Original writing — AQA A-Level English Language
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Original writing explained
For this unit you create one original piece of writing and a commentary that explains and justifies your choices.
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You must base the writing on one of three areas: The Power of Persuasion, The Power of Storytelling, or The Power of Information. The piece should have a clear purpose, audience and form, such as a persuasive speech, a short story, or an informative article. The commentary is not a general reflection; it is a linguistic analysis of your own writing, showing how you shaped language for effect and how your choices relate to the chosen area. For example, if you choose The Power of Persuasion, you might write a speech urging action on an environmental issue and then analyse your use of modality, rhetorical questions and direct address. Together, the writing and commentary demonstrate both creative control and analytical understanding.
In preparation for the writing, students will study a range of style models before selecting and analysing one style model in detail.
This guidance explains how to prepare for the original writing task by studying a range of style models and then selecting and analysing one in detail. You should read widely across genres and registers, noting how each model shapes meaning through lexical choice, syntax, figurative language, cohesion and graphology. After this survey, choose one model that best supports your own writing intention. Analyse it closely: identify its audience and purpose, map its structural and stylistic features, and evaluate how those features create effects you can adapt. Record your analysis as annotations on the model itself, linking each observation to a specific technique and its effect. This annotated model becomes part of your folder and a practical reference during drafting. The aim is not to copy the model but to understand its craft so you can make informed choices in your own original writing.
The commentary will allow the student to consider and evaluate the style model, the writing process and the effectiveness of the final piece of writing.
The commentary is your reflective companion to the original writing. It has three connected strands. First, you consider and evaluate the style model, explaining what techniques you borrowed and why they suited your purpose. Second, you reflect on the writing process, describing decisions, drafting, redrafting and problems you solved, such as tightening syntax or adjusting register for your audience. Third, you evaluate the effectiveness of the final piece, judging how well it meets its audience and purpose and supporting that judgement with evidence from your own text. Evaluation means weighing strengths and limitations rather than simply describing. For example, you might explain that a direct address worked well to involve readers, but that one paragraph became too formal for the intended tone.
The folder submitted should contain: a piece of original writing, an annotated style model, a reflective commentary, references (paper and web-based).
This guidance explains the required contents of the folder you submit for the original writing component. The folder must include four elements. First, a piece of original writing that demonstrates your own crafting of language for a clear purpose and audience. Second, an annotated style model: the text you selected and analysed in detail, marked with notes that identify techniques and their effects. Third, a reflective commentary in which you explain and justify the choices you made in your original writing, linking them to your analysis of the style model. Fourth, references listing all sources you consulted, covering both paper-based and web-based materials, presented consistently. Ensure each element is clearly labelled and that the folder is complete and organised. The folder is submitted as a whole, so missing any component weakens the submission.
Your focus
- Create one original piece of writing that clearly reflects one of the three specified areas and is shaped for a defined audience, purpose and form.
- Write an accompanying commentary that analyses the language choices made in the original writing using appropriate linguistic concepts and terminology.
- Justify how specific linguistic and stylistic choices create intended effects and fulfil the aims of the chosen area.
Show all 12 objectives
- Survey a range of style models and identify their distinctive linguistic and structural features.
- Select one style model and produce a detailed analysis of how its language choices create effects.
- Annotate the selected model to show techniques and their intended effects for use in original writing.
- Evaluate the style model, explaining which techniques were used and why.
- Reflect critically on planning, drafting and editing decisions made during the writing process.
- Assess the effectiveness of the final piece, supporting judgements with evidence from the student's own writing.
- Assemble a folder containing all four required components in a clear order.
- Produce a reflective commentary that explains and justifies language choices with reference to the style model.
- Compile accurate references for both paper-based and web-based sources using a consistent format.
Original writing exam tips
Marking Points
- Selects one of the three specified areas and makes that choice evident in the purpose, content and style of the original writing.
- Establishes a clear audience, purpose and form for the writing, and maintains these consistently throughout the piece.
- Uses linguistic and stylistic features deliberately and effectively, such as persuasive devices, narrative techniques or informative structures, appropriate to the chosen area.
- Structures the writing coherently, with an effective opening, developed content and a purposeful ending that suit the selected form.
- Produces an accompanying commentary that analyses the original writing using linguistic concepts and terminology, rather than simply describing what was written.
- Explains and justifies specific language choices in the commentary, linking them to the intended effects on the audience and to the chosen area.
- Evaluates the style model, explaining which techniques were adopted or rejected and why.
- Reflects critically on the writing process, including planning, drafting, editing and the reasons for changes made.
- Evaluates the effectiveness of the final piece against its intended audience, purpose and form.
- Supports evaluative comments with precise evidence from both the style model and the student's own writing.
- Uses appropriate linguistic terminology to discuss choices such as register, syntax, lexis and discourse structure.
Examiner Tips
- 💡Plan both the original writing and the commentary together, so that the commentary can refer directly to the choices you made in the writing.
- 💡Choose a form and area that play to your strengths, but ensure the piece is substantial enough to allow detailed linguistic analysis in the commentary.
- 💡In the commentary, use short quotations from your own writing and analyse them with precise terminology, explaining the intended effect on the reader or listener.
- 💡Proofread both pieces carefully for accuracy in spelling, punctuation and grammar, since technical control supports the overall effectiveness of the writing.
- 💡Keep a reading log of at least three different style models, noting genre, audience, purpose and two or three distinctive language features for each.
- 💡When you select your detailed model, annotate it with clear labels that name the technique and explain its effect, using arrows or margin notes linked to specific lines.
- 💡Use your annotated model actively while drafting: refer back to it to justify your own choices in the reflective commentary.
- 💡Draft the commentary after finishing the creative piece so you can evaluate the final version rather than an early plan.
- 💡Use a three-part structure matching the statement: style model, writing process, effectiveness of the final piece.
- 💡Keep quotations from your own work short and purposeful, and always state the effect on the intended reader.
- 💡Create a checklist of the four required components and tick each one off before submission.
- 💡Label each section of the folder clearly (original writing, annotated style model, reflective commentary, references) so the assessor can navigate it easily.
- 💡In your references, use a consistent format and include full details for both print and online sources, such as author, date, title and URL where applicable.
Common Mistakes
- Writing a piece that does not clearly belong to any of the three areas; the correction is to decide on the area first and then plan content, form and style that unmistakably serve that area.
- Treating the commentary as a diary of the writing process or a general statement of intentions; the correction is to analyse the finished text, quoting short examples and explaining the effect of specific choices.
- Using linguistic terminology inaccurately or only labelling features without explaining their effect; the correction is to pair each term with an explanation of how it shapes meaning for the intended audience.
- Neglecting the audience and purpose so the writing drifts in tone or form; the correction is to keep a clear sense of who the writing is for and why, and to check that every paragraph serves that purpose.
- Misunderstanding: any single text can serve as a style model without comparison. Correction: the requirement is to study a range of models first, then select one for detailed analysis, so breadth of reading precedes depth.
- Misunderstanding: analysis means summarising what the model is about. Correction: analysis should examine how language and structure create effects, not merely retell content.
- Misunderstanding: the annotated model is optional preparation. Correction: the annotated style model is a required component of the submitted folder, so annotations must be completed and retained.
- Retelling what was written instead of evaluating how effective it is; correct this by judging each key choice against audience and purpose.
- Making unsupported claims such as it is engaging without evidence; correct this by quoting your own writing and explaining the effect created.
- Treating the commentary as a separate essay unrelated to the creative piece; correct this by linking every evaluative point to a specific decision in your writing.
- Misunderstanding: the reflective commentary can be a general description of the writing process. Correction: it should analyse specific language choices and link them to the style model and intended effects.
- Misunderstanding: references are only needed for web sources. Correction: references must include both paper and web-based sources.
- Misunderstanding: the annotated style model is the same as the original writing. Correction: the annotated style model is a separate text you have analysed, while the original writing is your own piece.