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MINISTERIAL EXAMINATION OF COLLEGE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION AND LITERATURE

WRITING GUIDELINES

14 May 2003


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. Make sure that your essay does more than simply summarize the reading; make sure, as well, that you write the required number of words.



READING 1: A short story

Identify a main idea in Ahmad'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 :  “A Bicycle” by Iqbal Ahmad

Reference : 

Ahmad, Iqbal. “A Bicycle.” In Short Fiction, Classic and Contemporary, 4th ed, edited by C. Bohner with Dean Dougherty, 21-25. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999. (First published in The Opium Eater and Other Stories, 1992).


READING 2: An essay

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

Text :  “On Euthanasia and Dying Well” by E. J. McCullough

Reference : 

McCullough, E. J. “On Euthanasia and Dying Well.” In Reader's Choice: Essays for thinking, reading, and writing, 1st ed, edited by Kim Flachmann, Michael Flachmann, Alexandra MacLennan and Sharon Winstanley, 627-631. Scarborough, ON: Prentice-Hall, Canada, 1994.


READING 3: An essay

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

Text :  “The Marginal World” by Rachel Carson

Reference : 

Carson, Rachel. “The Marginal World.” In American Sea Writing, edited by Peter Neill, 562-568. New York: The Library of America, 2000. (First published in The Edge of the Sea, 1955).


* 

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


© Gouvernement du Québec, 2009