If you're riding on a train, you so don't want it to get off track. Unfortunately though, some students get off track when they write. Often students will start writing and they will be going well. Then midway through they get off track.
In this lesson, we are going to talk about two ways in which students get off track.
1. The first way in which students get off track is that they don't write what the question in the test wants them to answer or the topic the professor wants them to write about.
For example, look at this topic for a timed writing:
Explain why you would or would not want to live in a large city.
What do your body paragraphs need to be about? Reasons why you would want to live in a large city OR not but not both.
Sometimes, the professor will ask students to write on a topic and the students don't understand the type of essay or the specific instructions that the professor gives. Unfortunately, they end up failing the essay. You've got to follow what the professor wants. If you aren't sure, make sure you ask.
2. The second way is that the support doesn't match the topic sentence. Sometimes students will be fine for a few sentences and then toward the end of the paragraph they start writing about another ideas.
Let's look at an example: The question in a timed writing might be – “What are the problems currently facing your country?” The student could go off topic by adding solutions or reasons.
In this lesson, we looked at the two different ways that students get off track and don't stay on topic. Staying on topic is important and many call this unity. If you don't have it, they often say you got off topic.