Learning a Second Language ( L2 ) is a womb-to-tomb procedure and it is frequently a ambitious experience for L2 scholars. English has become the L2 after it was introduced to Malaysia during colonisation. Soon. it is an international linguistic communication and is used as the linguistic communication in international dealingss. and in interchanging cognition and engineering. It was merely since a few decennaries ago that it was taught to about all schoolchildren. In general. local Malayan pupils have been exposed to eleven old ages of larning English linguistic communication accomplishments ( listening. speech production. reading and composing ) in primary and secondary schools. Current epoch. good English authorship competency is widely recognized as an of import accomplishment for educational. concern and personal grounds. The ability to compose efficaciously in English is going progressively of import in our planetary community as communicating across linguistic communication becomes of all time more indispensable. On the other manus. authorship is a complex procedure which demands cognitive analysis and lingual synthesis.

It is even harder to larn to compose in a 2nd linguistic communication. and it takes considerable clip and attempt to go a adept author. The present survey seeks to research ESL learners’ major composing troubles by analysing the nature and distribution of their writing mistakes. There are several ways of believing about mistakes in authorship. For illustration. in visible radiation of what we. as linguists. know about 2nd linguistic communication acquisition and what we know about how texts. context and the authorship procedure interact with one another students? composing in L2 by and large contains changing grades of grammatical and rhetorical mistakes. These sorts of mistakes are particularly common among L2 authors who do non hold adequate linguistic communication accomplishments to show what they want to state in a comprehendible manner. The present survey analyses the English L2 linguistic communication mistakes in the authorship of Malayan scholars.

Statement of Problem

English occupies the position of a L2 in the Malayan instruction system in both primary and secondary schools. However. larning English as a L2 is non an easy undertaking. Harmonizing to Brown ( 2000 ) . in order to get the hang the English linguistic communication. scholars have to be adequately exposed to all of the four basic accomplishments. viz. listening. speech production. reading and authorship. Language learning in this state is presently concentrating on the instruction and acquisition of the four linguistic communication accomplishments. However. the criterion of English. among Malayan kids is on the diminution despite larning English for several old ages. Malayan pupils are still weak in English. particularly in their authorship accomplishments. They still seem to perpetrate mistakes in all facets of linguistic communication.

Harmonizing to James ( 1988 ) mistakes in composing such as tenses. prepositions and weak vocabulary are the most common and frequent type of mistakes that are committed by scholars. Since grammar is seen merely as a agency to an terminal. some scholars tend to re-emphasise its importance and in the procedure. they make many more mistakes. The scholars normally face troubles in larning the grammatical facets of the Target Language ( TL ) . such as in subject-verb understanding. the usage of preposition. articles and the usage of right tense. Such mistakes can be seen clearly in the learners’ written public presentation. The jobs that the pupils are bound to meet would be weak vocabulary. inappropriate usage of grammar in sentences and etc. Therefore. instructors who can analyse and handle mistakes efficaciously are better equipped to assist their pupils go more cognizant of their mistakes.

The usage of Error Analysis ( EA ) and appropriate disciplinary techniques can help effectual acquisition and instruction of English. It is understood that larning a 2nd linguistic communication is a gradual procedure. during which errors are to be expected in all phases of larning. Mistakes will non vanish merely because they have been pointed out to the scholar. contrary to what some linguistic communication scholars and instructors believe. In fact devising errors is a natural procedure of acquisition and must be considered as portion of knowledge. As a consequence. mistakes must be viewed positively. Therefore. EA is the best tool for depicting and explicating mistakes made by talkers of other linguistic communications. By look intoing students’ written work. it will supply a agency to assist Malayan instructors to acknowledge the importance of mistakes as one of the disputing countries in learning English.

Aim of Study

This lends to the aim of the survey. which is to look into the types of mistakes made by Form Four pupil in their written work. The survey sought to reply the undermentioned research inquiry: * What are the most common mistakes that pupils make in their essays?

Methodology
Location

The location of the survey was a secondary school in a lodging country in Shah Alam town which is located within the territory of Petaling and a part of the territory of Klang in the province of Selangor which is about 25 kilometers west of the country’s capital. Kuala Lumpur. The name of the school is SMK TTDI Jaya. Shah Alam. The school runs in two instruction Sessionss. viz. the forenoon and afternoon session. Table 1: Distribution of Form 4 Students and Ethnic Background

Participant

A Form four female pupils have participated in this survey. She had her primary instruction in National schools. in which Malay was the medium of direction. English was taught as an extra topic within the school course of study. The respondent is from Form 4 Gigih comprising of 30 male childs and 42 misss. The students’ linguistic communication proficiency is lower intermediate. Harmonizing to the participant’s English linguistic communication the category that the participant presently analyzing focal points more on Malay linguistic communication acquisition and the pupils tend to pretermit the importance of English linguistic communication

Background of the Student

The name of the pupil is Nurul Nadeah binti Zulkifli. She is 16 old ages old. She is remaining at Seksyen 15. Shah Alam. Her male parent plant as an applied scientist and her female parent is a house shaper. She is the eldest girl with a younger brother. Her first linguistic communication is Malay linguistic communication. She has learnt English for 10 old ages. She has scored a “C” expansive for her UPSR public scrutiny and a “D” class for her PMR public scrutiny. On the other manus. she is more adept in her first linguistic communication ( Malay linguistic communication ) compared to English linguistic communication. She has scored an “A” for her both public test ( UPSR & A ; PMR ) which marks her enthusiasm in larning her first linguistic communication. Harmonizing to Nurul. she prefers to talk and compose in her female parent lingua since she is comfy with it. Therefore. she views English linguistic communication topic as an entry demand for her to come in university. Despite. she added that she has non been encouraged to utilize English linguistic communication either her parents or among friends since childhood.

Procedure

The participant was administered a composing assignment that involved essay authorship. She was required to compose a cause and consequence essay entitled” The Causes and Effects of River Pollution” within a period of 60 proceedingss and a lower limit of 200-350 words. This essay follows the English format of SPM ( Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia ) Examination in which every pupil will hold to take when they are in Form Five. It is a guided authorship whereby the pupil was given a brief lineation on the essay that includes the chief causes and effects which the pupil demand to explicate in item. The essay was typed utilizing Microsoft Word 2003 so that it was computing machine readable. After that. the three stairss of EA specified by Corder ( 1974 ) were followed:

* Collection of sample mistakes
* Identification of mistakes
* Description of mistakes

Instruments
The instruments that we used to analyse the mistakes in the essays are as follows:
* The students’ essay
* Grammar book mentions
* Consulting to an experient school instructor:
* Well experienced in English linguistic communication learning for 23 old ages and besides SPM English paper marker for two old ages consecutively. * Interviewing a lector from MSU Centre For Foundation Studies ( CFS ) section

* Group treatment.
* Internet beginnings

A sum of 62 common mistakes were examined and categorized into 12 mistake types. Mistakes related with lexical cognition ( spelling. parts of address. capitalisation ) accounted for 32. 3 % . Mistakes related with sentence construction ( complex/compound. losing word. word order and redundancy ) accounted for 30. 6 % . Other grammatical mistakes ( verb tense. inactive voice. modals and phrasal modals. article. subject-verb understanding ) accounted for 37. 1 % . Based on the tabular array. it reflects that the pupils have committed most figure of mistakes in the parts of address which includes noun. verb. participial. ejaculation. pronoun. preposition. adverb. and concurrence. The 2nd most figure of mistakes is registered under redundancy which means the happening of unwanted repeat in the written essay.

Table 3: Most Common Mistakes and Examples of Mistakes

Definition andError classification| Identification of errors| Correct sentences and account of rule| 1. Basic Phrase Structure * A sentence is formed through the combination of Noun Phrase ( NP ) and Verb Phrase ( VP ) | Sentence10:1 The industry is let go ofing chemical waste merchandises from industrial waste. Example of chemical waste merchandises are cyanide. Zn. Cu and quicksilver. Sentence 11:2. Example of chemical waste merchandises are cyanide. Zn. Cu and quicksilver. The chemical merchandises that released is dangerous| 1. The industry releases chemical wastes such as nitrile. Zn. Cu. and mercuryExplanationSubject: The industry Verb: releasesPredicate: chemical waste merchandises such as nitrile. Zn. lead. Cu. and quicksilver. * The industry is let go ofing chemical waste merchandises “from industrial waste. “ This sentence is uncomplete. 2. These chemical waste is dangerousExplanationLiquid or substances fundamentally known as uncountable noun which refers to general abstraction but denumerable noun refer to specific things.

These: refer something specific ( SUBJECT ) is: verbDangerous: abstract verb| 2. Passive Sentences * The object of the active verb is the topic of the inactive verb| Sentence 1:1. Water is the of import elements that needed by the human to populate. Sentence 28:2. The flow of the clear H2O from the river will be disturbed. This is because. the H2O quality is more spoilt and flow to the river will be polluted and impacting the life things. | Water is the of import component that human demand for livingExplanation The word “need” in this sentence should be the topic. 2. This is because. the quality of H2O is spoiledExplanation The phrase “water quality” is ill-defined and uncomplete. | 3. Complex/Compound * A complex sentence combines a dependent clause with an independent clause. * A compound sentence is made up of two independent clauses joined by a organizing concurrence such as ; for. and. nor. but. or. yet. or so and a comma or by a semicolon entirely. | Sentence 4:1. If. there is no H2O. populating things can non last. Sentence 5:2. In. today’s universe. river pollution is happening so earnestly. | 1. If there is no H2O. populating things can non surviveExplanation Difficulty in placing dependent clause- complex sentence2.

Today’s universe. river pollution occurs really earnestly. ExplanationWrong compound phrase. | 4. Subject/Verb Agreement * If a topic is remarkable. it’s verb must besides be remarkable * If a topic is plural. its verb must besides be plural. 5. Modal auxiliary verbs and Phrasal Modals * Modals are particular words in English and are used for specific intents. They are NOT verbs. * The signifier is: Capable + Modal + Verb| Sentence 13:1. The 2nd cause for river pollution are from agribusiness activities. The agribusiness activities is harming the quality of the H2O. Sentence 16:1. The agribusiness activities ^ is one of the economic activitiesSentence 21:2. The flow of H2O will be disturbed and the quality of H2O will be decreased. | 1. The 2nd cause for river pollution is from the agricultural activities. * The agricultural activities harms the quality of the H2O. * The agricultural activities harm the quality of the H2O. Explanation * The sentence construction is incorrect in footings of singular and plural. * The word ‘activities’ shows plural signifier. so the verb injury should besides be plural as good. * But from the facet of present tense. its incorrect because here. plural topics. no demand to add‘s’ for the verbs. 1. The agricultural activities ought to be one of the economic activities.

Explanation^ shows that a phrasal modal can be added to do the sentence construction stable. 2. The flow of the H2O will be disturbed and the quality of H2O would decreaseExplanation Redundancy of the modal is exchanged with another suited modal. | 6. Partss of Speech * Noun * Verb * Participle * Interjection * Pronoun * Preposition * Adverb * Conjunction | PrepositionSentence 31:1. The last consequence that is stated is from mineral extraction. From the activity. the consequence is the unsafe substances will blend to the river and it will make a unsafe. mayhem to the life thingsConjunctionSentence 36:1. So. it is of import to take care the river. However. we can non wholly halt the river pollution be we can command the pollution. | 1. The last consequence is from mineral extraction. From the activity. the consequence is the unsafe substances will blend into the river and it will make mayhem to the life things. Explanation”Into” is a preposition that answers the inquiry “Where? ”1. So. it is of import to take attention of the river. However. we can’t wholly halt the river pollution but we can command it. Explanation The concurrence but should be used in this sentence since it is used to mean a negation. to make contrast.

Discussion
Sentence types

Wholly there are 36 complete sentences. Out of 36 complete sentences. 10 sentences were simple sentences. 14 were complex sentences and12 were compound sentences. More than half complex sentences were unneeded repeat of points. It was besides found that most of the sentences were constructed utilizing the definite article ‘the’ and the repeat of the word ‘another’ on starting of the paragraph 4 and 6. The unneeded repeat of the points in the students’ written essay reflects that the pupil have a really limited cognition in the given subject and has non exposed her to different sequence connections.

Major Mistake Analysis

1. Basic Phrase Structure

Phrase-structure regulations are a manner to depict a given language’s sentence structure. They are used to interrupt a natural linguistic communication sentence down into its component parts ( besides known as syntactic classs ) viz. phrasal classs and lexical classs ( aka parts of address ) . Phrasal classs include the noun phrase. verb phrase. and prepositional phrase ; lexical classs include noun. verb. adjectival. adverb. and many others. A grammar which uses phrase construction regulations is called a phrase construction grammar. Phrase construction regulations are normally of the signifier. significance that the component A is separated into the two bomber components B and C. * The first regulation reads: An S consists of an NP followed by a VP. This means A sentence consists of a noun phrase followed by a verb phrase. * The following 1: A noun phrase consists of a clincher followed by a noun * Further accounts of the components: S. Det. NP. VP. AP. PP` In this survey. the pupil has encounter troubles in composing a sentence with a right phrase construction. This happens because she was non corrected by anyone whenever she makes the mistake.

For illustration. the extract below was taken from the student’s written essay. “Another cause of river pollution is the mineral extraction. From the river pollution is because of releasing of foods. deposit. metals contaminations. pesticides particularly weedkillers. The pollution of H2O that mined that the H2O flow that run-off H2O is polluted by the organic stuffs. The flow of the H2O and the quality of H2O will be decreased. ”| The above extract registries that the pupil has trouble in building a basic phrase construction. Harmonizing to me. the above extract is wholly obscure since it does non follow the basic regulations of phrase construction.

Mdm Patmabathy. the school instructor that we consulted in our mistake analysis says that this extract is nonmeaningful and she added that this pupil is really hapless in footings of sentence building. Despite. she besides said that it is besides a really serious mistake when she gets to cognize that it is a written work of a Form 4 pupil. If I was given a opportunity to rectify the above extract. it may sound like: On the other manus. mineral extraction besides contributes to river pollution. This is because. the release of foods. deposit. metals contaminations. pesticides and weedkillers may blockade the H2O flow which consequences in the lessening of the H2O flow and the H2O quality may botch due to the organic stuffs released through the mineral extraction. |

2. Passive Sentences

In inactive sentences. the thing having the action is the topic of the sentence and the thing making the action is optionally included near the terminal of the sentence. You can utilize the inactive signifier if you think that the thing having the action is more of import or should be emphasized. You can besides utilize the inactive signifier if you do non cognize who is making the action or if you do non desire to advert who is making the action. [ Thing having action ] + [ be ] + [ past participial of verb ] + [ by ] + [ thing making action ]

Examples:

In the student’s written essay. there are some outstanding wrongly phrased inactive sentences. For illustration. mentioning to the same extract. “Another cause of river pollution is the mineral extraction. From the river pollution is because of releasing of foods. deposit. metals contaminations. pesticides particularly weedkillers. The pollution of H2O that mined that the H2O flow that run-off H2O is polluted by the organic stuffs. The flow of the H2O and the quality of H2O will be decreased. ”| The usage of the word ‘mined’ which is non a inactive verb which causes the sentence to be nonmeaningful. From this we should cognize. in order to utilize inactive sentences one should hold a basic cognition on transitive verbs which the significance can be used in inactive sentences.

3. Complex/Compound

A compound sentence consists of two or more simple sentences joined by * a comma followed by a coordinating concurrence ( and. but. or. nor. for. yet. so ) : The Canis familiaris barked. and the cat yowled. * a semicolon: The Canis familiaris barked ; the cat yowled.

* a comma. but ONLY when the simple sentences are being treated as points in a series: The Canis familiaris barked. the cat yowled. and the coney chewed. A complex sentence consists of a combination of an independent clause and a dependent clause. An illustration with a comparative clause as the dependant clause: * The Canis familiaris that was in the street howled aloud.

* A pupil who is hungry would ne’er go through up a beefburger. An illustration with a subordinating concurrence making the dependant clause ( note the assorted places of the dependent clause ) : * End: The Canis familiaris howled although he was good fed.

* Front: Because the Canis familiaris howled so aloud. the pupil couldn’t eat his beefburger. * Middle: The Canis familiaris. although he was good fed. howled aloud. In the student’s written essay. there are more complex sentences constructed compared to intensify sentences. Therefore. it was simply repeat of words that occurs in the most complex sentences. For illustration. seek to look at the below extract from the student’s written essay.

There are some effects that caused by those old activities. The consequence of the industrial waste is one of them are the living things like fish. crab. and calamari and besides aquatic workss will decease. From the industrial waste besides impacting the imbibing H2O for homo. This is because of the quality of H2O is spoiled and more non-nature.

There italicized phrase is an illustration of complex sentence whereby the dependant clause “living things like fish. crab. and calamari and besides aquatic workss will decease is an enlargement of the independent clause ‘the consequence of the industrial waste’ . Here. the usage of complex sentence was non to the full utilised since the pupil has jobs in building basic phrase construction itself. The pupil ended up the whole sentence with full of repeat. She should hold usage a wider vocabulary to explicate the point.

4. Subject/Verb Agreement

A basic rule of English is that a verb must hold in figure with its topic. Although this basic rule is really simple. it is frequently violated because authors have problem either placing the topic or the finding its figure.

Remarkable regulation

* A remarkable topic requires a remarkable verb.
See the undermentioned illustrations.
* He is happy.
* The male child is happy.
* David is happy.
Plural Rule
* A plural topic requires a plural verb.
See the undermentioned illustrations.
* They are happy.
* The male childs are happy.
* David and Tom are happy

The pupil has committed much mistake in this subdivision. She tends to utilize plural verb for remarkable topic and remarkable verb for plural topic. For illustration. the below extract from the student’s essay reflects the incorrect subject/verb understanding. The 2nd cause for river pollution are from agribusiness activities. The agribusiness activities is harming the quality of the H2O. This activities can take to the pollution of river. Furthermore. the activities is non merely fouling the quality of H2O. but besides changes the coloring material of the H2O because it fouling the clear H2O.

The first sentence reflects the use plural verb for remarkable topic ( river pollution is merely one ) . Then. the 4th sentence registries the usage of remarkable verb for plural topic ( activities refers to many ) . So. the right sentence should be: The 2nd cause for river pollution is from agribusiness activities. The agribusiness activities harms the quality of the H2O. These activities can take to the pollution of river. Furthermore. the activities are non merely fouling the quality of H2O and besides changes the coloring material of the H2O since it pollutes the clear H2O. |

5. Partss of Speech ( Conjunction )
* Concurrences are words which link two clauses in one sentence * Here are some illustration concurrences:
Organizing Conjunctions| Subordinating Conjunctions| and. but. or. nor. for. yet. so| although. because. since. unless| * Coordinating concurrences are used to fall in two parts of a sentence that are grammatically equal. The two parts may be individual words or clauses. for illustration: * Jack and Jill went up the hill.

* The H2O was warm. but I didn’t travel swimming.

* Subordinating concurrences are used to fall in a low-level dependant clause to a chief clause. for illustration: * I went swimming although it was cold. Mentioning to the student’s written work. the pupils has used really limited concurrences such as ‘and’ . ‘so’ . and ‘for’ . There was besides incorrect use of concurrence which is as follows: 1. Furthermore. the activities is non merely fouling the quality of H2O. but besides changes the coloring material of the H2O because it fouling the clear H2O. 2. So. it is of import to take care the river. However. we can non wholly halt the river pollution be we can command the pollution| For the first sentence. the usage of the concurrence ‘but’ is incorrect since the sentence is non demoing any comparing. The 2nd sentence besides applies a incorrect concurrence since the word ‘be’ refers to a verb that indicates future actions. So. the right sentence should be:

1. Furthermore. the activities is non merely fouling the quality of H2O and besides changes the coloring material of the H2O because it fouling the clear H2O. 2. So. it is of import to take care the river. However. we can non wholly halt the river pollution but we can command the pollution|

Treatment for the Mistakes

1. Awareness of L1 intervention

Switch overing interactively between first and 2nd linguistic communication has been recognized as one of the outstanding features of L2 composing. Woodball ( 2002 ) suggested that linguistic communication shift may be driven by the mental operations of private address for work outing L2 jobs with L1 resources and the consequences of his survey suggested that less adept L2 scholars switched to their L1s more often than more advanced scholars. Harmonizing to Wang‘s determination ( 2003 ) . the low proficient participants frequently concentrated on direct interlingual rendition from their L1 into the L2 to execute their L2 authorship to counterbalance for their L2 lingual lacks.

Composing their authorship undertakings in this manner might hold helped them get the better of composing troubles without exercising much mental attempt. Cases of direct interlingual rendition were besides observed in this survey. for illustration. ‘My moniker is schoolmate takes. English name is I chosens. Give to fortune instructor to cipher. ’ In add-on. pupils have the inclination to except the topic or object and fail to utilize certain buildings due to L1 intervention. Therefore. instructors can assist pupils go cognizant of interlingual mistakes by foregrounding the structural and lexical differences between Chinese and English in countries when their usage is foremost introduced or reinforced. If lingua franca is likely to happen. so consciousness-raising can assist pupils self-edit their mistakes when intervention occurs

2. Writing Motivation

By and large talking. composing motive is encouraged through stimulating reading. relation with day-to-day life experience. and support of relevant vocabulary. Pre-writing activities are important for unskilled authors. After choosing an appropriate authorship undertaking. some relevant reading transitions should be introduced. However. the reading stuffs should merely function as beginnings for exciting thoughts and acquisition of relevant vocabulary instead than theoretical accounts to copy. Students have to compose on a new but closely related subject. They still have to bring forth and polish their ain thoughts every bit good as concept their ain sentences. Even pupils of low proficiency degree should be given the chance to see authorship as a originative act of find. The procedure attack is besides applicable to low adept pupils provided that thoughtful stimulation and counsel are available.

3. Direction of Basic Grammar

Good authorship is surely beyond grammar use. Yet it will be really hard to compose a clear. logical and fluid paragraph if a author is unable to compose moderately acceptable simple sentences and does non possess the command of some complex sentence constructions. Consequences of the present survey indicate an pressing demand in upgrading students’ basic lingual competency. Explicit learning on outstanding grammar points like types of sentences. sentence structure. verb signifiers of some normally used tenses is extremely recommended in the first semester. In the interim. it is besides of import to convey the thought that error-free sentence production is non the premier mark for composing pattern but as the agencies with which to better express one’s significance.

Contemplation based on the Survey

Most ESL pupils want to larn English to be able to talk the linguistic communication. non compose it. However. larning composing accomplishments is an of import facet of larning English as pupils could be called upon to compose in English for professional or formal grounds. Those who wish to populate in an English speech production state will most decidedly necessitate to be able to compose in English in order to make full out signifiers and other administrative documents refering their mundane lives. Why we should stress more on authorship accomplishment in the ESL category? When talking. there are a figure of factors that help do the undertaking easier for a foreign linguistic communication talker: speech production normally takes topographic point in a certain context and other preexistent cognition is frequently assumed so that non all information has to be clear and precise ; immediate feedback is possible and talkers can set as the conversation unfolds.

Conversation is frequently informal in mundane life and easier for an ESL pupil to go involved in and pattern. Writing. nevertheless. is a much more formal procedure. ESL pupils will most probably have to utilize their authorship accomplishments for formal and professional grounds. like concern English. This can be really nerve-racking and downright disabling if they have ne’er learnt to compose in English. Thus. mistakes serve as an of import agencies for us as a hereafter instructor to detect leaner’s larning procedure and acquisition schemes. Based on the survey that we have conducted. we have found that learning authorship is one of the hardest accomplishment comparison to the remainder. It needs more on teachers’ attempt whereby the instructor should expose the pupils from the basic grammar to the perfect sentence buildings.

Decision

The consequences of the survey show that mistakes that the participant committed were fundamentally grammatical. The participant besides had a comparatively weak vocabulary and their sentences were sometimes inexplicable. She committed mistakes in using sentence construction regulations in the English linguistic communication. Hence. we can reason that this participant has jobs in geting normal grammatical regulations in English. This survey has shed visible radiation on the mode in which pupils internalize the regulations of the TL.

It further shows that mistake analysis besides can assist the instructors to place in a systematic mode the particular and common linguistic communication jobs pupils have. so that they can concentrate more attending on these types of mistakes. Such an penetration into linguistic communication acquisition jobs is utile to instructors because it provides information on common trouble-spots in linguistic communication acquisition which can be used in the readying of effectual instruction stuffs. Besides. by being able to foretell mistakes to a certain extent. instructors can be well-equipped to assist pupils minimise or get the better of their acquisition jobs.

Bibliography
1 ) Ancker. W. ( 2000 ) . Mistakes and disciplinary feedback: Updated theory and schoolroom pattern. English Teaching Forum. 38 ( 4 ) . 20-24.
2 ) European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 8. Number 3 ( 2009 ) 3 ) hypertext transfer protocol: //www. Marquette. edu/wac/WhatMakesWritingSoImportant. shtml