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I REAALLY need help in English EE!! Plzzz help me!!

Hi! So, I want to do my EE on Khaled Hosseini's books A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner and the problem is that I don't have any idea what to write about. Please, can anyone help me by suggesting some possible interesting topics? I'd really appreciate that. Thanks in advance. By the way, I'm interested in cultures, values and how different societies treat women..etc

Reply 1

EnglishEE

And, I'm English A1. Please, I really need your help!! Please, be kind enough and help me :smile:

Thanks a lot! :smile:

Reply 2

EnglishEE

Original post by Tommer

You could pick a theme or motif and examine how it is presented i.e. How does Khaled Hosseini present different cultural attitudes towards women in his novels 'The Kite Runner' and 'A Thousand Splendid Suns'?

One thing to bear in mind is that your title is very likely to change... Mine did 3 times, and the other English EEs at my school experienced the same thing. We all got As though :smile:

You have to start writing and find out what's good to write about, and follow that.

Thanks a lot for helping me. I'm thankful to you :smile:

Well, I think I want my topic to be women and different ethnic groups in Afghanistan. And, my research question would be ''How does Khaled Hosseini presents different cultural attitudes towards women and different ethnic groups in his novels 'The Kite Runner' and 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' ''? And, by the way, does the title and research question mean the same? And, does it matter if I write about women and as well about racism among the people in his novels. By the way, do you think my research question/title needs to be improved?

And, am I allowed to write about Afghan culture in my essay and the reason why people act the way the act even if I have English A1. Since I have many Afghans friends I know a lot about their culture, religion, and different beliefs and values.

Thanks again in advance. By the way, you're so lucky you've already done your EE and got such a high grade :smile:

Reply 3

EnglishEE

Original post by Tommer

No problem :smile:

Trust me, my EE was so painful! I was amazed I got the grade I did!

I think the title's pretty good, though you might want to change it to something like his treatment of 'discrimination' in his two novels. As you research you'll find out which areas are best to write about, and what you want to focus on. Then you can change the title accordingly. Make sure also you read critics and published papers on Hosseini and the novels - not only is it key to a high grade, but it also will help you understand and write better. Google Scholar is a great tool for finding papers.

Putting in your knowledge of Afghan culture will provide great context (as will details of Hosseini's life), but make sure your essay is not about that. Every point you make must answer your research question - don't start talking about discrimination by Afghans etc. Also, every point you make (especially about Afghani culture) must be referenced! (Not from Wikipedia!) You can just throw in stuff you know from your friends. The IB wanted it treated as a university-level paper.

I'm not sure how the title and research question are different. I put them down as the same, I think. Your supervisor should know, though.

Feel free to ask any more questions :smile:

Thanks a million, dear! :smile:

You've REEALLY helpled me a lot! I think something like "How does Khaled Hosseini present the oppression of women and different ethnic groups in his novels 'The Kite Runner' and 'A Thousand Splendid Suns'?" would be quite good, right? Oh, tomorrow I will actually start writing my EE, though I will research for few days and make notes what comes to mind before I write anything. I'm kinda scared of the word limit as it is 4000 words but then on the other hand my topic interests me a lot so I might be able to write a word or two, lol :smile:

Just wish me all the best. And, thanks once again for your help :smile:

Reply 4

The Man of the Hour

Original post by EnglishEE

Thanks a million, dear! :smile:

Just wish me all the best. And, thanks once again for your help :smile:

Hey, if you need any help just PM me. I have my EE in English A1 that got an A in 2009-2010. I'd be happy to help you long term. It is comparative in nature (between Stoker's Dracula and Zamyatin's We) so it seems similar to your topic. The only thing I would say right now is A: keep it to either women or ethnic groups and B: define what said ethnic groups are IN the question.

Don't worry about the word count for now. I wrote way over to begin with and finally crafted it to be JUST under 4000 words.

Reply 5

The Man of the Hour

Original post by Tommer

I'd actually say the opposite about the word count. It's it much harder to cut out words than it is to fill up the essay with them.

My suggestion was to research discrimination as a whole and then focus in on the areas that spring out as good to write about/prominent in the novels. You don't want to restrict yourself too early into a subject that you can't write 4000 words on.

It IS hard to cut words in an essay as Tommer points out, but from experience my first draft was hardly passable as an essay, haha. I just wrote a couple of focused paragraphs on certain parts I found interesting about my topic (psychoanalytic symbolism like eyes, the mind, repression, etc. and how they related to the production of character, atmosphere, tone/mood, etc. in We and Dracula). My first draft was well over 6500 words :O. Then I cut the points that didn't work for me or that my teacher didn't find as effective and worked on my transitions and rewrote parts that didn't work. You're likely going to have to rewrite your essay anyway if you want to get an A, so just write on a single topic (ie psychoanalytic symbolism) from many perspectives.

As for Tommer's concern: I'm just concerned that doing both women AND ethnic groups may be a little too broad for a starting approach and it will be very hard to transition it or even word it into a question. If you can find 4000 words talking about ethnic groups only, that is my advice. Besides, I bet you can find a lot of symbols, descriptions, characters that perpetuate descrimination, victims of the descrimination, etc. that will be the content of 4000 words already. In fact, maybe comparing gender roles within the descrimination would be interesting (compare a man and a woman who are stereotyped and what it does to atmosphere, tone, character, plot, etc.). But aside from that, I wouldn't push female issues too much.

Here's another issue: your topic isn't nearly as original as it should be. IB marking emphasizes original ideas and lots of thought about them. I bet TONS of people have written essays like the one you are currently considering-- I would write things for awhile but if you come up with any interesting original ideas, switch your focus a little bit. What kind of symbolism do you see recur? What are some neat motifs that are below the surface ? For your best chance at an A, you need a new focus unfortunately. I hate to be so rough, but the IB love finding places to poke holes and your topic is certainly one of them until you find something new. You need to reread the books a couple of times and find some details that may be unnoticed. This is exegesis: interpret what the author is intending to do to present the story. Everything the author does is for a reason.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 6

The Man of the Hour

I agree with Tommer on the amount of marks given for how the essay is written. It is FAR more than the amount given for originality. I still think IB examiners are not going to give many points in this criterion (maybe half if the essay is written well). Read those exemplars: http://intensecogitation.info/2010/07/23/50-excellent-extended-essays-exemplars-from-the-ib/ and read the rubric as well (found on the IB curriculum website).

However, your question has likely been asked before with the same novels being used. A run-of-the-mill essay will likely not earn as many points as you think. The final criterion EMPHASIZES originality, so I would recommend either A: choose an interesting aspect of those novels or B: compare one book to another that no one has compared it with before. I'm just trying to get you more points for your essay. My friend did an interesting essay on Twilight and even though it was a little different, the lack of originality brought her down to...a C, I think.

Reply 7

alsl333

I for one would stay away COMPLETELY from any cultural waffle for the simple reason that it is a total minefield. It is unfortunate that this seems to be the way the IB curriculum is going (syllabus changes which take effect next year etc) where they expect people to comment on cultural differences etc.

In a nutshell, any cultural-related topics have very little avenue for the actual analysis of the literary technique - what is on the page/in the book. One will inevitably bring one's knowledge and experiences (e.g. what you know about the abuse of women) into such discourse which can be detrimental to your grade. You might as well write an anthro EE!

Same goes for biographical-related topics. For example, a lot of people like to delve into Sylvia Plath's past and go on about how her multiple suicides have affected her work blablabla. Wrong approach. One should focus on what is on the page and analyse analyse analyse.

You are of course at liberty to take what I say with a pinch of salt, but my personal advice to you would be to pick a specific literary device instead of a theme and analyse how that functions instead. That would be more concrete. My other piece of advice would be to ditch these two books altogether (though I realise that it might be a little late for that) and pick something better. The EE examiners will hesitate to admit it but according to my advisor who used to be a Principal Examiner, there does generally exist a certain 'cannon' of texts in the minds of examiners which would make for better writing-on.

Good luck.

Reply 8

sarah mazlan

Hyee.. anybody here willing to help me.. i'm looking for ideas for ee in english.. i'm not interested in novel