Chapter III 8 Steps for Writing a Good Essay

想拿高分，要先做到一點──不要離題。換言之，一定要準確、清晰地表達自己的立場或者觀點。比如「失敗與成功哪個更有價值？」你的觀點或者是「失敗更有價值」，或者是「成功的價值更高」。但是，如果你只是說「失敗也很重要」，那麼你的角度已經發生了偏差──你根本沒有回答這個問題。如果題目是「失敗也很有價值嗎」，那麼你闡述「失敗也很重要」則是正確的。事實上，很多考生急於下筆寫文，最終因審題失誤而顆粒無收。所以，一定要看清題目，準確、直接地回答問題。此外，想要奪取高分，還需要在邏輯思維與文章架構及語言能力上做出最佳表現。

You want to get a high score of essay. But knowing what exactly the graders are lookingfor from your essay would help you to achieve the goal. Here is the four perspectivesgraders base on when judging your essays.

1. Positioning: The strength and clarity of your stance on the given topic.

2. Examples: The relevance and development of the examples you use to support yourargument.

3. Organization: The organization of each of your paragraphs and of your essay overall.

4. Language: Sentence construction, grammar, and word choice.

The question is how you can demonstrate your ability of the four perspectives whenwriting your essay. In what comes, there are eight steps for writing an essay.

Step one: Decide your position-read the prompt carefully

Time: 3 minutes

First, the assignment should be read in its entirety. Each essay question on the SATtestis accompanied by a paragraph that discusses the issue in question. This paragraphcontains important information about the issue, and this information should be takeninto account in answering the question.

Here is a sample prompt.

Directions: Consider carefully the following statement and the assignment belowit. Then plan and write an essay that explains your ideas as persuasively aspossible. Keep in mind that the support you provide-both reasons and examples-will help make your view convincing to the reader.

In his poem, “To a Mouse,” the Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759-1796) wrotethese immortal lines: “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley.” Toparaphrase Burns’s archaic dialect in modern English: No matter how carefully weplan our projects, something can still go wrong with them.

Assignment: Are even our best plans always at the mercy of unexpected, chanceevents? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on thisidea. Support your position with reasoning and examples from your reading,studies, experience, or observations.

Read the prompt several times until you fully comprehend what the topic is about. Thismay sound like something ridiculously obvious and easy to do, but once you beginanswering the question it’s surprisingly easy to get off topic.

The second thing you need to do is to decide whether you are pro or con: you mustrespond to the assigned topic; you must choose YES or NO.

However, one of the biggest problems test takers face is prompts often deal withabstract conflicts that are hard to get worked up about. But keep in mind that you’rebeing graded on your ability to state an argument and to support it. You have to take astand. Train yourself to do that. An option is to re-state the prompt question in a waythat makes it easier to respond to.

Also remember though your instinct might be to support the side that you agree with,this should not be the determining factor. Instead, choose the side that you could moreeasily support with both argument and examples.

You may think three minutes for reading and deciding your side are too long, butspending some minutes in organizing your thoughts and outlining your answer willallow you to write much faster. Once you get started, you won’t have to stop mid-essayto think what to say next because you’ll already know. Students who start writingwithout planning quickly find that their writing has run out of steam. By then it’s toolate for them to get a fresh start on their essays.

Analyzing prompts practice

Read the writing prompts and answer the following questions.

Directions: Consider carefully the following statement and the assignment belowit. Then plan and write an essay that explains your ideas as persuasively as possible.Keep in mind that the support you provide-both reasons and examples-will helpmake your view convincing to the reader.

Aside from the disastrous effects of emails and chatting on the spelling, grammarand punctuation of the English language, these modern conveniences alsoconsiderably affect our personal lives.

Assignment: What is your view of the opinion that the temporary, impersonalnature of modern tools like electronic mail and instant messaging programs aregradually rendering our lives equally temporary and impersonal? Plan and write anessay in which you develop your point of view on this idea. Support your positionwith reasoning and examples from your reading, studies, experience, orobservations.

What is the issue of the excerpt as stated?

What are you supposed to write about the issue?

If you are asked to write an essay to respond to the question, what would youropinion be? Write your position in one sentence.

What examples would you use to support your position? Write down three of them.

Example 1:

Example 2:

Example 3:

Write the source of the idea-for example, a magazine you read or a TV show youwatched.

Source of Example 1:

Source of Example 2:

Source of Example 3:

Answers and Explanations

1. The issue is stated in the question: “the temporary, impersonal nature of moderntools like electronic mail and instant messaging programs are gradually rendering ourlives equally temporary and impersonal.”

2. What you are supposed to write is stated in the questions also: “your opinion of theidea that the temporary, impersonal nature of modern tools like electronic mail andinstant messaging programs are gradually rendering our lives equally temporary andimpersonal.”

3. Your sentence should state whether you agree or disagree with the issue as stated inthe question. That is: “the temporary, impersonal nature of modern tools like electronicmail and instant messaging programs are gradually rendering our lives equallytemporary and impersonal,” or “the temporary, impersonal nature of modern tools likeelectronic mail and instant messaging programs are not gradually rendering our livesequally temporary and impersonal.”

4. Analyze the three examples you write to see if they are closely related to the positionyou pick and if they support your opinion powerfully.

5. Do you have a variety of examples to support your position? Are they all from TVshows or books you read? Remember variety of sources is important. You should try tofind different sources: evidence from the same source (for example, your personalexperience) may not impress the readers.

Chapter III 8 Steps for Writing a Good Essay

想拿高分，要先做到一點──不要離題。換言之，一定要準確、清晰地表達自己的立場或者觀點。比如「失敗與成功哪個更有價值？」你的觀點或者是「失敗更有價值」，或者是「成功的價值更高」。但是，如果你只是說「失敗也很重要」，那麼你的角度已經發生了偏差──你根本沒有回答這個問題。如果題目是「失敗也很有價值嗎」，那麼你闡述「失敗也很重要」則是正確的。事實上，很多考生急於下筆寫文，最終因審題失誤而顆粒無收。所以，一定要看清題目，準確、直接地回答問題。此外，想要奪取高分...

前 言

對於很多SAT考生來說，作文部分是他們心中的一個「痛」。如何在二十五分鐘時間裡，有效地組織一篇觀點明確、邏輯清晰、論據有說服力的文章是一次挑戰。當然，與此同時，文法要過關，語言的駕馭能力要盡可能充分體現，更重要的是，不能離題。面對這個看似不可完成的任務，多少考生在困惑，在迷茫。滿分六分，或許是個遙不可及的夢。

然而，告訴大家一個秘密：寫好作文是有章可循的。你不能預知考題題目，但是你可以獲知的是：如何為寫作文打基礎，做準備；如何搜集素材，建立自己的「論據庫」；如何選擇自己的立場並使論據與此緊密相連；如何支配時間；如何使文章出彩。總而言之，如果你為六分做好了準備，六分就會在不遠處等著你。所以，不要在心裡與它說再見，告訴自己：你可以。畢竟，作文占據寫作部分三分之一的成績，你的付出是值得的。同時你該知道，為作文做準備，目的不僅僅是作文成績本身，準備與練習作文的過程更是一個磨練自己邏輯思維能力與辯理能力的過程，它使人終生受益，這也是SAT美國大學考試委員會添加作文的原因之一。

為此，仔細閱讀本書，領會SAT作文技巧，掌握高分秘訣。你也可以拿六分。

前 言

對於很多SAT考生來說，作文部分是他們心中的一個「痛」。如何在二十五分鐘時間裡，有效地組織一篇觀點明確、邏輯清晰、論據有說服力的文章是一次挑戰。當然，與此同時，文法要過關，語言的駕馭能力要盡可能充分體現，更重要的是，不能離題。面對這個看似不可完成的任務，多少考生在困惑，在迷茫。滿分六分，或許是個遙不可及的夢。

然而，告訴大家一個秘密：寫好作文是有章可循的。你不能預知考題題目，但是你可以獲知的是：如何為寫作文打基礎，做準備；如何搜集素材，建立自己的「論據庫」；如何選擇自己的立場並使論據與此緊密...

叢 書 序
前 言
Chapter I SATEssay Overview
What you need to know before you write
Who are the readers?
How are the essays graded?
What are the scoring criteria?
Chapter II 7 Tips to Know for Maximizing Your Score
Tip one: Attitude decides everything-be positive over negative
Tip two: Cultivate good reading habits-take notes while reading
Tip three: Examples, examples and examples-make a summary of example resource
Tip four: Write long-one and a half pages at least
Tip five: Use big words-don’t go overwhelmed
Tip six: be direct-avoid wordiness
Tip seven: Entertain your reader-add fun to your essay
Chapter III 8 Steps for Writing a Good Essay
Step one: Decide your position-read the prompt carefully
Step two: Find examples-two examples are fine, too
Step three: Write introductory paragraph-state your position
Step four: Begin the body-use examples to support your position
Step five: Write the conclusion-you must close
Step six: Show variety in sentence structure
Step seven: Diversity in word choice
Step eight: Check and polish-revise for grammatical and writing faults
Chapter IV Writing Essays Practice
How to use the practice essays
Practice Essay 1
Practice Essay 2
Practice Essay 3
Practice Essay 4
Practice Essay 5
Practice Essay 6
Practice Essay 7
Chapter V 9 SATEssay Topics and Essay Sample Explanation
Section I: Modern Society Issues
Section II: Technology “Advancement”
Section III: Media and information
Section IV: Individuality and group
Section V: Honesty
Section VI: Education and knowledge
Section VII: Success and adversity
Section VIII: Making decisions
Section IX: Others
Chapter VI Example sources for SAT
Section I: Law of life
Section II: Historical documents and speeches
Section III: Philosophers and thinkers
Section IV: Artists
Section V: Authors
Section VI: Humanitarians
Section VII: Scientists and inventors
Section VIII: Leaders
Section IX: Businessmen
Chapter VII Quotes and Proverbs
Education
Life
Virtue
Adversity and failure
Aim and success
Knowledge
Teamwork

叢 書 序
前 言
Chapter I SATEssay Overview
What you need to know before you write
Who are the readers?
How are the essays graded?
What are the scoring criteria?
Chapter II 7 Tips to Know for Maximizing Your Score
Tip one: Attitude decides everything-be positive over negative
Tip two: Cultivate good reading habits-take notes while reading
Tip three: Examples, examples and examples-make a summary of example resource
Tip four: Write long-one and a half pages at least
Tip five: Use big w...