Hi Geoo,
Here is how I personally study/revise for my English/Literature subjects. I have organised each section of my study and revision tips into sub-headings just to make your life easier
1. In-Class Tips
Participate in class
Ask questions
Be interested - have an inquiring mind
Read - and read wisely
Take an interest in ideas
Talk and listen
Be prepared for class (have everything with you so you don't have to miss a chunk of your class).
Decide how you will eat the elephant - do things in small chunks (one paragraph at a time)
Make a plan for essays -> while writing is important in English, planning is just as important as organisation and structure of your ideas is a key aspect in the marking criteria.
Use as many resources as possible and use them to your advantage! For example, don't be scared to use No Fear Shakespeare as it has really helped me and a lot of my peers to understand the Shakespearian language. However, don't entirely depend on these resources as your thought process is key to success in English!
2. How to prepare for Essay Exams
What makes a good essay?
· A good essay answers the essay question
· A good essay conforms to the word limit
· A good essay conforms to the other directions set in the exam/assignment
· A good essay is concise as possible
· A good essay avoids irrelevant or extraneous information that distracts from the main argument
· A good essay indicates the evidence on which any argument and individual points are based and acknowledge the sources of information, if appropriate.
· A good essay has a better command of language and wider vocabulary which is less important than the ability to get your message across clearly.
Tips:
· Use words that you understand and are comfortable with. It is far better to say what you have to say simply than to attempt to dress up your information in flowery prose and be sure to edit your work for spelling and typographical mistakes before you hand it in.
Planning
Ask yourself the following:
· What is the specific topic for this essay?
· What are the limits of this discussion (e.g. time period, place)?
· What directions are set (word limit, instructional words like 'discuss' or 'analyse')?
Next, ask:
· What, when, why, where, who, how, to what extent and how significant-type questions about the topic and its various parts. Write these down. This helps you break down the essay question.
Then:
· Make a preliminary plan: The ideas you generate from the brainstorm will form a preliminary plan, which can direct your research and which you can review after you have completed your research.
· Research the topic: Depending on the assignment, you will likely need to research; if so, be sure to write down the bibliographic details of any reference from which you make notes. Note page numbers for direct quotes as well as for information that you have taken from a specific page or pages of a document.
· Refine your plan: Having done your reading, you can now review and finalise your plan. Think about the order in which you want to present the ideas. This imposes a structure and a logical progression in your argument.
Editing and Proofreading
· When you have completed your draft essay, put it aside for at least a day so you can look at it with ‘fresh eyes’
· First, ensure each argument develops logically from one idea to another.
· In a second edit, look at style and expression, particularly choice of vocabulary, construction of sentences and the way ideas are introduced.
· Proofreading is the final step in the editing process – check spelling, grammar and punctuation. Do NOT rely on the computer spell check as they can miss too many things.
3. Some Other "Hacks"
Create a mindmap.
Teach your parents the text.
Highlight your text in different colours.
Learn vocab from the book.
Read different sources about your text.
Do a critical analysis of the films.
Read your essay out-loud to find mistakes.
Apply your quotes to the context (write it in your essays).
Read further around the context of your book.
Discuss different perspectives on the book through your friends.
Don’t just write essays — try new prompts that are more challenging than the last and always trying to find new evidence you can use
Have unique interpretations — Try to view the text from different lenses – feminist, Marxist, post-colonial perspective – and these will offer you new ways of interpreting the story.
FOCUS — have a selection of passages throughout the novel that you know really well
4. English Study Advice
English Study Advice
Flashcards are great for studying foreign languages. Put the term on one side, and the definition and a sample sentence on the other. For languages with a different alphabet than your native language, you may also want to include a reminder of how the word is pronounced.
Flashcards can also be used for literature classes (can you tell I love flashcards?). Use them to summarize important works and remind you of important vocabulary and literary devices.
For writing classes, read your old essays and make a list of the comments your teacher has left on them. This can help you identify areas you need to focus on when writing a final essay. I highly recommend taking in papers you didn’t do as well on and asking your teacher to discuss them with you. They can show you what mistakes you made and tell you how to score higher on the final essay!
5. In Analytical Exams
Answer the question. Make sure you’ve read the question accurately. Make sure you are answering the question you have chosen rather than the one that you would have preferred to be on the paper.
Take time to think about and plan your answer. It gives you time and space to gather your thoughts in terms of addressing the question and selecting appropriate references and details to support and develop your own interpretation of the text.
Demonstrate your knowledge of the text by ‘pointing’ to particular moments. If you use a direct reference, make sure it’s relevant to your answer, and that you can say something useful about it. You don’t get extra marks for more quotations, but you do get more marks for making plenty of interesting comments about the references you have selected.
Read the extracts very carefully. They are there to support your response and offer a way into the question and the text. It is valuable to place the extract in the context of the text it comes from – at what point, what happened before or after, or both, which characters are involved, how does it link to other parts of the text. Make sure that you understand the meaning and context of any quotations you select from the extract.
Recognise that writer’s methods means anything the writer has done deliberately. While this does include the writer’s use of language and techniques to present their ideas, it also refers to the structure of the text – the order of events, the juxtaposing of events, the use of characters as contrasts or foils, so that what one character does illuminates and comments on the actions of other characters, characterisation – how characters develop and change over the course of the text and how the writer portrays this.
Understand the connection between the writer’s methods and the writer’s ideas. It may be helpful to think about “how” the writer does something and “why” the writer does something. Methods and ideas are inextricably linked – writer’s use methods, including language and structure, to form and express their ideas – the choices the writer makes are conscious and deliberate, if they chose different words or techniques, their ideas would also be different
Link your comments on contextual factors / ideas to the text. Remember that context informs, but should never dominate, your reading of the text. The text comes first. Chunks of biographical or literary/historical detail are almost always redundant.
Know the text. If you know the text well you will be able to demonstrate this knowledge and understanding in the exam. The text should be the focus.
Answer the question. Perhaps underline the key foci before you start. Make sure you’ve read the question accurately.
Demonstrate your knowledge of the text by ‘pointing’ to particular moments. If you use a direct reference, make sure it’s relevant to your answer, and that you can say something useful about it. You don’t get extra marks for more quotations, but you do get more marks for making plenty of interesting comments about the references you have selected.
Appreciate the big themes and ideas of the text. Think about what the writer wanted their audience to understand after watching the play or reading the novel.
Recognise that there are various ways in which you can show your appreciation of writer’s methods. While language analysis is perfectly valid, analysis of structure or characterisation can also be very effective means of showing an understanding and appreciation of what the writer has done.
Link your comments on contextual factors / ideas to the text. Remember that context informs, but should never dominate, your reading of the text. The text comes first.
Time spent planning an answer can be very helpful in organising your ideas and helping you to build an argument.
Plan essays! If you don't have time to write entire ones, planning can be just as good. It allows you to cover more topics and therefore making it more likely you will have prepared for an essay question that you get in a sac/exam
- Have a vocabulary list and update it when you are writing essays. I have four tabs (general, AA, text response and comparative).
- Read other essays, reviews of books, journal articles, etc to increase you knowledge of the book and your vocab.
- Read past exams, including literature exams to see what a high response is.
- Continue doing what you are doing, including memorising quotes (I'm assuming you have a quote bank?), discussing ideas and practice essays, etc.
- I know our teacher makes us write mini essays or kind of like an extended response length of 300-400, which can also be a good thing to do when you lack the energy to write a full 800-900 word essay.
-Write constant essays
-Get feed back on those essay
-Write a mind map on a book or chapter or character
- Memorise quotes
- Talk/discuss with other students
-Breakdown prompts
make quote banks for each theme
for language analysis, read a bunch of articles and analyse/annotate them.
practice writing paragraphs
Hopefully, this helps
Have a great week and kind regards,
Darcy Dillon.
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