Hey Lauren,
Just wondering when analysing an editorial, how would you reference the author of it? I constantly use "the writer ...", are there any other better phrases which can be utilised?
Thanks!
You can refer to him/her as 'the editor' as well. Technically you can even use the newspaper's title, eg. 'The Herald Sun contends that...' or just 'The article/editorial...'
Otherwise, just try to vary your sentence structure so that you're not repeating words too often. Something like 'the writer' isn't a big deal though, since you're expected to tie all your points back to how they're using language to persuade anyway
Hi all
Just a quick question about a prompt/structuring my response.
The prompt I have been given for my text response essay is one that I quite heavily disagree with and there are many pieces of evidence to prove why I do. I know I shouldn't completely favour my essay to one side, so I was just wondering if its enough to mention the 'affirmative' side only in my introduction?
The prompt is a "to what extent do you agree?" type.
Thanks in advance
It's perfectly okay to disagree, but your contention can't simply be 'yes' or 'no.' Ask yourself why you disagree, and try to come up with a more complex argument so that your essay doesn't sound one-sided. Not every Text Response has to deal with both sides (and you don't want to sound non-committal) so perhaps address the alternate interpretations but round things back to your overall contention.
eg. 'Though one could argue character X's transformation is the result of purely selfish intent, there is an undeniable compassion in his behaviour that contradicts this interpretation...'
Also, there's no real difference between a 'to what extent' or 'discuss' or 'do you agree' question. VCAA just vary the sentence structures sometimes
During your second reading how do you what quotes you should highlight i.e. quotes of significance?
It's impossible to get all the useful quotes in one go, so start with the simpler themes and major characters. As you study the text in class, you'll uncover more and more facets of the text. You might even find a prompt that deals with an idea or theme you haven't considered before; that's when you go back to the text and try to find evidence (quotes) to support an interpretation.
Quote banks should always be a work in progress, so trust your instincts at the start and then see what you need to add or change later down the track.