10% of Overall Grade for Learning Area 5 (Critical Thinking and Communication)
Preliminary essay
10% of overall grade for Learning Area 5 (Critical Thinking and Communication)
Clear and succinct writing is essential for being successful in a professional and/or military environment. For this reason, the Baltic Defence College requires that all officers – irrespective of your language abilities – submit a short preliminary writing assignment before the start of the first term. This means that the assignment must be completed before you come to Estonia. This assignment will allow the BaltDefCol faculty to evaluate your level of English writing and develop appropriate ways to improve it in the course of the academic year.
Please read the article by Admiral James Stavridis. Then answer the following question:
Do you think that a staff officer should be able to read, think and write? Why?
You should aim to write three to four short paragraphs, which cover not more than two sides of a A4 paper. Open your essay with a clear thesis statement, which outlines what you intend to say and argue. For example, if you intend to argue that it is important for a staff officer to be able to engage with academic work, make this point right at the start. If you believe this ability is unnecessary, make a counterargument. Ensure that your essay includes a conclusion at the end, which makes a final judgment and summarises the key points you have covered.
Requirements
• The essay should not be longer than two sides of A4 paper (longer papers will automatically fail).
• 1.5 lines spacing
• Body text in 12 point size in Arial typeface
• Save your file as ‘Last name -Preliminary Essay.doc’
• Write in British English (the official language of the Baltic Defence College)[1]
• Follow the template on the following page
• Do not copy work from other sources – plagiarism – without citing it! Indeed, no additional sources are required for this assignment.
Deadline
Please submit your assignment not later than 16.00 on 28th July 2014 by email to
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[Your name goes here]
Preliminary essay
Do you think that a staff officer should be able to read, think and write? Why?
[Answer goes here.]
2
[1] To maintain consistent spelling, please ensure your computer’s spell-checker is set to British English before you start writing. Both Microsoft Word and Apple Pages have this function.