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Author Topic: 50 in English, available for queries :)  (Read 339077 times)  Share 

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sailoradio

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Re: 50 in English, available for queries :)
« Reply #300 on: June 02, 2014, 09:46:43 am »
0
 :-*identity and belonging!

i have a sac  on identity and belonging on Thursday this week, and i also have a history sac on the same day ! ahhhh

anyway i really need some ideas for an essay/expository/imaginative piece of writing

anyone have a clue haha i am so awful at english

literally lauren

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Re: 50 in English, available for queries :)
« Reply #301 on: June 02, 2014, 12:23:50 pm »
+3
hyunah:
I haven't studied The Quite American, but I have read it.
Fowler's reticence to get involved is debatable. Some people might argue this is the true role of a journalist, to tell the story without getting involved. Or you could say it's a result of his past experiences in other wars having made him jaded and cynical about humanity, thus he'd rather not entangle himself in things when he believes they'll end badly anyway. I have read one interesting interpretation which looks at the character's name as a pun (FOULer) = a critique of his standing by, inferring it to be an inhumane way of experiencing conflict. In a way his inertia is as despicable as any action undertaken by the other characters.
Ultimately it's a matter of interpretation. If you can justify it, then go for it :)

Cort:
The active voice is the widely accepted form in the English Language, but mixing things up occasionally with the passive voice can be interesting. Don't do this unless you're confident with your grammar though, since you risk turning your sentences into fragments, or just not making sense altogether.
For anyone who doesn't know what we're talking about:
The boy opened the door : Active/Subject-focused
The door was opened by the boy : Passive/Object-focused
I tended to use a couple of passive sentence structures, particularly in Language Analysis eg. 'By suggesting this bus driver to be a danger to the community, the author elicits fear for the safety of children.' (as opposed to: The author elicits fear for the safety of children by suggesting this bus driver is a danger to the community.)
If in doubt, use the active form. The passive voice can be good in moderation, but it can sound a bit too Yoda-y for English.
Writing in a formal voice is definitely preferred for Text Responses and Language Analyses, but you have some leeway with Context. Maybe talk to your teacher about experimenting with different voices, if they have a preference then cater to their whims, for SACs at least :)

sailoradio:
Try reading through some of the practice essays posted on this forum to get a feel for what's expected of you. Revisit your notes from class, go back to whichever text you're studying, and have a think about what external examples you might be able to use.
Sorry if this is a bit vague, but I don't really know what you're struggling with, so try and work out what you need help with exactly.
« Last Edit: September 04, 2014, 01:02:15 am by literally lauren »

Ballerina

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Re: 50 in English, available for queries :)
« Reply #302 on: June 02, 2014, 01:32:23 pm »
+1
fifty

dang lauren

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Re: 50 in English, available for queries :)
« Reply #303 on: June 02, 2014, 06:52:20 pm »
0
how do you incorporaate tweets in a language analysis?

Billion

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Re: 50 in English, available for queries :)
« Reply #304 on: June 02, 2014, 07:01:13 pm »
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Hi Lauren,

This may be a broad question, but what's the best way to go about analysing an article that is more informative than persuasive?
Usually it's easier to structure a persuasive article through grouping techniques, approaches or using key players.
However what should you do when an article doesn't really have a clear contention.
For e.g. "Should dangerous dogs be banned?"
In the background information it states; "The online news outlet has a mission of presenting accessible news content that encourages reader engagement."
Essentially, the articles doesn't provide the perspective of the author, but instead accumulates facts and perspectives of others.
E.g; "A recent spate of vicious dog attacks has left at least one expert calling for a ban on dog breeds known to be aggressive or dangerous".
The article just provides information for the public to make their decision, not really coercing the public agree with them.

Hope you can understand, and thanks in advance.

edit;; also, when working on language analysis and other context/text response books in semester 2, what's the best way to remember key themes, characters, quotes from the previously read novels during semester 1. Thanks.
« Last Edit: June 02, 2014, 07:38:46 pm by Billion »

smile+energy

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Re: 50 in English, available for queries :)
« Reply #305 on: June 03, 2014, 07:26:50 am »
0
Thank you, Lauren

Do i need to give quotes as evidence for a context piece? 
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literally lauren

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Re: 50 in English, available for queries :)
« Reply #306 on: June 03, 2014, 10:11:22 am »
+6
Skyline,
You can incorporate tweets like you do every other form of evidence. I'd probably try and make it clear that's what you're doing though; you never know, you might get an assessor who has no idea why you're referencing bird sounds.
Alternatively you could do a creative/expository hybrid where it's a normal essay interpolated with commentary from social media.
I don't know, it'll depend on what sort of tweets you're using, but I think there's a lot of potential there.

Billion,
Rest assured, you'll never get something like this from VCAA, there'll always be a clear, persuasive contention on the end of year exam. For these informative pieces, you can state that the article's intention is to present a balanced argument, and then provide examples of the language it uses to do this. Alternatively, some articles set out to "inform" but end up presenting an imbalance of views, thus attempting to seem impartial is actually a persuasive device.
Or you could look at the way the author constructs certain arguments
E.g; "A recent spate of vicious dog attacks has left at least one expert calling for a ban on dog breeds known to be aggressive or dangerous".
^This immediately sounds like it's pro-banning certain breeds, but maybe it goes on to counter this- I don't know?
If the material is fairly even, just talk about the author allowing the public to make an informed decision based on the evidence. And in terms of paragraph structure, you can still go by key players and use the mini-contentions of all the different views within the article to talk about the overall portrayal of dogs/the proposal/victims/the govt. etc.

With regards to remembering semester one work: everyone has their own strategy. Simple things like L.A. devices or T.R. quotes can just be written or printed out around the house, stuck on the walls in your bedroom, and/or kept at the back of your book for revision. For context, it's more about the general ideas, so having practice paragraphs or essays and rereading them occasionally should help. More importantly though, external examples will be the strongest part of most context essays, so try and collect stuff throughout the year and keep a running list of all the things you could discuss. After awhile you can start grouping these into all the different prompt types (eg. the nature, causes, responses, consequences, and resolutions of conflict) so that when you get into the exam you can just quickly identify the focus and fit your examples in accordingly.
Language Analysis is more formulaic, and once you're comfortable with the format there's not a whole lot you need to rote learn. Do keep up the practice throughout the year though; there's only one L.A. SAC for year 12, and most schools get this out of the way early in Unit 3, so you don't want to lay off for too long and then panic in swot-vac.
For Text Response: I tend to advocate choosing which text you're going to write on in the exam as soon as possible. If you really can't decide then by all means study both, just be aware that's a pretty big workload. Ideally by the September break you'll be able to narrow it down and just focus your study. Read as much as you can about your texts (depending on what you're studying, there's a lot of resources out there) and then just write as many practice essays as it takes to fully flesh out your ideas and ensure you're comfortable with and 'surprise' prompts :)

smile+energy,
No, there's no VCAA requirement for quotes in the exam, but some teachers do prefer it (especially quoting from your set text) in SACs so check with them.

smile+energy

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Re: 50 in English, available for queries :)
« Reply #307 on: June 03, 2014, 04:37:49 pm »
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Thanks, Lauren

Could you tell me what's involved in the intro and conclusion of a expository piece for the Context?  I mix it up with a text response essay.
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Rishi97

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Re: 50 in English, available for queries :)
« Reply #308 on: June 03, 2014, 09:54:36 pm »
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Hi Lauren

Have you ever written in a creative manner? Did you find it easier than an essay?
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Re: 50 in English, available for queries :)
« Reply #309 on: June 03, 2014, 11:33:17 pm »
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Hi Lauren/anyone willing to assist,

I was wondering for the context area of study of 'Whose Reality?' how much one should focus on the essays provided through the context piece.

E.g. no matter the prompt I always focus on the themes of philosophy and question the objective world around us. Sometimes I want to explore a concept of Leunig's short story essays in depth, but at the expense of a few other essays which I have read and have knowledge of but I don't include in the essay.

How do you balance creativity whilst still explicitly referencing the text to showcase that knowledge? Aforementioned this seems like a tricky balance for an expository piece and still aiming for the really high marks.

Advice would be much appreciated,

Thank you!

literally lauren

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Re: 50 in English, available for queries :)
« Reply #310 on: June 07, 2014, 10:27:17 pm »
+9
smile+energy:
There's no real criteria for what should be in a T.R. intro, and there's even less for context. So long as you're engaging with the prompt, there are a hundred ways to do it that would be acceptable.
I guess my only helpful advice would be that a T.R. intro is dealing with the set text from the beginning, (with a little bit of historical/authorial background maybe) whereas in Context, you don't have to bring up the text until the body paragraphs, if at all. Have a look at some sample essays, they'll all do it in different ways.

Rishi97:
...I certainly found it more fun. And I suppose it was easier for me to write, but it was harder to score well. How you write in context is entirely up to your own strengths, but as I've said before, expository is the safest style, persuasive is best when you have strong opinions, and creative is for showing off, but it's the riskiest out of the three.
Of course it does depend on the form of your writing too. Something like a psych evaluation report on one of the characters in the text that discusses the ramifications of what they went through could almost be expository in some places, and so is far less risky. But if you're going for a full blown short story, then you do put your self at the mercy of a) dumb assessors b) smart assessors who misinterpret the piece c) lazy assessors who can't be bothered finding the relevance, or d) just writing an irrelevant piece. It can be hard to strike the balance between writing well, and writing what the assessors want from you. Not sure if I've mentioned this on here before, but one of my creative pieces was marked by an ex-VCAA Chief Assessor who wrote: 'You could be given a 6/10 and that is an insult to you.' So whilst the good assessors might recognise writerly merit, they can only give you credit for how well you fulfill their marking rubrics. If you can do this, then more power to you :)

Jono_CP:
Sorry to disappoint, but as with a lot of the context questions here, there is no straight answer. You could write a piece that deals with just one part of your set text, and then use those ideas to propel you on a completely different tangent, or you could write an in-depth analysis of any and all essays that are relevant. That's the key here though: relevance. Yes, you might have knowledge of those other essays and be able to write excellent stuff on them, but if it's not relevant to the prompt then it's not worth much, be selective. You might even have some external research on some of those philosophical ideas, but don't force them in if they don't come naturally as you're writing.
Ideally the balance between detailing your examples and discussing the context in broader terms will be about 50/50. That is a massive generalisation though, but so long as you're not leaning towards an 80/20 ratio you should be fine. Just ensure you're going beyond the text and discussing other ideas rather than just rehashing the same points Leunig makes.

Edward Elric

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Re: 50 in English, available for queries :)
« Reply #311 on: June 08, 2014, 01:19:34 pm »
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Hey Lauren

We recently started on context and I have began to look at some prompts to get a feel of what the Sac and exam may ask. For example 'it is society itself that gives individuals their sense of belonging', how would I start answering this Question? I know my Introduction should be exploring the prompt and not getting into the specifics, however at the same time trying to address the whole theme of identity and belonging. Could you please give me an example starting introduction so i can know the structure, and any advice regarding context I would much appreciate, my schools text is the movie skin btw.

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Re: 50 in English, available for queries :)
« Reply #312 on: June 08, 2014, 08:38:35 pm »
+1
Hi Lauren, wondering if you could please help me brainstorm this prompt

‘It is the victims of conflict who show us what is really important’

Also, do you regurgitating body paragraphs written in practise essays into your essay in your SAC? The prompt we get is unknown, but say some body graphs I've written prior to the SAC relate and suit the prompt, would you recommend using it? Or should we plan ideas on the spot?

Would you also recommend us regurgitating body paragraphs by changing them slightly so they relate to the prompt?

thanks
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Re: 50 in English, available for queries :)
« Reply #313 on: June 08, 2014, 09:44:11 pm »
+1
thank you lauren,
just a quick question to sum it up:
is that why Pyle is more willing to be involves... with his dogmatic ideologies he is like yup thats the only way to go.. and therefore act? Is there a better way of stating this?
Whereas Fowler is more conservative cause past experience

Thank you

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Re: 50 in English, available for queries :)
« Reply #314 on: June 08, 2014, 09:55:57 pm »
+1
Please clarify and provide some ideas for my conflict SAC coming up very very soon.
The prompt is 'Who we are is truly tested when we encounter conflict'. The text we're doing is the film 'Paradise Road'.

Any advice/ideas would be greatly appreciated :)
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