICAL/ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY WRITING

Choose your own title for the essay. DON'T USE the given sentence as the title. The title
should be a short phrase, not a sentence. (You must either agree or disagree with the idea.
Never sit on the fence.)

There are four paragraphs.

Paragraph (1) Introduction

There must be the “Thesis Statement”, which clearly expresses your idea, at the end of
the paragraph.

Paragraph (2) Thesis supporting arguments

Write at least 5 or 6 supporting points. Avoid personal pronouns, “I/We”.

Paragraph (3) Thesis opposing arguments

The length can be a little shorter than the previous paragraph, but not too short. Write at
least 4 or 5 points.
Use "hedging". (The opponents say that/ they believe that/ they argue that, etc.) This is
VERY IMPORTANT. The reason is to make the arguments in this part weaker than your
arguments.

Paragraph (4)
This is the conclusion. In addition to saying that your arguments are stronger, you NEED
TO write something about the weaknesses of the other side, or how the problems they say
can be tackled. And repeat the main idea (the “Thesis Statement”) in different words.
(That is the final sentence.)

EDITING AND PROOFREADING

This part is something we cannot do much about. There will be different kinds of errors
here as we discussed before midterm. One important change this semester is that you will
be given 1 mark for each error you point out and 1 more mark for the correct correction.
Or it could be .5 mark. Don't spend too much time here. I suggest that you copy the
paragraph out onto your answer paper before doing anything else.

If you have any questions, you can reach me via nicenet.org. But don’t send me “let-me-
pass-because-I-have-repeated-E4-many-times” messages, because I won’t just because
you say so.

Having said that, I wish all of you “Good luck.”