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13 - Writing a brief ESSAY for "la seconda prova dell'esame di stato"

Materiali per la Seconda Prova dell’Esame di Stato
nei Licei linguistici

The outline of the Seconda Prova Liceo linguistico

In the second written paper of the official Esame di Stato, students will be asked to interpret, answer questions on and write about a given text. They must choose one text from a choice of four, which are:

A... an article based on current events (Attualità);

B... a text or article based on a social-historical subject (Storico-sociale);

C... a literary text (Letteratura);

D.. a text based on art (Artistico).

Students have from a minimum of three hours to a maximum of six hours for the exam, which is divided into two parts. In the first part students will be asked to answer ten questions based on their chosen text, while in the second part they will be asked to write a brief narrative, descriptive or argumentative essay (300 words) connected to the topic dealt with in the text they have chosen.

The essay titles can also refer to themes that have come up while studying foreign authors during the school year (for example, students might be asked to refer to different literary texts they have studied on a similar theme) or they can be focused around current events.

To prepare well for this second written paper, students therefore need to revise the entire syllabus of the final year (all the authors and themes discussed and studied in class). It is also essential for them to keep up-to-date with current and world events as well as global issues so they can discuss and deal with any possible subject without difficulty.

Monolingual and bilingual dictionaries can be used.

Writing a brief essay

The three essay types proposed in the exam are narrative, descriptive or argumentative.

·         The narrative essay is one telling a story, so it should use clear vocabulary and predominantly the simple past tense.

·         The descriptive essay should contain vivid creative use of vocabulary.

·         The argumentative essay must always contain two sides to an argument, a development of both with a clear decisive conclusion.

Even a brief essay requires careful planning and organisation. The essential stages are:

1... Picking out the key words in the essay title.

2... Brainstorming your ideas.

3... Selecting the main ideas into a brief essay plan with:

·         an introduction → a sentence or brief paragraph introducing the topic of the essay and referring to the title;

·         developing ideas → two/three paragraphs to develop the topic or give opposing views in an argumentative essay;

·         a conclusion → a sentence or brief paragraph containing your final idea, view or conclusion often beginning with ‘Finally’ or ‘In conclusion’.

4... Writing a rough version of your essay following your plan.

5... Reading carefully over your rough version looking in particular at:

·         grammar accuracy and spelling;

·         varied and interesting use of vocabulary (especially in a descriptive essay);

·         organisation → whether there is a clear introduction, development and conclusion;

·         checking the number of words.

6... Writing out your final version. The clarity of your writing and the logical organisation of your ideas are two essential elements in writing a good essay in English.

12 - Early Victorian Age