VCE English Question Thread

[HopefulLawStudent]

Where can i find compartive resources on here
How do i write a A+ peice and what can i do to get an A+ etc

As well how do i discuss complexities and nuances of the topic.

Check the notes section for comparative resources (specifically, I'm gonna direct you to the July lecture slides which I know for sure have stuff on comparing texts having spent forever slaving over those slaves - they should serve as a good starting point).

With regards to writing an A+ piece, are we talking in general or for a certain section?

To discuss complexities and nuances of the topic, you wanna be considering the cores and implications of the topic.

Core = what the prompt is fundamentally asking
Implications = if the core of the prompt is true, then what? What is implied by the topic, essentially.

Here is an example of a prompt breakdown.

Prompt: In Stasiland, no character is immune from the effects of the Wall. Discuss.


Contention: Although the characters in Stasiland are irrefutably altered by the social climate of Germany and the sense of division that pervaded the nation, ultimately, these effects manifest themselves in vastly different ways, and it is this variation in how they respond to their circumstances which Funder propounds to be a true test of character.

Paragraph 1: The Wall's physical presence inhibits characters' freedom and right to self-determination, and even after the Wall is gone, the sense of a lingering divide is palpable.

Paragraph 2: However, the Wall also takes a psychological toll, particularly for those characters who

Paragraph 3: Moreover, Funder reveals how the Wall became a metonym for national division and the source of the characters' suffering, making it virtually impossible to escape.

Conclusion: Hence, by associating the Wall as an enforcer of isolation and detachment, Funder implies that it is only once characters are able to reconcile with one another, as well as their pasts, that they can hope to overcome the ramifications it had on their lives.

So you've got an overall contention, and you're trying to examine different facets of the prompt/the extent to which you agree/disagree.

[kaii]

Hey guys, I'm currently on the writing phase of my oral and would love everyone's opinions on how I would need to convey my contention to the audience  Do I say it on the get-go or ..? I'm confused please help!
My topic is should there be a national ban on single-use plastic bags?
And I think yes!


Here's an extract from my intro:
Australia. We’re one of the trashiest countries in the developed world. In fact, we’re the 2nd highest producers of rubbish (only US is trashier ><). As a nation, we use over 4 billion plastic bags every year, that’s over 10 million new bags every day!
We dump over 7000 recyclable plastics every minute which all end up into landfill!
[pause]
Now, let me ask you something…does anybody know Australia’s current population?
⎝   YES : Respond to audience, “Yes, that’s correct…/ close but...”
⎝   NO: “Well we have a growing population of 24 million and our waste is growing twice as fast
If 48 million of these plastic bags remained in the environment and made into a single plastic sheet, it would be big enough to cover the whole of Melbourne’s CBD.
With this rate, how are we as a nation meant to tackle this issue of plastic bags? ……………………… MAIN CONTENtION??...............

 
blah blah body paragraph blah

[HopefulLawStudent]

Hey guys, I'm currently on the writing phase of my oral and would love everyone's opinions on how I would need to convey my contention to the audience  Do I say it on the get-go or ..? I'm confused please help!
My topic is should there be a national ban on single-use plastic bags?
And I think yes!


Here's an extract from my intro:
Australia. We’re one of the trashiest countries in the developed world. In fact, we’re the 2nd highest producers of rubbish (only US is trashier ><). As a nation, we use over 4 billion plastic bags every year, that’s over 10 million new bags every day!
We dump over 7000 recyclable plastics every minute which all end up into landfill!
[pause]
Now, let me ask you something…does anybody know Australia’s current population?
⎝   YES : Respond to audience, “Yes, that’s correct…/ close but...”
⎝   NO: “Well we have a growing population of 24 million and our waste is growing twice as fast
If 48 million of these plastic bags remained in the environment and made into a single plastic sheet, it would be big enough to cover the whole of Melbourne’s CBD.
With this rate, how are we as a nation meant to tackle this issue of plastic bags? ……………………… MAIN CONTENtION??...............

 
blah blah body paragraph blah

To be honest, in terms of conveying your contention, you have a fair bit of leeway (as with most things in the oral tbh). Like some of my friends never expressly mentioned what their contention was, instead preferring to allow their listener to make an informed inference as to what their stance on the issue was. With that said, I always preferred to flag my contention at the end of my intro just to be safe and ensure that I never got pulled up for not having a clear stance on the issue.

Consider:

1.   Some people may think that plastic bags serve a very real purpose and their removal from our supermarkets would precipitate an unwanted inconvenience. However, it is my contention that this view is just a product of their own misunderstanding.

vs.

2.   For the sake of our children, our country and our future, something must be done. The government MUST implement the proposed ban if we are to insure our environment against these plastic menaces that lurk our streets.

In both instances, I’m presenting my contention from the get go. However, notice how, in the second example, I'm presenting my contention in a persuasive way ("something must be done") to frame it as something I am endorsing or agreeing with? Whereas in the first case, the same point is presented in a "some people may think this, but they're wrong" sort of way and it lacks the persuasive punch that the second example has because it has been prefaced with “The following point I am about to make is an argument. Here is the argument: _____".

tl;dr – you can give your contention from the get go but try to be persuasive while doing it.

[clarke54321]

Is it unreasonable to start asking my English teacher to mark my work out of 10? Do other people have their teachers mark their practice essays as so?

Thanks 

[Sine]

Is it unreasonable to start asking my English teacher to mark my work out of 10? Do other people have their teachers mark their practice essays as so?

Thanks 

Not that unreasonable really depends on the teacher. My teacher last year would only tell me where I could improve and then on my last essay before a sac give me a score (out of 30 since that is what sacs were out of).

However closer to the exam I was given scores for essays but not exact scores. Moreso something along the lines of "this is around an 8" but it wouldve been a 9 if you did"x" and "y".

[HopefulLawStudent]

Is it unreasonable to start asking my English teacher to mark my work out of 10? Do other people have their teachers mark their practice essays as so?

Thanks 

It's worth asking, I suppose. You'll find that as you near the exam, teachers will end up marking that way anyway but it depends upon your teacher as to when they want to start. Don't try to pressure them into it if they don't want and you can always ask them to verbally give you an approximate mark if it means that much to you and they outright refuse to at this stage in the year.

However, with that said, I'd like to caution you against falling into the trap that is the numbers game where you allow the numbers to define your essay. Focus less on getting that number and in making consistent improvement in each essay that you write. My approach was that I liked to summarise feedback I'd gotten into three "key" areas for improvement and in the next essay I wrote, after I'd been given feedback, I'd follow up on those previous areas of improvement I'd identified and be like "do you think problem X from the last essay I wrote was still evident here or nah?" to my teacher.

[kaii]

To be honest, in terms of conveying your contention, you have a fair bit of leeway (as with most things in the oral tbh). Like some of my friends never expressly mentioned what their contention was, instead preferring to allow their listener to make an informed inference as to what their stance on the issue was. With that said, I always preferred to flag my contention at the end of my intro just to be safe and ensure that I never got pulled up for not having a clear stance on the issue.

Consider:

1.   Some people may think that plastic bags serve a very real purpose and their removal from our supermarkets would precipitate an unwanted inconvenience. However, it is my contention that this view is just a product of their own misunderstanding.

vs.

2.   For the sake of our children, our country and our future, something must be done. The government MUST implement the proposed ban if we are to insure our environment against these plastic menaces that lurk our streets.

In both instances, I’m presenting my contention from the get go. However, notice how, in the second example, I'm presenting my contention in a persuasive way ("something must be done") to frame it as something I am endorsing or agreeing with? Whereas in the first case, the same point is presented in a "some people may think this, but they're wrong" sort of way and it lacks the persuasive punch that the second example has because it has been prefaced with “The following point I am about to make is an argument. Here is the argument: _____".

tl;dr – you can give your contention from the get go but try to be persuasive while doing it.

Oh okay yep that makes so much sense and thank you for going into details because that cleared up all the confusion my teacher didn't bother discussing lol

[kaii]

Hello again! I'm having trouble with how to finish my oral presentation strongly. I mean what I have now is pretty good to me but I'd just like to take it up one more level and I'd love your help ! Also, if you find any grammar mistakes and/or have advice for other ways to say this or that please tell me. Thank youu, your help is much appreciated

So what can we do to resolve this issue? Is it too late??!?
Luckily, the answer is no. Just a week ago, major supermarkets such as Woolworths and Coles have announced that they were going to get rid of single-use plastic bags over the next twelve months. This will mostly affect VIC,NSW and WA since other states and territories have lead the way and banned the plastic bags already.

A nationwide plastic bag ban is the main solution to this problem but if we don’t work together now and give the state premiers a push for a ban, nothing will change. You and I will keep using plastic bags. But I believe we can change this. You can change this.
For now, we can start small and it’s never too late!
First, we can reduce the amount of plastic bags we take home and instead use those green re-usable bags, and so those grey plastic bags we could recycle to the supermarkets (I recommend Coles!).

Banning plastic bags will be like an education tool for our population to remind ourselves about the environmental impacts of our own human actions. Banning single-use plastic bags will have valuable consequences in reducing plastic waste in the world’s oceans and waterways and it may also reduce their occurrence in the landfills.
If people start thinking about the wider problems caused by plastic wastes in the ocean and on land, I’m sure things will turn themselves around and I believe it will be sooner than later. So join me and demand a national plastic bag ban.

[clarke54321]

Just to clarify, can I include evidence from the post-script of a novel in my essay? Also, if there are photos in the middle, can they be used for analysis?

Thanks in advance 

[amigos]

Just to clarify, can I include evidence from the post-script of a novel in my essay? Also, if there are photos in the middle, can they be used for analysis?

Thanks in advance 

Is this for Tracks? If so, my teacher said it was fine to mention both but also cautioned against relying too much on the photos.
 

[clarke54321]

Is this for Tracks? If so, my teacher said it was fine to mention both but also cautioned against relying too much on the photos.

Aah... thanks very much! And yes, it is for Tracks

[Lavar Big BBB Balls]

For LA, I'm just wondering should there be more of an emphasis on the effect/intended effect on the reader or on the reason why the readers feel a certain way to evidence/words used?

Does it really matter or should I not be viewing these two things as seperate 'steps'? Should these be naturally combined together?

[clarke54321]

For LA, I'm just wondering should there be more of an emphasis on the effect/intended effect on the reader or on the reason why the readers feel a certain way to evidence/words used?

Does it really matter or should I not be viewing these two things as seperate 'steps'? Should these be naturally combined together?

Hey!

This is a rough kind of structure I use:

Within body paragraphs (not including 'topic sentence')-

Sentence #1: Stating evidence for first half of sentence and then moving onto some kind of analysis
Sentence #2: Expanding on that analysis further
Sentence #3: Bringing it back to the reader and what the author is trying to achieve
Sentence #4: This feeling of/ notion that/ is further bolstered/fortified by...... (Next piece of evidence---- these linking words demonstrate your understanding of cumulative effects)

This kind of structure ensures that you are getting enough analysis in as well as acknowledging reader effect. So I don't necessarily think there should be more of an emphasis on reader effect, but only a consistent reference back to them throughout the piece.

Hopefully this helps you out 

[Lavar Big BBB Balls]

^thanks!

[-elcee]

Hey All,
So recently I've had a talk with my English and Literature teachers about the quality of my essays.
Their main criticism, along with other teachers who have cross marked my sacs, is that I tend to ramble on in my sentences. ie; it takes a while for me to actually reach my point. I find this occurs in my everyday speech as well; I'm not really an effective communicator unless given time and a pen. When I write my essays, (often in timed conditions), I write whatever is in my mind, so it's not completely coherent and concise as it could be.
My knowledge of the content is good, but my teachers commented that this rambling is what is dividing me from that A+.
How can I improve on my coherence and conciseness in my essays ? My English teacher told me to read high scoring responses but since this is a new study design, there isn't many available apart from those in the text guides.
Thanks !