Write Effectively And Creatively On A Range Of Topics

When you write about topics, you may be required to write in different styles. It is important that you know what the different styles are and that you are able to write correctly for the type of style.

To begin this section, we will start off by defining the following types of texts:

• Imaginative texts
• Expository/factual texts
• Personal interest texts

Imaginative Texts

Imaginative texts can be put into three broad categories, namely:

When you determine that you wish to write an imaginative text you must ensure that the text is convincing and appropriate to the topic and purpose. In the case of writing advertising and marketing material you would want to use descriptive and persuasive text to entice your customer to believe that your product or service is the best one to use. This type of text is most appropriate for this purpose. In the same way, if you decide to use the narrative text to write a report, you should bear the purpose of writing in narrative form, i.e. to write a sequence of happenings.

Expository/Factual Writing

This type of text is factual. The writer must give information on the topic. This writing makes use of facts and statistical information, cause-and-effect relationships, or examples. Examples of expository/factual writing include newspaper articles, encyclopaedia articles or explanatory essays.

This type of writing usually contains the following elements:

• No emotion
• No imaginative language
• No personal opinions
• Write in 3rd person (no use of pronoun ‘I’)
• Language is precise
• Use of facts and figures

The following is a recommended structure for expository writing:

Introduction: Introduce the topic, describe or define what you are going to talk about.

Main body: Breaking your writing up into paragraphs is important as it will make it easier for the reader to understand. Explain each of the ideas/points involved in the topic, give examples and use a different paragraph for each different point. Talk about the most important point first and then go to minor points about the subject. The use of paragraphs not only helps your reader to follow your argument, it also makes sure that you have planned what you are going to write.

Conclusion: In the conclusion you should weigh up the points involved and summarise your explanations.

The points above will assist you in ensuring that your expository writing is convincing and well developed with respect to a clear purpose. Module 2 will further assist you in ensuring that your writing is well developed.

Personal Interest Text

A personal interest text is one that addresses your own personal interest. It may be a letter to motivate your appointment to a certain position, complain about poor customer service or to explain your point of view. You should be careful to put your point across in non-emotional language and use factual examples. Subjectivity and objectivity should be used to enhance the writing and ensure that you maintain your credibility. When writing on personal interests, it is important to be convincing in terms of issues and concerns being addressed within the document. You should adopt a persona for narrative writing and decide if you will use the first person narrative voice.

Choosing the Narrative Voice