Alevel Lit A essay help

What I always tell my students is that there isn’t one correct structure. Think of context as evidence and use it appropriately based on that.

For example. If I ask you what the colour green represents in general, you’re like to say something along the lines of nature. However, if I tell you that a key motif in a particular book is a green wallpaper made with toxic ingredients, it would become clear that, in the context of that text, green represents danger. It’s similar with authorial or textual context. At a particular point in history, certain symbols might represent certain things. In the context of an author’s life, certain images might be especially significant. Use your knowledge of context to prove your points by talking about these links and you'll Get your marks for context.


What I would do to plan an essay paragraph is full in the following questions:


What is this paragraph trying to prove?
Why do you think you’re right?
Where in the text does it suggest that you’re right?
Are there any particular literary techniques within these sections of the text/ from the text as a whole that give the impression that you’re right?
What about the author’s life or the period the book is from/ set in might link to these ideas and suggest that you’re right?
How has all this evidence proven that your point is correct?


If you can answer these questions you should find it quite easy to answer a question. You don’t have to include everything in every paragraph, but the essay needs to have the AOs scattered through so that the examiner can see that your ability. All you’re doing really is proving to the examiner that you know