Planning a Text Response

[Valyria]

Hey AN,

With the exam steadily approaching, it's becoming increasingly worrying that I spend 15-25 minutes planning a text response. Are there any tips on how to increase the pace to allow for more writing time?

[literally lauren]

Develop a shorthand, it will help you immensely.
Never write full sentences on a plan; it's not marked, in fact your assessors won't even look at it. Your plan only has to make sense to you.
The example I've used before is: rather than writing 'Shakespeare uses the character of Falstaff as a contrast to Prince Hal, which reinforces the idea of multiple forms of honour. This can be seen in Act 2 Scene 4 when they pretend to be one another in a key turning point for the play.' I'd just write 'S: Falst.=/=Hal --> diff. hon.  (2.4)=T.P!'
Also, for certain sections you shouldn't need to plan at all (at least, not by the end of the year.) Language Analysis, for example, can be quite formulaic. Once you know what you're going to cover (context, contention, audience, tone or something similar) then you don't really need to write anything down to remind you.

That said, provided you can write quickly, there's nothing wrong with planning. Friends of mine would plan extensively for 15 minutes and then churn out an essay in 35-40 minutes. So long as you're planning effectively an amanaging your time, you should be alright

[Valyria]

Develop a shorthand, it will help you immensely.
Never write full sentences on a plan; it's not marked, in fact your assessors won't even look at it. Your plan only has to make sense to you.

Thanks for that I'll try adopting your strategy but I think most of my time planning is attributed to deciding what I'm actually going to base my body paragraphs on. It takes time for me to decide which scene/supporting motifs/symbolism/minor characters I should use as evidence. Is consolidating my knowledge on the text the only way I can cut down on time planning?

[literally lauren]

Having a clear idea of the prompt type, and what it's actually asking you to do might help also. I'll tailor this to a Text Response essay:
Sometimes the most obvious example isn't always the best; consolidate your notes so that you don't just have a chunk of quotes chronologically. You can plan quite a bit beforehand, regardless of the prompt. Separate things by character or theme, then label any similarities between symbols and motifs that warrant mentioning.
Having read the text 3 or 4 times hopefully, you should get to a stage where as you write, more ideas will come to you, so don't be limited by a plan.

When you say it takes time deciding, does this mean you can't think of any examples to demonstrate your points, or that you have 2-3 examples in mind and don't know which to choose?

[Valyria]

Having a clear idea of the prompt type, and what it's actually asking you to do might help also. I'll tailor this to a Text Response essay:
Sometimes the most obvious example isn't always the best; consolidate your notes so that you don't just have a chunk of quotes chronologically. You can plan quite a bit beforehand, regardless of the prompt. Separate things by character or theme, then label any similarities between symbols and motifs that warrant mentioning.
Having read the text 3 or 4 times hopefully, you should get to a stage where as you write, more ideas will come to you, so don't be limited by a plan.

When you say it takes time deciding, does this mean you can't think of any examples to demonstrate your points, or that you have 2-3 examples in mind and don't know which to choose?

My notes are categorised under themes, language, setting and structure. However, based on your reply, I think I require more filtering and assortment to allow more fluency of ideas. Sorry for the ambiguity but I meant it takes time for me to think of examples to demonstrate my points.

[literally lauren]

That's alright, just trying to narrow down what you need help with.
If the examples aren't coming to you then it could be one of two things:
1: You don't know enough examples. Based on what you've told me about your notes this probably isn't likely. But remember, there's a difference between knowing a text inside out and actually understanding the significance of it. If this is a really common problem for you, then maybe practice unpacking certain examples rather than just writing them down and categorising them
2: There's an issue with your ideas. Even though a TR essay starts broad and then zooms in, you should have some idea of the supporting evidence before you start. So while it's good to have a clear contention and some paragraph focuses in mind, perhaps concentrating on this is actually restricting you in terms of your examples. Try to let the text dictate your argument, not the other way around. And let the examples drive your points rather than coming up with arguments before you've got the foundations. So your plan can start with a contention, but try to then zoom straight into the text and construct your arguments around that.
Hope that helps

[Valyria]

1: You don't know enough examples. Based on what you've told me about your notes this probably isn't likely. But remember, there's a difference between knowing a text inside out and actually understanding the significance of it. If this is a really common problem for you, then maybe practice unpacking certain examples rather than just writing them down and categorising them

I can fathom the significance of most scenes in the novel but I also have difficulty comprehending small portions of the text because of the highly convoluted ideas. Could you please explain what you mean by "practice unpacking certain examples rather than just writing them down and categorising them"? Does this mean I should explore how a character feels during a certain scene/justify their responses/explore potential repercussions of their actions?

2: There's an issue with your ideas. Even though a TR essay starts broad and then zooms in, you should have some idea of the supporting evidence before you start. So while it's good to have a clear contention and some paragraph focuses in mind, perhaps concentrating on this is actually restricting you in terms of your examples. Try to let the text dictate your argument, not the other way around. And let the examples drive your points rather than coming up with arguments before you've got the foundations. So your plan can start with a contention, but try to then zoom straight into the text and construct your arguments around that.
Hope that helps

Never thought of it this way! But what if your example could only be associated with one argument? Would this be enough for the basis of one body paragraph?

Greatly appreciate your help

[literally lauren]

Could you please explain what you mean by "practice unpacking certain examples rather than just writing them down and categorising them"?

Basically your notes shouldn't just be summary, they can be analytical too. If you need a general plot outline and quote repository then go for it, but when it comes to your examples, try not to simply recount something as it happened in the text; consider it in relation to a theme or metaphor, or link it the the author's views & values.
And yes, characters' responses and inner workings make for excellent discussion, but remember to balance your writing between 'zoomed in' discussion about the characters feel, and 'zoomed out' discussion of the author's construction of the text.

Never thought of it this way! But what if your example could only be associated with one argument? Would this be enough for the basis of one body paragraph?

Your example may only work for one argument, but your argument should be supported by more than one example. So a single body paragraph can explore the one sub-contention in a variety of different ways. In fact this is probably recommended, since drawing conclusions from a single piece of evidence is often insufficient.
Of course if you'd rather write 6-7 shorter paragraphs then you might be okay, but it's probably better to look at a maximum of five in detail (four being the recommended length.) Quality > quantity obviously, but if you're a fast writer then at the end of the year hopefully you'll be able to cram in as much as you know to give the assessors heaps of opportunities to give you marks

[sparked]

Valyria,

listen to Lauren, she knows what she's talking about!

Haha from my perspective, you obviously are a diligent student in that your notes seem quite thoroughly sorted.

My advice: be more complex in the way you approach examples!

You need to have at least 2-3 examples per paragraph for a complex essay. But quality can look a lot like quantity if you know your text well. If it's a convoluted text, that's excellent. It means there are a lot of nuanced motivations, plotlines, outcomes and most importantly, interpretations of your text. It would be easier to give advice if I knew which text you were studying?

Text Response is the essay form that sometimes seems the most difficult to get right, but once you've got your head around your text, it can end up being the easiest!

[Valyria]

Basically your notes shouldn't just be summary, they can be analytical too. If you need a general plot outline and quote repository then go for it, but when it comes to your examples, try not to simply recount something as it happened in the text; consider it in relation to a theme or metaphor, or link it the the author's views & values.
And yes, characters' responses and inner workings make for excellent discussion, but remember to balance your writing between 'zoomed in' discussion about the characters feel, and 'zoomed out' discussion of the author's construction of the text.Your example may only work for one argument, but your argument should be supported by more than one example. So a single body paragraph can explore the one sub-contention in a variety of different ways. In fact this is probably recommended, since drawing conclusions from a single piece of evidence is often insufficient.
Of course if you'd rather write 6-7 shorter paragraphs then you might be okay, but it's probably better to look at a maximum of five in detail (four being the recommended length.) Quality > quantity obviously, but if you're a fast writer then at the end of the year hopefully you'll be able to cram in as much as you know to give the assessors heaps of opportunities to give you marks

Thanks for your responses Lauren, I'll take heed to your advice and try implement some of your strategies into my next practice piece

You need to have at least 2-3 examples per paragraph for a complex essay. But quality can look a lot like quantity if you know your text well. If it's a convoluted text, that's excellent. It means there are a lot of nuanced motivations, plotlines, outcomes and most importantly, interpretations of your text. It would be easier to give advice if I knew which text you were studying?

Text Response is the essay form that sometimes seems the most difficult to get right, but once you've got your head around your text, it can end up being the easiest!

I'm studying Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood. The novel consists of 498 pages so there's definitely an abundance of evidence.

[sparked]

There are holidays coming up. Make sure you understand the most important themes in the text. I don't know it myself, but if you spend time teasing out the more nuanced relationships, you will develop sophisticated and high-level discussion.