Guide to spelling, punctuation and grammar

Closing paragraph
(1) ‘then’ signals to the reader that a conclusion to the essay is being
reached. 
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15 –S
AMPLE ESSAY
10:
A POLITICS ESSAY

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(2) Sentences one to four act as a final summing-up of the arguments
made in the essay by detailing the main areas of dissatisfaction of the
electorate.
(3) The final sentence neatly rounds off the essay by bringing the essay
back to the landslide victory in the election.
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H
OW TO WRITE ESSAYS

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16
GRAMMAR AND ACCURACY
Writing essays in a structured and clear way so that
your reader/assessor can follow what you are
trying to say is a very important factor in the
assessment grade you achieve. Another important
factor is the accuracy of what you write. By
accuracy, we mean not only the clarity of the
expression but the correctness of usage in terms of
grammar, punctuation and spelling. If you make too many grammatical,
punctuation and spelling errors in your writing, this will create the
wrong impression and lose you marks so that your grade assessment will
be affected.
Anyone, and that includes the author of this book and your teachers and
assessors, can make grammatical, punctuation or spelling errors,
especially when writing at speed, such as in an examination. The trick is
to minimise these. The occasional error can be overlooked, but a
multitude of them cannot. Examiners are usually told to penalise
candidates whose writing is error-prone. That is true for coursework
assignments as well as examinations. Indeed, as spell-checks and
grammar checks are readily available on computers now, there is even
less excuse to present flawed work for coursework. 
In this section, we will look at some crucial areas where accuracy will
pay dividends.
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