Practice the WSA - Getting Started

To practice the WSA, you will need the following:

1. Pencil. You will be able to take two pencils or pens to your WSA session.
2. Paper. When you take the WSA, you will be given 3 sheets of 8.5" by 11" lined paper for each of the two tasks - two pages for writing, and a third page for brainstorming and organizing.
3. Timer. When you take the WSA, you will be given 90 minutes to complete the two tasks. Allow about two hours of time in which to go through this workshop.

   On-Line Stop-Watch

4. Persuasion Task : You will be asked to persuade a particular reader of your point of view or recommended action. Your writing should be appropriate for the writer, reader, and situation.
5. Position Task : You will be asked to think critically about a given statement and write a unified essay discussing why you accept, reject, or qualify it. For the Position task, you are addressing a general audience. Simple, concise, compelling language usually works best for this audience.

Tips and Strategies

• Read the question and directions fully and carefully.
• Take some time to brainstorm, plan and outline a response before you begin to write.
• Take care to organize your ideas and develop them fully, but leave time to reread your response, check it against the question, and make revisions.
• There is no right or wrong answer, and you don’t need to have any specific knowledge, but you can make up information if necessary and use examples from your own experience.
• You will be evaluated on how insightfully you think about the task, how well you support your position and how clearly you organize and express your ideas.

Continue: Practice the Persuasion Task>>