2. General Tips
• Spend sufficient time annotating the text and
planning your answer. You should not be
writing anything for at least 20 mins.
• Do not assume things about the text because
you are familiar with the author. Don’t jump
to assumptions but back up your ideas with
textual evidence.
• Be tentative with your conclusions ….
3. • For examples use phrases such as “This could
suggest” “One possible reading” etc.
• Read back your work to check it makes sense.
• Use the correct terminology when writing
about language.
• When writing about the texts start with the
meaning – what is the writer
saying/portraying.
• Once you have decided what the text is about
then you can analyse the methods the writer
is using to put across their ideas.
4. Wider Reading
• Three is the minimum number of wider
reading references you can make – one for
each genre.
• Rather than make many brief references, try
to develop the ones you do use by making
reference to the writer’s treatment of the
theme.
• Use the correct genre for the question
5. Which genre would you use for wider
reading?
• Question 1 is two prose extracts.
• Question 2 is a poem and a drama
extract.
6. Ensure that you know your wider reading well
enough to be able to choose appropriate
references.
You should already have classified the texts into
genre, theme, time of writing.
Ensure that you know their title and author!
Be prepared to comment not only on content
but also on treatment – form, structure and
language.
7. How to make Links
Don’t panic if a link does not immediately
spring to mind. The most obvious link is by
theme e.g. jealousy, betrayal, maternal
love etc.
However, you can link the texts however
you wish as long as you make the link clear
and developed.
8. Here are some examples
• Form – sonnet, novel, drama.
• Time – written in the same era.
• Language – texts that use similar or
contrasting techniques.
9. AO1
The examiner will be rewarding a clear and
fluent writing style and the correct use of
terminology.
This is why it is essential to plan and structure
your writing rather than write down everything
which comes into your head.
Begin with an overview before conparing the
texts in detail.
10. • Use “breadcrumb” quotations
from the text to support your
comments.
Point,Evidence,Explain,Link.
• Learn your terminology and use
it where appropriate.
11. AO2
The examiner will be looking for analysis of
Language, Structure and Form.
Avoid simply feature spotting. Always try to
comment on how the feature effects the reader.
e.g. The short exchanges between Ann and
Richard pick up the pace of the scene and create
tension and expectation.
12. Could you recognise the following?
• Dramatic irony
• Iambic pentameter
• Free verse
• Pathetic Fallacy
• Oxymoron
• Onomatopoeia
• Metaphor
• Simile
• Assonance
• Personification
• Sonnet
• Alliteration
• Enjambment
• Soliloquy
13. AO3
The examiner will be looking for
appropriate comparisons between
the extracts and links to your wider
reading.
14. AO4
Here the examiner will be looking for some
reference to context – the circumstances in which it
was produced (historical, social, political, literary)
You are not expected to write a history essay just
comment where relevant.
For example attitudes towards women and ethnic
minorities in Shakespearean England are essential
to our understanding of Othello and Taming of the
Shrew.
