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Portfolio: Writing

4 dot points across 4 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do you write the broadly creative piece for the National 5 portfolio and meet the marking criteria?

Writing the broadly creative portfolio piece: choosing a form (personal/reflective essay, short story, poem or drama script), shaping it for purpose and audience, and meeting the criteria for content, structure, style and accuracy.
How to write the broadly creative piece for the SQA National 5 writing portfolio: choosing a form such as a personal or reflective essay, short story, poem or drama script, shaping it for purpose and audience, and meeting the marking criteria for content, structure, style and technical accuracy.
10 min answer →

How do you write the broadly discursive piece for the National 5 portfolio, argumentative, persuasive or a report?

Writing the broadly discursive portfolio piece: choosing argumentative, persuasive or report writing, structuring a clear line of argument, using evidence, and meeting the criteria for content, structure, style and accuracy.
How to write the broadly discursive piece for the SQA National 5 writing portfolio: choosing argumentative, persuasive or report writing, structuring a clear line of argument, supporting it with evidence, and meeting the marking criteria for content, structure, style and technical accuracy.
10 min answer →

How do you draft, redraft and proofread a National 5 portfolio piece, and why does technical accuracy matter so much?

Drafting and technical accuracy: developing a portfolio piece through planning, drafting and redrafting against the criteria, and proofreading for spelling, punctuation, grammar and paragraphing.
How to develop a SQA National 5 portfolio piece through planning, drafting and redrafting against the marking criteria, and why technical accuracy in spelling, punctuation, grammar and paragraphing is decisive when the work is not written under exam conditions.
10 min answer →

How do you shape a National 5 portfolio piece for its purpose and audience, and why must the two pieces be different genres?

Writing for purpose and audience across genres: matching form, register and technique to the purpose and reader, and submitting two pieces in different genres (one creative, one discursive).
How to shape a SQA National 5 portfolio piece for its purpose and audience: matching form, register and technique to what the piece is for and who it is for, and meeting the requirement to submit two pieces in different genres, one broadly creative and one broadly discursive.
10 min answer →