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VCE Literature Questions Thread
Hala119:
Hi,
For my practise exam for section A my feedback revolved around doing more with the lit perspective (psycho-analytical theory) and weave it throughout my essay. I'm really confused on how to do this. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance!
FrankieDens:
Hi everyone! :)
I just transferred from mainstream English to Literature 3/4 but I doubt my current essay skills will be adequate - I really want to improve though! As part of my holiday work, where can I find general or text specific prompts so I can start practising? Also, is an introduction really not necessary in Lit?
Thank you~
colline:
--- Quote from: FrankieDens on January 11, 2020, 09:45:22 pm ---Hi everyone! :)
I just transferred from mainstream English to Literature 3/4 but I doubt my current essay skills will be adequate - I really want to improve though! As part of my holiday work, where can I find general or text specific prompts so I can start practising? Also, is an introduction really not necessary in Lit?
Thank you~
--- End quote ---
Could you please clarify whether your holiday homework is just finding prompts, or actually writing full practice responses in addition to finding them? To be honest, generally it’s your teacher at school who would provide a starting point with a list of prompts, and you can go beyond once you’ve exhausted the list. It also seems like a weird homework to set. If you want to ensure you have a strong start to lit, focus on thoroughly reading through all your texts during the holidays, doing your own analysis, and possibly reading others’ analysis and critical perspectives. Diving straight into the deep end won’t be very rewarding.
Also I’m a little confused as to what you mean by ‘general/text-specific prompts’ because all prompts in lit are text specific.
Regarding introductions, they can be considered unnecessary for close passage analysis (exam section B), however normally you would still require them in other assessments (as you would be responding to a prompt). :)
Evolio:
Hello guys! I hope you are well.
I had a question I wanted to ask.
So I've gone to three lessons of literature tutoring so far and we've basically been going through the poems (from a collection) from our booklist as in the tutor has been giving us her themes/analysis/interpretations/annotations about when she wrote her interpretations and stuff. The thing is I'm not sure if this is the right choice for me because the reason I chose Literature in the first place was so that I could write about my own interpretations of the text instead of following someone else's.
Also, the tutor's been giving feedback on my essay and the tutor writes in a completely different style to me and when she annotates my essay, she suggests a sentence that is so complex I don't even understand. Personally, I feel very weird writing in someone else's style of writing because it doesn't feel authentic, if that makes sense.
Sorry for the ramble but I was wondering if anyone had any advice about what I should do and whether I should keep doing tutoring with her?
colline:
--- Quote from: Evolio on January 12, 2020, 03:17:04 pm ---Hello guys! I hope you are well.
I had a question I wanted to ask.
So I've gone to three lessons of literature tutoring so far and we've basically been going through the poems (from a collection) from our booklist as in the tutor has been giving us her themes/analysis/interpretations/annotations about when she wrote her interpretations and stuff. The thing is I'm not sure if this is the right choice for me because the reason I chose Literature in the first place was so that I could write about my own interpretations of the text instead of following someone else's.
Also, the tutor's been giving feedback on my essay and the tutor writes in a completely different style to me and when she annotates my essay, she suggests a sentence that is so complex I don't even understand. Personally, I feel very weird writing in someone else's style of writing because it doesn't feel authentic, if that makes sense.
Sorry for the ramble but I was wondering if anyone had any advice about what I should do and whether I should keep doing tutoring with her?
--- End quote ---
Hey Evolio, personally from purely reading what you wrote, it feels like tutoring may not be the most helpful thing for you right now. With subjects like literature, tutoring is a hit or miss, especially when its requirements and criteria are a lot more loosely defined than something such as maths or science.
That said, it’s perfectly fine to start off by reading other people’s interpretations and analysis, especially this early in the year. It may seem a bit demotivating when you’re so keen to start pumping out your own thoughts and feelings for a text only to be handed what others have wrote instead, but a big part of literature is exactly that - reading and learning the analysis of others. It’s good to keep an open mind about what your tutor has given you: they may not be your own analysis, but it’s a place to start. You can also use it as practice for Section A of the exam - think for yourself whether you agree or disagree with what your tutor has given you, why you think so, and what evidence do you have to back it up.
There is nothing wrong with learning about what others have analysed. Aside from the fact that this is exactly what you have to do for your U4AOS1 SAC and section A of the exam — there is always something to learn from others’ interpretations and you’ll find loads more to explore when you start reading them.
As for writing style, it may seem uncomfortable to write in a style you’ve never written in before, but the truth is you can’t write however you want to on the exam — people say lit has more creative freedom and less structure but this is only true to a certain extent. There still is criteria and certain things you must abide by. When I went into literature I found myself having to change my writing drastically in order to see improvements - it did indeed feel “wrong” and not authentic at first, but with practice it would eventually come naturally.
Of course I don’t really know what ‘style’ you write in or all the details with you and your tutor so that’s purely what I think based on the info you gave. I think you could try talking to your tutor about your worries and see what comes out of it! Good luck :)
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