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Concern Competition: Writing
Concern Competition: Writing
Concern Competition: Writing
Competition
Writing Tips
Writing Tips
I am just a reporter, doing my job, reporting on what happens in the world but it
is also my job to enlighten people. We have to realise that there are many
lessons we can learn in life but one of the most important ones is that we are
one world, all brothers and sisters. No one is superior, whether its to do with
age, race, nationality or whether you have money or not. I am only a reporter,
but together we are a community of brothers and sisters. Its up to you whether
you turn the next page of this newspaper and forget all about this article, but no
matter how many pages you turn, or newspapers you throw into the bin, poverty
isnt something that can be gotten rid of that easily. You cant forget about it and
hope for the best. Poverty is always going to be there whether you try and
forget about it or not. Leah Geoghegan, Ireland, Dispatches from the Developing
World, Concern Writing Competition 2011 Jr. Passages
Writing Tips
Writing Process
For this years topic and form check out www.concern.net/writingcompetition
Prewriting
Choose a topic and form
Choose a style
Choose a purpose & audience
Gather Ideas
Research (Page 11)
Free writing (Page 4)
Drafting
Put ideas down on paper
Write
Revising
Have a friend read your draft
Make major changes to the draft
See how your piece will measure up (Page 10)
Proofreading
Make minor changes
Correct errors in
Spelling
Grammar
Usage
Mechanics
Publishing
Share your writing
Submit your piece online
www.concern.net/writingcompetition
Writing Tips
Writing Tips
Free writing doesnt suit you? Try these other great prewriting
techniques and prompts
1. List Ideas. Lists are a great way to gather material. The idea is to generate ideas.
Dont worry if some ideas are better than others. And dont worry too much about
getting the ideas in the right order.
2. Make a Web. You may have done this before. Put the main idea in the centre, and
make a spoke for each connected idea.
3. Make a Simple Time-line. I find this idea very helpful for writing stories. Jot down
when each important event happened. Now, where do you want to start the
writing? At the beginning of the timeline? In the middle? At the end?
4. Three by Three by Three. Give yourself three minutes to write three ideas on three
different topics. Great for generating ideas.
5. Write a story of exactly 100 words, no more, no less. Then cut the story down to
50 words. Can you do it in 25? 6?
6. Write a scene in dialogue-only first, then go back and fill in the action - but only
where its necessary to understand whats going on.
7. Write the first sentence of a story today. Write the second sentence tomorrow.
Continue until youve finished the story. Dont cheat, you can always edit later.
8. Write about your day from the point of view of your shoes. Then write about it again
from the point of view of your eyes or ears. Notice the difference?
Writing Tips
Quick Tips
Style
Readers want the person who is talking to them to sound
genuine, therefore be yourself. Relax and have
confidence, believe in your own identity and your own
opinions. When choosing words and stringing them
together think of how they sound. Constantly use a
thesaurus to find the right word that sounds the best too.
Writing Tips
Structure
Give as much thought to your last sentence as your first. Bring the story full circle to strike
at the end of a note that was sounded at the beginning. Readers want to know that they
are on a journey. Does your lead sentence/paragraph work? Does it capture attention?
Provide hard details that tell the reader why the piece was written and why they ought to
read it.
You can use a quotation to start or end your story. You can start by using a remark that is
so far from left field that nobody could see it coming. Find some remark that has a sense
of finality or that is funny, or that adds an unexpected closing detail. Surprise is the most
refreshing element in nonfiction writing.
Close your eyes and count to six. A child in the developing world has just
died. Caoimhe Ni Chorcora, Ireland, Mr Secretary General, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Concern Writing Competition, 2010 Senior Shortlisted.
Continue to build: every paragraph should amplify the one that precedes it. Take special
care with the last sentence of every paragraph - it is a critical springboard to the next
paragraph. Make the reader smile and you have them for at least another paragraph.
Writing Tips
Revision/Rewriting
Editing
Energy
Fluency
Style
Re-sequence
Spelling/Capital
Letters
Add a section
Grammar
Prune/Cut
Punctuation
Emphasis
Paragraphing
Above all do not be afraid to experiment with what you have written
Remember, it is not sign of weakness or defeat that your manuscript ends up in
need of major surgery. This is a common occurrence in all writing, and among
the best writers. William Strunk Jr. and. B. White, The Elements of Style
Read your article aloud from beginning to end, always remembering where you have left
the reader in the previous sentence. Watch the connecting links, watch where you might
confuse or lose the reader. Have you told them the same thing twice or forgotten
something they needed to know? What you must do is make an arrangement- one that
holds together from start to finish and that moves with economy and warmth.
Writing Tips
Put brackets around every component that isnt doing the useful work
Unnecessary preposition appended to a verb
Adjective that states a known fact
An adverb that carries the same meaning as the verb
Little qualifiers that weaken any sentence they inhabit
Phrases that dont mean anything like in a sense
Writing Tips
Specific factors to
consider:
Clarity of
Purpose
/30
Coherence of
Delivery
Continuity of argument,
sequencing, management
of ideas, use of
references/quotes/sources,
use of examples (its ok to
use factual/real examples
or fictional
stories/characters)
/30
Efficiency of
language
Accurate vocabulary,
syntax, sentence patterns,
paragraph structure,
appropriate punctuation,
use of lively interesting
phrasing, energy, style,
fluency
/30
/10
Accuracy of
mechanics
TOTAL
10
Mark
Marks should be
awarded under
the following
headings
/100
Writing Tips
www.concern.net
Concerns stance on topic development issues.
www.unhcr.org
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, up to
date details on all UN member countries, key
topics, issues, international human rights law and
international human rights bodies.
www.hrw.org
Human Rights Watch. Huge database of reports
and resources on human rights around the world.
www.madre.org
Womens rights network, great for issue-based
research.
www.oneworld.net
Brings together the latest news and views from
over 1,600 organizations promoting human rights
awareness and fighting poverty worldwide
www.un.org/millenniumgoals
The eight Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) form a blueprint agreed to by all the
worlds countries and all the worlds leading
development institutions.
www.globalissues.org
This web site looks into global issues that affect
everyone and aims to show how most issues are
inter-related.
www.crin.org
CRIN empowers the global child rights
community through the exchange of information
and the promotion of childrens rights. There are
14,540 resources on the site.
www.ilo.org/ipec
Resources and statistics on child labour.
www.eldis.org
Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, topic
guides, country profiles and recent news on
almost every development topic.
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