Post by: Bri MT on October 20, 2019, 04:05:17 pm
Lauren's Ask Me Anything!
The one and the only Lauren (ok maybe there are multiple Laurens but she's a great individual with unique skills and experiences), your QCE English lecturer is holding an Ask Me Anything; she'll start replying
Here's some things you might not know about Lauren: She's an avid reader and one of our longest contributing forum members. If I recall correctly, when she made her first post some of the moderators were going "hmmm this seems too good to be true" but we can now confirm she is actually that skilled and committed to helping students achieve their best.
Here's some of the reasons you may want to learn from this English extraordinaire:
🔥 Achieved the highest possible score in English which helped her earn an ATAR of 98.25
🔥 Has a degree in literature and linguistics from the University of Melbourne
🔥 Gives incredible feedback on improving writing & textual understanding, and has been doing that for years
🔥 Studying literature? Lauren's also amazing at that
🔥 Has an abundance of posts, like this, helping students out and teaching them how to improve
🔥 Achieved the highest possible score in English which helped her earn an ATAR of 98.25
🔥 Has a degree in literature and linguistics from the University of Melbourne
🔥 Gives incredible feedback on improving writing & textual understanding, and has been doing that for years
🔥 Studying literature? Lauren's also amazing at that
🔥 Has an abundance of posts, like this, helping students out and teaching them how to improve
We've been asked this before on other AMAs so YES you can ask ANY question - so long as it abides by our community rules (which basically come down to being respectful and keeping the community a nice place for everyone)
This might include things like:
- How did you prepare for exams?
- What's your favourite text?
- I'm currently struggling and I don't know how to improve - thoughts?
- Do you take a different approach when reading for leisure?
IMPORTANT: In order to ask a question, you will have to click here and make an ATAR Notes account.
Post by: Snow Leopard on October 20, 2019, 04:16:09 pm
2. Should you focus on one literary perspective or cover multiple in a Views and Values essay?
3. In your opinion, what should a student do in order to do well in Literature in VCE.
4. How should you annotate your novels (writing in the novel vs sticky notes)?
5. Should you annotate your novels before you study them with your class?
This is more about subjects for VCE, but I choose Literature, but now I'm kinda doubting my choice and wondering if I should've gone with English.
6. What's the workload for Literature like in comparison to English?
7. I enjoy reading but feel like I might do better in English grades wise, which do you think I should go with for VCE?
Sorry for all the questions
Post by: lm21074 on October 20, 2019, 04:38:04 pm
What's your favourite book?
What's the greatest lesson a book has ever taught you?
Thank you and have a great day!
Post by: caffinatedloz on October 20, 2019, 04:50:57 pm
Post by: literally lauren on October 20, 2019, 08:02:08 pm
VCE:
1. Do you have any advice for writing a Views and Values essay in Literature (Yr 10 Lit preparation class for VCE).Even though Views and Values essays seem like regular English Text Response pieces (i.e. you usually respond to a prompt that's about some thematic ideas in the text), you should still maintain a focus on LANGUAGE! Try to do some 'close analysis' and unpack key literary devices and quotes, since this is the foundation your teacher will be looking for!
Aside from that, if this is a piece you have to write in exam conditions, make sure you memorise enough evidence to get you through. If it's just an essay you're submitting, then really take your time to perfect things - the structure, the phrasing, and each example you include.
But my best tip would be to truly delve into the language when supporting your points. Explain WHY certain techniques contribute to certain effects, and tease out the meaning of individual words, syllables, and even the sounds of letters in order to boost your results!
2. Should you focus on one literary perspective or cover multiple in a Views and Values essay?This depends on your teacher (sorry!) but if I were you, I'd pick one primary perspective to integrate consistently throughout the essay, and then make reference to one or two other secondary perspectives to acknowledge alternate views. So, for instance, if you were analysing Romeo and Juliet, you might pick a predominantly feminist perspective through which to view the key characters and relationships in the play, but you could also incorporate a psychoanalytic lens to discuss the psychology of the characters and their feelings for one another, or a New Historicism perspective to talk about the cultural context.
(See here for more info on Lit Perspectives!)
3. In your opinion, what should a student do in order to do well in Literature in VCE.OVERTHINK EVERYTHING!
You know that meme...
(https://i.imgur.com/UZpPApk.png)
To do well in Literature, have to way beyond thinking the curtains are blue. You have to think that the rich, velvety fabric of the curtains represents a poignant link between the character's financial wealth and their deprivation of happiness. You have to think that the fact the curtains are closed is indicative of the character shrouding themselves in their own misery, literally blocking out the world and with it any chance of happiness or light that might seep through. You have to think that perhaps the very fact that this character has decorated his home with such blue curtains underscores his subconscious understanding of the depths of his own emotions - he is aware of his sadness, but is unable to express it in words, and so sequesters himself in his own blue world......might sound silly, and you'd never want to go that far with it (^this would be an example of weak implicature!) but it's a great thought exercise, and if you can do that with language like this, you can do it with anything!
The assessors want to see creative thinking in your analysis of language, so you should be constantly thinking about HOW and WHY language is crafted in certain ways. Do that, and you're on track for success!
4. How should you annotate your novels (writing in the novel vs sticky notes)?For novels, I'd go hard on sticky notes, since you probably won't have much room to write in the margins. For plays and poetry, I found there was usually enough room on the page to scribble things down, though...
5. Should you annotate your novels before you study them with your class?
Confession
I ended up having too much to say about my Year 12 poetry text, so I printed out each poem on an A4/A3 page each, and then annotated the hell out of them before pinning them up on my wall and connecting them with highlighters and red yarn like a crazed detective hunting down a serial killer...
(https://i.imgur.com/FmQL9HT.png)
VCE:
This is more about subjects for VCE, but I choose Literature, but now I'm kinda doubting my choice and wondering if I should've gone with English.I think the workloads are virtually identical, though personally, I found English easier because I was doing Literature, and I found my Lit analytical skills helped me breeze through VCE English Analysing Argument tasks. In terms of picking one or the other, think about whether you prefer writing about themes and authorial intent (=English) OR writing about how language creates meaning (=Literature). You'll likely have to put the same amount of effort in either way, so just go with whichever you find more interesting.
6. What's the workload for Literature like in comparison to English?
7. I enjoy reading but feel like I might do better in English grades wise, which do you think I should go with for VCE?
Statistically, most students who would do well in Literature would get just as good if not better results for English, but there are cases of students getting higher results in Lit because they enjoy it more. So as with almost all things related to subject selection, prioritise what you're interested in, and don't stress about scaling or anything else!
I hope this helps, but please let me know if you have any follow-ups. I know schools can do all sorts of crazy things in Year 10 English and Lit, so please tell me if any of this doesn't make sense! :)
Post by: literally lauren on October 20, 2019, 08:07:58 pm
Hey Lauren! :)OH MY GOD! QUESTIONS AFTER MY OWN HEART!
What's your favourite book?
What's the greatest lesson a book has ever taught you?
Thank you and have a great day!
I'm going to force myself to be more specific... and limit myself to three nominees... otherwise I might end up pushing AN's character limit :'D
Okay, favourite book I've read this year:
(https://i.imgur.com/QMYD9zK.png)
Can't say much without spoiling this one, but it's about the practice of book binding... sort of... and it is unexpectedly heart-wrenching.------------------------------------------
My "Favourite BookTM"(https://i.imgur.com/uNRxs8O.png)
There's another one I have that would be tied for first, but this one has a special place in my heart. The first line of Italo Calvino's 'If on a winter's night a traveller' is: You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, 'If on a winter's night a traveller.'Enough said.
------------------------------------------
The greatest lesson a book has ever taught me was from:(https://i.imgur.com/2FeP3wf.png)
It's a novel that does not contain a single letter 'E'. I read this the night before the GAT (to Qld readers, this was like the old QCS test) and it inspired me to complete the GAT writing task without using the letter E too, and it was incredibly fun to use a limitation to open up a new, more creative way of writing.Moral of the story: sometimes you have to challenge yourself ;)
Post by: PhoenixxFire on October 20, 2019, 08:27:19 pm
Post by: literally lauren on October 20, 2019, 09:07:02 pm
This is going to be amazingly helpful!! In your opinion, what is the single most important thing you need to do well in English? Can you also give a quick comparison of english, lit and eng lang?At the risk of oversimplifying it, the most important thing you can do for English is
READ!Read widely in general. Read the news. Read online resources. (Read ATAR Notes ;) ) Read past students' essays. Read your peers' essays. Read all the class handouts your teacher gives you. Read all of the recent assessor's reports. Read over your own past essays. Read all the essay feedback you get.
And most importantly, read your set texts. Read them truly, madly, deeply! Once you've read them, read articles and reviews and essays and analyses about them.
Technically, writing is also an important part of this subject, but personally, I found writing essays was just a form of testing what I already knew. They way to EXPAND what I knew was by reading.
However, if you're someone who genuinely does learn by writing, and by putting things into practice, then WRITE!
Write practice pieces for all your assessment tasks and exams. Write practice paragraphs so you can get specific feedback. Write template sentences that you can memorise to conduct high-quality analysis. And get general writing practice by keeping a journal, or better yet, do creative writing and learn how best to express yourself.
To make things more mathematical, English is all about input and output - if you're ever unsure what to write, it means you need more input for your brain, which means you need to read more! If you're ever unsure of how to write something, it means you need more practice doing the outputting, so write some sample paragraphs or mini-analyses to help get you started!
VCE:
The three English options in VCE are as follows; I'll include some general thoughts about each of these, but please let me know if you have any questions!
- English: a.k.a. mainstream English that approximately 50,000 students across the state enrol in. This is most people's default (and at some schools is the only option available :'( ). If I'm brutally honest, I don't think this is a good subject, and I'm hoping they refine some things for the new study design in 2022. But for now, VCE English consists of two main things: Text Response essays, and Analysing Argument essays. Technically you do a wide range of SACs, including creative writing and a persuasive speech, but the bulk of the course boils down to these two things. As such, your enjoyment will probably depend on whether you like analysing news articles, and whether you are assigned texts that you enjoy unpacking. Beyond that, most people make their English subject choices based on how they feel about the other two options, so let's get into those...
Literature: a.k.a. the best one. Period. (...sorry, I'll try and be unbiased :'( ) Literature is for the lit nerds. It rewards close analysis skills, and every aspect of the course comes down to how well you can explain how language creates meaning. In short, only pick Literature if you enjoy studying texts, since that's 100% of what Literature is. You don't get a break to analyse a persuasive news article, or construct your own argument about a contemporary issue for an oral presentation. Literature is all about the books, which, if you like books, is great!
Beyond that, Lit is considered somewhat harder than mainstream English, and the standards are certainly higher, since you're in a cohort with more
lit people (sorry). But for real, over half of the students doing English won't be putting in much effort - they're only doing it because it's compulsory, whereas Lit students have usually chosen the subject for a reason. Overall, Lit was the one I found most enjoyable, and Literature skills can help you out in English, but there isn't much cross-over between your three options anyway.- EngLang: a.k.a. the forgotten third child :'( EngLang is the rarest of the bunch, and seems to be offered in fewer and fewer schools nowadays (they're apparently no longer offering it through Distance Ed either!?) But in essence, EngLang is the "science-y English," and it's a shame it's not more popular because of it. You can do a similarly 'close' analysis of language as you would in Lit, but here it's about the construction and reception of language. For instance, you might analyse a political interview and discuss how a politician's use of euphemisms are constructed in order to obscure the unappealing elements of a policy proposal, or you could examine a transcript of a conversation between friends and talk about how one of them is trying to ingratiate themselves with the other after they've had a fight, so they're carefully wording very polite and deferential message that they hope will be received well. Technically, English Language should just be called 'Social Linguistics,' since that's what it is! As such, researching 'linguistics' will give you a good sense of what to expect from this subject.
In short, English is about authorial intent, Englang is about the contextual reception of language, and Literature is about books books and more books
For all you Queensland students...
QCE:
General English: this is the 'mainstream' subject that most students will 'choose' by default, since doing an English subject is compulsory, though it does not have to count towards your ATAR ;D (Trust me, this is cause for celebration - every other state in the country makes English count in the ATAR, so you're pretty luck by comparison!)
General English is a bit of a hodge-podge mix of tasks, but can be summarised as having four key components:
1. Writing an expository piece comparing two texts
2. Delivering a persuasive speech
3. Composing a creative piece
4. Analysing a text in the exam
Each of these contributes 25% of your mark, so you need to make sure you hone each of these skillsets for each assessment task.
(For a more detailed overview of these, you can download the October headstart lecture slides here!) ;)
- Literature: this is like the English exam but on steroids! Literally, your first assessment task in Literature is basically the end-of-year English exam, and it only ramps up from there! As in other states, I would anticipate that Literature would appeal to the more
lit people (sorry) - as in, those who have deliberately chosen the subject because they like books, or they know English is their strong suit. Personally, I think the QCE Lit course is one of the best in the country! Unlike mainstream English, things aren't split four ways; instead, you basically only have two key skills to worry about:1. Imaginative writing
2. Analytical writing
Everything will revolve around those two basic tenets,
(Lit resources will be coming soon, I promise!)
- English and Literature Extension: so if Literature is like English on steroids, Extension is like Literature on steroids (or English on double steroids).
Basically...
(https://i.imgur.com/d8bQjdh.png)
This subject is basically university-level Literature. You make "defensive readings" of texts just like tertiary academics do, and you conduct thorough research in order to write literary analysis papers that are akin to post-graduate theses. It's intense, and I'm super jealous I wasn't able to study this in Year 12! This is sure to be incredibly rewarding to anyone who wants to pursue further study in Arts at uni, and I hope the end of year scaling will reward the effort that this subject seems to be demanding.
I'll also try and put together some guides for those of you brave enough to have taken on this subject!
(Please don't be scared, it legit seems like a lot of fun!! And I'm not just saying that as an English nerd!!)
Post by: whys on October 20, 2019, 09:07:51 pm
Also, what's your favourite animal?
Thank you ;D
Post by: caffinatedloz on October 20, 2019, 09:12:30 pm
//This is absolutely amazing advice Lauren! Thank you so, so much for taking the time to answer our questions. It's such a shame our school doesn't offer English language- as I would totally choose that. At the minute I've chosen literature mainly because I have a deep hatred of argument analysis (and a love of reading).
I wish that there was an english subject that centred around speech writing and giving orals- It would mean that my years of debating could actuall go towards my classroom work- and I love to talk so that would be a bonus!!
As for the advice about reading: thank you! I loved the way you simplified it to input/output. This will be very helpful in the future and I'm sure I will be returning to reread this time and time again.
Post by: literally lauren on October 20, 2019, 09:20:07 pm
Hey Lauren, what is the meaning of life?Easy.
Real answer
The meaning of life is to act in such a way that, were everyone to act the way you did, the world would be a better place. Our purpose is not to fix everything that we could possibly fix, or to do as much good as humanly possible, because we'd go insane trying to accomplish something so absolute. Rather, we should abide by the 'campsite rule' - i.e. after you've camped somewhere, clean up the rubbish, and "leave everything in a better state than you found it."
REALLY REAL answer
The meaning of life is puppies.
(https://i.imgur.com/bhRRGm9.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/bhRRGm9.jpg)
Post by: literally lauren on October 20, 2019, 09:35:02 pm
Hi! As someone who doesn't do lit, what do you suggest are the best English exercises/methods of practice/skills needed to reach that 10/10 essay in mainstream English?Hey, no stress, you definitely don't need Lit to do well in English. The best thing I could recommend would be to do what I called perfection drills ;D - might sound weird, but I promise it works. All you need to do is write a practice paragraph. Then get feedback (ideally from a good English teacher, or someone here on AN if needed!) Then re-write your paragraph using that feedback. Then get more feedback. Repeat until your writing is a 10/10 standard.
This of course doesn't guarantee that the next piece of writing you do will be perfect the first time, but it will show you that you're capable of writing a 10/10 standard, and even more importantly, it shows you what a 10/10 looks like for you!
There are a hundred different ways to score 10/10 on the exam, so there's no magic bullet that would guarantee a perfect score, but by workshopping an essay or paragraph, you can be assured that you will have put yourself in the best possible position to replicate everything that makes your writing good for next time!
Also, what's your favourite animal?OMG PUPPIES!!!
(for those who don't know, I volunteer with Guide Dogs and they are delightful)
(https://i.imgur.com/XML6zMf.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/5uaGjoH.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/7j2slSf.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/5uaGjoH.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/7j2slSf.jpg)
Post by: literally lauren on October 20, 2019, 09:39:15 pm
This is absolutely amazing advice Lauren! Thank you so, so much for taking the time to answer our questions. It's such a shame our school doesn't offer English language- as I would totally choose that. At the minute I've chosen literature mainly because I have a deep hatred of argument analysis (and a love of reading).You are very welcome! Sucks that EngLang isn't an option for you :'( but I hope you enjoy Literature! I'm sure the creative and heavy text-focused elements of that subject will be fun for you, and I believe most schools get you to do one oral presentation each year (for Units 1&2 and 3&4). Other than that, maybe you could continue debating into VCE and have a fun extra-curricular to break up the studying!
I wish that there was an english subject that centred around speech writing and giving orals- It would mean that my years of debating could actuall go towards my classroom work- and I love to talk so that would be a bonus!!
As for the advice about reading: thank you! I loved the way you simplified it to input/output. This will be very helpful in the future and I'm sure I will be returning to reread this time and time again.
Post by: whys on October 20, 2019, 09:42:03 pm
Aaaand a follow up question, if you don't mind: do you have a puppy/dog of your own?
Post by: sweetiepi on October 20, 2019, 09:43:16 pm
Post by: caffinatedloz on October 20, 2019, 09:46:45 pm
You are very welcome! Sucks that EngLang isn't an option for you :'( but I hope you enjoy Literature! I'm sure the creative and heavy text-focused elements of that subject will be fun for you, and I believe most schools get you to do one oral presentation each year (for Units 1&2 and 3&4). Other than that, maybe you could continue debating into VCE and have a fun extra-curricular to break up the studying!110% going to continue next year! Unfortunately my team got knocked out of finals only two rounds in this year, so my season is over. But I'm coaching 28 year sevens who've never debated before (along with another year ten) so I'm still getting my fix atm. I think our school recently added in an oral presentation for literature (they used not to have one) so I'm very glad about that!
Post by: Calebark on October 20, 2019, 10:14:28 pm
If I was to say wood, village, and rug, would you be able to do this again for a random topic or text?
Post by: cherryblossoms on October 20, 2019, 10:47:00 pm
Post by: QCAAMemes on October 21, 2019, 03:11:13 pm
Edit: IA2* not IA3
Post by: literally lauren on October 21, 2019, 03:51:15 pm
Thank you!One day... a girl can dream :'(
Aaaand a follow up question, if you don't mind: do you have a puppy/dog of your own?
Now that we know your favourite books, what are the books that you hate the most? :POoooooooooooooohhh boy. Okay I'm going to limit myself to one, and it's actually a book I had to "study" at school...
(https://i.imgur.com/l88PxbR.png)
This sorry excuse for a book is about a boy who gets a bit sad because his brother goes drunk driving and kills someone (or nearly kills someone, I don't remember) but it's okay because footy and a hot girl make him feel better. *heavy eye roll*
To save everyone the trouble of reading it, it's about a small village that's "torn apart by tragedy" ::) because some idiot gets drunk and smashes into another car, killing someone innocent before he then hits a hardwood tree that safely stops him so he walks away unscathed. But we don't follow the potentially interesting plotline of a young man coming to terms with the harrowing consequences of his recklessness - we follow his milquetoast brother who has no personality beyond footy and moody scowling.
It's also a book that features my LEAST FAVOURITE TROPE EVER, which is the "that girl is so hot, I've never spoken to her, but I'm in love with her, but she's so perfect, except she's DAMAGED, and if only she could see that what's missing from her life is me, a mediocre idiot boy." ::) And at the end of the book, this main character (whose name I genuinely couldn't recall even though his name is in the fkin title) is rewarded for overcoming his trauma* (!?) by winning his footy game and getting to have sex with the hot girl on a rock.
* As far as I could tell, his trauma was that he had a sook and threw up on a rug one time.
I bear no ill will against the author, but I have no earthly clue why it was put on our Year 10 reading list. Actually, I kinda do - I think they chose it to get the male students interested in English, and I was thoroughly offended on behalf of every male in my class because this seemed like an utterly, despicably condescending way to be like "yo boys, sometimes books are about footy and sex, how cool is that??" I hated it and it was awful and I have probably suppressed a bunch of other awful details that I don't want to be reminded of. If anyone has any questions, I won't be answering them kthxbai
1732 days ago I attended an English lecture where the lecturer asked the audience to provide a few random words. At the end of the lecture, she wrote a small paragraph on a topic, which had incorporated all of these words.See above ;)
If I was to say wood, village, and rug, would you be able to do this again for a random topic or text?
also omg it's been 1733 days since the first ever ATAR Notes lecture??
though I have no idea what freak of a lecturer you're talking about 8)
Post by: literally lauren on October 21, 2019, 04:08:45 pm
Could you give some tips on how to write a comparative argument analysis essay, where we have to compare two articles instead of one?Here is a link to something I wrote for the old syllabus (though Argument Analysis has barely changed from its previous incarnation as Language Analysis). The section on body paragraphs might help give you a structure to use to efficiently compare.
But since the exam is coming up soon, rather than make any changes to your style, here are my three main tips:
1. Don't stress about comparing. You don't have to "compare two articles," you'll just have to analyse two articles. So you should concentrate on your analytical skills, and don't worry about any comparative analysis for Section C. All you need to do is LINK from one piece to the next using...
2. Comparative language! Rather than actually comparing, you can just use a simple word or phrase like 'On the other hand, Author 2 instead critiques...' or 'Similarly, Author 2 also suggests that... That's all you need! Use this language any time you need to move from one piece to another, and then let your analysis do the talking!
3. Note that there might also be more than two articles! You could get three. Or you could get one speech with four comments from the audience. Or you could get six different blog posts and no main piece. Or the examiners might be nice and just give you one main piece ;) No matter what you get dealt, you should be focusing on how language is being used to create a persuasive argument, so don't let the material throw you off!
If there's anything about a potential comparative task that's worrying you, just let me know and I'd be happy to go into more detail!
Post by: literally lauren on October 21, 2019, 05:00:59 pm
Hi, what advice do you have for excelling in literature? I feel like a lot of it (especially the imaginative story IA3) comes down to the teachers personal writing preference, and because of this my marks tend to fluctuate as I never seem to nail it. Also, do you have any tips for writing a good thesis for the IA2?I'm so excited that Lit seems to be a popular subject in Queensland! I'll do guides for all the IAs asap, but for now...
Edit: IA2* not IA3
My Lit teacher used to joke that they assigned the end-of-year exam essay marks by throwing all the essays down the stairs and giving the best marks to the ones that landed closest to their cat.
I don't think they actually did this, but he made a fair point about the subjectivity of the course. Real talk: 75% of your mark is down to your teacher, so if you get on your teacher's bad side, you'll be fighting an uphill battle. And another 25% of your mark will come from assessors who have never met you, and don't know anything about how much effort you've put into your work.
But you can also use this to your advantage, since every assessor in the state, including your teacher, HAS to use the same marking criteria... e.g. for the creative piece:
(https://i.imgur.com/QI4ilnY.png)
This can kind of be your checklist when crafting and editing your piece - so long as you have done a decent job in meeting each of these criteria, you'll be in a good spot to earn a decent mark.
But to really ensure a good mark, you should work with your teacher, not against them! Don't try and think of it as battling against your teacher's bizarre preferences (even if that's what it feels like!) - think of it as learning what your teacher's preferences are and how best to cater to them.
For example, if your teacher keeps dropping hints in class that beginning your creative piece 'in media res' (='in the middle of things,' i.e. opening your story in the midst of the plot unfolding, rather than with a conventional narrative orientation), then guess how you should begin your creative piece!? Your teacher might not be objectively right that this is a good way to open all stories, but they're recommending it for a reason, so you should take their advice on board. If they're less direct about their preferences, then you might need to put more effort into getting feedback from them. Try to make time after class or in any spare periods you have to sit down with them and go over your work to work out why your marks might be fluctuating.
Most of my friends in Year 12 had the same problem - and they'd be bouncing from a C+ to an A+ without understanding why. It feels great when you're bouncing upwards! But when their marks plummeted from an A to a D, they'd feel awful. It wasn't until a few months before the exam that we went through all of their essays and worked out where, precisely, they were losing marks that they could consistently score highly. So it's hard for me to say why your marks might be a bit up and down, but hopefully this is something I can help with throughout the year if you've got some sample paragraphs or creative pieces!
As for the specific IAs, I'll be sure to put out an article with creative tips soon! The best one I have for now is to SHOW DON'T TELL! Never write something like "She was upset with her mother" - that's telling us information. Instead, show us this by writing something more descriptive like "She turned her head, her skin prickling as she forced herself not to make eye contact with her mother." Suddenly we have a much more interesting sentence that's subtly revealing information about this character and her relationship dynamics!
A good tip for this is to use the five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. Rather than telling us a character is upset, think about what 'upset' looks like, sounds like, feels like... or tastes/smells like... (the last two can be a little weird, but sometimes they work! e.g. "The last time she spoke to her mother, she had a bitter taste in her mouth for hours, and the stench of parental guilt seeped into her furniture and didn't leave for weeks" :P )
Finally, regarding coming up with a good thesis, is this in relation to the creative (IA2)? Or for the analytical essays? Assuming you mean the creative, in general, the best thing you can do is expand upon and complexify the author's thesis. So take the thesis from the set text you're doing for that unit and then add a new dimension to it in your story. This would ensure you still have adequate connections to your source material, but are effectively augmenting it (and aren't just retelling part of the narrative, or reiterating the same points that the author is making).*
*The syllabus only talks about a thesis in relation to the analytical essays, but I could totally understand why your teacher might use this term for the creative as well - could you let me know what you mean here? Sorry, I'm just not sure what each school is doing, haha!
Also, to turn this AMA back around - how are you finding Literature so far?? I'd love to hear what you've thought of the Units 1&2 course ;D
Post by: Snow Leopard on October 21, 2019, 05:21:36 pm
VCE:Even though Views and Values essays seem like regular English Text Response pieces (i.e. you usually respond to a prompt that's about some thematic ideas in the text), you should still maintain a focus on LANGUAGE! Try to do some 'close analysis' and unpack key literary devices and quotes, since this is the foundation your teacher will be looking for!Thanks Lauren, that really helped!
...
I hope this helps, but please let me know if you have any follow-ups. I know schools can do all sorts of crazy things in Year 10 English and Lit, so please tell me if any of this doesn't make sense! :)
I also wanted to ask for the Views and Values essay (written under test conditions), we're allowed a quote sheet.
1. How do you distinguish/extract good quotes from the novel and literary criticism?
2. How many quotes should I use per paragraph?
Post by: QCAAMemes on October 21, 2019, 08:05:02 pm
QCE:I'm so excited that Lit seems to be a popular subject in Queensland! I'll do guides for all the IAs asap, but for now...
My Lit teacher used to joke that they assigned the end-of-year exam essay marks by throwing all the essays down the stairs and giving the best marks to the ones that landed closest to their cat.
I don't think they actually did this, but he made a fair point about the subjectivity of the course. Real talk: 75% of your mark is down to your teacher, so if you get on your teacher's bad side, you'll be fighting an uphill battle. And another 25% of your mark will come from assessors who have never met you, and don't know anything about how much effort you've put into your work.
But you can also use this to your advantage, since every assessor in the state, including your teacher, HAS to use the same marking criteria... e.g. for the creative piece:(https://i.imgur.com/QI4ilnY.png)
This can kind of be your checklist when crafting and editing your piece - so long as you have done a decent job in meeting each of these criteria, you'll be in a good spot to earn a decent mark.
But to really ensure a good mark, you should work with your teacher, not against them! Don't try and think of it as battling against your teacher's bizarre preferences (even if that's what it feels like!) - think of it as learning what your teacher's preferences are and how best to cater to them.
For example, if your teacher keeps dropping hints in class that beginning your creative piece 'in media res' (='in the middle of things,' i.e. opening your story in the midst of the plot unfolding, rather than with a conventional narrative orientation), then guess how you should begin your creative piece!? Your teacher might not be objectively right that this is a good way to open all stories, but they're recommending it for a reason, so you should take their advice on board. If they're less direct about their preferences, then you might need to put more effort into getting feedback from them. Try to make time after class or in any spare periods you have to sit down with them and go over your work to work out why your marks might be fluctuating.
Most of my friends in Year 12 had the same problem - and they'd be bouncing from a C+ to an A+ without understanding why. It feels great when you're bouncing upwards! But when their marks plummeted from an A to a D, they'd feel awful. It wasn't until a few months before the exam that we went through all of their essays and worked out where, precisely, they were losing marks that they could consistently score highly. So it's hard for me to say why your marks might be a bit up and down, but hopefully this is something I can help with throughout the year if you've got some sample paragraphs or creative pieces!
As for the specific IAs, I'll be sure to put out an article with creative tips soon! The best one I have for now is to SHOW DON'T TELL! Never write something like "She was upset with her mother" - that's telling us information. Instead, show us this by writing something more descriptive like "She turned her head, her skin prickling as she forced herself not to make eye contact with her mother." Suddenly we have a much more interesting sentence that's subtly revealing information about this character and her relationship dynamics!
A good tip for this is to use the five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. Rather than telling us a character is upset, think about what 'upset' looks like, sounds like, feels like... or tastes/smells like... (the last two can be a little weird, but sometimes they work! e.g. "The last time she spoke to her mother, she had a bitter taste in her mouth for hours, and the stench of parental guilt seeped into her furniture and didn't leave for weeks" :P )
Finally, regarding coming up with a good thesis, is this in relation to the creative (IA2)? Or for the analytical essays? Assuming you mean the creative, in general, the best thing you can do is expand upon and complexify the author's thesis. So take the thesis from the set text you're doing for that unit and then add a new dimension to it in your story. This would ensure you still have adequate connections to your source material, but are effectively augmenting it (and aren't just retelling part of the narrative, or reiterating the same points that the author is making).*
*The syllabus only talks about a thesis in relation to the analytical essays, but I could totally understand why your teacher might use this term for the creative as well - could you let me know what you mean here? Sorry, I'm just not sure what each school is doing, haha!
Also, to turn this AMA back around - how are you finding Literature so far?? I'd love to hear what you've thought of the Units 1&2 course ;D
Very helpful, thank you very much! Apologies for the incorrect use of the IA#, I thought that it was the same for everyone in grade 11 this year haha. For my school, IA1 was a multimodal presentation about filling in gaps and silences, IA2 was an analytical essay response to a question and IA3 was an imaginative piece of the chosen genre (gothic).
I think I speak for myself and most people I know when I say Literature is a great subject. It is entertaining, challenging yet somewhat relaxing. However, an inevitable problem is that of which I have described - it becomes difficult to achieve highly when the marking can be so sporadic. I find the ISMG for literature especially very difficult to dissect and it is super subjective. I wouldn't say no to listening to your take on it, however, as it appears to be almost the same ISMG for every assessment piece!
Thank you again for answering!
Post by: literally lauren on October 26, 2019, 12:57:16 pm
Thanks Lauren, that really helped!Ooh, okay, so your standard for a "good" quote from the novel should just be something you can analyse. Anything you can use as the foundation for an interesting idea or interpretation is valid. And I'd highly recommend finding a wide variety of different quotes from across the text - both chronologically (i.e. from each chapter or scene) and in terms of the characters/themes they relate to. I'm also a big fan of picking some 'left-of-field' quotes that might not be the most obvious kinds of textual evidence, but nevertheless offer you a 'way in' to the text.
I also wanted to ask for the Views and Values essay (written under test conditions), we're allowed a quote sheet.
1. How do you distinguish/extract good quotes from the novel and literary criticism?
2. How many quotes should I use per paragraph?
As for getting "good" quotes from literary criticism, look for something that is articulated in the best possible way. Basically, you want to find quotes that are so perfectly expressive and succinct that there's no point in paraphrasing them, because the critic has just distilled the essence of an idea impeccably. (If something's not worded as good as it could be, then there's no point quoting it - you should just put this into your own words or use this as a springboard for your own, better idea!) Hope this helps!
Re: "how many quotes per para" - obvs depends on paragraph length, but I would aim for:
- minimum of 3 CLOSELY ANALYSED quotes
- minimum of 3 other BLENDED quotes
So you should have three moments of really close analysis where you are unpacking a language feature and using metalanguage to comment on how meaning is created, but also at least three other moments were you are just integrating language in the text to talk about ideas, or perhaps quotes from other sources like literary critics.
You're not going to get a straight up 0/10 for only including 5 quotes instead of 6, but this would just be my recommended threshold for ensuring you're doing enough analysis! Hope this helps! :)
Post by: literally lauren on October 26, 2019, 01:41:24 pm
Very helpful, thank you very much! Apologies for the incorrect use of the IA#, I thought that it was the same for everyone in grade 11 this year haha. For my school, IA1 was a multimodal presentation about filling in gaps and silences, IA2 was an analytical essay response to a question and IA3 was an imaginative piece of the chosen genre (gothic).No worries at all - the IAs for Year 11 are a little more fluid, but it sounds like your school gave you some great tasks to prepare you for Units 3&4!
I think I speak for myself and most people I know when I say Literature is a great subject. It is entertaining, challenging yet somewhat relaxing. However, an inevitable problem is that of which I have described - it becomes difficult to achieve highly when the marking can be so sporadic. I find the ISMG for literature especially very difficult to dissect and it is super subjective. I wouldn't say no to listening to your take on it, however, as it appears to be almost the same ISMG for every assessment piece!
Thank you again for answering!
As for the ISMGs, you're totally right in that lots of the details are the same across the board (...though on the plus side, that's because there are lots of transferrable skills in Literature!) To translate the example from above from Teacher Jargon into Actual Human English Words:
(https://i.imgur.com/QI4ilnY.png)
1. This is a catch-all for the task as a whole, and refers to how you use language to write a believable creative piece that is based on your prescribed text. To do this, you'll need to deconstruct the text and then make decisions about how and why you are going to link things. It's not enough to just write a piece that "explores a character's perspective in more detail" or "changes the setting for a contemporary audience." You have to think about things on all four levels of the text...(https://i.imgur.com/3TtGeKO.png)
For example: link to structural features by mirroring the imagery and foreshadowing in the set text, but use it to create a more ominous effect; link to characters by taking foregrounding a secondary character and giving the audience a more robust view of their perspective; link to themes by taking a key idea from the set text like 'the naivety of youth' and subverting it by showing that sometimes young people can actually be quite wise and enlightened in spite of their lack of experience; and link to V&V (Views and Values) by considering the author's core message (=views) and what their text conveys as important (=values), and either reaffirm or challenge this yourself.2. This is about constructing a valid and consistent persona - for instance, if you are someone reading aloud a letter to a dying relative, you should communicate suitably solemn emotions, and hence evoke the intended response from your audience of sympathy and sorrow.
3. Does your piece have a clear sense of themes, characters, and settings, all communicated through your creative writing? If yes = ✓ :D
4. This means you have to do something to CHALLENGE the set text so that, if a reader read the original and then your piece, they would know that yours came second because it was building off of the original in some way. This is usually easier to do when you have an older text (e.g. set in the 1920s) which you can "modernise" and perhaps highlight how various cultural norms have changed. However, you could also achieve this by changing something about the original, and thus creating meaning by subsequently changing the themes and messages (e.g. King Lear but the genders are reversed; The Quiet American but set in Russia instead of Vietnam; Heart of Darkness but from the perspective of the mistress, etc.)
5. Similar to points 8/9, this is about your use of language features, but here we're specifically talking about the emotional and critical responses you elicit. In other words, your piece should be ~evocative~ and leave your reader thinking about things, or feeling a certain way. (I know this sounds really abstract, but it's basically just about how much thought you put into crafting the piece.)
6./7. This is about the logical sequencing (i.e. progression of your ideas), and the balance of points across your piece. If it feels 'top heavy,' or as though you'd run out of time by the end and just rushed the conclusion, you might lose marks here.
8./9. Key word here is choice - everything you do should be deliberate, so you'd need to think about the register (i.e. formality) of your writing, your use of any symbols/metaphors/imagery etc. and even the nature of the words you choose (i.e. why did you describe the main character as 'anxious' as opposed to 'highly-strung'?)
10. Is your piece grammatical? If yes = ✓ :D
11. This just means you have delivered your piece in an appropriate way, making use of oral presentation or multi-modal techniques (like vocal inflection, facial expressions, and body language).
Since this is the first year this is being implemented, I wouldn't be surprised if this was subsequently refined to be a bit more specific. And although this is more of a resource to help teachers understand how to give you marks (as opposed to something super useful for students on the surface), a basic grasp of the marking scheme can help you understand the perspective of assessors, and then just write to cater to them!
Hope this makes a little more sense - please let me know if you have any requests for Lit guides or resources you'd find helpful :)
Post by: lastapasta on October 26, 2019, 02:17:41 pm
do you have any suggestions on what can be done to prepare for unit 1/2 mainstream english? i want to have consistent progress throughout next year, and hopefully improve my writing skills by a lot. what can i do to ensure i am doing this?
thank you!
Post by: JR_StudyEd on October 26, 2019, 03:46:55 pm
Unlike a good majority of students on this forum, I would consider myself to be a mediocre, run-of-the-mill student in every single one of my Year 12 subjects. Back in Year 12, would you have considered yourself to be a pretty average student?
I haven't really had a particularly outstanding year in terms of results, and in some subjects, I've flopped and broken down many times. But I don't even need a 90+ ATAR. Did you even need an ATAR that high for your course? Or did you just love learning and studying so much that you just went for it anyway? Because unfortunately I've lost the drive to do anything related to studying. :'(
I am essentially in a period of swotvac (is that what uni students call it? lol), and it sucks. The numerous uncompleted and unattempted practice exams that lie on my desk are becoming more and more intimidating as the days pass.
For English (VCE), is there much more I can do between now and Wednesday, other than getting a load of prompts for Section A and B, planning three body paragraphs and getting some good quotes? It's kind of getting tedious and unremarkable. And timed practice exams. Yeah let's not talk about those. I'm in a cycle of, 'I should probably get started' and 'Stuff this', you get me?