Creating notes for set texts???

[rachid.kam]

Hey everyone. I was really curious and was wondering, does anybody here write notes on their set texts? And when I say notes, I mean like pages and pages of your own analysis. I have always been told to write them by my teachers, but never told how. Anybody have any tips on how to write them? Also, do you think it would be of benefit if I actually began writing them now, even though I don't begin the actual text until term 3?

Thanks Guys.

[literally lauren]

Hey everyone. I was really curious and was wondering, does anybody here write notes on their set texts? And when I say notes, I mean like pages and pages of your own analysis. I have always been told to write them by my teachers, but never told how. Anybody have any tips on how to write them? Also, do you think it would be of benefit if I actually began writing them now, even though I don't begin the actual text until term 3?

Thanks Guys.

Hey Rachid,

It depends what sort of "notes" you're talking about...

- Writing pages and pages of analysis seems quite time-consuming, and I'm not sure how you'd structure this in a way that'd make sense. Perhaps if you wanted to do it in the form of a chapter summary/analysis where for every chapter/scene/part of your text, you wrote about 200 words of analysis discussing the various significant quotes and moments, that could work.

- Another alternative would be to structure things by characters e.g. have a page or two of relevant quotes by/about/to that character or words you could use to describe them, plus some analysis of their goals/motivations/dominant traits etc.

- Something I'd definitely recommend would be a quote bank - it's up to you how you structure this, but a collection of all the important quotes in the text (maybe coupled with some analysis, or integrated into analytical sentences) will probably be the most useful thing for you. Grouping them by thematic ideas would be good (i.e. list as many important quotes as you can find, and then sort them into 'quotes about jealousy' 'quotes about freedom' 'quotes about truth/lies' 'quotes about family' etc.) Or you can sort things by characters if that suits your text better.

I think the reason your teachers would be recommending this is that if you've read the text once and feel like you understand the basic details, it can be hard to know where to take things next. So even if you aren't starting the text in class until Term 3, if this is one you plan on writing about in the exam, compiling resources will definitely give you a head start (and hopefully make the process of essay writing much easier later!)

[rachid.kam]

Hey Rachid,

It depends what sort of "notes" you're talking about...

- Writing pages and pages of analysis seems quite time-consuming, and I'm not sure how you'd structure this in a way that'd make sense. Perhaps if you wanted to do it in the form of a chapter summary/analysis where for every chapter/scene/part of your text, you wrote about 200 words of analysis discussing the various significant quotes and moments, that could work.

- Another alternative would be to structure things by characters e.g. have a page or two of relevant quotes by/about/to that character or words you could use to describe them, plus some analysis of their goals/motivations/dominant traits etc.

- Something I'd definitely recommend would be a quote bank - it's up to you how you structure this, but a collection of all the important quotes in the text (maybe coupled with some analysis, or integrated into analytical sentences) will probably be the most useful thing for you. Grouping them by thematic ideas would be good (i.e. list as many important quotes as you can find, and then sort them into 'quotes about jealousy' 'quotes about freedom' 'quotes about truth/lies' 'quotes about family' etc.) Or you can sort things by characters if that suits your text better.

I think the reason your teachers would be recommending this is that if you've read the text once and feel like you understand the basic details, it can be hard to know where to take things next. So even if you aren't starting the text in class until Term 3, if this is one you plan on writing about in the exam, compiling resources will definitely give you a head start (and hopefully make the process of essay writing much easier later!)

Thanks Lauren, you are a lifesaver!
I liked the idea of a quote bank like you said, how would you have structured it?