Guides

For the rest of the term we will be focussing on how to write guides. You can use the information below both as a guide on how to write guides, but also as an example of a guide, since it is a guide itself. Hopefully that's not too confusing!

HOW TO WRITE A GUIDE

One of the things you might have to do in the exam is write a guide. You should be aiming for somewhere between three and four hundred words and, broadly speaking, it will either need to be:

Instructional

Guides are usually instructional, meaning the purpose of them is give people instructions about how to do something, for example, operate a PlayStation or survive a zombie apocalypse. In this case, you need to use quite formal language.

Or:

Persuasive

Sometimes, however, they are persuasive, meaning the purpose of them is to try and persuade people to do something, for example, visit your town. In this case, you can use more informal language with lots of positive details and adjectives (describing words).

Whether your guide is instructional or persuasive, you must make sure it has the following:

·        A main title, e.g. ‘What to do in the event of a fire’ or ‘How to survive a Maths lesson’

·        An introductory paragraph giving an overview of whatever the guide is about

·        Subheadings, e.g. ‘Call the fire brigade’ or ‘Weaponry’

·        Bullet points

·        Short sentences and paragraphs – remember: this is not an essay or a short story; your text should be broken down into small, easy-to-read chunks

·        Some bold text

·        Some headings in capitals

Basically, your guide should like this guide, that is, the one you have just read, because it is a guide – a guide on how to write guides!