Can someone explain the Context Essay?

[nacho]

Hi,
Well, I've never been much of an english student and last year I didn't really get much out of it.
So anyway, I heard people talking about the context essay and how they would gather resources from online and movies etc, and write pretending to be a publisher of some magazine in the exam and really have fun with it.. I had no idea what about what they were talking about, what did they mean "collect resources" and what exactly is in the context essay?
My context is "Encountering conflict" and i've got the books: "the crucible and rugmaker".
I thought it would have just been similar to a text response..but quite frankly i have no clue anymore.
I don't remember doing any thing similar to context last year, but i have a feeling it is similar to 'creating and presenting' as last year in year 11 our topic throughout the year was mainly "identity and belonging" which seems to be a topic some people are doing this year.

So: What is the context essay?

Thanks.

[pi]

A 'context essay', firstly, shouldn't be referred to as an 'essay', because it can really be in any format of your choice (newspaper article, article for magazine, etc.) and it can be creative/imaginative, persuasive, expository or a hybrid; this is unlike a text response. My understanding of context is that you piece should draw on themes/ideas from both your text (you may use more than one) and from external sources.

My advice would be a 1:1 ratio between text references and external references for the exam (as there is no written explanation). For SACs, one can be a bit more imaginative, as a written explanation can be used to explain the more outlandish and obscure references.

We too did a 'creating and presenting' thingy in year 11 (we did 'Justice' and 'Visions of the Future'), it should be similar to that (but at a year 12 level, not at a year 11 level).

[azngirl456]

A context essay in VCE English is meant to reflect your own ideas that you have drawn from the world which are related and applicable to the context books you've been assigned to.

My school is doing whose reality and we've been told to make a scrapbook and collect anything related to reality. This is so we can see how the contexts we are studying are relevant in everyday life.

The worse thing you could do is to treat a context essay like a text response. you'll be deducted marks if you do that

[pi]

The worse thing you could do is to treat a context essay like a text response. you'll be deducted marks if you do that

+1, it is very different from a text response (and hence, has its own section on the exam...)

[nacho]

A 'context essay', firstly, shouldn't be referred to as an 'essay', because it can really be in any format of your choice (newspaper article, article for magazine, etc.) and it can be creative/imaginative, persuasive, expository or a hybrid; this is unlike a text response. My understanding of context is that you piece should draw on themes/ideas from both your text (you may use more than one) and from external sources.

My advice would be a 1:1 ratio between text references and external references for the exam (as there is no written explanation). For SACs, one can be a bit more imaginative, as a written explanation can be used to explain the more outlandish and obscure references.

We too did a 'creating and presenting' thingy in year 11 (we did 'Justice' and 'Visions of the Future'), it should be similar to that (but at a year 12 level, not at a year 11 level).

Ah right, would there be any guides for this on the mhs portal?
I realised the whole context essay was much different from waht i thought it was, when i was at the Kunal Luthra english thing, I believe you were there too

[lexitu]

Okay. So what is called 'Context' is actually what VCAA calls 'Creating and Presenting'. The aim of this is to give students creative license. You are essentially writing in whatever way you want, in whatever medium you want. You are less restricted than the text response and therefore you can draw ideas from many places. Although you do have a certain text which you are required to explore at least indirectly, your writing does not have to revolve tightly around it. Your main boundary is that you are dealing with the implications of your Context.

So in Encountering Conflict (I don't know much about it), you need to examine (through abstract or more straightforward ways) the subtopics that arise from this - how does our identity cause conflict? does conflict manifest between people who think similarly? etc. You will be given a prompt to start you off. This is not like your 'Reading and Responding' (text response) topic, it more a springboard for you to write from. Although you do need to connect with your prompt, you can do so loosely and let your writing go wherever you want it to go - as long as you have at least started with the prompt and followed a natural pathway away from it. You use your text by including within your writing some of its themes. So, if your text is talking about a teenager who doesn't get along with their parents, you need to look at how teenagers encounter conflict. But you could be really wacky and connect with your text in a different way - how about writing about how youth gorillas attempt to climb the hierarchy through conflict? And you don't have to make your response on something that happened in the text. It can be based on an idea that the text presents. For example, a text might suggest that people in unequal environments experience more conflict.

This is from VCAA:

Students will read these texts in order to identify, discuss and analyse ideas and/or arguments associated with the selected Context. They will reflect on the ideas and/or arguments suggested by these texts, explore the relationship between purpose, form, audience and language, and examine the choices made by authors in order to construct meaning.

Students will then draw on the ideas and/or arguments they have gained from the texts studied to construct their own texts. They write for a specified audience and purpose and draw on their experience of exploring texts to explain their own decisions about form, purpose, language, audience and context.

[pi]

I think lexitu has got some great advice up there^

Ah right, would there be any guides for this on the mhs portal?
I realised the whole context essay was much different from waht i thought it was, when i was at the Kunal Luthra english thing, I believe you were there too

No guides on our portal, but Kunal was right in everything he said (he did get a 50 after all), it is definitely not a text response.

[Greatness]

These guys have pretty much got it covered. But the worst thing you cna do is write it like a Text essay. So it's good to change the way you structure your paragraphs. I would use an external source for your first paragraph, then link that to your text and/or supplementary texts.

[king surat]

You can write context essay's quite similar to a text response if you like.
One of the methods that my teacher taught last year was to essentially write a text response on the novel/film and include broad social commentaries at the start of each paragraph as well as social commentaries throughout the paragraph.
She said to start an conclude the essay with a famous quote from a different source.

This technique worked very well for me as a lot of preparation could be done and you knew exactly what you were going to write about, given that the prompts are so broad.

Trust me on this technique. The last time this teacher taught year 12, only 2 people got below 40.

[Andiio]

IMO, a context essay is, in essence, an exploration of the ideas presented within a certain prompt.

[nacho]

You can write context essay's quite similar to a text response if you like.
One of the methods that my teacher taught last year was to essentially write a text response on the novel/film and include broad social commentaries at the start of each paragraph as well as social commentaries throughout the paragraph.
She said to start an conclude the essay with a famous quote from a different source.

This technique worked very well for me as a lot of preparation could be done and you knew exactly what you were going to write about, given that the prompts are so broad.

Trust me on this technique. The last time this teacher taught year 12, only 2 people got below 40.

This sounds interesting, would you care to elaborate or provide example?
I'll have a look now at the worked examples, thanks guys cleared things up.

[werdna]

The closest you'll get to a text response essay in the context task is a traditional expository essay.

[luken93]

The closest you'll get to a text response essay in the context task is a traditional expository essay.

Is that necessarily a bad thing, or do you recommend being creative in your style of writing...

[werdna]

The closest you'll get to a text response essay in the context task is a traditional expository essay.

Is that necessarily a bad thing, or do you recommend being creative in your style of writing...

If you want to play it safe, then do a formal, standard expository essay. But yes, you should try to be creative if you can; explore different writing forms and maybe even try doing a hybrid piece.

[lexitu]

^ Mmm I like hybrids personally. It's good not to be tied down by the name of the writing piece. It's just a piece of writing and it can take on any form. Just be careful because some of your SACs might require a certain mode and then you'll have to tailor for that.