Hi,
Did you by any chance have a hybrid essay or a feature article? I'm looking at doing one for context
If you could upload one or PM me one that would be great
Will upload on Saturday with the other bits and pieces
#still writing year 12 essays to procrastinate from writing uni essays.....
Hello, so I take it from "Be the system to beat the system" that you adhered to the structure (assumption) set by your school or was not far off? If so, was your ability to do a comparative analysis much simpler when you followed the normal structure?
The thing is, with my structure of language analysis, there's no comparison of the techniques or key arguments but more a comparison of the approach, intended effect and positioning... Would I be better off trying the standard structure?
Thanks.
I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'normal structure,' but yes, I caved to the recommendations my school provided (though admittedly I got lucky with my teacher and he was pretty chill about our individual approaches) and the way I wrote in the exam was slightly different, but not by much.
In terms of comparison, it really isn't a big deal. There aren't any marks assigned to it, and you should never compare at the expense of analysis. In fact many of the exams in previous years (5/7 in the current study design, actually) haven't involved any comparison between different articles at all - it's just been one core text and then one or two visuals. The only exceptions were 2011
*spits* and 2014 which is probably a better one to practice
When you do need to compare articles, you can either do it by transitioning between them by commenting on their overall contention (ie. Author A argues ____, whereas Author B disagrees and instead suggests ____) or you can find a connection on the language/technique level and say 'Author A uses _____ in order to... However, Author B uses a different technique to the same effect//or// uses the same technique to a different effect.'
There's no inherent advantage in doing it one way or the other, and so long as your piece shows an awareness of both levels (ie 1. the broad, big picture contentions and sub-arguments and 2. the close features and language employed by the author(s)) then you should be fine.
Hope that answers your question, though I don't know what 'standard structure' you're referring to. If it's the key player method I mentioned, that's not technically 'standard;' it's just what I wholeheartedly recommend as being the most efficient way to order your essay, whether you need to do comparative analysis or not