Elevating your writing and answering question #2 prompts

1. Elevating your writing and answering question #2 prompts In preparation for your IB exams in May

2. General comments on your writing Part I

3. Vary the format of your analysis • Don’t repeat the same pattern over and over again! This makes your writing sound unsophisticated. • The word blank means blank because when one thinks of blank, blank is brought to mind. Blank also blah blah

4. Divide paragraphs! • As we prepare for IB exams, you will end up with some enormous paragraphs. Therefore, you must decide to divide gigantic AEAs. Do this through the effective use of reaffirmation statements after the analysis. This will bring that portion to a close nicely! • Many of you did this very nicely in your AEAs

5. Transitions • One descriptor on the rubric is “coherence”. This can also be attained with strong transitions which tie ideas together. • Use strong transitions in your assertions; tie ideas together. This could even take two sentences. • Use transitions within paragraphs.

6. Stop using “negative connotation” so much • “The words spasms has a connotation of shaking.” • First, spasms has a denotation of shaking. • Next, connotation meaning is the emotions or feelings connected to a word. Simply saying that a word has a negative or positive connotation is NOT sophisticated enough at this level!! • Figure it out and use it correctly or your score will suffer.

7. Complexity and subtlety • Another descriptor on the IB rubric, this cannot be mastered unless you deal with all parts of the thesis in every body paragraph. • Complexity means your thesis is complex • Subtlety means that you understand the nuances of the work. For example, saying the Capote manipulates the reader is good; however, saying the Capote manipulates the reader and makes the reader question their own feelings about feeling sympathy for a murder is what is know as dealing with the subtleties of a work.

8. Set up your evidence • The more context you can set, the more sophisticated your writing becomes. In fact, you could even do some GASP analysis before your evidence: • Capote, in a contiuned effort to evoke sympathy, uses child-like imagery to describe Perry: “blah blahblah” • Oh, and use a COLON to introduce a quote!

9. Your AEAs • 1. Please read them over and look at the rubric • 2. You may rewrite these- if they were late- you will only receive a maximum of half credit –12.5/25 • 3. Should you decide to rewrite, you must follow these instructions or I will NOT grade them and you will lose this opportunity

10. Rewrite- type these • 1. Highlight anything you add. • Turn in the following in the following order, top to bottom • Original Rubric • New AEA with changes highlighted • Old AEA

11. Getting ready to tackle question #2 Compare and contrast

12. Remember from 9th grade . . . • Two ways to structure an answer about two works: 1. Work by work 2. Aspect by aspect

13. Sample question: • .Great literary themes involving love, death, survival and the like have sometimes been treated in ways that are unique or are unexpected. Discuss how two of the works you have studied demonstrate this phenomenon. You must use at least two works studied this semester This is the idea you will need to weave into every paragraph of your essay.

14. Remember: • An essay that shows merely differences is dull and unsophisticated • Ex: While Hamlet takes place in Denmark, The Importance of Being Earnest takes place in England. • In the same way, an essay that merely points out the similarities is also not worth the time.

15. An interesting, engaging essay with either: • Present two very similar ideas and then focus on the slight difference (your “so what?” comes when you analyze why this slight difference is significant) • Or, present two very different ideas and then find some common ground (again, your so what?” comes from analysis of this commonality)

16. When you read the essay prompt, notice what they are asking you to do explicitly and also pay attention to the concepts and literary aspects implicit in the prompt.

17. First thing: understand the prompt on a basic level • How have authors/works treated “great literary themes” [great here could imply universal, archetypal even clichéd. ] • The word ways here requires you to fill in some literary techniques/devices. • So, your job is to look at how UNEXPECTED METHODS (literary devices) have created GREAT THEMES (literary features). And then, of course, TO WHAT EFFECT OR WHAT END. • So, let’s look at unique takes on those first two.

18. LOVE • Love: • *Both Gwendolyn and Cecily fall in love with their suitors’ names (rather than their personalities) and their methods of proposal (rather than the substance of their love • In Hamlet, love is tied to lust (re: Gertrude/Hamlet) • Marriage: • How is this universal theme treated in both? Brainstorm now

19. Marriage

20. Death • Death: • *Anytime death is mentioned in Earnest it’s treated lightly and comically. • *In Hamlet death isn’t discriminatory; in fact, the sobering truth is that because there are so many deaths, the audience feels helpless

21. How I would approach it: • I think I would choose the idea of love. In my intro, I would address the common take on love; that it’s a wild emotion, makes people do crazy things, and that is why so much literature deals with it. • Then, I would have a big HOWEVER that would be my segue to my thesis and therefore a direct response to the question. • My HOWEVER would suggest that 2 of the dramas each have a different twist on how they deal with love (In Earnest, it’s style over substance, In Hamlet, it is tied need/obligation– I would use the whole Hamlet/Ophelia “for on his love depends the safety of the state” • THEN I would go on to suggest that each of these twists on the common theme of love reveals the different cultural values of each text/author/time period.

22. Tips for your intro: • introduce plays and playwrights • do not use quotation marks for play titles • instead of writing the full play title every single time, you can use abbreviations (eg. Death of a Salesman -> DoaS). Make sure you specify this explicitly. • a clear thesis is key. you must link your ideas to literary purpose, as always • answer the question posed by the prompt • elaborate more on purpose of items

23. Body paragraphs • stay in third person: not “we/you” but rather “the audience” • use appropriate terms when discussing drama. Plays are constructed differently than novels because they have different audiences. • use parenthetical citations to show which play the quote is coming from • avoid 2 gigantic body paragraphs (ie. one about each play) • Instead divide them up in an interesting way . . . • balance discussion — know both plays well

24. For this pretend prompt • We will answer/outline using the “MAC vs PC” model and dividing it by play • However we will NOT just plop two enormous AEAs on each play.

25. With a partner • Create a complex, interesting thesis. We will share in 8 minutes

26. Now • Create an outline or brainstorm for your “essay”