🧭 Directed Writing — the format

Read one or more passages, then write in a specified form for a specified audience and purpose, using the material given.

Writing for: Set by the task. Form, audience and purpose are all dictated — identifying them correctly is the first mark.

Register: Varies with task

Length: Usually 250–400 words. The paper states the range.

Audience: Set by the task

The format, in order

  1. 1

    Identify form, audience, purpose

    Before writing, name all three from the task. Getting the form wrong caps the whole answer however well written.

  2. 2

    Mine the passage

    Underline every detail you are expected to use. Marks are for using the given material, not inventing new.

  3. 3

    Adopt the form

    Switch to that text type's conventions — see the relevant format in this tool.

  4. 4

    Develop, do not copy

    Select from the passage and recast it in your own words, developing ideas rather than lifting them.

  5. 5

    Sustain voice and register

    Hold the role and tone to the last line.

What the marks are for

Content

  • ✓Correct form, audience and purpose
  • ✓Material from the passage used and developed
  • ✓A convincing assumed voice
  • ✓Every bullet in the task covered

Language

  • ✓Register appropriate to the specified audience
  • ✓Conventions of the chosen form fully observed
  • ✓Own words rather than lifted phrasing
  • ✓Varied, controlled structures

What loses marks

  • ✗Writing the wrong form — an essay when a letter was asked for
  • ✗Ignoring the passage and inventing content, which forfeits the content marks
  • ✗Lifting phrasing from the passage instead of recasting it
  • ✗Dropping the assumed voice halfway through
  • ✗Missing a bullet because the task was skimmed

Phrases that work

  • Name the form to yourself first: letter, report, speech, article, journal
  • Ask: who am I, who am I writing to, and what do I want from them?
  • Develop a given detail with a consequence: 'which would mean…'
  • Use the passage's facts, but never its phrasing

Before you hand it in

0 / 9
Command words cheat sheet

Study notes on the Learning Portal

Where this is examined

  • · Cambridge IGCSE First Language English (0500)
  • · Cambridge IGCSE ESL (0510)
  • · Edexcel International GCSE English Language (4EA1) — transactional writing
  • · Cambridge O Level English Language (1123)

Word counts, paper numbers and mark allocations are set by the syllabus for your session and change between series. Always check your current syllabus and your teacher's guidance before relying on a length or a mark split given here.

Other writing formats

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