CfE ADVANCED HIGHER ENGLISH 2017/18

I have no idea what to do for the dissertation, do you think I could use a book from my higher since I found it really easy and then get another book (i have no idea what) to compare it to? I don't know, my teacher didn't explain it that much, or I wasn't listening properly. Most likely the latter.

Hey - I did AH English this past year. You can't do a book you did at Higher in your dissertation, it must be one that you haven't studied prior in school. There's a site on the Shetland Library with a list of potential dissertation topics if you search "advanced higher English dissertation", maybe take some inspiration from that. But make sure you like your chosen literature before you start, as you'll analyse it to death throughout the year.

Hey - I did AH English this past year. You can't do a book you did at Higher in your dissertation, it must be one that you haven't studied prior in school. There's a site on the Shetland Library with a list of potential dissertation topics if you search "advanced higher English dissertation", maybe take some inspiration from that. But make sure you like your chosen literature before you start, as you'll analyse it to death throughout the year.

Hi, I returned to school on Monday and have been considering AH English as I have many gaps in my timetable due to my AH classes being only 2-3 periods a week. Can I ask how difficult you found it and how great a jump it was from higher? English is one of my stronger subjects which is why I am considering it, but I do not want to take it only to find it is too great a workload with my other subjects. I found there wasn't a great difference between N5 and Higher but I imagine AH will be a significant jump. Lastly, how many periods did you get a week?
Thanks much.

Could someone please explain what is meant by a dissertation? I'm doing advanced, but the teacher neglected to mention anything about the course.

Hi, I returned to school on Monday and have been considering AH English as I have many gaps in my timetable due to my AH classes being only 2-3 periods a week. Can I ask how difficult you found it and how great a jump it was from higher? English is one of my stronger subjects which is why I am considering it, but I do not want to take it only to find it is too great a workload with my other subjects. I found there wasn't a great difference between N5 and Higher but I imagine AH will be a significant jump. Lastly, how many periods did you get a week?
Thanks much.

Hey everyone! I am also studiyng AH English this year.

I have no clue what to do my dissertation on but I quite like individual work like assignments and dissertations etc., so I want to make sure it's decent.

Hi everyone! I did Advanced Higher English last year and I thought I'd offer you all some helpful advice that I received! One thing I would REALLY emphasise when choosing your dissertation topic and books is that you choose books of significant literary merit (if you are choosing fiction novels) because speaking to a teacher who actually marks the dissertations - they always do much better and have far more critics to also add to the dissertation. So rather than books like 'The Help' or 'The Lovely Bones', maybe think more like 'Jane Eyre', 'Brave New World', 'The Bell Jar', 'On The Road' and so forth. When it comes to actually researching and gathering evidence for your dissertation, choosing books of literary merit will have FAR more helpful critical analysis to build on your topic (plus you'll likely get a higher mark!!). I would also recommend to think outside the box or look at something a bit different for your topic. For example taking two books commonly paired together, like '1984' and 'Brave New World' or 'Jane Eyre' and 'Rebecca' - but focus on an aspect of the novels not commonly written about, because this will be more refreshing for the markers. Most of all I will say to pick books, or plays, or poetry that you LIKE and actually ENJOY! I read nine books before picking the two that I enjoyed the most and thought went well together. This way the dissertation won't be quite so painful.... Please let me know if you have any other questions or queries - happy to help.

This is excellent advice. I agree that choosing your book - and also wanting to gain the highest marks - the book must have gravitas. Looking at other book choices I would put it this way. It is perfectly possible to gain an outstanding advanced higher grade choosing Enid Blyton. However - and here is the problem - the quality of analyse and your thinking needs to be extraordinarily high to overcome the limitations of an author like Enid Blyton.

So I agree when choosing your book look to the classic authors. As R. Kelly pointed out, it is with these authors that you are likely to find the kind of support you need. One author that I am looking at is Walter Scott. There is some astounding support material on him - maybe because Edinburgh University have recently published his entire catalogue in a new academic version.

As for two works, I am not a great fan of that. I have never been convinced that the two works ever get the kind of focus that a single work commands.

I agree with R Kelly that you should choose something you like OR - and equally important - something you have always been interested in but never got round to looking at. Curiosity is just as important as "liking" and "wanting" to study.

However - and I will end on this point - whatever work you do choose the more gravitas the work has the easier your dissertation might be because you then have call on years of research carried out by respected academics.

Guys, thank you so much for your helpful advice! I have a few further questions:
1. Which classic authors would you consider to be worthwhile to take look at?
2. What sort of topics/themes does the SQA like reading about?
3. One of my teachers is pushing my class towards writing about two novels but I've been considering doing two Shakespeare plays. Would this have the same potential as two novels would?
4. My other teacher said that I could write about a text that I have studied previously at higher level. What would the SQA think of this?

I'm sorry this is a lot of questions haha




Posted from TSR Mobile