What is Recount Writing
Recount writing is a way of recalling an experience or event. Recounts can be about the whole event or a particular part of the event. The purpose of writing a recount can be to entertain, advise, or reflect and assess.
Recounts are usually written in chronological order to make it easier for the reader to know about the series of things that happened during an event.
Since recount writing is about sharing a past experience or event, it is usually written in the past tense.
How to Write a Recount
Recount Structure
Following the structure for writing a recount can be helpful. The recount structure includes:
- Orientation: It is important to explain the who, what, when, and where of the entire event in the introduction.
- Focus: One should include only the significant events.
- Chronology: Events should be described in the sequence of their occurrence.
- Organization: All the relevant information should be grouped in paragraphs.
- Insight: The writer should include some personal opinions, comments or interpretations related to the recounted event or experience.
Recount Features
The features that should be kept in mind while writing a recount are:
- Tense: Since an event or experience from the past is recalled, the recount is written in the past tense. While mentioning the analysis and opinion, one can use the present tense.
- Voice: A recount can be written in both active and passive voice.
- Nouns: Proper nouns should refer to specific people, times, places and events.
- Connectives: Conjunctions and connectives should be used for linking events and indicating time sequences.
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The Five Pillars of Recount
The five pillars of recount writing comprise five questions that must be answered in the recount. These are:
WHO?
WHAT?
WHEN?
WHERE?
WHY?
Giving answers to these five questions – Who are the main characters; What happened; When did it happen; Where did the event occur; and Why do the events matter? It will help the child write a better recount.
Points to consider before writing
There are some questions that the child must answer before starting to write a recount.
- What is it that needs to be told to the audience? What is being recounted?
- Which of the information will be needed early on by the audience in the text?
- Which important parts or events do you want to describe? In what order will these events be described?
- In what ways will you let the readers know the order of events? What type of language will be used to link the events?
- What kind of other information is helpful for including in the recount?
- How should the recount be concluded?
Tips for writing an excellent recount
Following these tips while writing a recount can help the child write an excellent recount.
- The title should be kept simple and summarize the main element of the text.
- A scene should be set for the audience, referred to as an orientation of the recount. The reader should be provided with an introduction that addresses the who, what, when and where.
- In a recount, everything should be kept in chronological order. Time transitional phrases and terms should be used to keep the audience hooked.
- A new section should be written in a new paragraph.
- A wide range of adjectives should be used.
- While writing a recount, the language used should be based on the target audience.
- Usually, in a recount, recounting is done in the first person.
- Past tense is usually used to write a recount. It is important to use the same tense throughout. However, the writer's personal opinion can be written in the present tense.
- It is essential to leave out boring information while writing a recount.
Exploring different types of recount writing
There are five types of recount writing. Some of these recount writing styles are also interlinked or differ in certain ways.
1. Personal Recount
This type of recount writing is the one in which the writer recollects a particular experience or an event. When we tell someone a story about things that happened to us, it is a personal recount.
2. Factual Recount
Things like newspaper reports are included in the factual recounts. The purpose of writing a factual recount is to inform the audience of a particular event. Facts and figures are included in this type of recount writing.
3. Imaginative Recount
An imaginative recount is perfect for creative writing. This type of recount writing uses factual knowledge of an event and creates a fictional account of that particular event. The motive of an imaginative recount is to help the reader to understand an event by giving a fictional recount that's very close to the actual event.
4. Procedural Recount
Procedural recounts are usually used in fields where a procedure for a specific thing needs to be passed on to others to follow. Therefore it expects to have an exact language that might not even involve using complete sentences. This type of recount is generally not used in Literature.
5. Literary Recount
This type of recount writing is fun as it can be about real or fictional events and involve fictional or real characters. You can take up an actual event with fictional characters to write an interesting piece.
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Why choose PlanetSpark's course
1. Regular assignments: At PlanetSpark, we believe that regular practice makes the child better. To ensure that the child gets to practice more and more recounts, regular assignments are given to the child. This helps the child push their thinking skills, get better with the usage of words, and understand which parts of the recount to focus on and which parts to miss to avoid making it dull.
2. Individual Problem Solving: While writing recounts, the child may face problems, have queries and address that; we take individual problem-solving sessions. This helps the child talk about the problems faced while writing a recount confidently.
3. Building the skillset: Each course at PlanetSparkalso helps build more skill sets than just the course. When the child recounts the class's event, it boosts their confidence and public speaking skills.
Frequently Asked Questions about Recount Writing Course
How do you write a recount?
One should ensure that they keep the title simple. The recount should be written in the past tense as the event has already happened. It is crucial to maintain the tense throughout. Chronological order should be maintained while writing a recount. Who, what, when and where should be addressed in the introduction of the recount.
What are the three parts of a recount?
The three main parts of a recount are the orientation, the events and the conclusion.
In the introductory paragraph, the setting should be established and introduce the characters and the topic of the recount should be introduced. The events should be related in chronological order, and past tense verbs should be used in the body paragraphs. In the final paragraph of the recount, some evaluative comment should be made on what they think about the events they have just recounted.
What is the structure of recount writing?
The structure of the recount writing includes
1. The orientation where, in the introduction, the who, what, when, and where of the event is explained
2. The focus where is to make sure that significant incidents become a part of the recount
3. The chronology should be maintained to help better the reader understand the order of events
4. The organization of the incidents is essential. Relevant information should be written in paragraphs by the writer
5. The insight will include the writer's opinion about the event
What are the five types of recount writing?
The five types of recount writing include personal recount, factual recount, procedural recount, literary recount and imaginative recount.
A personal recount is a personal experience shared by the writer.
A factual recount is stating a fact or news.
A procedural recount talks about the procedure of an activity that others can replicate.
A literary recount can have real or fictional characters and events.
An imaginative recount can be one created by the writer.
Why is writing recounts important?
Recounts help develop the ability to structure language. Since the person is talking about something that happened in another time and place, the skills of literacy development increase, it also develops skills such as using past tense verbs. The events need to be linked, and thus conjunctions need to be used; this develops the use of proper joining words. The sequencing skills are also developed as the writer needs to write the recount in the correct sequence for the reader to understand.
