How to Write a TOK Essay

How to Write a TOK Essay How to Write a TOK Essay A TOK essay is also known as a Theory of Knowledge essay. Usually, it has a word count of 1200 – 1600 words and very often your instructor will give you a list of chosen topics to write on. TOK essays or Theory of Knowledge essays are usually required for an IB diploma. It is a comparative essay by nature and discusses a specific problem as you can contrast and compare various ways of information and knowing on the subject. Different areas of knowledge can be reason, language, emotions and others. The criteria on your grading will be explicitly given in your instruction notes. Writing a TOK essay requires understanding the issues of the examined knowledge, focusing and analyzing them; creating comparisons and links, offering an understanding which is sophisticated and relevant. You should demonstrate independent thinking, various examples that support your thesis, perspective that is different and captivating and self-awareness on the matter. The analysis of the TOK essay will require depth and insight, justified main points, implications and assumptions, and arguments as well as counter arguments. The ideas that support your thesis should be well structured with factual accuracy; you should explain the key concepts in detail and submit proper references. How to write a TOK essay There is the so called term when writing a TOK essay referred to as the four C’s or: Creativity – You must develop independent and personal thought. Content – You must understand and be able to write on the knowledge issues. Clarity – You must be able to write a well-structured essay. Critical thinking – You must submit enough arguments and counter arguments to convince the audience in your point of view. If you follow the rule of four C’s you will be able to write a good TOK essay. As mentioned above, it is very important to pick the thesis you are going to write on carefully. It should be something you feel competent to write. However, it does not matter how competent you feel, you still must research your thesis in detail in order to provide sufficient number of arguments and counter arguments to defend your point of view. Take notes while researching and make a draft of your TOK essay. The basic structure of the TOK essay is introduction, body and conclusion. Introduction of TOK essay An introduction is the initial contact between the audience and the writer. In the introduction you have to state what you are going to write about and your opinion on it. In the introduction you should try to capture the attention of the audience, explain them briefly what you are going to write about and outline it and explain what you understand about the knowledge you are going to write about. You can start your TOK essay with something surprising in order to capture the audience attention. And after that you include the thesis statement. Body of the TOK essay When writing a TOK essay and more specifically its body, you should state every argument and counter argument you have found in a separate paragraph. That is what will make the essay look well structured. Spend more time analyzing and detailing the most important arguments and ideas. Be careful when transitioning a paragraph if you jump from one point to another that will make your essay look messy. Also, consider your audience, what is important for them, what they want to hear and what will make them accept your point of view. Conclusion of TOK essay The purpose of the conclusion is to create a sense of closure in the audience. Usually, in the conclusion the writers repeat what they have already stated numerous times. So you will create a very good ending of your TOK essay if you find a way to write about your thesis and knowledge in a slightly different way and formulate the key arguments in a new manner. Your conclusion should be strong and convincing. You may ask a friend to read your conclusion and introduction and ask him or her whether it is well structured and organized. Also, always proofread your essay and remove any grammatical and contextual mistakes. A good essay is one written with precision, clarity and economy.

6 Tips when Writing for a Global Audience

6 Tips when Writing for a Global Audience As businesses become more international, so must our writing. Fortunately, good business writing skills transfer very well to global audiences. Here are a few helpful tips for writing for a global audience: 1) Avoid academic or technical writing styles Academic and technical writing styles are very information dense. The sentences are long, they contain a lot of information, and there is often technical language that may be hard for the average person to understand. Compare an article from your local newspaper to an academic journal article or a technical manual to see the difference. To effectively reach your global audience, write in a more straightforward style. The next few tips are good examples of how to do this. 2) Use lists Numbered or bulleted lists are much easier to understand and respond to than paragraphs. Whenever possible, put information in a list. Anchor each item with strong, clear vocabulary to get your point across 3) Choose the right words Did you know that for every native speaker of English, there are (almost) two non-native speakers? I find this statistic incredible – approximately 2/3 of the people who speak English learned it as a second language! Of course, English varies widely depending on where it is being spoken, so you want to choose words that are internationally recognized. For example: Strange is more commonly recognized worldwide than the very American weird. Friend is used more widely than synonyms like pal, chap, mate, etc. Change your money is far more common than to get change, to break a dollar/20, to cash a check. The best way to figure this out is to listen to the way English is used in different places. Another good practice is to think about the words you use and whether they have a more specific synonym. Which leads us to†¦ 4) Be as specific as possible Choose words, particularly verbs, that mean exactly what you want them to mean. A good of example of why this is important is phrasal verbs (verb + preposition = a different meaning). For example: Blow up vs. Explode. These two mean the same thing, but a non-native speaker will often read blow up literally, and imagine someone blowing air up. So, a sentence like â€Å"The stock price is going to blow up!† might be completely nonsensical. Explode is a much better choice. Run into vs. Meet unexpectedly Again, these two mean the same thing, but run into could be taken literally. So, it would be better to say, â€Å"I met John unexpectedly at the restaurant last night.† Instead of â€Å"I ran into John at the restaurant last night.† It may seem like a small difference, but in the context of a longer conversation, it could be quite confusing! Talk into vs. Convince. Here, the into is what’s confusing. Into usually connotes a spatial change, but talk into involves a change of opinion. Convince is a much clearer choice. For example, â€Å"We have to convince them to lower their price.† 5) Choose the right grammatical structures I have previously written about business writing grammar, but the general idea is that you want to use easy to understand grammatical structures: present, past, and future simple tenses. These are the first tenses you learn in a foreign language, so they are fairly widely understood. Similarly, do not rely on grammar to explain time relationships. Instead, use adverbs, such as first, next, last, to do this job. Like listing, these adverbs are additional cues that help your reader understand what needs to be done. 6) Do not make assumptions This is the hardest tip to put into practice because we all have a set of cultural assumptions. I will share an example from my experiences to help clarify what this means: I am an American professor at an American university. As such, I expect my assignment instructions to be followed. I work with international and immigrant students, so I always give very explicit instructions. Semester after semester, I was getting a handful of papers that blatantly ignored those detailed and painstakingly crafted instructions. I finally talked to some other teachers who had taught abroad and asked them what I was missing. Apparently, there are some places where you are expected to do something other than what the instructions specify. This was a total light bulb moment for me. I am now very clear about the fact that my instructions are EXACTLY what I expect in the final papers and that my students should not deviate from them. Simply stating this has helped tremendously (both in the students’ work and in my frustration levels). My expectations in the above scenario were actually culturally based assumptions – I mean, the teacher tells you what she wants, and you do that, right? Not always! We all have cultural assumptions about many things – time, money, relationships, work schedules, vacation, meetings, etc. – and it is hard to see beyond them sometimes. If you enjoyed these 6 tips make sure to check out our complete list of 87 business writing tips. As you can see, the items above are all elements of good business writing, but they are particularly important with global audiences. Short, clear, direct sentences help your reader to respond in a timely manner. Instructional Solutions offers business writing courses that can help you to achieve this type of writing.