English Extension 1 Question Thread

[meerae]

Hey guys,

So I have a couple of questions for my extension essay (it's on Worlds of Upheaval):

-should I do an integrated essay? How? After hearing about it on the forums, I asked my teacher about it, but she didn't recommend it. I've always been taught to have a separate paragraph for each text and my teacher's a HSC marker, so I'm not sure what style to stick with.
-with the common module, what does 'identity, voice and points of view' mean? Does this refer to the author and their context or the way that the text has been written?
-how would you say the film Metropolis challenges literary conventions and traditional societal values/activates a change in attitudes?

Thanks

Hey nishta!

Angelina went into everything quite well, I just wanted to add my perspective on integrated paragraphs from what I heard yesterday at the ext1 English day.

My teacher is very against integrated paragraphs, but my head teacher is all for them (which made loads of conflict last term when we were writing our essays last term). At the lectures yesterday, I asked as many HSC markers that I could find about their view and a lot of them felt that for most electives, doing it textually allows you to go more in depth, especially because most electives need you to go in a lot of depth.

Of course, there is no right or wrong structure and so I'd recommend to do the structure that you can do especially well, because thats the best way to impress the markers.

Hope this helps!
meerae

[infectmarshroom]

Hi all,

I have received an essay for my elective worlds of upheaval-
"It is ingrained in the human nature that in periods of social and political change and upheaval, individuals and communities will seek justice and restoration. To what extent do the texts you studied explore this idea through characterisation and setting?"

My teacher has overwhelmed us stating it requires "12 body paragraphs"  :'(I think this is absurd and impractical unless my essay will be 3000 words. What do you think the best way to structure my essay will be and how many paragraphs? It is on two prescribed and two related. I am thinking...

Prescribed text 1: charcterisation
Prescribed text 2: charcterisation
Integrated Related texts: charcterisation
Integrated Prescribed texts: setting
Integrated Related texts: setting

Whilst, throughout addressing/ recognising the inherent need to seek restoration/justice in the specific predicament of the upheaval and answering the question.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[not a mystery mark]

"It is ingrained in the human nature that in periods of social and political change and upheaval, individuals and communities will seek justice and restoration. To what extent do the texts you studied explore this idea through characterisation and setting?"

My teacher has overwhelmed us,  stating it requires "12 body paragraphs."
Thanks in advance for your help!

Heyy, Infectmarshroom.
I'd say 12 paragraphs is a bit ridiculous and unrealistic to replicate for the HSC examination. I generally recommend 3 - 4 paragraphs (probably 4 for this assignment) depending on how many text's you have to discuss. By doing 3-4, you're ensuring you have ample textual analysis and a detailed, cohesive discussion. Perhaps ask your teacher to clarify what they meant, because I can't imagine anybody doing 12 paragraphs.

Regarding structure, our teacher recommends discussing them in chronological order of their context so we can discuss how themes have evolved - allowing us to readily draw connections between texts. For your essay, I think it might be interesting to simultaneously talk about setting and characterisation. For instance, how you may discuss a symbiotic relationship between a character and their setting, allowing for an analysis of pathetic fallacy. This way you can cut down 6 paragraphs to 4.
Eg: Para 1: Text 1 (Setting + Characterisation)
Para 2: Text 2 (Setting + Characterisation)
Para 3: Text 3 (Setting + Characterisation)
Para 4: Text 4 (Setting + Characterisation)

I'm unsure what text's you're studying but maybe a setting is looking particularly grim and so a character may be enraged and such be determined to seek justice and restoration.

I hope this has helped. If you do take my advice check with your teacher and other markers at your school because at the end of the day, they're the ones grading the paper.
Cheers

[infectmarshroom]

Heyy, Infectmarshroom.
I'd say 12 paragraphs is a bit ridiculous and unrealistic to replicate for the HSC examination. I generally recommend 3 - 4 paragraphs (probably 4 for this assignment) depending on how many text's you have to discuss. By doing 3-4, you're ensuring you have ample textual analysis and a detailed, cohesive discussion. Perhaps ask your teacher to clarify what they meant, because I can't imagine anybody doing 12 paragraphs.

Regarding structure, our teacher recommends discussing them in chronological order of their context so we can discuss how themes have evolved - allowing us to readily draw connections between texts. For your essay, I think it might be interesting to simultaneously talk about setting and characterisation. For instance, how you may discuss a symbiotic relationship between a character and their setting, allowing for an analysis of pathetic fallacy. This way you can cut down 6 paragraphs to 4.
Eg: Para 1: Text 1 (Setting + Characterisation)
Para 2: Text 2 (Setting + Characterisation)
Para 3: Text 3 (Setting + Characterisation)
Para 4: Text 4 (Setting + Characterisation)

I'm unsure what text's you're studying but maybe a setting is looking particularly grim and so a character may be enraged and such be determined to seek justice and restoration.

I hope this has helped. If you do take my advice check with your teacher and other markers at your school because at the end of the day, they're the ones grading the paper.
Cheers

Thank you very much!!!!!!!!

[nishta]

Hey nishta!

Angelina went into everything quite well, I just wanted to add my perspective on integrated paragraphs from what I heard yesterday at the ext1 English day.

My teacher is very against integrated paragraphs, but my head teacher is all for them (which made loads of conflict last term when we were writing our essays last term). At the lectures yesterday, I asked as many HSC markers that I could find about their view and a lot of them felt that for most electives, doing it textually allows you to go more in depth, especially because most electives need you to go in a lot of depth.

Of course, there is no right or wrong structure and so I'd recommend to do the structure that you can do especially well, because thats the best way to impress the markers.

Hope this helps!
meerae

Thanks heaps, that's really great to know. 

[nishta]

Hey, nishta!

I've got some suggestions which you can feel free to take on board if you wish based on personal experience, as well as what I have learnt from diving into the new syllabus more for Extension 1.

I would firstly say yes to integrated essays! My school highly encouraged them and as a result, so do I! They enable you to better engage with synthesis, especially with an Ext 1 essay which has up to five different texts (if you are doing poetry). However, if your teacher has recommended against using it and you are much more used to writing separate paragraphs for each text, go with that for your internals. Your teacher will be the one marking that essay so you'll want to appeal to what she has taught. After your Trials are done, work with what you think will maximise your performance. A marker is not going to deduct students' marks if they use one structure over another but there will be issues if your essay doesn't make sense and have cohesion.

If you would like to write in an integrated style, here's a link to my Ext 1 essay that I wrote for the HSC. Although the syllabus has changed, you can clearly see the structure I have implemented to ensure the texts flow and develop one another's ideas. I've also attached a link to Emily's Lecture Slides from January for Ext 1 and you can see the different ways you can approach writing paragraphs in Ext 1  Basically, do with what will make you feel most comfortable because there isn't a right or wrong way 

As for the Common Module, "identity, voice and points of view" can be interpreted from both those lenses you have presented. It may refer to the composer and how their context, purpose and immediate audience has impacted their creative decisions within the text. It may also be explored within the characters, settings and other literary constructions within the texts. Those concepts are left open-ended for a reason and you can make the argument that the "identity, voice and points of views" expressed within the text reflect the composer's intentions and contextual values. That way, you develop a more layered argument and consider how the mechanisms of the text, and its conceptual foundations, are extensions of the composer. If you are having trouble with the Common Module, I did a break down which might help!

I didn't study Metropolis so I'm not too familiar with it but I would imagine it would both be a product of its time, as well as a challenger of its conventions, considering the nature of the module is on "upheaval" and that your text itself should embody that. With Frankenstein and Waiting for Godot, you can clearly see Romantic and Postmodern tendencies within those texts; I would imagine Modernist, and in particular German Expressionist, aesthetics similarly being so in Metropolis. Both the other two texts there have challenged notions of progress and responded to the societal values of their time in hopes of activating a change in attitudes for audiences on what they have readily accepted in their immediate worlds. I would consider how Metropolis is similarly a response to the instability and superficiality of the Weimar Republic, positioning audiences to evaluate their stance on society. Any innovative film techniques utilised to convey meaning would also be ideal to explore as they directly challenge traditional ways of representing ideas. I hope someone with more knowledge on the text can help you out with this question 

Very long response from me today so hope something in it helps!

Angelina 

You're an actual legend, thanks so much.

[burningcandle]

I have an analytical response task for extension 1 english on literary homelands where we have to answer the question in reference to 2 related texts and 1 related text. In class we have been going through 3 point of comparisons between our two related and as formative tasks and have been advised to use three techniques per paragraph. My question is, how would i structure and essay with 3 texts? 2 are books, the related is something shorter. it is 1200 words and the question is "The nature of home is a complex interplay of both local and global influences. How have you found this to be true in your study of TWO prescribed texts and ONE related text of your own choosing?"
Thank you

[emilyyyyyyy]

Hi,

I have to write an essay critically analysing Frankenstein, Waiting for Godot and a related text for Worlds of Upheaval. In Frankenstein and Waiting for Godot, what upheaval should I talk about?
I was thinking for Frankenstein I can talk about science v nature & women, and for Godot, I was thinking post war existentialism.
Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks!

[owidjaja]

Hi,

I have to write an essay critically analysing Frankenstein, Waiting for Godot and a related text for Worlds of Upheaval. In Frankenstein and Waiting for Godot, what upheaval should I talk about?
I was thinking for Frankenstein I can talk about science v nature & women, and for Godot, I was thinking post war existentialism.
Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks!

Hey there,

I didn't study Extension English but I think you could talk about the dangers of pursuing knowledge in Frankenstein (which can link with your idea of science v nature). You could also probably talk about the impacts of society and how they can corrupt individuals. There were some great ideas discussed here. For Waiting for Godot, you could probably expand your idea of post-war existentialism with Beckett's anti-religion stance.

Hope this helps!

[angewina_naguen]

I have an analytical response task for extension 1 english on literary homelands where we have to answer the question in reference to 2 related texts and 1 related text. In class we have been going through 3 point of comparisons between our two related and as formative tasks and have been advised to use three techniques per paragraph. My question is, how would i structure and essay with 3 texts? 2 are books, the related is something shorter. it is 1200 words and the question is "The nature of home is a complex interplay of both local and global influences. How have you found this to be true in your study of TWO prescribed texts and ONE related text of your own choosing?"
Thank you

Hey, burningcandle!

Welcome to the forum! A structure I would recommend loosely following would be this 

Introduction (100 words)
Body 1- Prescribed 1+ Related Text (250 words)
Body 2- Prescribed 2 + Related Text (250 words)
Body 3- Prescribed 1+ Prescribed 2 (250 words)
Body 4- Related Text + Synthesis of all texts (250 words)
Conclusion (100 words)

The word counts are just rough guidelines but can help you balance your discussion of the texts. It'll also cater for the lengths of the novels in comparison to the related which is shorter  Hope that helps!

Angelina 

[emilyyyyyyy]

Hi,

Seeing as we only write about 2 prescribed texts for the HSC, should I be studying my third one?

Thanks

[Partinus]

Hi,

Seeing as we only write about 2 prescribed texts for the HSC, should I be studying my third one?

Thanks

No, it's much better to dedicate your time to two so you really know them in-depth. There's no point in studying the third.

[angewina_naguen]

Hi,

Seeing as we only write about 2 prescribed texts for the HSC, should I be studying my third one?

Thanks

Hey, emilyyyyyyy!

I think it just depends on what you think would give you more confidence going into the exam. Like Partinus, I prepared two in depth but I did memorise four quotes from my third text in case I found the question more suitable for that text. It's smarter to dedicate more time to the two you're most likely to use and cover all bases (political, social, cultural, economic, scientific etc.) but there's no harm in bringing something from the third in the event that you might find it more relevant! It'll give you that extra bit of security but you'll also know you're pretty safe going with the two that you're well versed in 

Angelina 

[nishta]

As a rough guide, how long should you be writing in the 1 hour time frame for an essay?

My teacher says around 2000 words, but idk if I can write that much  :0

[katede21822]

Also, what do people think about having 2 related texts for an elective topic? I'm currently doing Literary Mindscapes and our teacher says that for the trial exams, we must have 2 prescribed texts along with our 2 related...? I'm thinking that I'll just write an essay on 3 texts and integrate my 2nd prescribed if the question asks...?

What do you think?