Section B help!! (Encountering Conflict)

[shinymeowstic]

Hello, I'm not very good at writing section B as I sometimes struggle with the prompts and I tend to just do an expository essay.
I feel this isn't going to get me many marks as I write them in a similar style for Section A - and I want to make it more interesting than just an expository essay.
I'm doing the text, "Every Man in This Village is a Liar" and the "Encountering Conflict" prompts.
I tend to use real life examples of racism and sexism, to link back to the text, as well as similar conflicts within Australia regarding the burqa, etc.
Does anyone have any other examples I could use to help me?
And does anyone know what sort of style would work well for this book? (eg, a speech, blog post, inner dialogue, newspaper article, etc).
I don't know many other people doing this book, so if you have any essays you've done, or suggestions, please tell me as I work best after seeing an example!
I'm thinking of leaving this section till the end in the exam so I have time to think about the prompt and figure out something unique.
I also don't have a basic essay/response I can adapt to prompts either - should I try this close to the exam to make something? My school hasn't told me to do any of that so I'm not sure what to do for it! Thank you :3

[shinymeowstic]

can I please have some help? I'm kind of worried. I've got my section A and section C down pat, but section B is really worrying me as I don't have anything unique to talk about!
I got the lowest score for my practice exam on it too, so I really want to improve in the last week we have!!

[ras]

I'm doing Encountering Conflict but I haven't studied Every Man In This Village Is A Liar (although I have read it, albeit a while ago). I generally write expository, so I can't give much advice in terms of alternate forms. But perhaps you could experiment with things such as a speech being made by Stack on her return to America? Or even a speech from the point of view of another returned war correspondent?

What other text did you study for Encountering Conflict? If it's either The Quiet American or Life of Galileo I might be able to provide a sample of something.

The examples you have sound good to use. One thing I think could be useful to consider for Every Man in This Village is a Liar is experiences of other war reporters. Another person to consider is Ben Quilty, who was a war artist for Australia who went to Afghanistan. There's an Australian Story program on him that you might want to watch http://www.abc.net.au/austory/specials/warpaint/default.htm. Thinking about the impact of war/conflict on return soldiers would relate well to Every Man in This Village is a Liar, too. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-22/number-of-soldiers-committing-suicide-triples-afghan-combat-toll/5403122 There's also this talk with Megan Stack which could be really helpful, http://www.abc.net.au/tv/bigideas/stories/2010/08/31/2997267.htm. I try to talk about the context of the author's own experiences in my essays, and what these experiences reveal about their attitude towards conflict.

In terms of pre-planning essays, I can't really pre-plan mine as they're expository, but I find that you can have your ideas pre-planned. By this I mean that for each aspect of conflict, such as what causes conflict, how conflict affects people, how conflict is resolved etc. I have ideas that I just reuse for each essay depending on the prompt. Be careful with doing this though, because it's easy to memorise ideas but then use them out of context, or when they don't relate to the prompt. To help get my ideas clear, what I did was create a table with three columns. One was a key theme of my text eg. conflict of ideology, inner conflict, resolution of conflict, etc. Then I'd pick out key points and quotes from my text which relate to each theme, and then try to get at least one supplementary text or idea which links in well.

Hope some of this helps, good luck

[DJA]

Ah good old context - I have had so much trouble with this one too. What works for me is three things:
1. I use expository essay format
2. I have memorised key moments from texts that I can draw from to prove different things about conflicts
3. I have memorised 4 introductions using different ideas/issues that I can mould to different prompts.

How I would structure an Expository Essay - Intro, 3-4 bodies, Conclusion
Intro:
-2 halves: Open with 3-4 sentences describing an issue in the media (you need to study this up before hand - some good ones might be the burqa issue, human rights etc) Then zoom out with 3-4 sentences in the second half where you broaden out to show how this issue relates to the prompt that you are given.

Body Paragraph 1 (The only '2' moment paragraph)
-Start off with a topic sentence that has a clear link to the topic, expanding it, contradicting it, agreeing with it. Keep the cardinal two questions in mind: WHY? and HOW?
-For 2-3 sentences you should elaborate on your topic sentence assertion - showing why/how it works
-Move into a textual moment (by this I mean one or two quotes from a text/issue) that proves your point.
-Broaden out elaborate on the significance of the textual analysis to your idea about conflict
-Bring in 2nd textual moment - Analyse it
-Broaden out to again elaborate on significance - explain what it shows about conflict. Then conclude body paragraph with a clear link to your original assertion showing how you have progressed to it.

Body Paragraphs 2 & 3 (& 4 if there is time/needed)
-Same steps as above - just use one moment so:
-Start off with a topic sentence that has a clear link to the topic, expanding it, contradicting it, agreeing with it. Keep the cardinal two questions in mind: WHY? and HOW?
-For 2-3 sentences you should elaborate on your topic sentence assertion - showing why/how it works
-Move into a textual moment (by this I mean one or two quotes from a text/issue) that proves your point.
-Broaden out elaborate on the significance of the textual analysis to your idea about conflict. Link to assertion

Conclusion
-Return to your original issue and elaborate on its significance in the light of your analysis
-Don't restate your ideas - try and know some key quotes from texts/famous people that illuminate something profound about conflict and explain here. Conclude with a bang - to impress! 

Revel in the fact that you've produced an expository context essay

Condensed structure (with nice colours)
Intro
Issue in current news/Analogy/Anecdote
Zoom out, contexualise, bring into focus with prompt in mind

BP 1
Topic Sentence linking to prompt
Elaborate on how assertion works
Textual moment
Analyse how it affects your assertion in T.S and link to next textual moment
Textual moment
Analyse how it affects your assertion in T.S and link to next textual moment. Conclude with link to assertion

BP 2,3,4 etc
Topic Sentence linking to prompt
Elaborate on how assertion works
Textual moment
Analyse how it affects your assertion in T.S and link to next textual moment. Conclude with link to assertion

Conclusion
Return to original moment used in intro
Elaborate on significance with your whole essay's contention in mind
Bring in key quote to end with a bang

I do hope this helps! This is just an example remember - no need to follow it religiously. Use it as a basis for essay writing. Good luck!

[shinymeowstic]

ahh thanks so much!! all this advice is so good, thanks!