Mod A Responses: Integrated paragraphs or separate?

[BakerDad12]

Hey guys, when writing Mod. A responses, do you think writing two paragraphs with both texts integrated is the way to go, or having 4 paragraphs with one on original text then the second on appropriated text?

[angewina_naguen]

Hey guys, when writing Mod. A responses, do you think writing two paragraphs with both texts integrated is the way to go, or having 4 paragraphs with one on original text then the second on appropriated text?

Hey, BakerDad12!

This is the age old question for HSC Advanced English students and my answer has always been that it's up to you. You should do whichever you're more comfortable with. If you did one of those structures and found it worked well for your assessment, go with that. If it didn't, you might want to revise your feedback and see what you could do differently or try out the other structure to see if it's easier for you 

As for my own experience, I personally prefer to do integrated essays and did them for my HSC exams as well as my university essays now. However, my school only taught non-integrated or semi-integrated (which is what your second version is) structures because it is less complicated. I was able to do write comfortably with integrated structures from practice after my Trials and I can honestly say that there's less of a difference than you may think between the two. Neither one guarantee more marks, nor is doing one over the other risker. What matters is that you have a balanced discussion of both texts (so you shouldn't spend way more time on one over the other or use more textual evidence for either) and that you draw comparisons between them in your synthesis and evaluation as you link back to the question (whether this be at the end of the integrated paragraph, or the end of the appropriated text paragraphs for semi-integrated). Hope that helps!

Angelina