Assessment 2 Checklist

This checklist refers to the 1999 EAP course only. It is NOT relevant for the EAP 2000 course. New information on the new EAP 2000 is here.

This checklist is to help you with Assessment Two of the EAP course. If your answer to a question is ‘No’, refer to the books indicated, which are in CILL, or the Internet sites. For more information see Unit 7 of the blue EAP book. Click here to get this checklist in Microsoft Word format.

      1. Content
    1. Does all your writing refer to the topic of your seminar?
    2. Have you included the main points you discussed in the seminar, and any other relevant points?

      2. Organisation, coherence and cohesion

         a. Organisation

    1. Have you got an introduction and a conclusion?
    2. Have you put each main point in a separate paragraph?
    3. Have you got an empty line between each paragraph?

Book in CILL: Hefferman, J & Lincoln, J (1996) Writing: a concise handbook New York, Norton pp12-20 (Writing Shelf, Intermediate Level)

 

b. Coherence
    1. Does each paragraph have a topic sentence containing the main idea of the paragraph and your opinion about it?
    2. Does each paragraph explain why you believe the opinion that you have written in the topic sentence?

Book in CILL: Reid, J. (1998) The Process of Composition New Jersey, Prentice Hall, p.69-70 (Study Skills Shelf, Upper-intermediate Level)

 

         c. Cohesion

  1. Do you use logical connecting words such as ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘however’, ‘so’, and ‘therefore’? (Don’t use ‘moreover’.)

    2. Book in CILL: Potter, J. (1994) Common Business English Errors in Hong Kong Hong Kong, Longman, Chapter 11 (Grammar Shelf, Intermediate Level)

     

  2. Do you use ‘a’ to write about a countable subject for the first time, and ‘the’ to write about the same subject later?

    3.  
    Book in CILL: Potter, J. (1994) Common Business English Errors in Hong Kong Hong Kong, Longman, page 38 (Grammar Shelf, Intermediate Level)

     

  3. Do you use ‘It’, ‘They’, ‘This’ and ‘These’ to refer back to a subject in the previous sentence or paragraph?

        

 

      3. Register

  1. Is your writing formal?

    2. e.g. write ‘did not’ instead of ‘didn’t’, and ‘a great deal of’ instead of ‘a lot of’.

  2. Is your writing polite?
    e.g. Don’t write, ‘It is foolish to believe that …’. Use, ‘It is questionable whether …’.

 

      4. Accuracy of Grammar and Vocabulary

  1. Does each sentence have a subject and a verb?

    2. Book in CILL: Hefferman, J & Lincoln, J (1996) Writing: a concise handbook New York, Norton pp59 - 73 (Writing Shelf, Intermediate Level)

  2. Have you checked each noun to see if it is countable, uncountable, or abstract, and used the correct article ( a / an / the / no article) ?

    3. Book in CILL: Potter, J. (1994) Common Business English Errors in Hong Kong Hong Kong, Longman, Chapters 3 & 4 (Grammar Shelf, Intermediate Level)

     

  3. Have you checked the noun before each verb to see if it is third person (he, she, or it) and changed the end of the verb to ‘+s’ for present tense regular verbs; e.g. ‘Hong Kong changes quickly.’ ?

    4.  

  4. Do you use the present simple tense to describe things you think are true all the time; e.g. ‘Hong Kong is an international city.’ ?

    5.  
    Book in CILL: Potter, J. (1994) Common Business English Errors in Hong Kong Hong Kong, Longman, Chapter 5 (Grammar Shelf, Intermediate Level)

     

  5. Do you use the present perfect tense to describe experience or the results of experience; e.g. ‘I have been a university student for 2 months and I have become a more independent learner.’ ?
    .
  6. Do you use the simple past tense to describe things that finished in the past; e.g. ‘Hong Kong was a British colony until 1997.’ ?

 

   5. Range of Grammar and Vocabulary

    If there are things that you don’t know how to say in English, have you checked how to say them in a dictionary, or with your EAP teacher or a CILL teacher?

 

  6. Academic-style writing (see Unit 6 of the blue EAP book)

  1. Is your conclusion based on evidence and facts?
  2. Have you defined terms and words that your teacher might not know?
  3. If you have described something as ‘good’ or ‘better than…’, have you given reasons why?
  4. Have you avoided asking questions, then answering them?
  5. Have you used academic-style writing to show how sure you are of your information (see pages 111-2 of the blue EAP book)?
  6. Have you replaced phrasal verbs such as ‘look at’ with more formal words such as ‘examine’?
  7. Have you avoided using ‘you’ to refer to your reader; e.g. ‘You must agree that …’?
  8. Have you avoided over-generalisations; e.g. ‘Everyone knows that…’?

   7. Number of Words

a. Is your writing 400 – 500 words long?

b. Is your text double-spaced (i.e. one empty line between each line of writing) ?

Yes/No

 

Last updated on: Friday, March 23, 2012