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Essay writing/text response

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joshuamorgan:
Grrr! English is one subject that really annoys me! Whilst I am fairly articulate/spell correctly/use grammar correctly (I think), there are two things that I lack at:

[*] being able to interpret novels - I am very literal and interpret novels the literal way, I very rarely see the 'themes' in novels.
[*] Essay writing - I'm usually not able to structure essays very well.
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Because of this, I tend to not put much effort into English at all - I read the assigned books but don't go and write notes/chapter summaries/character development or maintain a collection of quotes. I also don't often practice writing essays.

Next year, for Year 12, I have to put a lot more effort into English as English will be the subject that will 'drag my ENTER down', if you will. What are people doing to succeed in English? What kind of notes are you preparing? What resources would you recommend (beyond practice, that's obviously needed) to become better at essay writing? For example, I don't understand the concept of 'L' (link) in TEEL? Is there a website or book that explains that?

I'm aiming for a 30-40 in English, what kind of results do I need to achieve such a study score?

Thanks,

Josh

SilverBullet:
I personally think you have answered your own question mate when you said "I read the assigned books but don't go and write notes/chapter summaries/character development or maintain a collection of quotes. I also don't often practice writing essays."

The best thing you can do for English it read, read, read, and write, write, write. For help with themes you can buy study guides which I personally found very effective this year.

Write as many practise essays as possible.

For the 'Linking' part of your essay I would talk to an English teacher at your school about it. I personally use the last sentence in my paragraphs to link the argument back to the topic. I know others who link it with next paragraph. Show your teachers some essays you have written this year and ask them what will be suit your style.

joshuamorgan:
OK, thanks. What kind of notes do you prepare? How do you determine what quotes to remember?

Yes, he's always taught us to link it with the next paragraph - it's always been something I've failed to comprehend. Is the purpose of the link to link the contention of that paragraph with the topic sentence of the next?

Defiler:
Know your texts really well. I'd recommend getting them early and going through annotating and getting a quotelist before next year starts. This way, when you start writing practise essays you'll be able to easily draw upon the text.

I recommend also making a big 'mind map' thingy of the themes in a text.

SilverBullet:

--- Quote from: "joshuamorgan" ---OK, thanks. What kind of notes do you prepare? How do you determine what quotes to remember?

Yes, he's always taught us to link it with the next paragraph - it's always been something I've failed to comprehend. Is the purpose of the link to link the contention of that paragraph with the topic sentence of the next?
--- End quote ---


Before we went back to school last year I wroute chapter  and scene summaries of each of my texts.

I went through my study  guide to find out what the themes were and then put their explaination into my own words. To help with essay writing I then went through the book/movie to find evidence of each theme.
The quotes should come with that.

For character development I wrote down all the characters and gave each one a personal summary on their journey/role within the text.

Knowing which quotes to remember is the trickiets part. Take note of which quotes you use when practising, you'll find that you just 'know' which ones you need to remember.

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