P2.B Section B — Transactional Writing

Paper 2 Section B gives you 40 marks for transactional writing. You are given one task with a specified audience, purpose and form. You must write to communicate a viewpoint on a real-world issue.

What is transactional writing?

Transactional writing is writing that does something in the real world — it communicates a message to a specific audience for a specific purpose. Forms include:

• Letter (formal or informal)
• Article (newspaper, magazine, online)
• Speech (to be delivered to a specified audience)
• Report (for a committee, organisation or authority)
• Review (of a book, film, place, event)
• Leaflet (informative or persuasive)

Assessment objectives (AO5 and AO6)

• AO5 (24 marks): Content and organisation — a clear viewpoint; engaging ideas; form, tone and register matched to audience and purpose; structural features of the chosen form
• AO6 (16 marks): Technical accuracy — vocabulary, sentence structures, spelling and punctuation

Adapting to audience, purpose and form

Audience: Who are you writing for? A formal audience (governors, MPs) requires formal register. A peer audience (students, magazine readers) can be more informal but not casual.

Purpose: What are you trying to achieve? To persuade? Inform? Argue? Each purpose shapes your language choices, structure and rhetorical devices.

Form: Each form has specific conventions — a letter has a salutation and sign-off; a speech has direct address and rhetorical devices; a report has headings; a leaflet uses bullet points.

Persuasive techniques for transactional writing

• AFOREST mnemonic: Anecdote, Facts, Opinion, Rhetorical question, Emotive language, Statistics, Tricolon
• Counterargument and rebuttal: acknowledge the opposing view then argue against it — shows confidence
• First person: "I believe..." "We must..." engages reader directly
• Structural signposting: "First... Furthermore... Finally..." keeps argument organised

Exam tips

• Plan: identify your argument, 3 key points, opening and conclusion
• Do NOT write in both directions of the argument — you are arguing a case
• Remember the form: a speech sounds different from a letter
• Leave time to proofread