"Whose Reality" help please

[Limista]

Is it a good idea to explicitly argue against a claim made by the author in one of the context novels? I mean literally writing out the statement made by the writer, ".............", and then stating that you disagree and explaining why...?

[EspoirTron]

I wouldn't use personal anecdotes in anything that isn't creative, and even then I would probably not refer to it as a personal anecdote.

I wouldn't agree completely there pi. Section B doesn't mean that if you pick an expository style of writing your entire piece has to be expository offering no personal insight whatsoever. I mean didn't VCAA state that the 'hybrid' form of essay is acceptable so if you chose to write in an expository manner you can still include personal anecdotes. The only thing not to do, is to mix tenses in the ones paragraph, so there would have to be a clear 'line' between your anecdote and expository part of the essay. Section B is our way to show our writing abilities and be free with our ideas and using the text as a 'vehicle' so I see no harm in including personal anecdotes as long as you don't mix tenses in the one paragraph.
Personal anecdotes also, can be good in a sense as they can demonstrate to your teacher or assessor that you have an understanding on the ideas that the chosen text has represented, obviously though the anecdote would have to be on that supports the ideas that are presented by the text; it shouldn't be something completely unrelated to the given prompt and the text's ideas.

That is just my opinion though.

[pi]

Don't get me wrong, I personally wrote the "creative/expos hybrid" form myself back in the day (lol), but just from people in my class who wrote using their own experiences I found that although that part of their response to the prompt was fantastic, their links to the texts was lacking somewhat, as their own experiences tended to dominate their writing.

And yes, although the texts are only meant to be used as a "vehicle", they are meant to play a part nonetheless, and that part needs to be recognisable by VCAA.

I hope that makes sense :/

[EspoirTron]

Don't get me wrong, I personally wrote the "creative/expos hybrid" form myself back in the day (lol), but just from people in my class who wrote using their own experiences I found that although that part of their response to the prompt was fantastic, their links to the texts was lacking somewhat, as their own experiences tended to dominate their writing.

And yes, although the texts are only meant to be used as a "vehicle", they are meant to play a part nonetheless, and that part needs to be recognisable by VCAA.

I hope that makes sense :/

Yes you are right in that sense, sometimes the personal experience can dominate the essay although I guess that comes with practice and just remembering to use textual evidence both explicitly and implicitly throughout the piece of writing. I guess it is a fine balance that is something the writer must decide, whether or not the balance has been achieved.

It does make sense, I understand were you are coming from in that sense.
I think just striking that balance between presenting your own ideas and that of the text, is what is key. Just my personal opinion once again.

[brenden]

On using "I" in expository essays - I dunno about personal anecdotes, but just saying "I" is pretty acceptable, I think. (I'm honestly no expert, everyone in this thread would know more about expos. than I would) - I remember a thread in 2012 - the user Charmanderp was talking about it and he said it really assisted his writing. He posted an essay up once, it was pretty phenomenal from memory.


Personally, I wouldn't hugely advocate the use of personal anecdotes, they could come off really shitty, shallow, irrelevant, and you probably think they're a lot more moving than they actually are because you can't be fully objective about your own writing while you're writing it (unless you become very skilled). However, there's exceptions to everything when a possibility to hit criteria comes in. If I somehow got a prompt on like.... Failing school and then doing awesome in school and how it feels, I'd be using a fuckload of anecdotes and I'd be so darn emotional they'd have to give me a 10. Use your discretion, referring to yourself in a personal way can often lead to shitty writing. (Almost every 1st person story a classmate every showed me in 2012 made me want to punch myself)

[teacher28]

On the contrary a journalistic style expository (much like those you find in the weekend lift outs of the Age or Australian) can be begun and ended with a 'personal' anecdote (who's to know you have embellished it or even made it up!) to great effect. Think of it as a lead in to your discussion.

[Stick]

It's nice to have another teacher back me up. Thanks for the clarification.

[Limista]

Is it a good idea to explicitly argue against a claim made by the author in one of the context novels? I mean literally writing out the statement made by the writer, ".............", and then stating that you disagree and explaining why...?

*nudge* 

Would be great if someone could answer this