Showing posts with label Exam skills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exam skills. Show all posts

Friday, September 7, 2012

To refresh your memories: text analysis


Summing up, you can say that a text or text type can be identified by looking at the following characteristics:


Audience and purpose
Who wrote the text?
What is the aim of the text?
Who was it written for?
Content and theme
What is the text about?
What are the thematic elements in it?
Tone, register and mood
How does the text sound? Is it formal, informal, serious or ironic? What kind of words are used?
How does the text make the reader feel?
Stylistic devices
Imagery, metaphors, repetition, use of colour, verbs, etc.
Structure
How is the text organised?
Lay-out (font, placement of images, etc.)
Contents organisation (point of view, division into paragraphs, frequency of dialogue, etc.)


Always be specific about these aspects and provide clear examples to support your analysis!

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Practice essay (Part 4)

Writing an essay is not easy. Paper 2 (IB exam set for 3 May, 2013) is an essay, though: you'll get to choose from six essay questions and you have to write about the books we are still going to read for Part 3 of the course.

To practice your essay writing skills we are going to take examples from the works from Part 4 (Macbeth, Heart of Darkness and A Streetcar Named Desire).

Essay questions:

Explain how in at least two works you have studied ambition leads to the downfall of one of the protagonists.

Show how the contrast between light and dark is used to illustrate the themes of at least two of the works you have studied.

Work plan:

Step 1: collect examples

Step 2: structure your examples into an essay plan; the PIE schedule I have handed to you is a tool that might help you structure your essay - you are not obliged to use it this way. The most important aspect of the PIE schedule is that it makes clear that you not only have to give illustrations/examples of the point you are making, but that you have to explain the connection between example and point.

Step 3: write the essay

Assignment

Finish your essay plan/PIE schedule before Wednesday 5 September so it can be discussed in class.
Hand in your finished essay (400-500 words) before Tuesday 11 September.