Can I include characte names or author in the topic sentece for text response?

[Pabloscopy]

Hello everyone,

I've been preparing for the upcoming exams and was focusing on improving my text respose writing. For this holidays, my teacher gave us 4 text response to write and have been struggling a bit. One of my main questions is whether or not to I can include character names or author in the topic senteces. In our school we do something a bit different to TEEL. Our teacher told us specifically to not include any character names in the topic sentence and would be marked down if we did.

However, during the holidays I attended one of the ATAR notes free lessons and asked the guy who was teaching how to deal with character based prompts, as I was (and still) not sure how to write a topic sentence without mentioning the character/s. To my surprise he told me that I could. So after that, I checked last year's exam report which included one sample essay, and it HAD character names in the topic sentences.

So now I'm left with the confussion if I will get marked down if I write character names or author in topic sentences.

Thank you in advanced

[TheEagle]

Hello there!

My teacher mainly emphasises that we should always respond to the prompt in the topic sentence; if the prompt mentions any characters, then it's best to mention them. In terms of involving the author in the topic sentences, I believe this is a major component of writing a smooth topic sentence.

Disclaimer: I am a year 11 student, so maybe a year 12 student or a graduate can confirm

All the best

[Bri MT]

Stick with what your teacher says for SACs, but if past high scoring responses have characters' names in topic sentences that should be fine
(disclaimer: did lit 1/2 and eng lang 3/4)

[brenden]

Scored full marks in text response, mentioned a character's name in every topic sentence. Your teacher is just trying to guide you on what they think is most likely to bring the best results. Having 'idea' based topic sentences is not a bad strategy. But it isn't the end of the world if you mention characters.

I usually recommend something like:

(author) (verb) ______, (verb-ing)_______

Like, ------ Rowling highlights the importance of facing one's fears, characterising Harry as an embodiment of bravery.

Very basic, but I've mentioned the author and characters, but kept the topic sentence based on an idea. Not too bad!

[Pabloscopy]

I emailed my teacher and she told me that because we don't know who our evaluator is going to be, not mentioning characters or author was the safest option. So I guess I'd prefer to risk it rather than having to struggle coming up with a topic sentence in general terms. Thank you everyone for your help!