How do I study for a text which we didn't study in class

[elizabethelliott]

Hi Atar Notes,
I need some advice on how I should study for a Module C text which my school did not focus on in class, how should go about studying a Module C text? What notes should I write? I have read the book and know a lot about context and so what should I do? Please help, it will be much appreciated!

[angewina_naguen]

Hi Atar Notes,
I need some advice on how I should study for a Module C text which my school did not focus on in class, how should go about studying a Module C text? What notes should I write? I have read the book and know a lot about context and so what should I do? Please help, it will be much appreciated!

Hey, elizabethelliott!

Interesting to see that you've decided to use a different prescribed text for Module C! Normally, I would advise against it but since it's specifically for Craft of Writing, I'm giving you the stamp of approval if you think it'll work out better for you 

Module C is different from the others in that your study of prescribed texts is not intended to be for an analytical approach. You are rather using the texts as inspiration for your own creative, discursive, persuasive or informative writing. When you are studying the texts, I would identify the key features and literary devices that dominate the style of the piece. You would annotate the text and identify what the function of the language form or feature is, as well as what effect is generated from it as a result.

What I would then do is consider how you would translate/transform them into your writing. For example, in George Orwell's Politics and the English Language, he uses high modality and Plain English to illustrate the importance of comprehension and clarity when communicating ideas in literature. To respond to this, I would consider having high modality in my own writing and to adopt a simple but sophisticated voice. See how I have made the correlation to the prescribed text by choosing to deliberately imitate an aspect of his style? It doesn't even have to be this direct. You might like how setting in Kate Chopin's The Awakening is a crucial part of how its storytelling is facilitated and so you have made your setting a salient aspect of your writing. The prescribed text serves as a generator of techniques for you to manipulate and reimagine in your own way.

If you wish to structure notes, I would organise it in a table with the headings Language Form or Feature in Prescribed Text, Quote From Prescribed Text, How I Will Reinterpret It, Quote From My Text. This way, you can visualise the transformation and it will help you if you get a reflection question in the HSC. I can definitely offer more advice if you could let me know which text you're thinking of independently studying. Hope this helps!

Angelina