What Other Subjects did you do?
That was really insightful, thanks! Do you have any advice for answering questions that ask about specific scenes?
What are all the themes/ideas that surround module B and it's rubric?
Hi!
I am quite stuck writing an introduction for Module, since it's only one text we are focusing one, what other things do I need to talk about apart from my thesis?
Thanks!
Hey!! A Module B introduction should go something like this:
- Thesis
- Amplification (Extra Detail on Thesis)
- Introduce the Text and Composer
- Introduce themes to be discussed in the essay
- Link the composers use of techniques to the audience (both universal and contextual)
- Make your judgement about the effectiveness of these techniques in portraying the themes
That is the general mould I follow ;D
Hi!
I am quite stuck writing an introduction for Module, since it's only one text we are focusing one, what other things do I need to talk about apart from my thesis?
Thanks!
When using critiques do we just state who they are by or do we have to state where it was published?
This is a sample essay paragraph I found (on hamlet) and I'm stuggling to understand the structure of a body paragraph (what you have to write in a body paragraph
Could someone here please explain to be this body paragraph and the structure of it because I can't seem to understand the structure of these things
Thanks
My English teacher is super keen on using critics & readings... not as the main basis for an essay, but definitely to integrate/name drop throughout. How much of that should we have in a Mod B essay?
Just a quick query, should we have production references in our Mod B essays? My teacher really stressed this, and some of the other kids in my class had three + references to different productions of Hamlet! My essay has none, and I don't know whether it needs some or not :-\
Do we have to include textual integrity in every essay, even if the question doesn't ask for it?
Do we have to include textual integrity in every essay, even if the question doesn't ask for it?
This is an interesting one. I can't give you a definitive answer simply because I'm just not sure! But I don't think it is a criteria for a band 6, seeing as not all Mod B texts have have productions. Perhaps your teacher is stressing it because she or he finds that it is a characteristic of the best Hamlet essays she has read? I'm not entirely certain why referencing productions would be beneficial. Why do you think it might be?
how many critics are needed? also can they all be from the same person or need to be different?
Well, my English teacher is also my drama teacher and so she is big on it, she's really convinced that it could be a question in the exam. I think I might add some, just to be sure, I think that will cover all my bases :)
I'm having trouble weaving the notion of textual integrity into my essay,
for example I wrote this,
" Eliot establishes his modern milieu in the simile “the evening is spread out against the sky like a patient etherised upon a table”. The comparison to a comatose patient creates a jarring image of numbness and paralysis to explicate the inertia and topor that pervades modernity."
How would I mention textual integrity? Thankyou
I'm having trouble weaving the notion of textual integrity into my essay,
for example I wrote this,
" Eliot establishes his modern milieu in the simile “the evening is spread out against the sky like a patient etherised upon a table”. The comparison to a comatose patient creates a jarring image of numbness and paralysis to explicate the inertia and topor that pervades modernity."
How would I mention textual integrity? Thankyou
Hi, for our body paragraphs should we be analysing like 2/3 quotes in depth or loading it up with a lot of textual evidence?
how do you incorporate the personal element into a Mod B essay without using personal pronouns?
how do you incorporate the personal element into a Mod B essay without using personal pronouns?
For my mod B we are doing TS Elliot however most of the entries here are hamlet related. could i still post T.S. Elliot related questions?
In year 11 we were told to AVOID critics at all costs? Is this true?
Nope, definitely untrue! Emily (who ran the English lectures just gone, did you go?? 8)) used critics/scholars in her Module B essays and got a perfect score in Advanced ;D I personally never used them, so like, its not mandatory. But definitely don't avoid them if you want to use them! ;D
Sorry unrelated (sort of) - I wasn't able to attend the English lecture :( so I was wondering if there was any way to get filled in on what was discussed? Also, will Emily be helping out on the marking forums? :)
Hi! :)
For my Module B assessment task I have been asked to record my own personal interpretation/reading of a poem from Yeats' oeuvre.
I have chosen 'An Irish Airman Foresees his Death'.
Do you have any tips on how I can 'skilfully inform' my perspective and understanding audibly?
How do I draw links and connections if I am doing Yeats poems?
Hi there,
Could you guys recommend some example topic sentences in relation to a Yeats based essay please?
Quite stumped in trying to generate a decent one...
Thanks! :)
Hey there! I studied Yeats and really enjoyed this unit and his texts. I always talked about balance and tension in Yeats poems. In the Wild Swans at Coole, we see the tension between young and old, immutability and change, permanence and change, and live and non-living natural elements. In the Irish Airman poem, we see the tension between Yeats' anti-war sentiment and the need to fulfill Lady Gregory's request. So for me, Yeats has always been about tension and balance for me. Also, yearning. I wrote about yearning in some of my essays for Yeats too. He yearns to be younger, to be immutable, to have Maude, and for peace.
Hopefully these give you some ideas :)
Hi again,
Thanks for the quick reply but unfortunately, I am in need of help again.
Do you have any tips in writing an essay paragraph on Yeats's "Among School Children"? To me, its one of his more complicated poems.
Also, I was made aware that it may be important to include some quotes from other critics. Do you happen to know some links to critics towards Yeats's work?
Thank you :)
Hey, I think Among School Children is really tricky, it was the poem that spoke to me least as a reader but it's also just long, and tricky to approach. Have a look at my own notes on this poem, there's two critics mentioned at the top of the notes as well so you might be able to find some of their works online. You can download my notes here. I find that when I'm trying to find scholarly articles, I type the topic, Yeats, and then "scholar" or "University" or "academic" into Google next to each other. But for something like Among School Children, you could look beyond Yeats' scholars and into scholars of ageing. If you're into that idea, I suggest starting with Stanford Bennett: Old Age Its Cause and Prevention (1912). It presents complicated ideas and this is a trickier road to go down, but it could definitely elevate your work :)
For the record, I certainly didn't study Bennett in High School. So, you don't need it to do well, but using it well will surely give you great marks. I briefly studied Bennett in a Uni literature class. :)
Thanks for the advice Elyse,
My teacher has been showing us some footage from Helen Vendler to use as a critic for Yeats. Have you heard her work? If so, what do you think?
I'm sad to say I haven't heard of Helen Vendler. But I can see on Google she wrote a book about Yeats and his poetry called Our Secret Discipline. If you haven't already, getting your hands on that might be helpful too. Have you found her to be useful? From my quick glance, she seems to target Yeats' poetic form more than his subject matter. Is this right?
From the videos we've been shown in class, yeah I would say that she does target the poetic form more than Yeats' subject matter. But I think that she is really helpful in breaking down the various poems.
So do I need a critic that targets both poetic form and subject matter equally? Or is one aspect prefered over the other?
Hello,
Could someone please explain to me the structure in the 'art' paragraph of a Mod B Yeats essay please?
Thank you
A variation is always good - you won't necessarily need one over the other. The purpose of using scholars and critics is to talked about how they informed your own response - so if they have contributed more to the form, or more to the subject matter, then you can certainly privilege that :)
I'm sorry I don't quite know what you mean about the "art" paragraph? Do you mind fleshing this out a bit? :)
Haha I'm pretty much in a similar position, but my teacher told us that the 3rd 'art' paragraph should include explanation on how Yeats uses the poetry art form to essentially resolve some of the tensions and conflicts seen in the poems.
Eg. How he touched on the resolution on the meaning of life in "Among School Children".
Seeing that you are not sure what this 'art' paragraph is, do you think it is important to include?
I'm assuming that your teacher has suggested this as a particular structure she or he thinks works for students, but in a HSC essay, the markers aren't actively searching for an "art" paragraph. I think this is purely a suggested structure, not at all a requirement for good marks. I, in fact, believe that you should be talking about the manipulation of form in every single paragraph. I really don't think I can endorse a dedicated paragraph for poetic form, with absence of form in the other paragraphs, because I don't think it's wisest. This is assuming that I understand what your teacher means by "art" of course!
If you were to talk about the poetic form for each - I'd be looking particularly at the poetic movements. The romantic period was departing prevalence in Yeats' earlier works, and it is considered in poems like When you are old and Wild Swans at Coole, that he's mourning the ending of this period. So he learns to adapt his style to modern features, whilst still treating his subject's with personal sensitivity. I'd also be talking about the deliberate features of poetry, like enjambment, refrains, repetition, stanzas, etc...All of these form features I think would fit into an "art" paragraph :)
Let me know if this sounds like it is or isn't in line with what your teacher is suggesting...I've certainly never heard the term before :)
Yeah, I guess that is more or less what my teacher is suggesting.
But after some frustration, I emailed my teacher asking about this and she replied with an example paragraph. (lol pls, no one just copy it directly, my teacher got it from a past student that didn't want their paragraph to be reproduced...)
With that being said, yeah you're right about how it shouldn't only be about the form of the poems as that should be explored in all the paragraphs.
Ok, I see what's been done here. That is a beautiful, wonderful paragraph. I understand now. I think your teacher is suggesting this because it's worked so beautifully before, so she is suggesting an interesting structure, but it definitely isn't a structure that every teacher suggests to their students. The question of how poetry as an art form addresses bigger issues will work with just about any single essay question, so I can see it's benefit. I did a similar thing with module A, comparative study. This shouldn't stop you from talking about form where it's necessary elsewhere, but I can definitely see the effect of this kind of paragraph.
Do you think you'll write an "art" paragraph?
Most likely I will write an "art" paragraph as my word count so far in just on the brink of 800 words so I think I can fit a small one in.
So what sorts of ideas would you talk about in this paragraph relating to 'Easter 1916' and 'Among School Children'?
My thought is to say that Yeats uses the Easter 1916 poem as a "song" to memorialize the martyrs and people who suffered in the fight. And for Among School Children, I will say how he tries to find the answer to the meaning of life in the final lines of the poem.
Do you think these are suitable?
What kind of context should i be looking at for T.S. Elliot
Hey, I think Among School Children is really tricky, it was the poem that spoke to me least as a reader but it's also just long, and tricky to approach. Have a look at my own notes on this poem, there's two critics mentioned at the top of the notes as well so you might be able to find some of their works online. You can download my notes here. I find that when I'm trying to find scholarly articles, I type the topic, Yeats, and then "scholar" or "University" or "academic" into Google next to each other. But for something like Among School Children, you could look beyond Yeats' scholars and into scholars of ageing. If you're into that idea, I suggest starting with Stanford Bennett: Old Age Its Cause and Prevention (1912). It presents complicated ideas and this is a trickier road to go down, but it could definitely elevate your work :)
For the record, I certainly didn't study Bennett in High School. So, you don't need it to do well, but using it well will surely give you great marks. I briefly studied Bennett in a Uni literature class. :)
Hey, Thanks for this it was really helpful!
I was just wondering, for Mod B we are studying a suite of poems (T.S Eliot), do we have to analyse all the poems or just select a few? What do you recommend in analysing a suite of poetry and its conclusion into an essay.
Thanks so much,
Mary x
hi elysepopplewell!
i looked at you notes for yeats and im mindbown! they are amazing and thorough and wow. i salute your effort. Thank you for always helping us out really appreciated
Hey there,
I have just read An Artist of the Floating World (Kazoo Ishiguro) as it's one of our prescribed texts for After the Bomb and I'm a little bit lost as to where to start analysing. I've thought about the structure (3 consecutive diary entries i.e. unreliable narrator) but I'm really not sure how we could apply that to the rubric. If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it because I'd like to include the text in my analysis because the more I have the better. Also any resources that could help would be awesome because I'm under the impression that not many schools pick this as one of the prescribed texts making my google search pretty unhelpful haha
Thanks again :)
Hey, I'm just wondering if anyone has done In the Skin of a Lion as their Mod B, how would you create a thesis around this:
Through its portrayal of human experience, Ondaatje's In the Skin of a Lion emphasises the relevance of memory
To what extent does your interpretation of In the Skin of a Lion support this view?
I'm quite confused on how to structure these essays. Whenever I do not follow up a quote with an effect and direct link to my topic sentence, I get penalised for it. But upon examining multiple exemplar essays I see that many of them don't link to the question/topic sentence and move on to the next quote. For example:
By employing alliteration when Hamlet states “What’s Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba?” Shakespeare achieves fluidity of Hamlet’s dialogue with a sonorous quality that, in the manner of a player, effectively cleaves “the general ear”. Nevertheless, unable to act upon his filial duty, Hamlet is appalled that a player, “But in a fiction, in a dream of passion” can “force his soul” so that “his whole function” is committed to his role, “And all for nothing”. In this way, Shakespeare’s responder is captivated by Hamlet’s inability to actualise his ‘duty’ to avenge.
Would be great if someone cleared this up for me, thank you!
Hey!
I'm really struggling to write a thesis statement for an essay on Yeats poetry.
The question centres around intense human emotions (including ideas about age, beauty and youth) in WSAC and WYAO and how these captivate readers.
Would reeeeeeaaaallllllllyyyyyy appreciate some advice on this! Thanks!
Hi,
If a question was purely theme-based such as 'how significant is loyalty in Hamlet', would you be able to incorporate other themes in the body paragraphs to answer the questions or would you have to use key scenes instead.
Thanks
Hey, do you have any tips on how to articulate and express yourself clearly in essays? There are some people who just effortlessly structure their sentences in such a complex and detailed manner! Thanks! :)
My teacher hates the word "themes" so how could I refer to the various themes in Hamlet e.g. loyalty and morality without using that word? Are they the same as "concepts" or is that slightly different?
Hiiii!
I'm stuck on essay writing for Nonfiction- Speeches, which I have an assessment for next Tues!! While reading up on tips etc, somewhere said to write paragraphs based on concepts rather than themes. Isn't this the same thing? :S *confusion*
Any help would be greatly appreciated!! :)
Hey! It pretty much is - From my perspective the difference is that a concept has some level of opinion or specificity attached to it. So for example, love. That is a theme. Love can be detrimental to self worth. That is a concept - At least that's how I view it! Perhaps the guide was referencing the importance of having specific high order paragraph topics, not just simplistic themes like "love" and "hope" :)
Ahhh That makes sense!
So instead of using "justice is explored...", I'd say something like "The speeches aim to unify and bring justice to the Indigenous population through appealing to the audiences' ethics, as seen in..."?
Sorry I have another question hahah
I saw a structure like this somewhere:
Intro
Thesis 1
Thesis 1
Thesis 2
Thesis 2
Conc
By basing body paras on 'concepts' and expanding on these, would it effectively become another thesis statement fitting under the overarching one like in here?
Yep, you're correct on both counts - Your paragraphs become like "mini Theses" that then support your larger Thesis "umbrella" that you establish at the start ;DBless!! Thanks so much :D
Bless!! Thanks so much :D
oh no I'm back with another question-
when talking about the contextual reception of speeches, I understand we can do research to get a feel of the societal attitudes, etc. but because we are studying speeches, should I also incorporate some of the reactions caught on recording at the Redfern Speech (wherein you can hear angry protesting by some people)?
We are only provided with the transcripts by NESA but shouldn't it also be important to consider the actual delivery of said speeches?
This is sooo helpful right now my school is doing module B at the moment with speeches and I'm really worried about knowing all of them. the noticed pattern suggests the hsc hopefully wont ask provide an excerpt this year in the question which is reassuring but obviously I cant count on that. I'm so worried about remembering analysis for multiple essays and on top of that not knowing what i'm going to have to write about on the day for this module.
biggest fear rn: getting an excerpt from a text i dont know in enough depth :'(
Hi All
Im having heaps of trouble trying to develop two conflicting and different ideas for Yeats poetry
Whenever i do practise questions i have alot of trouble coming up with two sperate key ideas/themes/ that are clearly depicted in two poem that answer the question.
Did you guys like have two speicifc theme/ideas that you were always going to talk about and then somhow relate it to the question on the day or did you come up with your concepts on the day?
When I was studying Yeats, I always talked about tension. Tension between young and old, tension between movement and stability, tension between peace and war, tension between change and stability... So I talked about tension throughout, but in two different lights throughout. It worked really well for me!
Only recently I got my Mod B exam back and it was quite bad the marker didn't believe I had the right view of the texts nor did i delve deep enough into my analysis but my trial paper 2 is TOMORROW and because i had an exam this afternoon I haven't had time to look at Module B!!!
Module A and C have been fixed but its far too late to do Module B it will take hours to rewrite an essay!
Any last minute tips on how to improve Module B essays?
We're doing the speeches unit (so many texts to remember :'( )
stressing just a tad right now lol
How do you set up the texts??? is that like context and stuff like that Mod B is sooo different and I'm sooo lost I feel like I've simply forgotten how to properly structure an essay
Hey! Module B is all about judgement. Just remember, whatever you write, to include how effective the text is at doing whatever it is you are talking about. Just remembering that by itself can go a long way. Good luck for tomorrow! ;D
Great question!
Well,
I think the people who express themselves the best are able to do so because they have a very clear structure in their mind. For me, I wrote essay plans over and over before I actually started the essay. Then I'd write the introduction, and then go back to my essay plan (which was usually quite visual) and reconsider. Lots, and lots of drafting is involved.
I think use of synonyms is important as well. The best essays understand and employ words in a way that is most appropriate. Admittedly, I'd often turn to thesaurus.com to find a better word. But, choosing a word without properly researching and understanding it's connotations often leads to people losing the sophisticated credibility of their essay.
Of course, the quality of ideas comes into this in a huge way. For me, my ideas always start small and I have an incredibly long planning process, note making, rewriting ideas, connecting parts of the texts, taking on different literary perspectives, etc. I know some people have a fabulous way of managing to connect complicated ideas immediately, but I'm not one! My process of coming up with ideas is long, and quite creative. I know it's a struggle for people who are more "math-brained" but usually they can turn out very precise essays through other processes!
I think it's also incredibly important to read your essay orally and look closely at how language flows or jars. Jarring words can affect the overall precision of your essay. Make sure the sentences are not too long, which I know becomes an issue as we try to express more complicated ideas and the syntax gets lost in it all.
Is there a particular piece of feedback you've been given that you want to focus on? Is it expression of ideas, connecting texts, techniques? Happy to help :)