Hey everyone!Hey there,
First day of year 11 and I've gotten some English homework due tomorrow (yay :(). The teacher has also given us a little preview to our assignment. It will be an essay for a public audience and it is on The Crucible. She told us that we should read it 3 times - first for fun, second to search for critical points and third for further insight. I'm used to just reading books once and I feel I need a second opinion on how to go about analysing the book. Is there any best way to fully understand everything in a book? Also, does anyone know where I can find some good resources for the book to help understand it(summaries, contextual information, anything really)? :)
Thank you all in advance! :D
Hey there,
Personally, I feel like three times is a bit too much. I usually completely read my texts once while annotating it, just to catch some basic techniques (e.g. metaphors, similes etc.)- there are some texts I've read completely more than once because I've read it for fun prior to studying it. After I've completely read the text, I usually flip to specific pages to find quotes and read around the quotes just for some plot context. The best way to approach any prescribed text is to do some research on the text: personal, social and historical context. This can help you understand any allusions or even help you understand the authorial intent. I do like to emphasise that sometimes it takes a while for you to completely understand a text. For example, it didn't take me long to understand The Tempest, but it took me right before my HSC exams to understand Yeats' poetry.
As for finding contextual information on The Crucible, you're in luck because Arthur Miller's context and his purpose is quite easy to find! I would suggest reading the article Why I Wrote The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller himself. Not only does it give you an insight of his authorial intent, it also gives you an idea on his context, specifically the McCarthy regime. It would be a good idea to do some reading on McCarthyism and the Red Scare so you can understand The Crucible.
Hope this helps!
Some tips for the ending (building off of the comment above about coming up with a 'message' or overall intention for your piece):
A shriek interrupts my serene exploration of a remote island. “Samuel, the boat!” shouts Oliver. Spinning around, I squint and, with acquiesce, this word doesn't really work in this context - 'acquiesce' is great for describing when someone 'gives in' to another person's demands (e.g. my mother kept yelling at me to do my homework, so finally, at 1 a.m., I acquiesced! A better word in this context would be 'reluctance,' or, if you wanted to go for an even more creative metaphor, you could rewrite this part of the sentence to 'I squint to get a better view, but soon wish I hadn't'... or something equally ominous and foreshadowing! witness a great misfortune. I start sprinting towards where the boat was I really like your subtlety here! Rather than telling us what happened to the boat, just refering to where it 'was' in the past tense gives this a really eerie uncertainty that creates a lot of intrigue! :) , and see through the tears in my eyes, our boat continuing to drift away. Circumspectly, Oliver jitters, this is also just a little bit clunky, partially because the word 'jitters' is kind of colloquial and almost silly sounding (though still totally fine to use in creative pieces), but the word 'circumspectly' is so formal that it clashes with the rest of the sentence, so I'd recommend changing one of these words to something that 'fits' the overall tone of the sentence. Here, 'jitters' and 'the water police' sound fairly casual/informal, so changing 'circumspectly' would make the most sense! “Should we call the water police?”
“No reception,” I state.
“What are we going to do?”
I mutter to myself, “There’s only one thing we can do.” Oliver glares at me. “Oliver, I wouldn’t put you in that situation,” I tremble. “I’ll do it.” In satisfaction of no one’s predilections to resolve the situation again, 'predilections' is a very formal word that doesn't quite fit here, but more broadly, I think this is a good example of something that you need to SHOW instead of TELL. Basically, rather than having your character tell us 'no one was going to do anything, so I decided to step up' - try to SHOW this decision/revelation through your writing. For example, what would this look like? What kind of facial expressions might your character exhibit? How would his voice sound? What would his body language be? How could you ~reveal~ the idea of reluctantly stepping up to do something no one else will?, SHOW DON'T TELL TIPS: the best way to ensure you do this effectively is to think of the senses! Specifically: sight, sound, smell, touch, taste. In other words, what visual, auditory, or sensory descriptions could you give us that would convey your ideas? This will instantly elevate your writing from 'telling' (e.g. 'the man was furious') to 'showing' in a really literary and sophisticated way (e.g. 'he clenched his jaw until his bones almost burst through his skin, bulging with fury and malicious intent!') I rip off my shirt and stir my toes in the chilling water I will soon be immersed in. I hurriedly advance through the water until my waist is buried just another small word choice thing - I probably wouldn't use the word 'buried' for water - 'submerged' would be a good alternative :) in the saltwater and start swimming. Retaining the panic and stress of possibly being left to ruins this expression probably isn't as suitable here either - maybe something like 'torn to shreds' or 'ripped apart,' or even 'completely devoured' by a shark while swimming as fast as you can, is not exactly an easy task to perform simultaneously. The cloudy day invites shadows that imitate bloodthirsty sharks and moray eels, vociferously searching for living flesh. I look up and notice the boat is still the same distance away – I must swim faster! I think the main issue throughout this piece is that you've used a mix of both highly formal and sophisticated language, as well as more informal thoughts and remarks. Because this is a POV (point of view) narrative, it might make more sense to stick with a consistently informal tone. Basically, the average person wouldn't use the word 'vociferously' when thinking to themselves, so using words like that can sometimes make your piece seem a bit more clunky, or make the character less believable - even though they're great vocab words for essays! As I am looking around, I spot fins patrolling my residence Again, this is a bit too formal for the context - if you were in the ocean and sharks had you surrounded, your first thought probably wouldn't be "hmm, sharks are patrolling my residence," you know? :) See if you can re-work this into something that's more ~atmospheric~ and make us feel what your character is feeling! in the water. Reimbursed with motivation and adrenalin, I voraciously same thing here; could you reword this to better convey fear or panic, rather than using words that seem a lot more measured and well thought-out (since someone being chased by sharks probs wouldn't be at the top of their game, vocab-wise ;) ) tread the water that separates me from the boat. I feel something like soft sandpaper brush up against my feet. Pictures of bull sharks with blood-stained teeth are raised to memory, persuading me to be diligent to survive more writing that's a bit too formal. My energy is rapidly leaving my arms, and I can barely swim fast enough to catch up to the boat. Giving up comes to mind, when suddenly, something makes up my mind also some repetition of phrasing here. I’ve run into something hard that won’t budge.
I look up. The most glorious sight I’ve seen for hours do you actually want to have him swim for HOURS? If so, that'd be a great thing to emphasise in the paragraph above. This is the first indication you have that a lot of time has passed, so it'd be great to capitalise on that throughout your piece and convey a sense of exhaustion and physical effort is right before me. The boat! I lunge myself into it and lay there for ages, catching my breath. After laying here for fifteen minutes, again, just in terms of time, it'd be good to properly focus on this as an element of your piece, rather than TELLING us 'fifteen minutes went by.' A good way to think about this is to approach it from the perspective of an author with a really specific intention - e.g. what overall message do you want to communicate to readers? At the moment, this is a pretty effective snapshot of a creative scene, but you seem to be missing a primary message or driving force behind the narrative, which can make things harder to write for you. Perhaps think about what kinds of feelings or thoughts you want to evoke in the person reading your work? (I know it sounds dumb, since the real 'reason' for the creative piece is usually 'because my teacher told me to,' but pretend you're a fancy author that wants to inspire people by exploring a certain theme!) I get up and look back at the island. The tide has gone up much higher now, and Oliver is standing on the only land available. Turning on the tinny, I look at where I was when I saw the sharks. I speed back to Oliver before there’s no more land and he hops in.
Hi Twisty! Sorry I couldn't get this to you before it was due, but hopefully this is still helpful! :) Some tips for the ending (building off of the comment above about coming up with a 'message' or overall intention for your piece):
- What kind of relationship exists between Oliver and Samuel? Do you want us to view the closeness and trust that exists between them, or do you want to suggest that there is actually some tension/conflict between them. The ending would be a good place to focus on that, so maybe think about what atmosphere there is between them: relief? fear? frustration? affection? guilt? etc.
- How does your main character feel having swum out to get the boat? We don't really get much info about his emotional state at the end, and the final lines are your prime time for SHOWING interesting emotional details. So again, think about sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste - you don't have to use all five at once, obviously, but really focusing in on one or two can add a lot of colour to your writing.
- Perhaps hint at what could come next for these two characters. Have they learned any lessons, or have they changed at all over the course of their adventure? Are they carrying on with a renewed sense of being able to tackle anything, or are they kind of just running away feeling embarrassed about having let their boat get away? Or is there a difference between them - maybe Samuel is still shell-shocked at having had to swim through shark infested waters, while Oliver feels guilty for having made Samuel put himself in danger to get the boat back?
Hope that helps, but please let me know if you have any questions, or if you've got an updated draft that you'd like some more feedback for ;D
if you were in the ocean and sharks had you surrounded, your first thought probably wouldn't be "hmm, sharks are patrolling my residence," you know?This made me laugh! hahaha Good point! I'll keep this in mind.
So... I think I'm going to print the story and your comments - is that okay with you? This is just too good to leave on an old post and forget about it! I don't think I'll get around to another draft but next time I write something for English, I'll post it on AN for editing. :)No worries at all :) And no pressure to edit or post a new version of this, especially if you just wanted a bit of practice with creative writing! Happy to look over anything else you're working on in the future!
Just one question - is it ever suitable to use 'tell' rather than 'show'? Show is definitely better (in most instances at least) but I'm wondering if tell would ever be better.
No worries at all :) And no pressure to edit or post a new version of this, especially if you just wanted a bit of practice with creative writing! Happy to look over anything else you're working on in the future!
And yes, good question... "show don't tell" is typically the golden rule for creative writing, because "good" creative writing is supposed to have subtlety and layered ideas/themes/metaphors. However, if you're writing to inform or persuade, then it wouldn't make sense to just be "showing" things to your audience in a roundabout way - you'd want to TELL them explicitly.
So for speeches, essays, and almost all other writing you do in English (and in life), TELLING and focusing on CLARITY is usually the most important thing. The "showing" element of creative writing does help make you a better communicator overall, but it is a different (and kinda weird) style to get used to!
Also, not every single sentence has to be "showing" every single element of your story (since that'd just be exhausting!) But for important ideas and revelations, it's really impressive to be able to "show" readers what your intentions are.
Another good trick (beyond focusing on the five senses) is to make the internal external, and make the external internal. What this means is:
- Take something internal like a thought or emotion, and explain it to the audience using external descriptions (e.g. write about a character feeling nervous on their first day of school by describing how their eyes dart frantically around the room, and how they stood with their back to a wall and shuffled their feet awkwardly as though they couldn't decide which direction to move in.
- Take something external and explain it by describing internal thoughts/feelings/beliefs. For example, rather than just saying "the weather was super hot," you could say "his mind felt like it had been stuck in a sauna for far too long, and the thin layer of grimy sweat covering his body was starting to make him think that air conditioning might be more valuable than oxygen."
The first option is usually the best, since it's totally fine to write about external things like hot weather, but typically creative pieces get 'clunky' when they try to just TELL us about all of a character's emotions and opinions. So mixing this up with some descriptive imagery can help add colour to your piece! :)
Hey EveryoneHey tfitz! You've come to the right place!
I am having trouble finding any information on the poem I am using for my Unit 2 short story writing exam. The poem is Last Seen 12:10 am by Bruce Dawe, which i have inserted below. I have been trying to do research on the poem for a while now and I just can't find anything. It would be a very big help if anyone is able to give me some information on the poem because my exam is in 2 weeks?
Hey tfitz! You've come to the right place!Thanks Lauren, This has really helped me get a better understanding on the poem. I will update you after my exam, hopefully I get a good grade.
I'm not sure how much your teacher would have gone through already in class, but essentially, this poem is about a woman searching for her missing daughter. I'll go through it roughly line-by-line so you can see which quotes are most important...
What price the doggedness of one loving family / against the ravening dark? This is the central premise of the poem, as Dawe is questioning the consequences of love in a "dark" world. In this case, it is a mother's "dogged" (i.e. persistent, non-stop) love for her missing daughter that keeps her fighting, even though her child has been taken away from her (and is implied to have been killed). Here, you could comment on the unusual animalistic adjective "ravening," which has connotations of hunting and prey, thereby making the "dark[ness]" seem much more sinister, and almost sentient (i.e. can think and act for itself). Ultimately, this helps us empathise with the mother, and is a means by which Dawe explores humanity's duality.
On railway station walls, on hoardings
this mighty mother has contrived
a poster image of her daughter Since, as per the title, the daughter was last seen at 12:10 a.m. the mother has since put up missing posters at train stations and sheds in an effort to find her. If you wanted to do some super close analysis, you could discuss how the assonance and empty-sounding vowels in "walls" and "hoardings" make this action seem somewhat hollow... it is as though no matter how many posters the mother puts up, there is no hope for her daughter. There's also some alliteration that associates "mother" with "might" - from this, we can conclude that Dawe isn't suggesting the mother is foolish to be making this effort; Dawe wants us to sympathise with her and understand the strength of her filial love.
lately torn / from the early morning road where, at that time, the traffic passes This is our first hint at what has happened to the daughter - "torn from the early morning road" suggests she was either hitchhiking or abducted by a passing car. In particular, the word "torn" here is quite evocative, as it conveys a sense of violence and destruction. It's also worth noting the poetic structure and enjambment here, as the full line: "a poster image of her daughter lately torn" continues on to the next, and while we'd usually associate a poster as something that can be "torn," it instead here refers to the daughter herself.
at a rate of ten or twelve per minute / (she has calculated that out, too). It might not seem like it, but the word "too" is actually really meaningful here. The speaker tells us the mother has counted the number of cars passing by the road where her daughter went missing, but the word "too" implies that this is just one of many things she has "calculated" since her daughter's disappearance. Hence, Dawe establishes a sense of desperation in the mother's plight as she attempts to use logic and reason to retrace her daughter's movements.
Plagued by phone pranksters giving false locations, It's quite common for people to give false leads or even make cruel joke phone calls to families of missing people (which is another form of dark, antipathetic human behaviour that contrasts greatly with the "mighty mother").
advised by acquaintances to give up the quest, This also serves as a contrast with the mother - she is "doggedly" determined, but others are telling her to stop trying. The fact that they are only "acquaintances" perhaps intimates that they don't know the mother well enough to understand her strength, or her relationship with her daughter. Furthermore, Dawe characterises the mother's efforts as a "quest," a word connoting epic bravery and, hopefully, a reward at the end.
warned off the roadway by police for accosting motorists \ with a photograph of her daughter (i.e. this mother has been asking drivers if they have seen her daughter, and the police are sick of her causing a fuss. This encourages us to question why the police don't seem to be helping - based on what Dawe has presented, the mother is the only one fighting to find her daughter.
(dragged \ into a car as into Grendel’s cave – shoes, purse \ found elsewhere later), Firstly, the fact that the daughter's belongings were "found elsewhere later" is a vague yet undeniable indication that she met with foul play. Secondly, the word "dragged" here is another example of implied violence towards the daughter. We don't know much about her other than that she was "dragged," "torn," and "last seen at 12:10 a.m." Thirdly, there is an intertextual allusion here to Beowulf, an old poem which features a monster called Grendel who is described as a creature of darkness that devours humanity. I won't go too much in-depth here, but if you do want to analyse this further, a good place to start would be examining the ambiguity of Grendel as a character in the original poem, as literary scholars have debated whether he is a monster, a giant, or some sort of hybrid creature - hence, he represents an unknown, amorphous evil, which Dawe calls upon in this poem to further shroud the daughter's fate in darkness. Therefore, overall, these three lines amplify our sense of fear for the daughter, whilst also rendering us pessimistic about the possibility that she may still be alive.
now her broad anguished face \ sinks out of sight from broadsheet and from tabloid, This line is about how the initial media interest in the missing person's case has sense faded, suggesting that she has been missing for quite a while. This perhaps explains why the police and the mother's acquaintances were discouraging her from continuing her efforts, as they do not share in the mother's hopefulness.
sinks also from the screen that bore her sorrow \ momentarily our way… This is the first instance of a first person pronoun (the collective possessive "our") in this poem. 'We,' the audience, are positioned as members of the public who are "momentarily" shown the daughter's sorrow in a news bulletin. Now though, she has sunk away amidst countless other stories, both uplifting and tragic, as the newspaper sheets and TV screens ebb and flow with the passage of time.
A police spokesman says, ‘At night / The city streets are full of predators.’ Again, this is obviously a very sinister intimation of the daughter's fate... but just when you think the poem is about to end on a total downer...
We know… But we know love \ - and that’s implacable too. This resounding final line lets us share in the mother's optimism. The word "implacable" refers to something that is unstoppable, uncompromising, and cannot be sated. Hence, Dawe parallels two powerfully unstoppable forces: the sinister, evil predation of someone who would abduct a young girl from the street, and the unconditional love of a mother who refuses to give up the fight.
Hope that helps you get started! If you need more unpacking of a particular theme, or help putting this into an essay, let us know!
Best of luck for your exam!! ;D
Hey guys,Hi Mikster!
I am in Unit 2 and am in year 11. I am struggling to find an answer to the homework that I was set a while ago. In Unit 2 General English, we are studying the novel 'The Secret River', by Kate Grenville. I am having a lot of trouble understanding the concepts of the language features used in the first part of the book, London. The question for my homework is 'How does Kate Grenville use language to keep the emotional events at a distance in the London section of this text'. If someone is able to get back to me ASAP that would be amazing.
Thanks guys.
Hi,
I have my first year 12 piece this term. It is a persuasive speech. I am struggling to choose my topic and i have done a lot of research. my teacher said to pick a contentious topic/debate that has been gripping to australian consciousness over the past year. I want to do something and choose a side that has depth to the arguments and will be highly engaging and strong persuasive arguments.
Any ideas on what topic I can choose?
Thanks! :)
Hey Guy,
I recently attended the QCE ATAR Notes Lectures at QUT and found it really fun.
I was wondering if you guys were gonna make more of those extra text specific guides (eg Macbeth, Frankenstein etc).
My school is currently doing 'The Great Gatsby' and I know at least two more schools which will be doing the text for the Unit 3 assessment.
Cheers,
Hello,Welcome to the forums :)
just wondering if atar notes could provide resources on Macbeth.
As on the leaflet of Edunlimited there is a guide resource on Macbeth, i sign up for it but the book is not present.
Just wondering when will the book be out.
Also for the resource of QCE physics as well.
it will be extremely helpful.
thanks.
Hello,Hey there, we will absolutely have the Macbeth Text Guide out in the next couple of weeks! The QCE Physics Notes are also coming soon, and should be out by the end of the year. We'll also make these available on EdUnlimited asap! :)
just wondering if atar notes could provide resources on Macbeth.
As on the leaflet of Edunlimited there is a guide resource on Macbeth, i sign up for it but the book is not present.
Just wondering when will the book be out.
Also for the resource of QCE physics as well.
it will be extremely helpful.
thanks.
Hi e_graceThese are really awesome suggestions - thank you tinglewood! :D
Glad I am not doing this topic until next year. Sadly, I have to read the great Gatsby :(
I read some interesting articles the other day on nuclear power in Australia might be interesting
https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/nuclear-power-doesnt-stack-up-says-the-australia-institute/news-story/c1c707ceff532e85de7fa5cd2f3ffb38
Another topic could be mandatory vaccinations. I did mine this year on mandatory detention and found lots of valuable information.
I hope this helps.
Hi everyone!Hi Emily!
Last week I go my english assignment which poses the task to write a digital essay analysing the representation of the American Dream across both Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and the documentary Park Avenue, Money, Power and the American Dream. We have to pick one concept to focus our analysis on and I am trying to decide between class and power. I was wondering if anyone could offer any advice on or tips on two concepts to help me come to a decision.
Thanks!
Hi Jasmine!
I would be more than happy to help. I'll put your paper into a Word Document, and then I'll annotate your paper by giving you advice and comments about your concept. Hopefully that helps :)
Kind Regards,
Darcy Dillon
Hi, I'm currently attempting to write a creative piece relating to Australian identity with probably a focus on a feminist perspective. However, any idea I have seems too simple/surface level and was wondering if anyone has tips on how to avoid this without making it too ?philosophical? so there is a clear narrative structure.
Thanks!
Has anyone started looking into the Themes of Macbeth. I was wondering if there were any opinions on how Shakespear decided to represent women in this play, and how he decided to imply Macbeth's corruption. Can any one give some insight?
Has anyone started looking into the Themes of Macbeth. I was wondering if there were any opinions on how Shakespear decided to represent women in this play, and how he decided to imply Macbeth's corruption. Can any one give some insight?
Hi there!
I'm asking for my benefit, but it might pose as a silly question.
Nevertheless, unlike mainly maths and science subjects were Units 1 & 2 knowledge is assumed, incorporated and relevant to the external exam. Are Units 1 & 2 from English relevant to the External Examination? Because I barely remember anything about what we studied eeeh! Would it be valuable to review Unit 1 & 2 stuff for English externals?
Thank you for your replies :)
Hi everyone
I have my external exam for English coming up and I have a question regarding my exam.
Of course we are all familiar with the basic essay structure
Introduction
Body
Conclusion
The body contains your 3/4 main points/arguments to prove my thesis on the topic/novel etc
I’ve been thinking, to truly prove my point and to assist my thesis, would it be a good idea to write a little counterargument that goes against my own thesis and then proving it wrong? My essay would look something like this:
Introduction
Argument 1
Argument 2
Argument 3
Counter-argument followed by me proving it wrong or discrediting the argument using evidence.
Conclusion
I know this is something you may do for an essay for legal studies or history, but I think that it could really help bring my points across and it could also show the examiner that I have a deeper understanding of the novel, if that makes sense.
So basically, this is my question,
Would it be ok/better to write an argument that goes against my own thesis in an analytical essay if I discredit it and prove it wrong?
The book the exam is on is Burial Rites by the way :)
Hi, I'm starting Unit 3 and we have to do a persuasive speech for the UN Youth Delegates on an issue from 2020. I have chosen to do FGM. Any specific tips or general advice?Hi Josephine! :)
Hi, I was wondering what kind of techniques I could use in my persuasive speech so it's not just informative?
thank you!
Hey,
If you haven't already, I would recommend you look into why the Crucible was written by Miller (it was very intentionally written as an allegory for real world events). When they're asking you about connecting literary and non-literary texts, that's referring to the Crucible (literary) and the Four Corners episode (non-literary). One way you can break down power in terms of brainstorming is looking at the different characters and asking yourself what power they have (& why) and how do they use it (& why). Consider what Miller was trying to say about how power functions in society.
I hope this helps :)
Thanks for the help that makes it clear.
Since you are an admin I just wanted to ask is it allowed for me to post a draft for feedback thanks a lot.
Hey Everyone,
I was just looking for some feedback on this paragraph I have written for my comparison of The Crucible and In the Name of the Father analytical essay. Any feedback on content or grammar would be greatly appreciated.
My draft feedback said that I lacked information on the cultural assumptions, so this is the paragraph I have written to try and address this.
The events at the time of the legal proceedings provoked the hysterical environment that influenced the legal proceedings. At the time prior to the Guildford pub bombing, the Irish Republican Army had been launching an array of terrorist attacks against England. The threat of the IRA at the time “struck deep into the British people’s sense of security”, placing immense pressure on the legal system. The film uses archival footage, footage of the real events occurring, to further portray the hysterical environment. Furthermore, the British government was losing the control of their people, causing panic within the members of the government, as was the case for Inspector Dixon. As well as this, the introduction of the Terrorism Act, provided Dixon with “quite extraordinary powers of democracy”. Likewise, in “The Crucible”, the Puritan beliefs of the townspeople lead to the convictions based on spectral evidence. In this Puritan society, governed by religious doctorination, the beliefs of supernatural beings were a reality. As a result, the threat of witchcraft applied increased pressure for the legal system to act. In both legal systems, the events and beliefs at the time contributed to the mass hysteria in the environment.
Thanks for the help
How long (as in days) should it take for me to memorise or at least rehearse a 5-6 minute speech properly?
If I'm going to use palm cards then how big should the font size be and how many sentences per palm card should I have?
Hi, I was just wondering whether anyone could help me with FA1. My teacher had swapped FA2 and FA1 so we had done FA2 in term 1 already. I really struggle with English and apparently, this is the hardest assessment piece of the year. :((. My teacher also went on long service leave for 4 weeks and no one in my class knew what to do. Our assignment was also handed out a week late :((. We have to compare and contrast The Great Gatsby and another text, I chose The Greatest Showman to answer the question how are dreams and aspirations represented in the texts and for what effect? We also have to relate why the Great Gatsby is still a relevant novel to contemporary readers. I'm very confused at the moment because I'm not too sure how to structure the essay, especially the body paragraphs. Any help would be greatly appreciated :))
Hi, I was just wondering whether anyone could help me with FA1. My teacher had swapped FA2 and FA1 so we had done FA2 in term 1 already. I really struggle with English and apparently, this is the hardest assessment piece of the year. :((. My teacher also went on long service leave for 4 weeks and no one in my class knew what to do. Our assignment was also handed out a week late :((. We have to compare and contrast The Great Gatsby and another text, I chose The Greatest Showman to answer the question how are dreams and aspirations represented in the texts and for what effect? We also have to relate why the Great Gatsby is still a relevant novel to contemporary readers. I'm very confused at the moment because I'm not too sure how to structure the essay, especially the body paragraphs. Any help would be greatly appreciated :))
Hey justsomerandom21,
First of all, I think that the texts that you have chosen would be a great choice for comparison as while these texts may not seem that similar on the outside, these texts do actually have quite a few themes in common! What I would recommend doing is to first be familiar with your texts - if you haven't done so already, take the time to read The Great Gatsby, recognise and understand the stylistic devices and the aesthetic features, find some interesting quotes and annotate those quotes. Then watch The Greatest Showman, note down the interesting mis-en-scene, camera angles, types of shots and the themes/morals of the film etc. and consider how these would relate to your question.
The two most important parts of this type of assessment are as follows: your ability to understand the texts and your ability to explain how regardless of the differences these main texts might have, how these texts may overlap and relate to each other. You need to make connections between the texts so try making a mind map and link as much as you can from both of the texts together (but do so meaningfully as it's pretty easy to fall into the trap of thinking that everything is the same or nothing is similar). Try making a quote bank and analyse the quotes/film shots.
Hopefully, that helps but I would be more than happy to give you some more specific tips if you need :)
Have a great weekend and kind regards,
Darcy Dillon.
Hi friends,
I'm struggling with my FA4 for English. Our text is Macbeth and as you know we have to answer an unseen question in exam conditions. Does anyone have any advice on how to remember important quotes and to structure the essay? Also what types of quotes would I be looking for? I'm worried that I will only remember a few quotes that won't even be relevant to the question when I get in there :'(.
Thanks,
justsomerandom21.
Thanks so much Lauren for the really informative advice. I really appreciate it!
Hey, Justsomerandom21!
Lauren's advice is fantastic and I'd highly recommend following it if you do wish to remember quotes.
I just thought I'd let you know that for the external exam you'll complete in year 12, you will not be expected to remember any quotes :) I don't know if your school has other plans for the FA4 and your teacher is expecting it for this internal assessment, but for the external at the end of your final year quotes are not an expectation. Indirect evidence is seen as just as good and you can get full marks using only indirect evidence. Though you'll probably find that some quotes might stick in your mind so you can definitely use those (but it's not a requirement) :)
I hope this eases you of some stress!
Katelyn
Thanks so much again for all the help! I'm still a little bit unsure about using indirect evidence. As far as I know, indirect evidence is explaining the scene and the action of the characters without using a direct quote, right? Would you please be able to provide some examples (if possible on Macbeth)? It would be greatly appreciated! :)
Sorry, I just thought of another question that I forgot to post in my last reply, but when selecting your evidence in the play and then constructing your response, would it be best to use evidence at the start of the play for your first body paragraph and then evidence from the middle of the play in the second body paragraph etc? How would you demonstrate logical sequencing of ideas within and between paragraphs?
Hey guys,
justsomerandom21 here again. Any advice on IA1 thesis? I'm doing Blade Runner (Theatrical Cut) and Fahrenheit 451. My concept is the nature of humanity but I'm unsure of how to write a good thesis.
Thanks.
Howdy!
So, I'm about to do my literary essay on Fahrenheit 451 and Blade Runner 2049.
Last time I did a literary essay, it was quite trash.
Could someone please tell me how to do a literary essay? How should I structure it? What are the teachers looking for? Any general tips?
Thank you!
- jinx_58