GCSE English Literature

I'm predicted A* in my English lit, but I can't seem to get the hang of writing essays. Does anyone have any advice or websites I could use?

Also predicted an A* and I have the same problem, put off English revision bc of this.

http://www.englishbiz.co.uk/mainguides/analysis.htm Some killer advice here!

What do you particularly struggle with??? You might need practice with structuring the essays and planning before you write! I have done GCSE and a-level literature so I've become pretty good at writing essays. If you plan your essay tackling an aspect of the text in each and follow the PEEL structure, this should help. This is the technique I used at GCSE and it got me an A*. Good luck!

Then, broadly, you want to plan your essay with regards to the question. In 1-2 minutes you can do a quick, rough mindmap and write down all the key points that answer the question. Pick the ones you want to use (probably 3-5 points depending on essay length) and write them in an order that makes sense.

The key point to writing great essays is to structure them really well. Try this step by step approach to paragraph and essay planning which has really helped me in the past.

First of all, look at the question. Look at the command word, and pick out any key words. use a highlighter if it helps you. For example, if the question is "Explore how the relationship between George and Lennie is presented in Ch1 of Of Mice and men", the command word is "explore" and the key words are "relationship" and "presented".

Then, broadly, you want to plan your essay with regards to the question. In 1-2 minutes you can do a quick, rough mindmap and write down all the key points that answer the question. Pick the ones you want to use (probably 3-5 points depending on essay length) and write them in an order that makes sense.

Write your introduction as a brief summary of all of your points, making sure to name the title of the text and the author. As a general rule, you should always try to give a brief answer to the question in your first few lines so that the examiner knows where you're going with your essay.

Then you get on to your points. I use a slightly expanded version of the PEER system.Obviously the above structure isn't definitive. You can change it around. Add/take away things. swap language for structure/form. But I think it's a great framework to get you on the path to better, more confident essay writing. It definitely helped me a lot when i was struggling.

The last part of your essay is your conclusion. This should be strong and you should reach a final answer. This is the part of the essay where you could bring out any slightly more obscure or interesting ideas to impress the examiner that fit with your essay but didn't make it into the main body.

I hope some of that helped-if you've got any questions just dm me.
Good luck essay writing!

How do I structure mindmaps? They don't make sense to me...

This is awesome, I'm going to try it.
Thank you!

You literally don't even need to structure them. Write your key word in the middle, and then around it just jot down ideas for points. You really don't need to overcomplicate it, just keep it simple.

For example, say I had a question about a character. I would write the character's name in the middle, and then around that I would write down some possible points for the essay, so, for example, his clothes, his speech, his relationships with other people, his appearance, how the author presents him, any context/background. Then I would elaborate on the points. So next to each point, I might write a quotation for that point, and some more detail to explain it. This I would write the essay using the information I've writte down.

If you're not a mind-map person, they're definitely not essential. But I've found it's the quickest and most effective way to collate your ideas before you write an essay.

If your looking for help for structuring the other part, the poetry, I could suggest this:

Try A-L-S-O

About - couple of sentences that sum up what the poem is literally about and what it is about on a deeper level.

Language - around 5 quotes and at least one with alternative interpretations (for higher grades) that can be analysed against the question you are given.

Structure - how the poem looks to the eye, the rhyming pattern, punctuation (eg caesuras etc) and how the poet uses it to relate to the purpose of them poem.

Objective - the overall purpose of the poem and what the writer is trying to tell/teach the reader. At this point you can reiterate your point in answer to the question.

This got me an A* in my previous mocks so for me it's tried and tested!! If you have any questions on this or revision techniques I would be happy to help!!


Posted from TSR Mobile