前言：ACT写作是不少学生在备考时容易忽略的部分，因为它不会直接记入总分。可当不少学生通过努力把ACT刷到了30+的分数后，却发现写作单项还停留在7、8分这个平庸的成绩，不禁让人感到头疼。毕竟申请绝大多数名校时都需要提供ACT写作单项成绩的。那么大家在平时的训练中会遇到哪些常见的问题？怎样做才能突破自己的写作瓶颈？

在我们所有教过写作的学生中，暴露最多的问题就是缺乏细节，大多数学生写作文习惯了太空太泛，而没有具体的细节，因而缺乏说服力。

1. 什么是细节？

细节就是议论文里论据的一种----实例性论据，也就是我们通常所说的例子。那它在议论文里的作用是什么呢？我们先来看一下议论文的结构，ACT写作要求的是议论文，在汉语和英语中，议论文都包含三个要素claim（论点），reason（理由），evidence（论据）。三者缺一不可，理由支持论点，论据支持理由。所以细节的作用就是支持理由，进而让立场更有说服力。

2. ACT写作评分标准对细节的要求是什么？

“Development of ideas is specific. Most ideas are fully elaborated.”虽然短短一句话，但是表明了评分标准对细节的重视程度。现在我们以ACT官方指南上的一个题目为例：

“Should high schools adopt dress codes for students?”(高中是否应该有着装规范？)很多同学拿到这道题都能够迅速的确定立场和理由，下面以学生作文练习中一段为例：

“Dress codes can contribute to healthy school atmosphere. It is common for people to notice that an increasing number of high school students wear inappropriate clothes in schools. Such kinds of clothes severely distract students from learning. With the common practice of uniforms, one kind of dress codes, school can create a better environment for students.”

这段存在的问题大部分同学都会有，就是缺乏具体的细节。其中提到了“inappropriate clothing”(不当着装) 这个概念及产生的不好影响。但是却并没有指出到底什么样的衣服是不当着装，高中最常出现的不当着装有哪些，因而缺乏足够的说服力。如何才能做到细节够具体呢？以ACT官方指南满分范文其中一段为例：

“Allowing students to wear whatever they want is clearly not working. Too many teens today seek to emulate rock stars and pick up fashion tips from MTV. In a culture that is inundated with sexual inuendo or worse, it is not surprising that kids show up at school in suggestive clothing. The educators are right. Short skirts and spandex tops can be extremely distracting to a population group driven largely by hormones. Establishing a dress code could help improve the learning environment in the school.”

这一段同样是在写不当着装，但是却具体很多。比如文中具体提到了校园中不当着装的一种—suggestive clothing(暴露的着装)，甚至具体的衣服类型--- short skirts(超短裙)，spandex tops (露脐上衣)。

3. 如何写出更具体的细节？

确定话题中的主要概念，然后查找与概念相关的具体细节。其实ACT写作话题的广度和深度相比SAT要简单很多。题目大多是校园话题。因此要提供具体的细节，平时留意积累就OK了。 现在举例说明。

1). “Is it too distracting for high school students to divide their attention among several activities when they are doing homework?”
(高中生做作业同时做其他的事情会不会分心？) 

如果我们的立场是“做作业同时做其他事情会分心”， 那么重点就是同时做哪些事情会导致我们分心呢，很多同学写的例子段里面只是空泛的分析了这样做的缺点，但没能指出具体哪些事情。其实这个细节相对比较容易，因为和高中生的生活息息相关。大家只需要思考做作业的时候作哪些事情会分心，比如听音乐，刷Facebook，Twitter，微信朋友圈，聊天，看美剧，玩游戏。通过列出具体的细节，然后再一一分析如何干扰学习，降低效率就更有说服力了。

2). “Should high school libraries subscribe to popular magazines?” 
(高中图书馆应不应该订阅通俗杂志？) 

摘自学生练习中的一小段
“Subscribing to popular magazines motivates students to read. For my school district, every school in the district has access to all kinds of magazines and books. The results are significant – students who resist reading tend to spend more time in the library with friends reading. This will develop into a long-term habit and students will tend to read more even after they graduate from school.”

这一段存在的问题同样也是缺乏具体的细节。题目主要的概念就是通俗杂志，但是论证中却没有出现具体的通俗杂志的例子。要写好这个题目，大家需要想一想有哪些常见的美国通俗杂志。其实并不需要太多时间，但是会让大家的文章变得更有说服力。比如美国常见的通俗杂志包括 ELLE, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Rolling Stone, Food Network, National Geographic。写理由段的时候就可以选取任意一个杂志为例来写订阅这类杂志对青少年的优缺点。下面是学生加入具体细节之后的修改版：

“Subscribing to popular magazines motivates students to read. For my school district, every school in the district has access to all kinds of magazines and books including National Geographic that gave students a grand view of the nature; it attracts students who are interested in photography by posting incredible seen of the wild such as leopards and elephants in Africa. The results are significant – students who resist to read tend to spend more time in the library with friends to read. This will develop into a long-term habit and students will tend to read more even after they graduate from school.”

相较于之前的版本，修改之后的文章加入了具体的细节---国家地理杂志，以及这个杂志对学生产生的具体的影响。文章的说服力更强了。