It's almost time for your final exams! Now's a good time to improve your writing so that you can get a better score.

“萬(wàn)眾期待”的末考試時(shí)間又要到啦！現(xiàn)在正是提升寫(xiě)作水平順便用成績(jī)驚艷小伙伴們的絕佳時(shí)機(jī)。

After grading students' essays in last semester's final exam, I found mistakes that many people made. If you don't want to make the same mistakes, read through these points carefully.

看了很多學(xué)生之前期末考試的作文之后，我覺(jué)得有必要在新一輪的考試開(kāi)始之前為大家總結(jié)一些過(guò)往學(xué)生作文中常見(jiàn)的錯(cuò)誤和問(wèn)題。希望大家能幫助大家順利避坑。

01Double. Check. Your. Writing.

好好檢查你的作文

特別是空格

Plan to finish your essay early. Give yourself 2-3 minutes to edit your work. Read your essay once more before submitting. If you don't think you have enough time, pick one paragraph and read through it carefully. Check for spacing mistakes because are very easily noticed.If you need to write 200+ words, writing fewer than 200 means you will lose points.

預(yù)留2-3分鐘時(shí)間好好修改你寫(xiě)好的作文。如果你覺(jué)得可能不夠時(shí)間通讀全文，那么就選擇一個(gè)你覺(jué)得最重要的段落，好好閱讀修改保證質(zhì)量。另外一個(gè)需要特別注意的是空格問(wèn)題。看不見(jiàn)摸不著的空格其實(shí)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)比你想象的要更加顯眼，也更加重要。

Take a look at this example.

我們一起來(lái)看一個(gè)例子吧！

下面兩段文字只有標(biāo)點(diǎn)符號(hào)后邊的空格有區(qū)別，其余部分完全相同。

例

正確書(shū)寫(xiě)空格

Large international companies play an important role in people's lives. Some of them can do things that governments can't. On the one hand, some experts think profits are more important than social responsibility. On the other hand, others believe that…

錯(cuò)誤書(shū)寫(xiě)空格

Large international companies play an important role in people's lives.Some of them can do things that governments can't.On the one hand,some experts think profits are more important than social responsibility.On the other hand,others believe that…

Repeat this several times, and your final word count might be 190 instead of 215. The graders can see your word count. Some of them might even look at it before they even read your essay. Making careless spacing mistakes means you might lose points – and you can EASILY avoid this. But also keep in mind that the quality of your writing is important as well. Having a high word count does not guarantee a good score.

如果在標(biāo)點(diǎn)符號(hào)后邊不寫(xiě)空格，那么字?jǐn)?shù)統(tǒng)計(jì)時(shí)會(huì)把標(biāo)點(diǎn)前后的單詞默認(rèn)為同一單詞。多漏掉幾次，你好不容易湊上的215字很容易就變成190字了。閱卷老師每天都要看非常多的作文，他們中的很多人會(huì)選擇在評(píng)判你的作文之前先看字?jǐn)?shù)。這些看似不起眼的空格很有可能會(huì)因?yàn)橛绊懽謹(jǐn)?shù)統(tǒng)計(jì)而嚴(yán)重影響你的分?jǐn)?shù)。最重要的一點(diǎn)是，空格問(wèn)題是你能最快速，最徹底改掉的問(wèn)題。順便再?gòu)?qiáng)調(diào)一句，雖然字?jǐn)?shù)不夠?qū)ψ魑姆謹(jǐn)?shù)來(lái)說(shuō)是致命的，但是寫(xiě)滿(mǎn)字?jǐn)?shù)并不能保證作文能得高分，寫(xiě)作的質(zhì)量才是分?jǐn)?shù)的保障。

02Don't Write About Both Sides

不要從正反兩方面都進(jìn)行論述

The reason why you want to avoid doing this is because you run the risk of repeating yourself. In an essay, every sentence is important; you don't want to waste space saying the same things again. 

很多同學(xué)都喜歡從正反兩方面入手論述一個(gè)問(wèn)題。雖然在生活中這樣思考是一個(gè)好習(xí)慣，但是在寫(xiě)作中卻是一個(gè)致命傷。因?yàn)樽魑牡淖謹(jǐn)?shù)有限，你的每一句話(huà)都很重要。從正反兩方面論述理論上沒(méi)問(wèn)題，但是實(shí)際操作起來(lái)，很多學(xué)生都會(huì)掉入重復(fù)自己的觀(guān)點(diǎn)的深坑。

03Advantages and Disadvantages

論述利弊類(lèi)型的作文

Write the side you don't agree with first. You don't have to list the advantages first.

不管是覺(jué)得利大于弊還是弊大于利，你都應(yīng)該把主要想論述的那部分放在后邊具體說(shuō)明。不是一定要按照題目敘述的順序先寫(xiě)利再寫(xiě)弊。

以下題為例

Prompt: What are the advantages and disadvantages of traveling to remote areas?

Let's say you think people should travel to remote areas.

我們姑且假設(shè)你認(rèn)為人們應(yīng)該去遠(yuǎn)方旅行。

那么比較合理的安排應(yīng)該是：

Body paragraph 1

Some disadvantages of traveling to places like the South Pole include…

Body paragraph 2:

However, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. One advantage is…

The second paragraph's points often outweigh the ones in the first paragraph. They are also more likely to stay in the reader's mind.

通常在安排文章時(shí)我們會(huì)把重心更偏向主體段落中的第二段。同樣的，閱卷人也會(huì)把閱讀評(píng)判的重點(diǎn)放在這一段。因此把你的主要論點(diǎn)放在后邊反而能給人留下更深刻的印象。

04Explain Your Thoughts

詳細(xì)解釋你的觀(guān)點(diǎn)

Don't just state your opinions. Explain your reasons in 3-4 sentences. Listing a bunch of points with no support is an easy way to get a low score.

不要只是陳述你的觀(guān)點(diǎn)，還應(yīng)該用三四個(gè)句子作為論據(jù)簡(jiǎn)單地論述。只一味地羅列觀(guān)點(diǎn)，而沒(méi)有事例相佐是寫(xiě)作的大忌。

Pretend your reader is a child and you have to explain everything. Your thoughts may seem obvious to you, but they might not be so clear to others.

雖然你的論點(diǎn)對(duì)你來(lái)說(shuō)可能是順理成章的，但是閱卷人需要的是你更清晰明確的說(shuō)明和解釋。你可以當(dāng)閱卷人是一個(gè)小朋友，耐心為他解釋你的所有論點(diǎn)。

How？

Student: “This will reduce the aging of the population”

Like what？

Student: “If we share too much information, maybe someone will do something bad”

Get in the habit of asking yourself “how” and “why” while writing. Answer those questions to make your writing more substantive.

像上邊示范的一樣，養(yǎng)成常常向自己提問(wèn)“為什么”和“怎么樣”的習(xí)慣。在你寫(xiě)下的每一個(gè)觀(guān)點(diǎn)后充分的寫(xiě)明為什么會(huì)這樣，以及怎么樣解決這個(gè)問(wèn)題 ，這樣才會(huì)讓你的文章更加言之有物。