Could someone please explain what this means and perhaps provide an example where this is evident. (regarding a 9 to 10 out of 10 for text response essay)
‘demonstrates an understanding of the implications of the topic, using an appropriate strategy
for dealing with it, and exploring its complexity from the basis of the text.’
I love this word!
Simply put, dealing with the 'implications' is the difference between writing about the words in the prompt, and writing about the
ideas in the prompt.
Random thing from a 2012 practice exam to illustrate:
'Which is more important to Antonio: to hunt and kill the jaguar, or to make amends for the past?'
This is from a film called
The Old Man Who Read Love Stories. Don't worry if you haven't seen it; that's actually better for the purposes of this explanation.
So the simple approach typical of middle-band responses is to do this:
Which is more
important to Antonio: to
hunt and kill the jaguar, or to
make amends for the past?
So there'll probably be one paragraph on the importance of the hunt for the jaguar and why that's important to Antonio, then one on how/why he makes amends for the past. The third might deal with these two in conjunction, or introduce a challenge by discussing other things that are important to the character. Whilst this is a safe approach, it's also very limiting.
In ras' method above, this 'key terms' approach works well because the definition of love is central to the way you would approach the question. Provided you were able to add sophistication in other ways, this is perfectly acceptable for certain prompt types, but if you need to look at overall implications/ 'between the lines' stuff and not just definition nuances, here's how:
Ask yourself: if what the prompt says is true, then what?
- If Antonio must prioritise either the hunt, or making amends, then the prompt suggests these two endeavours are mutually exclusive. Both cannot be of equal importance.
- If making amends cannot occur in the form of killing the jaguar, then that means the act of killing represents a refusal to atone for the past.
- Whichever option Antonio chooses, it is inferred that he does not care as much for the other.
- These external responses are indicative of what Antonio values/ finds more important. He cannot act in a state of cognitive dissonance; what he does reflects who he is.
- Antonio acts on what he finds important; his behaviour is a result of his beliefs
With each of these implications we can then ask ourselves
'is this the case in the text?' And filling in those blanks will give you a contention.
Up until you ask yourself this question, you don't need your textual knowledge. Don't bring up examples to demonstrate your points (yet!) Just examine the prompt using logic, and decypher what it is
implying as well as
denoting/ literally saying.
So a simple contention would be along the lines of 'Both the hunt and the idea of atonement are important to Antonio, but ultimately the hunt is more important.'
A better, more insightful contention would be: 'Antonio's prioritising of the hunt for the jaguar, despite it being an ultimately self-destructive pursuit, suggests his character does not intend to atone for his past mistakes.'
(Note, I'm not familiar with the text so these contentions might both be wrong, but we're looking for the structural differences in approach here, so it doesn't matter.)
As for the rest of that criterion, it's worth thinking about the "appropriate way to deal with the prompt" section. Basically this means that you can't just walk into any assessment writing a paragraph on pre-selected ideas, or in a rigidly pre-prepared manner. eg. The alternate prompt in the aforementioned prac exam was 'To what extent is belonging important in the film.' There aren't a lot of questions to ask here, so you'd have to add complexity in a different way, like defining belonging and examining all the different ways it is present or absent. You should also have a couple of structural methods at your disposal (eg. group paragraphs by thematic concern; start by talking about big ideas then 'zoom in' to the text, etc.) and then chose the most applicable one.