Page 36 - Year 11

English Language: Non-Fiction Writing: 2 of 3

Non-fiction (Transactional) Writing – Text types Pearson Paper 1,
AQA Paper 2
Speeches Letters and Formal Emails
• A speech is often made to argue or persuade your • Letters and formal emails are usually addressed to a specific person.
audience • They are likely to be written to persuade or inform someone. You might be
• Think about who your audience is – you might need to applying for a job or telling them about an issue in the world. You might also be
adapt your tone and the content to suit them writing to complain about something
• When writing a speech, think about how you open it to • The tone and words you use are important here. You must be as formal as
grab the audience’s attention and how you engage them possible and as clear and direct as you can be
with your points • Get to your points quickly and organise your paragraphs so your reader can
• Order your points to build your argument and come to a easily follow your arguments.
logical conclusion at the end • The opening and closing to your letter or email are important as they show that
• Directly address your audience – you might want to you are writing in a formal way: always start with ‘Dear Sir/Madam’ or ‘Dear
open with ‘I am here today to talk to you about’ or Mrs Kane’
‘Ladies and Gentlemen’. • You don’t need to include addresses, dates or email addresses at the top of the
• Use rhetorical questions and/or repetition to really letter
make your points and make the audience think

Articles and Blogs Reports Reviews
• Articles and Blogs are usually informational and are telling • Reports are more formal than • Reviews are your opinion and
readers about a certain topic based on your own opinions articles and are putting across a thoughts on a topic
• Think about your audience – blogs may be more key point or opinion • They may be less formal than
informal but you should still use sophisticated • You need to maintain a articles but you should still use
language formal tone formal language
• You don’t need to worry about splitting your writing • You will also need to organise • You need to make sure your
into columns but you might want to include sub- your report logically and you opinion is balanced and you
headings may want to use sub-headings might want to include some
• You will need to organise your article show that it flows and/or bullets to help organise good and some bad points
logically and makes the points clearly your ideas • Think about your reader and
• You might want to include statistics and/or other what they might be interested
opinions to enhance your own arguments in