English Extension 2 Question Thread

[elysepopplewell]

Congratulations everyone! What a feeling!

[alessio_speranza]

Hi,

What would you say would be some topics or forms of text that should be avoided or at least tread carefully upon?

Thanks

[paigek3]

Hi,

What would you say would be some topics or forms of text that should be avoided or at least tread carefully upon?

Thanks

When I first read this, my mind wandered straight to two of the topics people say to never bring up at parties - religion and politics

Then I thought about it more and though this could be going on a tangent for an extension 2 project, even books that supposedly “teach” Parents how to raise their children can be a ‘sensitive topic’ because of course every family has their own style and every child has different needs

Performance poetry has become associated with feminism in my eyes of late, because it has been a great form to express ideas and attitudes to what women experience on a daily basis. Though now it gets criticised due to the stigma placed around ‘feminism’

I’ll reply or PM you with more if I can think of any. Nonetheless your major work sounds SO interesting!!!! What form are you thinking of doing it in?

EDIT: WAIT. I just re read your question and are you asking this for your own major work or do you mean what topics and forms you actually should stick away from?! Because I thought the former at first but now I’m second guessing myself lol!!!

If it was the latter, there’s a lot of flexibility on what you can do and what form you did it on. Short stories seem to be most popular. But I’d suggest you try do something super original 

[mixel]

Hi,

What would you say would be some topics or forms of text that should be avoided or at least tread carefully upon?

Thanks

To give two very specific warnings, speculative fiction and mental illness. Avoid speculative fiction because you can't both set up a deep world and execute a compelling story in the limit of 6000 words, or at the very least it'll be incredibly difficult. Avoid mental illness because the vast majority of people that write on it either misportray it or rely on it as a crutch for a poorly-conceived story, and both will alienate markers.

As for forms, I'd say that nothing is off the table. That isn't to say some forms will serve you better than others, though. It's a bit of a truism, but you'll do best in whatever form you're best in. If you have no experience with drama, a script or screenplay will take much more effort than a short story to produce a work of the same quality. But on the other hand, don't rule anything out just because you think you couldn't do it. HSC markers are paid to be unbiased -- your passion for the concept and form you're doing will affect your mark, but marker preference will not. And teaching yourself how to write in a form you're unfamiliar with would be incredibly rewarding.

I know this isn't what you were asking, and forgive me if this seems contradictory to what I just wrote, but some genres can give you an edge and improve your odds of writing something that will really 'wow' a marker. (Modern) Historical fiction is good for a number of reasons: the realism of the world you write is limited only by your research. History is a 'resolved story' and provides known conclusions for the cultural backdrop of your story, which really helps a reader engage with the world your characters inhabit. History lets you weave your story into a context of social and political developments, for example, Jazz Age New York immediately gives you a set of ideas with which to run such as race, pride and counter-culturalism. By extension, revisiting such a 'resolved story' to appropriate those ideas into a commentary on contemporary issues lets you make some very profound statements. And in the end, that's what an audience loves best -- a piece of fiction that 'says something', and leaves them thinking about it.

Good luck, and if you haven't already decided on doing extension 2, I strongly suggest it 

[bellahoogz]

Hi! As this is the first wek of year 12, I am currently in the stage of reading other critical essays and researching a potential topic.
I was wondering how many hours a week you would recommend working on the major work. Since it's not a traditionally 'creative' major, I think the issue will be time rather then writers block (seeing as I am currently doing 15 units).

Thanks!
Bella

[paigek3]

Hi! As this is the first wek of year 12, I am currently in the stage of reading other critical essays and researching a potential topic.
I was wondering how many hours a week you would recommend working on the major work. Since it's not a traditionally 'creative' major, I think the issue will be time rather then writers block (seeing as I am currently doing 15 units).

Thanks!
Bella

15 units?!! My gosh, what other subjects are you doing? And are you planning to drop down any?

The amount of time I put into my major work differed depending on what stage I was up to, as well as what else was going on at school. For instance when I was just doing background research for my own critical essay, I probably only amounted to 1-2 hours a week as it did not take super long to do that. But when it came to drafting and writing I literally just did it any chance I could get, so on an average this might’ve been like half an hour to an hour every day, but of course that would again depend on how busy I was. During half yearlies and trials I didn’t really do much at all.

What topics have appealed you so far?

[NowYouTseMe]

Hi,
I'm considering doing a critical response to/critique of an author's work, but I was curious as to whether I should narrow my scope further. Also, as it is the first few weeks of the course, I'm doing research into the critical response form, particularly author critiques so I was wondering where I would be able to find good examples of this.

[samanth]

Hey,
I have just started the course and I'm still trying to pick my idea. I want to do short story or poetry (but mostly short story) and I wanted to focus on mental illness as a main theme. I've been told that its hard to get good marks when writing about mental illness because you're automatically put into a category of sappy/poorly written.
If I, hypothetically, wrote well and illustrated a good narrative would I still be put in that sappy category or would I, for lack of better words, look better compared to pieces that are actually poorly written.
I am open to changing my idea because of the personal opinions of markers but am really passionate about the topic and just really want some straight forward advice
Thank you so much!!!

[elysepopplewell]

Hi,
I'm considering doing a critical response to/critique of an author's work, but I was curious as to whether I should narrow my scope further. Also, as it is the first few weeks of the course, I'm doing research into the critical response form, particularly author critiques so I was wondering where I would be able to find good examples of this.

Hello! Welcome to the E2 thread A user named Ella has just answered a very similar question to this on one of the other threads, click this link to see her awesome response. She did a critical response too, and has listed a few ideas about research into form here!

As for your scope - I don't think it needs to be narrowed down further immediately so to say, but you'll find an angle as you research more. What lens will you adapt? You could be obscure and view the author's work critically through the lens of marxism, feminism, etc. When you're ready to be critical, that's when you'll need to zoom in to carve out your response

[elysepopplewell]

Hey,
I have just started the course and I'm still trying to pick my idea. I want to do short story or poetry (but mostly short story) and I wanted to focus on mental illness as a main theme. I've been told that its hard to get good marks when writing about mental illness because you're automatically put into a category of sappy/poorly written.
If I, hypothetically, wrote well and illustrated a good narrative would I still be put in that sappy category or would I, for lack of better words, look better compared to pieces that are actually poorly written.
I am open to changing my idea because of the personal opinions of markers but am really passionate about the topic and just really want some straight forward advice
Thank you so much!!!

Hello and welcome to the forums! Here to give straight forward advice

If it is well written - you cannot be put in a category that sees you as poorly written. If it is well written, the piece will be evocative, extraordinary, and your passion will spill through, and it will not be seen as sappy.

You could claim my own short story explored mental illness through the lens of an oedipus complex, but it didn't stop me from getting an E4. So I'm not concerned by your topic matter right off the bat. Your plot and writing style will contribute to the overall reception moreso than just the idea that is centralised

[mxrylyn]

What are both your subjective and objective views on doing a series of short stories or recounts of seemingly separate events, about interactions with 1 person, with the last one revealing that they are all related?

For the MW

[elysepopplewell]

What are both your subjective and objective views on doing a series of short stories or recounts of seemingly separate events, about interactions with 1 person, with the last one revealing that they are all related?

For the MW

That sounds wonderful! Form is a big consideration with E2 and you've thought of a brilliant, unique idea. Execution would take a lot of thinking but it honestly excites me. Great idea

[mxrylyn]

Will it effect my internal marks if I have a teacher who really, really, REALLY doesn't like me?

[bundahboy]

Will it effect my internal marks if I have a teacher who really, really, REALLY doesn't like me?

Depends on whether he or she is the only teacher involved in the Extension 2 course at your school.

If he or she is, then it could well have an effect. Extension 2 allows for great subjectivity to arise in the assessment of your concept, research, and major work draft (even HSC markers often fervently disagree on the merits of a particular MW). If this teacher is the only person who will be conducting the viva voce and marking your research report and MW drafts, it could be very easy for he or she to simply say that your "concept is unsuitable" or that your research report or MW draft "needs more detail/polish".

If there are multiple teachers involved in the course, however, the possibility of this diminishes. In this case, it is likely that more than one teacher will be involved in the setting and marking of assessment tasks, so any objections your teacher has over the quality of your work will have to be substantiated in the presence of his or her colleague.

In any case (especially the first), it is wise to keep your teacher accountable if you genuinely think beef exists between you and him/her. See if you can get another English teacher to sit in on the viva voce or read your RR/MW Draft (my school did this as a matter of policy even though we only had one E2 teacher). Else, if you think your marks have been compromised, you can always appeal to your Head of Department/Director of Studies. Your teacher will then have to back up any criticism of your work 

[mxrylyn]

Hello and welcome to the forums! Here to give straight forward advice

If it is well written - you cannot be put in a category that sees you as poorly written. If it is well written, the piece will be evocative, extraordinary, and your passion will spill through, and it will not be seen as sappy.

You could claim my own short story explored mental illness through the lens of an oedipus complex, but it didn't stop me from getting an E4. So I'm not concerned by your topic matter right off the bat. Your plot and writing style will contribute to the overall reception moreso than just the idea that is centralised

Thank You! She is the only Ext 2 teacher (As we only have 2 students in the class. But nonetheless I will try my absolute best in the course and be very polite and extra nice.

My only current problem is that as of now, I have no-one to send my practice exam questions and comprehension work to. Would it be overstepping to give this work to a different English teacher within the school for marking?