Let us start with a question: What Is the A.C.E. Writing Strategy? What is the most common method that you use to interact with everyone around you? It is writing. If you guessed it right, kudos! Writing is arguably the most preferred communication method everyone uses, be it a child or an adult. But why is it so? There are various proven reasons why writing is mostly used and preferred as a communication technique. Most people find it difficult to express themselves by speaking, so they tend to use a pen and paper to speak their hearts out. This is the most common reason why we see writing as a more widely used process than simply speaking.
But this is not it. While writing is a widely used process, not everyone is equally capable of turning their thoughts into meaningful sentences by stringing words together. This is a common issue among students when it comes to academic writing.
According to several studies, students – even when they have a fair idea of a question asked to them – fail to undermine the answer and write it on a piece of paper. Now, why does this happen, even when they have an idea of what they have been asked? It is because they fail to understand what needs to be done.
This issue is more prominent while answering short questions where just a yes or no won’t work. This is where the ACE writing strategy comes into play. So what is this ACE writing strategy and how does it help students excel in answering short-form questions? In this post, we will discuss the same.
Acquire Short Form Answer Writing Through Ace Writing Strategy
The ACE writing strategy is designed especially for the students to help them logically organize their ideas in the answers and provide constructive proof supporting their thinking. In a lot of assessments, mostly involving literary texts, fiction, history, etc., students are required to answer the questions asked while supporting their answers with pieces of evidence.
This is a tough go for secondary and higher secondary school students and requires rigorous practice to master the skill. This is where the ACE writing strategy helps them expand their knowledge with substantial and relevant proof, supporting their claims on the topic with valid reasons and sufficient information.
ACE in the ACE writing strategy stands for Answer (A), Cite (C), and Explain (E). This strategy breaks the answers down into three parts, that substantially help students master the skills of answering short-type questions
A Detailed Breakdown of the ACE Writing Strategy
As mentioned above, the ACE writing strategy stands for Answer, Cite, and Explain. Below is a detailed breakdown of the complete strategy –
Answer
This is the first part of the strategy where a student has to answer what has been asked in the question or the topic. It will be a direct statement or explanation that states the main answer to your idea of what needs to be said.
For example, if the question is “Where do you see yourself in the next five years?”, the answer will be “I see myself becoming a successful business with multiple businesses in the next five years”.
Keep in mind that the answer should set the base for what would follow next, i.e., the details that follow next should relate to what the students answer in the first part.
Cite
In this step, the answers given by the students are established by evident facts and data as and when possible. Since the base has already been set, it needs to be validated with proper facts, examples, and data. But, the evidence should always be relevant to the answer.
For example, for the question asked above, the citation of the answer given would be something like, “Businessmen have the highest success ratio among all professions. And my past experiences with businesses have yielded me a net worth of 100K INR. I’m planning to make it 10X in the next three years.”
Explain
As is evident from the name itself, this step involves explaining the citation and relating it to the primary answer. In simple terms, the students need to explain why they added the reference data and facts, relating it to what they have answered to the question asked.
For example, for the answer and citation given above, the explanation will go something like, “My experience cited above and the numbers I’ve generated through my experience and skills validate my aim to become a successful businessman in the future.”
Examples of ACE Writing Strategy Used for Different Age Groups
Since we have already discussed the ACE writing strategy and what it is about, here are two different examples of answers written using the ACE writing strategy for two different age groups –
Question for Small Children – Who is the king of the jungle?
Ans – The lion is the king of the jungle. It lives in a cave and all the other animals in the jungle are scared of it. It runs very fast and kills other animals for food. It is a carnivorous animal and needs the meat of other animals for energy. Since all the other animals, even the ones bigger than it, fear it, it is called the king of the jungle.
Question for Older Age Groups – Why is exercise required for the body?
Ans – Exercises are essential for the body since they keep us fit and improve our lifestyle. According to studies, doing exercises every day helps in weight management, mood lightening, lowering blood pressure, blood sugar levels, and bad cholesterol, and balancing the body posture. This is why we should do exercises regularly and keep ourselves fit and healthy for a long lifespan.
Make The Efficient Leaning Environment In Classrooms Using Ace Writing Strategy
Here is a detailed guide on how the ACE Writing Strategy can be used by teachers in the classrooms for the students to learn the art of concept writing properly –
Start with the Basics and the Concepts
The first step will always be to start with an introduction to the concepts of the ACE Writing Strategy, giving the students a fair idea of what the process is and what goes into learning it.
Teachers have to take special care to explain the basics of the ACE Writing Strategy, including the three concept components – Answer, Cite & Explain. The best way would be to first give a basic explanation of the process and the components, and then explain better using examples. This will help the students relate to the strategy practically.
Maintain a Consistent Practice Process
Once the students are aware of the basics of the ACE Writing Strategy, the next step involves making them practice the strategy in an effective and processed way. To do this, teachers can start with pre-planned prompts or examples.
A list of pre-decided prompts can help the students figure out ways to grasp the concept of the ACE Writing Strategy properly.
Design Their Own Process of Learning
Once the students learn the basic process of grasping the ACE Writing Strategy, the third step would be to simply let them follow the process of the strategy with differently designed questions. This will help them use their own theories and evidence and put them properly in sequence to form an answer.
Keep Providing Feedbacks
Feedback is arguably the best method that can help someone learn something, and this could be used for teaching the ACE Writing Strategy to students. Once the students start using their own examples and theories in crafting responses using the ACE Writing Strategy, teachers need to help them with feedback to make them understand the process better.
This feedback can help the students identify where they need to improve their writing process and what needs no rectification.
Key Takeaways
The ACE Writing Strategy is one of the most essential and effective ways to better your writing skills, and this is not limited to academics only. Grasping the ACE Writing Strategy can benefit you in the long run in your professional career while communicating with others as well.
Through the ACE Writing Strategy, you can get an idea of how to put your arguments strongly and then support those with pieces of evidence and examples. Following the proper process of the strategy as outlined in the post can yield good results.
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