SL English Literature

Patricia1998

Hi everyone,

I hope you can help me!

My english teacher is pretty bad and I have little to no idea how to write the essays required for paper 1 and paper 2. My aim is to get a 6 but for the past two years I have constantly been on a 5.

We have written about 3 or 4 paper 1's. I try to follow what I learn in my German Lang & Lit class (where I get 7's) but I only get 5's in english. It seems that the literature course requires some other techniques but we haven't been told what they are and I have the feeling my teacher doesn't know himself.

Now we are studying for paper 2 and I literally have no clue how to approach the paper. I have searched online but can't find any information or sample essays for english literature.

Could anyone help? I don't care what it is, anything that might help is greatly appreciated!

Thank you so much :smile:

Reply 1

thecsstudent

Hi! I don't have english sl literature but i have another language as sl literature and since the criteria for the papers are the same I might be able to help. For Paper 1 where you can either choose the poem or the prose text there are two things you can do. You can either start analyzing the text or poem from start to end separating it into sections or you can approach it thematically and let's say talk about themes in one paragraph and how they are developed, then another theme in another paragraph, then a paragraph for stylistic features, one for structure, one for imagery etc. Personally, for the poem I prefer to just start analyzing it verse by verse and I have gotten a 7 doing that in a past paper and for the text I find the other approach easier. What is really important is to comment on both the themes and show your understanding but also the techniques the writer uses and their effect on the reader. Techniques are very important and it is often what people leave out.

For paper 2 I'm guessing you have done some literary works. The aim is to compare them and it is preferable to not talk about them separately in your structure. For example if you have a question about conflicts and two novels A and B you can have one paragraph for inner conflict and talk about both novels in that paragraph comparing them, another one about self vs society and talk about both books etc. My teacher tells us people who use this structure usually do a better comparison. The two hardest criteria for paper 2 for most people are once again techniques (Criterion C) but also response to the question (your response has to be very relevant). A good practice would be to make a list of some of the main techniques employed in the works you have been taught and what they achieve so they can come more easily during the exam. If you know the works very well and you use appropriate vocabulary, grammar, register and spelling and if you structure your essay well you can score high marks for the other criteria.

Hope I was able to help!

SL English Literature

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