AS English Literature

can anyone doing English literature AS level EDEXCEL please... i repetitively keep getting told by my teachers that my ideas are good but i dont link with the question of are my paragraphs are too brief. I have to do well to get into uni and so far i feel like i wont be able to get through A levels also can i be told a good way of memorizing the information... Thankyou

I'm currently in Year 13 and I do English Litetature but AQA.

Essentially you need to refer back to the question towards the bottom half of your paragraph. For example, if a question came up on Othello, that examined how women were portrayed, you would link what your current idea is with words within the question - 'women are hence portrayed as those who merely had independence during the time of the 17th century" - you embed an idea and you will even improve through just using words from the question into your answer

Hope this helps!

Hi thankyou this was helpful in allowing me to get an idea. I am doing A streetcar named desire, othello seems interesting....

I'm also doing a Streecar Named Desire!! How are you finding it?

Hi! I don't do EXEXCEL, but I do English Literature.
You need to link to the question, don't be afraid to actually mention the question in your answers. So, I recently answered the question 'I always did say men are callous things with no feelings' - Eunice. Explore this statement in a relation to A Streetcar Named Desire'
After my intro which focused on: the concept of masculinity, examples of callousness in the play, a brief overview of what I was going to cover, I began my first paragraph as follows.
'In A Streetcar Named Desire, men have an evident disregard for feelings' and after analysing the quotes and finishing my point I linked it back to the question slightly.
By writing essays like this, rephrasing the question at the start of each paragraph, it shows a very precise focus on the question where it seems you're going wrong.
To ensure indepth paragraphs which aren't too long, this is my tip:
1) Rephrase the question
2) Insert a quote which relates to your focus on the question
3) Literary technique
4) Analyse the literary technique and apply both the quote and technique to the question
5) Add another quote which supports this and explain what it implies
6) Link this to the context OR tentatively explore a more abstract idea eg. 'Perhaps in such an innate patriarchal society it can be said..'
'Perhaps given the callous nature of Stanley Kowalski, this act of gender based violence was a response to Blanche's consistent emasculation of him... highlighting how sex is more understandable to him than emotions are.'
In terms of memorising information, make sure you're reading the prose or plays more than once. Just go back over them from time to time and you'll absorb the information by osmosis. Write the quotes down on cards and place them around your house, put them into every day conversations etc. It's helpful to integrate the quotations of texts you're studying into everyday life.

Hi. Thank you this information was very helpful in allowing to pick up on words t use while starting a paragraph and also given me an idea on what i should include in my introduction to link with the question. Ive tried this but its like once i make the flash cards i forget about them like as if i spend alot of time making them but once ive made them i feel i cant revise on them. maybe its because i am taking stress on how ill do in my mock exams because i am unable to concentrate and handle with all 4 subjects at the same time.

I am finding alright really i mean i understand whats haoppening in the play and the theme but i feel if i was to go into more detail of knowing i cound understand clearly. I actually have mock exams the week after next week on tuesday and just dont understand what i should do theres too much revision of poetry comparison and the play and other subjects too...