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MINISTERIAL EXAMINATION OF COLLEGE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION AND LITERATURE

WRITING GUIDELINES

19 December 2001


Write a 750-word essay that explores a main idea in one of the three readings. Your essay should include an interpretation of the reading and discussion of the ways in which the author develops his/her ideas. Be careful not to write an essay that only summarizes the reading.



READING 1: An essay

Identify a main idea in Sinsheimer's essay and structure your essay around a thesis statement which expresses your understanding of his observations. Be sure to make appropriate references to his text and to comment on the techniques and devices* he uses to support his position.

Text :  “Genetic Engineering: Life as a Plaything” by Robert L. Sinsheimer

Reference : 

Sinsheimer, Robert L. “Genetic Engineering”. In The Culture of Science, edited by John Hatton and Paul B. Plouffe, 63-68. New-York: Macmillan, 1993. (First published in Technology Review, 1983).


READING 2: A short story

Identify a main idea in McCourt's short story and structure your essay around a thesis statement which expresses your interpretation of his story. Be sure to make appropriate references to the reading and to comment on his use of techniques and devices.*

Text :  “Cranes Fly South” by Edward McCourt

Reference : 

McCourt, Edward. “Cranes Fly South”. In Stories from Western Canada, edited by Rudy Wiebe, 141-145. Toronto, Macmillan Company of Canada, 1972. (First published in Weekend Magazine, April 9, 1955).


READING 3: An essay

Identify a main idea in Williams' essay and structure your essay around a thesis statement which expresses your understanding of Williams' account of her experience. Be sure to make appropriate references to her text and to comment on the techniques and devices* she uses to support her position.

Text :  “In the Country of Grasses” by Terry Tempest Williams

Reference : 

Williams, Terry Tempest. “In the Couontry of Grasses”. In The Norton Book of Nature Writing, edited by Robert Finch and John Elder, 903-908. New-York: Norton, 1990. (First published in VII Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 1, October 1987).


* 

Techniques and devices may include the following: narration, description, dialogue, analogy, example, contrast, setting, comparison, characterization, irony, tone, symbolism, imagery, simile, metaphor, repetition, diction, and level of language. You may be familiar with others as well.


© Gouvernement du Québec, 2009