A Level English Literature NEA

Hi, I am currently starting my first draft of my NEA comparative essay (play and a book) and was wondering if any past students have advice on how to structure and what to include in the intro etc?

Hi, I am currently starting my first draft of my NEA comparative essay (play and a book) and was wondering if any past students have advice on how to structure and what to include in the intro etc?

Hi! I've just finished year 13 and got full marks on my english coursework (well the exam board might disagree lmao). I read a lot of my friends' work and tbh most people had slightly different structures. For the intro, I'd say; use the title of the books and the authors; mention genre (are both plays tragedies/gothic etc); introduce your thesis (what are you going to be arguing in this essay); maybe bring in something about context. Personally, I did 8 paras. Intro, 6 main bulk paras, then conclusion. I did a topic sentence and wrote about the first text in one para then opened the next para with a comparative statement and spoke about the second text but obviously full of comparisons. (This may be confusing lol I think I explain it funny). So I had three sort of main comparative points which I split into 6 paras. For my para structures, id open with the statement and then like any other essay, bring in evidence from the text, analyse, explain how this influences meaning/interpretation. Bring in context - how it influences these texts and (i imagine your NEA requires this too?) critics. You don't need critics in every para I dont think but I think 3 or 4 is the minimum. There's a lot to fit in. My teacher gave me a planning sheet which helped make planning what would go in each para easier. Obviously this is just how I did it. Depending on your texts and the argument of your essay, it may suit you to write it differently. I know some people who preferred lots of smaller paragraphs as their structure. The first draft is just a rough attempt and so once you know what you want to say, you may find that the structure finds itself! Hope any of this helps

Hi thanks for the advice- I am also struggling to fins critics that aren't on quizlet to include and footnote... any advice (I have been using google scholar but most of the texts are dead ends and take ages to go through to find a quote?