Writing and composing texts
This domain tests whether you can produce writing that is crafted and controlled for a clear purpose and audience. At Level 2 it connects to standards such as 91101 (a selection of crafted and controlled writing) and 91103 (crafted and controlled visual and verbal text). 'Crafted' means deliberate choices of structure, voice, and language; 'controlled' means accuracy and consistency.
Core rules
- Establish purpose, audience, and tone before drafting.
- Shape the whole text: a strong opening, coherent paragraphs, a purposeful ending.
- Choose language features that do work: precise verbs, concrete nouns, varied sentence lengths, imagery, dialogue, rhetorical devices.
- Use a consistent voice and tense. Proofread for spelling, punctuation, and sentence boundaries.
- For 91103, make verbal and visual elements work together rather than repeat each other.
Worked example
Weak: I was nervous before my speech. Revised: My notes blurred; the microphone hummed like a trapped fly. The revision does not name 'nervous'. It gives two concrete sensory details, uses a semicolon to balance the clauses, and a simile to imply threat. The reader infers the feeling. That is crafted writing: the technique creates the effect.
Traps
Overwriting with adjectives; clichés; inconsistent narrator; changing tense; long sentences that lose control; ignoring the audience. In portfolio writing, avoid one thin piece - show range.