How to Get a Band 6 English-2
Short Description
Band 6 English...
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Copyright © 2016 Art of Smart Education All rights reserved.
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Table of Contents About Us
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Art of Smart Education
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The Authors
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Area of Study: Discovery Understanding the HSC English Area of Study - ‘Discovery’ How to Get Full Marks for the Area of Study Unseen Texts
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Study Plans, Techniques & Exam Skills
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How to Find the Perfect Related Text
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How to Analyse a Visual Text
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How to Break Down and Understand HSC English Questions
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Cheatsheets
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Visual Techniques
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Film Techniques
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Literary Techniques
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HSC Practice Questions
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Area of Study: ‘Discovery’
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Module A
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About Us Art of Smart Education At Art of Smart, we believe that a great tutor does more than teach! That’s why we’ve pioneered a proven approach called ‘academic mentoring’. We teach you the syllabus for your specific subject as well as mentoring you, equipping you with proven study, exam and life skills! We work with you 1 on 1 to identify your specific strengths and challenges so we can address your individual learning needs to help you master the school syllabus and improve your results. So if you’re behind, we’ll help you get up to speed, or if you need a challenge we’ll push ahead – either way you’ll get exactly what you need to help you achieve your goals. That’s why we’ve helped over 2,500 students achieve an average mark increase of 19.41%! The ‘How to Get a Band 6’ Guide Series is a free series designed to help all HSC students perform at their best with tips and tricks from the best!
The Authors Maddison Leach completed her HSC in 2014, achieving an ATAR of 98.00 and Band 6 in all her subjects. Having tutored privately for two years before joining Art of Smart, she enjoys helping students through the academic and other aspects of school life, even though it sometimes makes her feel old. Maddison has had a passion for writing since her early teens, having had several short stories published before joining the world of blogging and writing. She’s currently deferring her studies until she starts her Bachelor of Communication at UTS in the spring. Elizabeth Goh isn’t a fan of writing about herself in the third person, even if she loves writing. Elizabeth joined Art of Smart in 2014 and is both a Senior Academic Coach and the Digital Marketing Manager. She’s since done a mish-mash of things with her life which includes currently studying a Bachelor of Arts (Politics and International Relations) with a Bachelor of Laws at Macquarie University alongside a Diploma of Languages in German, working for NSW Parliament, and collecting antique typewriters. Elizabeth is also an active youth mental health advocate and motivational speaker.
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Area of Study: Discovery
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Understanding the HSC English Area of Study ‘Discovery’ Introduction Have you started the Area of Study ‘HSC Discovery’ and have found yourself staring blankly when your teacher asks you: “What is discovery?” You might know exactly what the word means, but how can you explain it in a way where it is an enduring idea rather than merely a word in the dictionary? To help you get your head around HSC Discovery, we’ve used two fairly popular Hollywood films, Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and The Theory of Everything (2014) to illustrate discovery as a concept so you can then apply this to your own specific prescribed text. Both films are filled with discoveries, and you’ve probably watched them – and if you haven’t, please do! Also, they’ve both been out for a while, so there will be spoilers. Sorry, not sorry. Keep in mind that you should not use Hollywood films for your related texts. Hollywood films often often compromise meaningful substance for entertainment value - just think of Michael Bay asking for more explosions for no reason other than it’s fun.
Brain Dump! Before you start, create a mind-map of everything you think Discovery is about. Your brain dump can be anything from quotations to films to songs to words. This will help to warm you up for what you think HSC Discovery might be about. Here’s mine below.
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The Syllabus How to Read the Syllabus
Your teacher has probably told you about the HSC Syllabus before – it will be your best asset for absolutely slaying HSC Discovery, so you’ll need to keep it handy.
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If you haven’t seen the Syllabus yet, you had better click here and keep it handy! (Pst, important stuff starts on Page 9!)
When you’re studying English, it might seem like your teacher is grabbing concepts out of the air, but they’re not. They’re actually just going through the Syllabus as it provides a long-winded definition on what discovery is, and how it can be experienced. Reading it can be a very laborious task, especially when you’re not sure what a great lot of it means. That’s where we deconstruct it!
“Represented in and through texts.” The Syllabus is very clear about what it expects from you: “This Area of Study requires students to explore the ways in which the concept of discovery is represented in and through texts.“ To ‘explore‘ a text means to ‘enquire into, or discuss a subject in detail in order to learn more about the subject’. What you are exploring is the concept of HSC Discovery, and how it is represented.
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Thus, in order to understand what you’re supposed to be doing with the concept of HSC Discovery, you must first understand the concept of representation in English. In literary theory, representation is:
- To look like or resemble; - To stand in for something or someone; - To present a second time; to re-present. If we were to apply this to Captain America: The Winter Soldier, you’d get this: To look like or resemble: Steve Rogers/Captain America takes on the colours of the Star-Spangled Banner (red, white and blue), in order to resemble a human-version of the flag of the USA.
To stand in for something or someone: Steve Rogers/Captain America’s practice of strong American patriotism, loyalty for his nation and friends, and honour in his service to the American military are reflective of the World War II-era values of patriotism, loyalty and honour expected of the people, and of their soldiers.
To present a second time; to re-present: Steve Rogers/Captain America’s maintenance of these World War II-era
When you’re exploring the concept of HSC Discovery, you need to figure out how the concept has been represented in your text. When you’ve wrapped your head around the concepts of HSC Discovery, make sure to ask yourself how that concept has been represented. In other words, ask yourself how ‘[Discoveries] can lead us to new worlds and values’ may look like in your text, or what stands in for this concept.
1.
Go through the Syllabus and highlight keywords (e.g. ‘sudden’ and ‘provocative’) that you do not understand.
2. Look up these words in a dictionary, and find two synonyms for the word. This will help you to understand what it means. 3. Rewrite the syllabus in your own words.
For example: ‘[Discoveries] can also be confronting and provocative’ can be rewritten as ‘Discoveries can be traumatic, and can instigate a response (positive or negative) from the person making the discovery’.
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What is HSC Discovery? The organic dictionary definition of ‘discovery’ is: ‘the action or process of discovering, or being discovered’, which (when you remove the annoying word, ‘discovery’ from its own definition) is ‘to find or search’. So basically, you are exploring ‘the act of finding, or searching’. However, there are loads of ways that you can do that, and being a fan of the Socratic method of learning, I’ll be asking questions to help you answer your question on the different wants of discovering things. This is why I’ve have broken up the Syllabus: where the Syllabus provides a definition, I’ve provided questions which can help guide your understanding of the concept.
1. What is the definition of Discovery? Discovery can encompass the experience of discovering something for the first time or rediscovering something that has been lost, forgotten or concealed.
2. How can you experience a Discovery? Discoveries can be sudden and unexpected, or they can emerge from a process of deliberate and careful planning evoked by curiosity, necessity or wonder.
3. How can you react to a Discovery? Discoveries can be fresh and intensely meaningful in ways that may be emotional, creative, intellectual, physical and spiritual. They can also be confronting and provocative.
4. What can making a Discovery do for you? They can lead us to new worlds and values, stimulate new ideas, and enable us to speculate about future possibilities. Discoveries and discovering can offer new understandings and renewed perceptions of ourselves and others.
5. How can we relate to Discovery? An individual’s discoveries and their process of discovering can vary according to personal, cultural, historical and social contexts and values.
6. Who or what does Discovery affect? The impact of these discoveries can be far-reaching and transformative for the individual and for broader society. Discoveries may be questioned or challenged when viewed from different perspectives and their worth may be reassessed over time. The ramifications of particular discoveries may differ for individuals and their worlds. As such, all of these can be considered types of discovery. Let’s dig deeper into each one.
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1. What is the definition of HSC Discovery? Discovering something for the first time. Everyone has to discover something for the very first time. Whether it’s catching a ball or riding a bike, we have all had to discover what it is and/or how to do it. How we receive, comprehend and respond to these Discoveries is defined by who we are and our values.
Sam Wilson: Steve Rogers:
Sam Wilson: Steve Rogers:
You must miss the good old days, huh? Well, things aren’t so bad. Food’s a lot better, we used to boil everything. No polio is good. Internet, so helpful. I’ve been reading that a lot trying to catch up. Marvin Gaye, 1972, Trouble Man soundtrack. Everything you missed jammed into one album. I’ll put it on the list.
In Text: At the beginning of The Winter Soldier, Steve is still getting used to the fact that he’s been frozen for 70 years and is in the current day USA as opposed to 1945 Nazi Germany fighting a war for the Allies. With so much time going by, life has progressed without him, and new things have popped up. In a bid to catch up on lost time, Steve creates a list of things he needs to go through and thus discovers new things about the world around him. How is it represented: The use of the close up on Steve’s notebook and the lengthy list he has already included emphasises his excessive desire to discover new things in his world.
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Rediscovering something that has been lost, forgotten or concealed. Discovering can also mean rediscovering something lost, forgotten or concealed. Occasionally, things can be lost; it could be something treasured like necklace lost at the park or an essential piece of a once complete puzzle (‘Assassin’s Creed’ series, the scattered pieces of Eden). Things like a memory can easily be forgotten, even if it was crucial to that person. Alternatively, in some cases, things can be concealed, like a family secret (‘The Book Thief’ by Markus Zuzak, concealing of Max in the basement) or a child’s adoption (‘Superman’, the fact that he’s an alien from Krypton). What has been lost, forgotten or concealed could be lost as a result of carelessness (e.g. a bad quality clasp on the necklace, causing it to drop), or as a result of time (e.g. the event occurred as a young girl, and now they are an old woman with failing memory).
Natasha Romanoff: Steve Rogers: Natasha Romanoff:
And there’s Stark’s father. Howard. Who’s the girl?
In Text: In The Winter Soldier, Natasha and Steve find an old S.H.I.E.L.D base at the abandoned and derelict Army training camp where Steve was initially trained as a soldier. Upon the wall are portraits of people he knew from 1945, both alive and dead. Steve, who has not revealed his fondness for Peggy Carter (in the right portrait) to Natasha, purposely conceals the truth, only to rediscover her as he remembers her back in 1945. Along side her are people that he knew and worked with – Chester Phillips and Howard Stark – both of whom have died over time. How is it represented: The juxtaposition of Natasha and Steve’s reactions towards the images shows the contrast of how they both discover the past – whilst Natasha is ignorant towards their significance, the close up on Steve’s face represents his internal turmoil as tries to consolidate his reality from 1945 to current day.
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2. How can you experience a Discovery? Discoveries can be sudden and unexpected. Discoveries can happen when we don’t expect them, or when we least expect them. When discoveries come suddenly, they are often unplanned, and can often come as a shock to the person making the discovery. As such, the person’s reaction may be unpredictable, and may trigger a reaction.
Steve Rogers: The Winter Soldier:
Bucky? Who the hell is Bucky?
In Text: After a lengthy fight scene with The Winter Soldier, Steve ends up discovering that the man is actually Bucky Barnes, his best friend who he believe died falling from a train during World War II – a person he least expected to be alive. How is it represented: Throughout the fight scene, the dramatic camera angles take the side of whomever is winning at the time. The sudden discovery of Bucky being the Winter Soldier finds Steve looking up at Bucky, but the camera angle focusing straight upon him, as it does with Bucky, brings them both together as equals as they once had during World War II. This exacerbates their respective contrasting reactions of shock (for Steve) and confusion (for Bucky).
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3. How can you react to a Discovery? Discoveries can be fresh and intensely meaningful in ways that may be emotional, creative, intellectual, physical and spiritual. Humans are deeply complex being with so many layers which make us unique. In everything we do, we experience it differently to any other person. We are made up of so many different components which alter how we respond to things. As such, we can respond to things like so: Emotionally: When we discover, we can feel different emotions – happiness, sadness, rage or envy (‘Band of Brothers: Why We Fight’, the discovery of the concentration camp forces soldiers to contemplate the cruelty of man). Creatively: As a result of a discovery, we can see things different to the way we previously saw things – from logically to abstractly (‘The Producers’, Leo Bloom’s auditing mistake has Max Bialystok discover a new get-rich plan). Intellectually: When we make a discovery, we can process it logically – academically. (‘The Martian’, Watney’s discovery that he’s been abandoned on Mars and has to survive himself). Physically: When we discover something, we may become physically ill or energised from the discovery (‘Amadeus’, Constanze’s mother faints when Mozart announces their engagement). Spiritually: A discovery can force us to contemplate life in a new way which inherently alters the way we relate to the world around us (‘The Danish Girl’ by David Ebersdoff, Einar’s first touch of the woman’s dress whilst modelling for his wife and the realisation of his real gender).
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Jane: Stephen:
Are you alright? I’ve got an idea. I’ve got an idea Jane!
In Text: In The Theory of Everything, his progressively weakening muscles forces Stephen to become entrapped in a sweater as he tries to place it over his head without Jane’s help. While he is stuck, he looks at the fireplace, and the way the embers flicker through the sweater. As he observes it, it inspires him, and he begins to see the universe very differently as he did before, and culminates in his cosmological theories. How is it represented: The blurring of the visuals of both the human eye and the fire through the sweater allows us to view the discovery Stephen has made from his point of view. By melding the fire and the human eye into a colour scheme of yellow upon black, we view a black hole in a volatile state, representative of the theory of which Stephen has just thought.
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They can also be confronting and provocative. When we make a discovery, we respond to it in one of the ways above. This can be confronting: it can unsettle and threaten the individual in a negative way such as shock or sadness (‘The Imitation Game’, Alan’s lie that he does not love Joan). It can also be provocative in the sense that the individual may choose to act on the information due to the discovery (‘Captain America: The First Avenger’, Steve discovers Allied soldiers are being kept as prisoners of war, decides to save them himself). This discovery can thus set the individual on a journey which challenges their beliefs or values, or alters the way they relate to the world and those around them.
Stephen: Brian: Stephen:
Motor neurone disease. Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He was a baseball player. Motor what? Sorry, I’m lagging behind in my pioneering work on rare automotive and baseball diseases. Come on, let’s go to the pub. I have two years to live.
In Text: When Stephen discovers that he has motor neurone disease, he withdraws into himself and isolates himself from others. Brian, obviously concerned for his wellbeing, enquires about his behaviour change, and when is told, initially deals with it light-heartedly and with denial. However, when told that Stephen only has two years to live, he finds himself shocked that his best friend has a potentially fatal disease. How is it represented: In this scene, there is a distinct lack of sound effects, especially music. Music, and especially Wagner, plays a vital role in Stephen’s life. The focus upon the dialogue in the absence of background sound or music, accompanied by an unmoving camera focus upon Brian’s focus forces the audience to view Brian’s shock and confusion, and thus how he is confronted with the sudden discovery of Stephen’s condition.
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4. What can making a Discovery do for you? Discoveries can lead us to new worlds and values, stimulate new ideas, and enable us to speculate about future possibilities. Discoveries are intensely personal and the way that we process a discovery can lead to a different way of thinking or feeling. In some cases, discoveries and the act of discovering drives us to reprioritise what we consider to be important, and forces us to contemplate why we valued it in the way that we did (‘The Picture of Dorian Grey’ by Oscar Wilde, Dorian’s discovery of the mirror and cult of youth and beauty). Discoveries can validate or legitimise our beliefs and values, especially when they challenge what we once held dear.
Jane:
I want us to be together, for as long as we’ve got. And if that’s not very long then – well, that’s just how it is. It will have to do.
In Text: When she discovers his illness, Jane’s witnessing of Stephen’s unhappiness and suffering causes her to contemplate her future with him. The discovery validates her love for Stephen with the consideration that he may die in two years. How is it represented: The high-angle shot upon Jane from Stephen’s shoulder showcases her vulnerability when confronting Stephen. This shot is synonymous with her reprioritisation of her thoughts and feelings for Stephen due to his revelation of his condition to her. The switch to a low-angle shot to the two of them whilst they kiss has the audience view them more strongly, as if this compromise gives her new strength of character.
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Discoveries and discovering can offer new understandings and renewed perceptions of ourselves and others. A discovery is the assumption of new information, and thus, helps us to expand our world view. By being challenged or questioned by discoveries, we can have a new understanding on an area, or view ourselves or others in a different light due to it. In some cases, discoveries can reaffirm what we once knew (‘The Avengers’, Loki’s adoption and his difference of appearance), or can provide a new way of thinking (‘Poccohontas’, John Smith’s admiration of Native American culture and desire to understand it). In other cases, we may see ourselves differently, and regard ourselves in the past, present and future self.
STEPHEN watches everybody talking, eating, drinking, being wonderfully, effortlessly dextrous. FRUSTRATED, ENVIOUS, and saddened, STEPHEN watches closely then, before emotion breaks through, rises, grabs his TWO WALKING STICKS and starts to leave.
In Text: Although he has adapted somewhat to his illness, the discovery and experience of motor neurone disease forces Stephen to view himself different to others who do not experience the illness. He observes their ability to do things that the Stephen without motor neurone disease could once do with ease, but the current Stephen can no longer do. How is it represented: In this scene, the camera angle forces the viewer to see Stephen through the interactions across the table. His struggle to feed himself with some difficulty is juxtaposed with the ease of movement of the dinner guests, exacerbating his condition. When the camera commits to a long shot of the table with a close up of the hands over faces, the audience is immediately reminded of the opening scene where is nimble and able when riding his bicycle – a stark contrast due to his condition to not only the audience, but to Stephen.
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5. How can we relate to Discovery? An individual’s discoveries and their process of discovering can vary according to personal, cultural, historical and social contexts and values. There are many components that can alter the way we view a discovery, and make a discovery. As multifaceted beings, our background, history and personal social contexts shape our beliefs and values as these are the components which give us substance and understanding.
Personal context: Our personal context is the one which we bring to the table. It is who we are against the rest of the world. It is our relationship to ourselves, others and the world around us.
Cultural context: Cultural context involves the society we live in, and how we express ourselves through art, morals, law, custom and habits which can affect our behaviour and our opportunities (‘The Last Samurai’).
Historical context: Where we are situated in the history of the world and mankind heavily influences how we can make a discovery, or how we process a discovery as events and attitudes can influence how it can be viewed (‘Briar Rose’ by Jane Yolen, discovery of grandmother’s Holocaust experience).
Social context: Our immediate physical and social environment causes us to react in a way which would be appropriate for ourselves against what we value and believe. In some cases, our social context may emphasise our qualities, or challenge them (‘Testament of Youth’ by Vera Brittain, restriction on women’s education)
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Steve Rogers: Nick Fury:
By holding a gun to everyone on Earth and calling it protection? This isn’t freedom. This is fear. And it’s getting damn near past time for you to get with that Programme, Cap.
In Text: When Nick Fury reveals the designs for the Triskelion to Steve, Steve is immediately infuriated with it. As a ‘fossil’ from 70 years ago, his cultural context was the fight against oppression (Nazi Germany), with the belief that only people who should hold a gun are military, and fighting for their nation and freedom. As such, his idea of the liberty to live freely is embedded in the same freedoms offered in 1945 – one without an oppressive government. Fury, however, asserts that that was the thinking of a bygone era. How is it represented: The use of red, blue and white in this scene substantiates Steve’s claim of the classic American freedom. The discovery of the Triskelion forces him to consolidate his beliefs and values of freedom, and the colour scheme emphasises his representation of the old American values in a new world.
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6. Who or what does Discovery affect? The impact of these discoveries can be far-reaching and transformative for the individual and for broader society. Some discoveries are not restricted to the individual, but can be far felt by those around them. In some cases, the discovery may be so substantial that it is an experience shared and enjoyed by a community (‘Jurassic World’, splicing of dinosaurs for entertainment). This can amount to a change in values due to an amount of new information entering into one’s knowledge, and it can be transformative in how people assume and utilise the information (‘Black Books’, Manny and ingesting the Little Book of Calm’).
Jane: Stephen:
So–what do cosmologists worship then? A single unifying equation that explains everything in the universe.
In Text: Stephen’s transformation of science from purely understood by theoretical physicists and scientists to popular science translates the way in which the common person took on information about the origins of the universe. The publication of A Brief History of Time becomes an instant best seller, and transforms the way people understand how the universe first came about. How is it represented: The abundance of copies of ‘A Brief History of Time’, together with the crowd and cameras gives us a scale as to how important Stephen’s discovery has been. As such, we are capable of viewing how far-reaching the discovery has been, not only for Stephen, but to the wider community curious about the origins of the universe.
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Discoveries may be questioned or challenged when viewed from different perspectives and their worth may be reassessed over time. Some discoveries can be challenged for their validity, or because it is inconsistent with the values or beliefs of the other individual. As such, the person who made the discovery may be forced to prove the worth of the discovery, and to assert the legitimacy of it in order to garner the approval of the other person (‘Peter and the Wolf’). However, in some cases, it can force a divide between them, and exacerbate existing tensions to a point of no return.
John Taylor: Stephen: [Later] Khalatnikov:
I’m afraid–this is complete nonsense. It’s preposterous. Was it something I said? I came here today expecting to hear a lot of nonsense. I go home disappointed. The little one here, has done it.
In Text: Stephen’s position as a physicist and mathematician lead him on a pursuit to theorise the origins of the universe. His lifetime dedication to the issue challenges Jane’s religious beliefs and devotion to the Church of England and to God. Their marriage breaks down due to an accumulation of issues: the pressure of caring for the chronically ill Stephen and their children, the constant challenge of religion against science. The initial discovery of Stephen’s motor neurone disease fades as time goes by, and his obsessive plight for discovering the origin of the universe causes a peak of no return. How is it represented: We see John Taylor storming out from Stephen’s point of view, emphatic of Stephen’s introduction before the scientific community. The low-angle shot portrays Stephen’s position as subject to the approval of the community, and John Taylor’s exit from this low-angle shot delivers an emphasis on his differing perspective.
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The ramifications of particular discoveries may differ for individuals and their worlds. Making certain discoveries can result in drastic implications for those who are making the discovery, and to those around them. Discoveries can affect the individual both positively and negatively, and as such, the consequences of the discovery may substantially alter the individual and their world. Their lives could improve as a result of the discovery (‘The Princess Diaries’, discovery of royal heritage), or they can be doomed because of it (‘Star Wars: Episode 2’, death of Anakin’s mother).
Bucky Barnes: Steve Rogers:
You’re my mission! Then finish it… ’cause I’m with you to the end of the line.
In Text: Steve’s initial reaction to the Winter Soldier was to end him permanently so that Hydra cannot continue its plans. However, upon discovering that the Winter Soldier is his childhood friend, Bucky Barnes, whom has been experimented on and completely brainwashed, he chooses not to kill him in hopes that Bucky will rediscover who he was. How is it represented: In this scene, Bucky has the upper hand, which is made obvious from the low-angle shot from Steve’s point of view. Although this delivers the sense of Bucky being stronger and more intimidating, the subdued colours of both of their clothing against the background directs our view to their expressions; whilst Bucky deals with his identity with anger and frustration, Steve is passive, drawing the stark contrast of how the discovery of Bucky as the Winter Soldier differs for individuals.
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Making Your Rubric Hopefully now you will have a better idea as to what HSC Discovery is – it was a bit of an information overload so be sure to read over it again. As you start to study your Prescribed Text, you will come across the ways in which HSC Discovery are represented in it. Scrawling in your book might make it look well loved, it doesn’t mean that you’ll retain it for the exam. The best thing you can do is make your own rubric now so you can reference later.
Use the TECHNIQUE – EVIDENCE – EFFECT Method for Your Texts As you go through your text, be sure to identify anything that the composer has done in order to give meaning to the text. If you look above, what I’ve done is a bit of that: I’ve referenced camera angles or sound editing (technique), given how it was used (evidence) and analysed how it gave meaning to the scene (analysis). When you go through your text, this table will become your life saver for when you’re going to do your assessments as exams as you will be able to reference it without even opening your book!
Why is the TEE Table a good idea? Because the Syllabus requires you to do the following:
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1.
In their responses and compositions, students examine, question, and reflect and speculate on: their own experiences of discovery the experience of discovery in and through their engagement with texts assumptions underlying various representations of the concept of discovery how the concept of discovery is conveyed through the representations of people, relationships, societies, places, events and ideas that they encounter in the prescribed text and other related texts of their own choosing how the composer’s choice of language modes, forms, features and structure shapes representations of discovery and discovering the ways in which exploring the concept of discovery may broaden and deepen their understanding of themselves and their world
Make sure to include every type of HSC Discovery into the table.
2. When you fill it out the Technique and Evidence, have a keen focus on:
composer’s choice of language modes, forms, features and structure shapes; in the…representations of people, relationships, societies, places, events and ideas.
3. You should have a minimum of THREE examples for each type of Discovery.
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How to Get Full Marks for the Area of Study Unseen Texts While it’s straightforward enough to study Discovery and practice writing essays, preparing for the first section of the Area of Study is a little trickier. Knowing how to plan and get full marks for HSC unseen texts and the questions about them, as well as how to actually answer them, can often seem impossible! However, by figuring out how to break down unseen texts, it’s actually super simple to figure out how to write about them, and get full marks for HSC Unseen Texts! In learning how to analyse these texts, dissect the questions about them and develop awesome, sophisticated answers you’ll be well on your way to full marks in section one of your HSC English paper. So let’s get started on How to Get Full Marks for HSC Unseen Texts!
What is Section One? The first section of your first English HSC paper (your Area of Study paper) is essentially your ‘unseen texts’ section. The first page will have something like this at the top:
Basically this section provides 3-4 texts that you need to read/view, analyse, then answer short questions on. The texts are generally all of different types (novel excerpts, visual texts, poems, etc.) but will be linked to your area of study – in this case, Discovery. This means that even though you haven’t actually seen any of them before, you know what kind of information and themes you should be looking for in them!
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This section makes up 15 marks of your paper and usually has 3-5 questions, each worth a certain amount of marks. The most common mix is to have three 3 mark questions and a 6 mark question, or a 2 mark, two 4 mark and a 5 mark question. While the questions worth less marks are generally pretty easy, it’s these last 5 or 6 mark questions we need to really think about – these are the one this article will mainly focus on. Throughout the article we’ll be working through an example question from a past paper. Unfortunately it’s still focused on the old Area of Study (belonging) but it’s still very useful to us!
We’ll be focusing on the question above and the below excerpt of one of the unseen texts.
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Step 1: Read the text critically The first and most important step is to read the text. It seems obvious, but reading the text is more than just looking at the words – you have to read it critically. This means picking up on things that will be useful in your analysis, but not going into specifics yet. Things you can pick up on in a first read include; 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Structure Tone Atmosphere Setting Point of view Character voice Themes
They’re simple enough, but these are the things that give a text its overall ‘feeling’ and will help you in analysing it. By knowing how a text ‘feels’, it’s easier to then pick up on more specific literary and visual techniques.
Example Our example has a few things that we can pick up on quickly in our first read through that help us figure out the ‘feel’ of the text
The opening sentences are descriptive and involve discussion of senses, creating a strong sense of place and setting in a very familiar location for the narrator. The second paragraph gives a brief introduction to the narrator as a character and gives us someone to match the narrating voice to. Finally, the last sentences are all short, which immediately gives us something to comment on in regards to structure. Even though these are small things, they gives us a quick idea of how the text ‘feels’ and help us know where to look for techniques in the next step. Copyright © 2016 Art of Smart Education All rights reserved.
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Step 2: Identify visual/literary techniques As with any text you’re about to analyse, you need to find techniques to comment on – this means annotating! Simply grab a highlighter or different coloured pen and begin to go through the text making note of techniques you could use in your analysis. At this point pick out any and all techniques you can find, but try to avoid any really weak ones.
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Spend some time going through out our LITERARY, VISUAL and FILM TECHNIQUE CHEATSHEETS which are included at the end of the Guide! This will help you to identify the techniques you will come across in the example unseen.
Example Here we’ve highlighted all of the strong techniques in the text that could be commented on in our analysis.
When annotating it’s a good idea to write what the technique is as well as a very brief description of how the technique is working or what it’s doing. Have a look at these annotations for our example text to see how it’s done!
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Personification – indolent meaning lazy or inactive, presents the town as quiet or slow. Simile – creates a sense that the railings are permanent and unmoving. Descriptive language – adds to the sense of the town being slow paced. Sense imagery – description of sense of smell to further reader immersion. Figurative language/metaphor – implies the narrator is fully immersed in their own world and its sounds, etc. - Personification/aural imagery – used to break the tone of peace. - First person pronouns – creates personal link between readers and the narrator.
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Step 3: Read the question + break it down Now we have to look at what we’re actually being asked to do with the text. Some people say to read the questions first, but most students find that it’s easier to answer a question if they go into it already having a few techniques in mind! Having done that it’s important to break the question down to see exactly when we have to do to answer it. This is just like breaking down any English question, but because these questions are worth fewer marks it usually has fewer components! You’ll also want to look for key English vocab that will clue you in on how to answer the question.
Example Going through the question and highlighting the key words makes it really easy to pick out just what you need to comment on in your answer! It also tells you what kind of techniques you’re going to want to be analysing in order to answer the question.
Having highlighted key points, let’s break down what each one means: Analyse – The markers are looking for you to use techniques from the text to break down what the text is actually saying. The best way to tackle the example is by using the ‘TEE’ method to show how the text represents an overall idea. Complex relationship – This simply means you’ll be looking at how one thing relates to another. It seems simple, but remember to refer to both parts of the relationship, otherwise the markers won’t know if you actually understand it! People and communities – This is our relationship! Just make sure to mention people and the communities they’re in when you’re doing your analysis of the ‘complex relationship’ and you should be fine! Portrayed effectively – The ‘portrayed’ part means that we want to be looking at specific examples from the text, meaning our techniques from before! The ‘effectively’ simply means we want to choose the strongest examples to prove our point/idea about ‘complex relationships’.
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Step 4: Which techniques suit the question? Using the techniques you highlighted and annotated before, now’s the time to start thinking about which ones would work best to answer the question. This means you want to be looking for the strongest techniques of course, but you also have to consider how you can analyse them for the question. You’ll want 3 techniques for a 5/6 mark question. Anything less and you won’t have enough to write about, anything more and you won’t be able to go into enough detail!
Example Our question focuses on the relationships between people and their communities, so we need to choose techniques that are used to ‘effectively portray’ that. Looking back at the techniques we highlighted, it’s pretty clear which three will work the best for this question.
Now’s a good time to quickly expand on our brief descriptions from before, so that we know exactly how we’re going to relate the technique to the question. This will help when we actually have to write our response. Personification – indolent meaning lazy or inactive, presents the town as quiet or slow. It immediately shows readers how the narrator perceives the town/community around them. Figurative language/metaphor – implies the narrator is fully immersed in their own world and its sounds, etc. Creates a sense that the community itself is ‘washing over’ the narrator and that they are happy with it. First person pronouns – creates personal link between readers and the narrator. The sentence shows that the narrator seems to wake with the town. Copyright © 2016 Art of Smart Education All rights reserved.
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Step 5: Answer with STEEL By now you’ve probably heard of the STEEL format a thousand times, but if not here’s a quick refresher on what the acronym means.
When answering short answer questions you don’t need to be quite as in-depth with your structuring, so generally it’s best to structure your response in a modified STEEL format like below.
Basically you’re repeating the TEE section three times, but only having one statement and link at each end. This allows you to get all the information down in a structured way without wasting time on extra statements or links! Remember, you’re only going for 5/6 marks so you don’t need to go into too much detail.
Example “The complex relationship between people and their communities is effectively portrayed in text three through its use of personification, figurative language and first person pronouns. The opening sentence of the text employs personification as it describes the ‘indolent’ town, evoking a notion of the town as a slow-moving, quiet community. The negative connotations of the Copyright © 2016 Art of Smart Education All rights reserved.
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word prompt the audience to wonder what sort of relationship the narrator has with this ‘indolent’ town. This question is furthered when the narrator describes the tolling of the dawn bells, saying ‘They flood over me, drawing me out of myself.’, the figurative language suggesting that the town itself holds sway over the narrator. Audiences are thus made to feel that the narrator is more affected by the town than he lets on, the fact that the bells have such an impact on him implying a more complex relationship. Finally, the use of first person pronouns in the sentence ‘I cannot sleep.’ evokes a sense of the narrator almost being at one with the town, the fact that it is beginning to wake up in the early dawn meaning that he must rise too. This combination of seemingly contrasting interactions between the narrator and his town are evidence of the fact that people’s relationships with their communities are often complex and contradictory. Though the narrator labels his town ‘indolent’ with heavy negative connotations, he also feels compelled to wake with it each morning, the use of personification, figurative language and personal pronouns thereby working together to show just how complex people’s relationships with their communities may be.” And there you have it – one awesome response to an unseen text question!
Step 6: Put It Into Practice! Here’s a text and a question, now give it a go!
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Study Plans, Techniques & Exam Skills
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How to Find the Perfect Related Text You’ve probably heard a whole bunch of different advice about good and bad related texts for HSC English by now including: 1. Don’t pick something popular 2. Always read the book 3. Never go with the obvious. All of these tips can come in handy, but they don’t really tell you how to find your related text, do they? That’s why we’ve written this step by step guide to help you ACTUALLY find a kickass related text for HSC English! By the end of this article you’re going to be the master of an awesome, 3 step formula that can help you choose an awesome related text for any topic. We’ll basically be showing you exactly how to find a whole bunch of texts, then narrow it down to the perfect text for you!
What is a Related Text? Before we get started with actually choosing our related texts for HSC English, we need a little bit of background information on just what a related text should be. An easy way to think of this is actually in the word related. If someone is related to you, they probably share a few of your features – maybe your uncle has the same nose, or your cousin’s gap-toothed grin matches yours. But even though there are some similarities, they’re your relative, not your twin, so there are going to be some major difference too.
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That means that a related text should essentially be like a relative of your prescribed text – similar in some ways, but not the exact same!
With that in mind, lets get started on our 3 step formula to find you some awesome related texts!
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Step 1: Find the Topic Themes The first thing you need to consider when choosing a related text for HSC English is how it suits the topic! As mentioned above, you want to look for some similarities to the prescribed text – those are going to be in the themes. A theme is defined as: “An idea that recurs in or pervades a piece of art or literature.” So basically it’s a key idea in a text. There’s usually a whole bunch of themes in any given text, with some being more important (major themes) and others being less so (minor themes). These themes are what you’re going to end up analysing when you write your essays! The best place to find the themes for any topic of study is actually in the prescribed texts. Some can be obvious, for example a romance novel will have relationships as one of it’s key themes. It’s not always that easy though, so lets look at just how to identify themes in prescribed texts. Over time I’ve found 2 methods that work really well to identify a text’s themes;
- Moral of the story - One word descriptions The first method is really good at identifying any text’s major themes, while the second can more easily pick up on both major and minor ideas! Let’s check them out.
Method 1: Moral of the Story What it does: gives you one or two themes that are really strong and central to the text. Because themes are like underlying messages in texts, it’s easy to think of them as being the morals of a story. This means that they’re the important value the text is trying to teach us. By identifying the moral(s) of a text we’re essentially identifying the key themes as well, making it really easy to figure out what a topic’s major themes are. Let’s take a look at an example – we’ll use the prescribed text Life of Pi (for Discovery). “The film follows Pi’s journey as he and his family leaves their zoo in India only to have the boat they’re travelling on sink, leaving Pi adrift on the ocean in a life raft with a tiger. The story shows how Pi overcomes terrible odds to survive, figuring out different ways to get food and water and eventually bonding with the tiger, Richard Parker.” Even from this brief synopsis we can pull out two big morals of the story;
- that discovery can lead to survival; and - that relationships can be formed from discovery. Copyright © 2016 Art of Smart Education All rights reserved.
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Those are extended themes that have been made to suit the topic (see how both relate back to the idea of discovery) but in simple terms they could be considered themes of survival and relationships. You’re best off applying this method to several different prescribed texts, otherwise you simply won’t have enough themes to use later on.
1.
Think about the last prescribed text you studied. Write down the 2 biggest morals in the story.
2. Use your 2 statements of morals, turn them into an extended theme (like we did for the ‘Life of Pi’) for the topic for which your text was prescribed!
Method 2: One Word Descriptions What it does: gives you a whole lot of themes to work with, though not all of them are central to the text. This method isn’t as precise as the first, but it is very good at helping you identify a whole range of themes quickly! This gives you lots of idea to work with, which in turn often leads to finding interesting or uncommon themes to explore. The easiest way to come up with themes using this method is to ask yourself questions about the text and answer with one or two words. We’ll use Life of Pi as an example again. Q: What is Life of Pi about? A: Surviving. Q: What is most important to Pi? A: Family, spirituality. Q: How does Pi keep going in the hardest times? A: Faith, determination. Even from these three questions we have five different ideas we can work with; Surviving Family Spirituality Faith Determination. They’re pretty basic at the moment, so we have to expand them to suit the topic properly.
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They could become: Discovery can mean surviving Discovering the worth of family bonds Spiritual discoveries Discovering the value of faith Determination leading to discovery With this method you’ve essentially given yourself a bunch of ideas to work with and get to choose which ones you like best later on. Plus, if you find you need more themes it’s only a matter of asking more questions!
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Like last time, think of a prescribed text you recently studied – now ask yourself these 3 questions and give single word answers; a) b) c)
What is it about? What is most important to the main character? What motivates the main character?
2. Expand your single words into themes to suit the topic and there you have it!
Which is better? To be honest, using both methods together is the best way to go. Even though it may seem like a little more work, using them both allows you to identify the most major and minor themes possible, which is going to be really important in the long run. Plus, it means you’ll know exactly which themes are central to the story (those from method 1), so you can focus more on those. So now that we know our key themes for the topic, what do we do next?
Create a List of Your Themes From the themes we gathered using the methods above, create a list of all the themes related to the topic you’re studying. Keep this on hand for the rest of the process, as you’ll continue to refer back to it to make sure that the texts you’re looking at suit your area of study.
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If you look at your list and already know a few texts that feature similar themes, that’s great! It means you’ll use the next two steps of the method in different ways – we’ll cover that when we get to it.
1.
Using the themes you gathered yourself jot down a quick list of themes and any others that come to mind!
You can use this later, both for this article and your own study.
Step 2: Choose a Text Type One of the biggest places students let themselves down when it comes to choosing a related text for HSC English is when they don’t consider text types. It may seem unimportant, but making sure that you consider the type of text you choose just as much as you consider it’s context is key to selecting a great related text. What texts types are there to choose from?
- Film - Poem - Novel - Play - Short story
- Song (only if you have a musical background)
- Speech
This list is ordered by popularity, but that doesn’t mean you should avoid the top few types just because they’re common:
- Novels, films, short stories and poems can all be analysed incredibly well without much assistance from a teacher or tutor, so long as they’re given the right consideration; - Plays are usually a little trickier to analyse because of their format (and people don’t like reading them), as are speeches; - Songs should only be used if you have a musical background (more on this later).
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A first piece of advice: DO NOT choose a movie just because it’s ‘easy’. Most markers regard the use of films as ‘lazy’ work, especially if they’re Hollywood films!
That’s not to say don’t use films at all! I actually used films for most of my related texts in year 11 and 12 English and went really well – but only because I considered the text type first. But what exactly does that mean? There are two questions to ask yourself when choosing a text type:
- Is it the same as the prescribed text? - Can you write about it? To understand why these questions are important let’s take a closer look at them.
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Is it the same as the prescribed text? This one is pretty simple. Whatever text type your prescribed text is, don’t choose a related text of the same type. So if your prescribed text is a novel choose a film, poem, or something else instead. Likewise, if you’re studying a play in class don’t choose another play for your prescribed text.
It may seem obvious now but a lot of students forget to take this into consideration when choosing their related texts and end up with two of the same type. Though this isn’t necessarily the end of the world, it’s much better to vary it because it shows markers that you can analyse different text types. Plus it means you get to look at different type-specific techniques and how they’re used to show the same themes. Also try to mix up related text types between topics/modules. If you’re using a film for Module A, go for a poem in Module B. It’ll help improve the range of types you’re comfortable writing about!
1.
Think about the last three prescribed texts you studied in class – what text types were they?
2. Write the types down on a piece of paper for later.
Can you write about it? Now I know what you’re thinking – ‘What do you mean can I write about it? I’m in my final years of high school, obviously I can!’ – but hear me out. Writing about a text type isn’t as simple as mentioning that your related text is a poem in your introduction. What it’s actually about is recognising and analysing the type-specific techniques within the text.
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What’s a type-specific technique? These are the techniques that you can only find in certain text types or are used in very specific ways for certain types. For example camera angles, wide shots, costuming and lighting are techniques you’ll only find in film, whereas soliloquies, stage directions and asides are typically specific to plays. Basically type-specific techniques are what one text type has that none of the others do – it’s what makes it the type that it is.
A Warning on Using Songs You have to take special note when it comes to choosing songs, as a lot of students do this and end up getting poor marks. If you choose a song for your related text, you have to have a musical background. This is purely because the text includes music and therefore you have to analyse the music in order to do well. Too many students only analyse the lyrics and end up being disappointed in their marks, so unless you’re a music whiz as well, avoid using songs!
So why is all this important? Because for whatever text type you choose you’ll have to make sure to focus on the typespecific techniques, so choose on that you know about. If you really enjoy writing about the different techniques in novels, go for it! If you know your analysis skills are stronger in the film department try that instead. To help you wrap your head around literary, film and visual techniques, we’ve included CHEATSHEETS in this Guide! Each technique is accompanied by an example - be sure to check them out! Play to your strengths where you can and you’ll have a better essay in the end.
1.
Copy down the list of text types from before and rank them from 1 to 7: a) 1 = the type you’re most comfortable writing, b) 7 = the one you don’t want to touch with a six foot stick.
You’ll need this in a minute so do it now!
Making the Choice Now that you’ve asked yourself what type your prescribed text is and whether you can write about the type you have in mind, it’s time to pin down a text type. You probably already know what you want to use just from thinking about it, but if not the easiest way to do it is by knowing your options.
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Follow these steps to pick your text type: 1. 2. 3. 4.
List all the text types Immediately cross off whatever type your prescribed text is You can also cross off the ‘Song’ category if you don’t have a musical background Then number your top 3 of text types you’d like to write about – you can use your numbered list of text types from earlier to figure this out. 5. From there, choose one of your top three and you’re ready to go! This is what it should look like:
The reason you don’t always necessarily want to go with your number 1 text type is purely because otherwise you’ll probably end up using the same type every time. Remember to mix it up a little!
1.
Using your list of past prescribed texts and your text type preferences, create a list like the one above for each of the prescribed texts you wrote down.
This way you know exactly how the process works for when you need to choose a related text next time.
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Step 3: Understanding Literary Merit The reaction I get from students when I mention literary merit is always the same; ‘Literary what?’.
Before we get started let’s clear up just what we’re actually talking about.
Definition: “Literary merit is the quality shared by all works of fiction that are considered to have aesthetic value.” The concept of “literary merit” has been criticised as being necessarily subjective, since personal taste determines aesthetic value, and has been derided as a “relic of a scholarly elite”.
What that means: “Literary merit is a quality that is found in texts that are seen as being of ‘proper’ and meaningful value.” Many people think this is baloney, because whoever decides what does or doesn’t have literary merit is obviously going to be biased in some ways. It’s a little tricky to understand, but I used to think about literary merit as being the kind of thing Jane Austen novels and Alfred Hitchcock films have - they have endured through time and crossed different societies for their values and lessons. Usually texts that have literary merit are older and have stood the test of time. You know how your teachers sometimes get a far-off look in their eyes and talk about ‘The Classics’? Those have literary merit. You’re probably wondering why this matters, and I’ll be honest with you – it only matters because the markers think it matters. The point is that a lot of the people who are going to be marking your essays think that literary merit is the bees knees, so you’re going to want to choose a text that does have literary merit. “But wait,” I hear you say, “Does that mean I have to choose some boring old people book?” Not at all! Choosing a text with literary merit is actually pretty easy if you know where to look, and fortunately for you I have a cheat sheet! Copyright © 2016 Art of Smart Education All rights reserved.
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Literary Merit Cheats The thing you need to know about literary merit is that it’s what a lot for critics use to judge plays, poems, short stories, films and novels. That means that the texts that the critics think are amazing are probably going to be the kind that your markers think are awesome too. Obviously, this means the best place to find possible related texts is by looking at what has won the big awards!
Films
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List of all the films that have won the Oscar for Best Picture. List of all the films that have won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The Time Magazine list of All Time Top 100 Films. If you’re more into independent and foreign film you can also try the Grand Prize winners of the Cannes Film Festival.
Novels
- The Time Magazine list of All Time Top 100 Novels; or - The past recipients of the Man Booker Prize if you’re feeling brave. Short Stories It can be harder to figure out which of these have literary merit, but checking out the winners of the Frank Conner International Short Story Award or any other similar awards. If in doubt, Tim Winton’s The Turning is a great collection of short stories many English teachers love to see as related texts.
Poems These are a little trickier too but you can try this list of Griffin Poetry Prize winners, or this top 30 list of poems. You can also google something like ‘best poets of all time’ and cheat a little. If it’s written by T.S. Elliot, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Emily Dickinson, Lord Byron, William Blake, William Wordsworth, Maya Angelou, Sylvia Plath, John Milton, Copyright © 2016 Art of Smart Education All rights reserved.
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Rudyard Kipling, Emily Browning or Alfred Tennyson, you can’t go wrong – except for the fact that some of them are being studied in Extension 1 English (make sure to check!).
Plays Shakespeare. If you really, really, really don’t want to do Shakespeare you can try something like this list of the best plays in the last 100 years, but I mean… Shakespeare is right there. Markers are also super impressed with Australian playwrights – Louis Nowra, Patrick White (one of Elizabeth’s favourite!), Joanna Murray-Smith, Nick Enright, Dorothy Hewett and Ray Sewell are all Australian literary monoliths! Or you could cheat and refer to this list of the Best Australian Playwrights. It’s now simply a case of going through these lists and seeing if you can pick out any texts that you like! Use the text type you chose in Step 2 to figure out what kind of text you’re looking for and your list of themes from Step 1 to figure out which of the texts you find will actually work. Of course, you may not find exactly the text you want in these lists, but that’s okay! They’re really meant to give you an idea of what literary merit looks like, so if you pick up your copy of Die Hard you can immediately say to yourself “That probably wouldn’t show up on one of those lists. Maybe I need to choose a different related text.”
1.
From the text types you chose in step 2 and the themes you jotted down in step one choose a list and look through it to find a related text for ONE of the three past prescribed texts you’ve been working with.
The Formula in Reverse While the formula as a straightforward process is awesome and can help you discover some amazing related texts for HSC English, it’s not for everyone. So, for those of you who prefer to work with what they know or who already have a text in mind, simply use the formula in reverse!
Step 1: Themes Do the themes of your related match your prescribed text? Do step 1 as usual, then use the same methods on your potential related text to find its themes. Are they similar? If they are keep moving forward, if not maybe try finding a text better suited to the topic’s themes.
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Step 2: Text Type This one is easy. Ask yourself these two questions very similar to the ones in the regular steps, just do it with your potential related text in mind. 1. Is your prescribed text the same type as your related? 2. Are you comfortable writing about this related text’s type? If you answered yes to both of them you’re good to go! If not re-evaluate your text type choice to try to find a better one.
Step 3: Literary Merit This step is up to you really. First check to see if your chosen text has won any prizes (hopefully not any Golden Raspberry Awards though) and if it has roll with it. If not take a look at the lists of text with literary merit in step three and ask yourself “Could my related text be on this list? Is it like these texts?”. If the answer is yes you’re fine, if not you may want to choose a new one.
1. Have a bit of fun this time! 2. Grab your favourite book or movie and see how awesome or lame it would be as a related text for the topic you’re currently studying in English.
Conclusion So there you have it – the formula to choosing a great related text!
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The main things to remember are: 1. themes 2. type 3. literary merit
Obviously results are going to vary based on your personal preferences, the texts you may or may not already have in mind, what topics you’re studying and the like. The point is really to give you a framework that will help you at least narrow it down and give you some criteria to make finding a strong related text a little easier. If you can get these down pat and always take them into consideration when choosing your related texts, you’ll have an awesome outcome every time.
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How to Analyse a Visual Text Visual texts are generally one of the most confusing and panic-inducing things you can face in the first section of your HSC English exam. Not because they’re actually any harder – in fact, it’s usually quicker to analyse them than written texts – but because you have to analyse them in a different way! By breaking down the process into three simple steps, you can be writing awesome visual text analyses in no time. All you have to do is figure out what you’re looking at, what you’re looking for and how to structure your answer. I promise it’s easier than it sounds.
What is a Visual Text? A ‘visual text’ is usually just a fancy way of saying ‘an image’ when it’s related to English and analysing texts. Basically it means that whatever your analysing is a visual medium – think book covers, picture books, posters or still frames from movies!
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Usually the first section of your HSC English paper will contain at least one visual text, so it’s important to know how to analyse and respond to it. For more information on responding to unseen questions in the first section of the HSC English paper check out this article. In this article we’ll work through a past paper question based on a visual text – unfortunately it’s focussed on the old Area of Study (Belonging) but the skills we’re teaching remain the same!
Step 1: Identify visual techniques The first and most important step is to look at the visual text you’re going to be analysing – that’s pretty obvious. Because looking at images takes so much less time than reading a text however, this is also when you should identify your visual techniques. You heard right – start looking for visual techniques right away! The kind of techniques you’re looking for are things like;
- Colour - Costuming - Lighting - Gaze - Vectors - Salience
Spend some time going through out our LITERARY, VISUAL and FILM TECHNIQUE CHEATSHEETS which are included at the end of the Guide!
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The best way to pick these out in a visual text is to look at what your eyes are immediately drawn to and figure out why: Is it because there’s one patch of blue in an orange image? Or maybe one figure is way bigger than another?
1.
Label each of these techniques and then annotate them with a few words about what effect the technique is having.
For example, if an image is mainly yellow, write something like “Colour – yellow has happy connotations, creates joyful mood”. It’s that simple!
It seems a little odd to look for techniques before you’ve even looked closely at the question, but this actually helps you in the long run. By finding a whole bunch of visual techniques right off the bat you’re able to go into your question feeling more prepared, and immediately pick out which techniques will suit the response you plan to write. If you read the question first you may end up trying to find a specific technique you want to talk about even if it’s not there. Example: If the question asks about the mood of the image, you may immediately think to yourself, “Oh, lighting helps create mood, I’ll talk about lighting!”. The problem is that, even though it’s a good technique to use, the visual text you’re looking at may not actually have a good example of that technique! Therefore it’s better to find some strong techniques and fit them to the question, rather than trying to make the question fit to weaker techniques. Example Our example has a few really obvious visual techniques as well as some subtler ones we can pick out.
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Colour contrast – black and white figure contrasts with colour background, symbolic of ‘grey’ mood and not fitting in Gaze – offer gaze, creates a vector from the character’s eyes to the text, encourages audience to read the words Text – symbolically appears ‘cut-out’ and disjointed, word connotations of “smaller”, “lost” and “alone” Colour – the whole image is in rich, saturated colours to better contrast the black and white figure Angles – the buildings/houses all appear at different angles, creating a sense of being offkilter or unbalanced While we can’t run straight into writing our response yet, this quick critical look at the text has already given us a whole bunch of techniques to analyse later – as well as marking exactly where they are in the image and what they’re doing!
Step 2: Read the question + break it down Now’s the time to figure out what you’re being asked about the visual text! Because you’ve already got a whole bunch of visual techniques jotted down, it’s easy to start planning out an answer right when you read the question – or at least choose the technique you’ll focus on! It’s usually best to break down the question into its individual key words and phrases to figure out exactly what the markers are looking for. Once you’ve broken it down you’ll be able to figure out exactly which techniques from earlier best suit the question, so it’s a good idea to jot them down too. Maybe even update your annotations to make it clear how you’re going to link the technique to the question being asked. We’ll break down a question in the example, but for a more in-depth guide to breaking down English questions check out this article!
Example Going through the question and highlighting the key words makes it really easy to pick out just what you need to comment on in your answer! It also tells you what kind of techniques you’re going to want to be analysing in order to answer the question.
Having identified key points, let’s break down what each one means. Copyright © 2016 Art of Smart Education All rights reserved.
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Analyse – The markers are looking for you to use techniques from the text to break down what the text is actually saying. The best way to tackle the example is by using the ‘TEE’ method to show how the text represents an overall idea. Portray – Portray is basically the fancy way of saying ‘show’! This means that we want to be looking at specific examples from the text – our techniques – and how they show something (the complex emotions/desire for connection). Complex emotions – The markers want you to think of emotions in a more sophisticated way – instead of just saying “he’s sad” think about why he’s sad, how we know that he’s sad, etc. Also try to think of other emotions that a character may be feeling and how they conflict. Maybe a character is happy but also nervous, or sad but also relieved? These are things to consider when thinking about “complex” emotions. Desire for connection – This is what our complex emotions should be about! Make sure that all the emotions you talk about link back to a character wanted to ‘connect’ or belong in some way, and talk about how the text shows that (visual techniques). Now to choose our best 3 techniques to focus on in our response!
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Colour contrast – black and white figure contrasts with colour background, symbolic of ‘grey’ mood and not fitting in. Shows that character is aware of their lack of connection and is saddened by it. Text – symbolically appears ‘cut-out’ and disjointed, word connotations of “smaller”, “lost” and “alone”. Emphasises character’s lack of connection and the negative impact his desire for connection has on his emotions. Colour – the whole image is in rich, saturated colours to better contrast the black and white figure. Shows the ‘outside’ as bright and happy, making it clear that the character would desire to be connected with it and enjoy more positive emotions.
Step 3: Answer with STEEL By now your teachers have probably drilled the STEEL format into your brain a thousand times over, but here’s a reminder of what the acronym means just in case.
Short answer questions like the ones you’ll be getting on visual texts don’t need to follow the STEEL method as strictly, though it’s good to still try to keep it in mind. An edited ‘short-answer STEEL’ like the one below is a great way to keep your answer short but structured.
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You’ll want to try to repeat the TEE section once for each technique, so three times all up, but only have one statement and link. This way your response will be structured and contain all the information you want to get across without it taking 20 minutes to write! Remember, these are short answer questions so you don’t need to go into too much detail.
Example “The complex emotions resulting from a desire for connection is effectively portrayed in text one through its use of contrast, text and colour. The figure in the lower left corner of the image is the most salient feature, his black and white colouring creating a high contrast with the otherwise colourful background. This choice of colour to greyscale contrast creates an immediate sense that the character lacks a connection to the world around him, which results in his own sadness or ‘grey’ mood. The text in the upper right confirms this, not only through the negative connotations of words such as “smaller”, “lost” and “alone”, but also through its stylisation as ‘cut out’ fragments. This emphasises the sense of disjointedness and disconnection borne of lacking connection and reinforces the character’s emotions of isolation and melancholy. Finally, the colour used in the rest of the image is rich and vibrant, a clear choice made to present the ‘outside world’ as desirable and full of colour. This prompts the audience to consider that the character clearly desires connections with this world, but seems reluctant to make them. This reveals a more complex emotional situation as he seems to actively choose to remain isolated, perhaps out of fear of rejection. Overall the image presents a complex insight into how a desire for connection can result in complex emotions, as the character seems to both desire connections and actively avoid them. Thus it is through contrast, text and colour that text one effectively portrays how complex emotions can result from a desire for connection.” And it’s done – one amazing response to a visual text question!
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How to Break Down and Understand HSC English Questions How do you break down and understand HSC English questions? Remember to always read the question properly. It’s something we’ve heard teachers say for years now: make sure you always read and understand the question you’re being asked before you try to answer it. But when it comes to understanding HSC English, it’s not quite as simple as reading the question – you have to interpret it as well. In this article, I’m going to show exactly how to break down the different parts on an English question, understand them, and then put them back together to start writing and awesome response. By the time you finish scrolling, you’ll know exactly how to understand and break down HSC English questions of even the trickiest kind!
Essay/Short Answer Questions The most common are people struggle with is in the analytical section of the exam. Often the questions seem too wordy, with a lot being written but not much being said. By identifying and understanding key vocab and ideas, however, it’s easy to work out just what the question is asking!
Example In order to understand HSC English questions, first and foremost read the question fully – this way you get an idea of what’s being asked and what you might need to do or include in your answer.
Then go through with a pen or highlighter and break the question apart! If the questions has to parts or ‘sections’ use a different colour for each so that they’re easier to identify.
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Now we’re ready to start interpreting what the question is asking. You do this by taking each outlined section individually and defining the key words. Then write a short sentence about what this means in relation to the question or topic! Seeing as the question is broken apart, we’ll analyse each part separately.
Red Section “Individual’s identity” Individual = one person, identity = who a person is. This means you’re going to be dealing with a single character’s identity and how they feel about themselves. “They perceive” They = the individual, perceive = interpret, understand or regard. This means you’re going to be focusing on how the character understands, thinks or feels about something. “Connections with others and the world” Connections = relationships or links, others = other people, the world = nature, the environment, society, etc. This means you’re looking at how the character relates to or feels about the people, places and society around them. SUMMARY – Red By joining these explained meanings together, we’re able to create a rewritten question that’s much easier to understand; “Who a character is, as an individual, is shaped by the way they understand their links to other people and nature, the environment and society.”
Green Section “How is this view represented” How = in what way, view = the concept/idea above, represented = shown. This means you’ll be writing about the ways in which the first section of the question (“An individual’s identity…”) is shown through different literary techniques, scenes, etc. “Prescribed text and ONE related” This simply means you should be referring to both the text you were prescribed in class and one text you studied yourself. Make sure to include quotes and specific references. Copyright © 2016 Art of Smart Education All rights reserved.
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SUMMARY – Green Again, join all the explanations together for an easier to understand question; “In what way is the idea above shown in your prescribed text and your related text?”
So what does it mean? By looking at this in relation to the first section of the question we can then understand exactly what is being asked. Dot point the key ideas or ‘asks’ of each section and you have exactly what you need to do!
What to Write
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Write about one specific character and who they are Write about how they feel about their links to people/places/society Write about how those feelings influence who the character is Write about specific scenes, techniques, etc. that show this Use quotes and examples from your prescribed and related texts
At the end you’ll have about five dot points – which may seem like a lot, but really it’s just breaking the question into smaller, easier to digest ideas! Your turn! Now you get to try breaking down a question! Using the example below, try to break down it into sections, then simplify the terms and put it back together for an understandable question. Dot point your ‘What to write’ section and you’re ready to go!
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Creative Writing Questions Creative writing tends not to be as major a panic point when it comes to understanding questions, mainly because you get to be creative with it! Still, many people get confused about exactly what creative questions may want from them. You pretty much use the exact same ‘breakdown method’ for creative questions as you do for analytical, so let’s check out an example! If you need help with Creative Writing, Elizabeth has written the Creative Writing Crash Course for you to get your Band 6!
Example Start by reading the question full to get a feel for what is being asked.
Then go through and begin highlighting or outlining important terms. Make sure you also look for key ideas in any stimulus sentences, like those in the box.
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Now we’re ready to start interpreting, again splitting the question into two sections to better understand just what’s being asked. Because it’s a creative question we can skip definitions and instead focus on key ideas.
Red Section “Individuals” Your creative piece should be focused on developing character and a sense of who the person is. Because of time restraints it would be best to focus on one, maximum two characters. “Place in a community” The piece should look at a character’s place in their community, be it a community of friends, peers, co-workers, townspeople, society as a whole, etc. It should emphasise how the character does find or has found their place there. “ONE of the sentences as the first sentence.” This is very important! Your creative response needs to start with one of these sentences, but it’s more than just tacking it on the front. Make sure the sentence creates the tone of the story and is somehow important to the narrative.
Summary – Red This section is essentially asking you to develop a creative piece that focuses on one or two characters and how they found a place in some form of community. It also wants you to use one of the stimulus sentences as your opening, so make sure you use it in a significant way.
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Green Section Sentence 1 – “solitude” and “lonely” These two words immediately tell you that your creative piece should deal with ideas of solitude and loneliness. You can do this by having a character move from being alone to being part of a group, or by finding that being alone doesn’t mean they have to be lonely. Make sure these themes are at the centre of your story. Sentence 2 – “little world” and “reveal” This sentence looks at the ideas of someone’s own personal world (people and places around them) and revelation/discovery. Your story could focus on a character discovering how they belong in their own community, or thinking about when they realised the people/places around them were their own “little world”. Sentence 3 – “their” and “perfume of the town” The use of “their” means that you’ll probably have to include more than one character in this story, while the rest of the sentence shows a focus on surroundings. The language is also more descriptive, so your story should follow the ‘show not tell’ rule and look at people within a set environment.
Summary – Green You only have to choose one of the three sentences to begin your creative piece with, but you have to choose wisely! The sentence will introduce the key theme/ideas you look at in your response, and potentially the style (descriptive for the last sentence).
So what does it mean? After breaking down what the question is asking and the different sentences you can use, it’s time to answer it! Choose one of the sentences and begin dot pointing what you need to include in your creative piece. For this example I chose the second sentence, “My little world started to reveal itself to me.”
What to write
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Write about 1-2 characters and how they fit into a place/group/society Write about how the found/are finding where they fit Use one of the stimulus sentences as the first sentence Write about the character’s own personal world (places, experiences) Write about how it is revealed to them – through events, thoughts, etc.
These points are the key elements of the question and show you exactly what you’re being asked to do! This makes it way easier to write a kickass creative response!
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What We’ve Learned Even though English questions are tricky and can take some time to understand, it’s easy to break them down! By using both the analytical and creative breakdown methods you can turn even the trickiest of questions into something manageable. Just remember to always:
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Identify key words/phrases and define them Break it down into smaller sections Figure out what each part of the question is asking for Put it back together Dot point the key things you need to write/address
Do all this and you’ll be well on your way to an awesome English response – plus, you’ll always know that you’ve read your questions properly!
Your Turn! Now try your hand at breaking down a creative question! Using the example provided break down the question and the stimuli one by one. Then choose a stimulus and dot point your ‘What to write’ section!
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Cheatsheets
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Visual Techniques General Visual Techniques Allusions References to other images/visual media, including art, films, pop culture, religious icons, etc. Sometimes in the form of a parody (referencing another image but making it humorous), these usually re-contextualise or “change the meaning” of the original media.
Angles/Lines The ‘direction’ of an image based on the angles or lines within it. Horizontals create a sense of calm, verticals create a sense of structure and diagonals a mood of unease or being off-balance.
Body Language Facial expressions, body language and gestures used to show character’s attitudes, moods or personality. Often focussed on overall body movement and positioning.
Close-up Shot When the frame is mostly or entirely filled with a character’s face, an important object, etc. Used to create viewer focus and show that whatever is being shown is important. Often used on character’s faces in highly emotional images.
Colour (Hue/Tone) Colours are symbolic of different emotions, moods, etc. and are used to evoke corresponding responses in audiences. Purple is a colour of royalty, wealth and luxury whereas red symbolises lust, passion, anger and so on. Also consider how saturated colours are (are they bright and vivid or dull and desaturated?).
Composition What an image is made up of – where things are placed, how it is framed, the colour and lighting used, etc. This generally refers to the image as a whole.
Contrast Placing things that are considered opposite close to each other. Contrasts can be between colours (black and white), sizes (large and small), textures (rough and smooth), etc. to create interest and complexity. One small contrasting colour/size/shape in an image is also usually highly salient because it stands out.
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Framing
The camera shots and angles used in images/films to create different audience reactions and emotions. E.g. close-up, extreme close-up, mid shots, aerial shots, etc.
Gaze Where a character looks, which then directs viewer’s eyes. A ‘demand’ gaze involves direct eye contact between a character and the viewer, an ‘offer’ has the character look at something within the image, drawing the viewer’s eyes there too. Can also be used to express emotion/intent.
High Angle Shot A shot taken from slightly above something/someone, looking down on it/them. Creates a sense of the character being weak, helpless, intimidated, etc. May also be used to represent someone literally looking down at an object/scene (point of view).
Law of Thirds By dividing an image into equal thirds along the horizontal, the vertical axis you can break it into 9 equal sections which each have different connotations, Movement is expected to from the left thirds to the right thirds, otherwise it’s read as moving backwards (literally or figuratively). Characters in the top right third are seen as powerful or in control, while those in the bottom left thirds are weaker or being controlled.
Lighting How a shot is lit or not lit. This includes natural lighting (the sun, open windows, etc.) and man-made lighting (lamps, torches, etc.) as well as feature lighting such as coloured lights, spotlights, moving lights, etc. Lighting has a major impact on the mood and atmosphere of an image (low light is seedy, harsh light is unnerving, soft light is intimate, etc.).
Long/Wide Shot A shot that is made up of a large landscape, cityscape or other kind of scene, Generally these are used to get across lots of information at once, such as the layout of a room, the location of an event, the number of people around, etc.
Low Angle Shot A shot taken from slightly below someone/something, used to present them/it as being in a position of power, dominance or control. It may also be used to have someone literally look up at someone/something (point of view).
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Mid Shot A shot that is approximately half-filled with a figure, object, etc. Usually these are ‘regular’ shots and are very common for character conversations/interactions or showing a select area or object within an area (a desk, chair, etc.).
Point of View How the shot is framed in reference to the viewer or a character. Does the shot take the character’s point of view (a shot of a character leaning out a window cutting to an aerial shot looking down from a window) or is the audience placed level with, above or below the characters/objects/action?
Positioning Where have objects and characters been placed in the shot? What is in the foreground, middle ground and background and why have they been placed there?
Salience How much any section of an image draws the viewer’s eyes – the most salient feature of an image is whatever/wherever the viewer’s eyes are first drawn when they look at it. Salience is always deliberate and usually created through contrast, colour, framing and layout.
Symbolism The use of one image/object to represent an idea or concept that is more complex than it is. Religious symbolism, pop culture symbolism and animal symbolism are all very common.
Text Words used within images to convey a literal or figurative message. Consider the font, colour, size, weight, etc. of the text, where and how often it has been used and the connotations of the words actually used.
Vectors The lines or paths viewer’s eyes follow when looking at an image, usually vectors are deliberately created to lead the eyes to a focal point or important feature. Because we read left to right we tend to follow vectors in the same direction across an image.
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Film Techniques Aerial Shot
A shot usually taken from a crane or helicopter to show a landscape, city, or many other elements within a single moving shot. Usually these are used to establish settings, large spaces/areas or a sense of scale. Example: Saving Private Ryan (above, Steven Spielberg) uses an aerial shot of the war cemetery filled with white crosses of the fallen to give a sense of scale of lives lost in World War II. In putting one individual against the masses of crosses, they are quantified into human lives.
Costuming The clothes, makeup, hairstyles, accessories, etc. designed to be worn by characters to
represent their personality, status, heritage, culture, etc. Often characters clothes will fit within one or two similar colour palettes or tones and use fabrics of similar textures. Colour symbolism often comes into play here (a character wearing earthy colours may be associated with gardening, plants and nature). Example: High starched collars worn by Einar Wegener (later Lili Elbe) in The Danish Girl (above, Tom Hooper) emphasise the rigidity of conforming to gender norms in the early 20th century in Europe.
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Cut The splicing of two shots together so that one seems to instantly move to the other. There are many different types of cuts – jump cuts are more jagged and create a sense of fast pace or deliberately poor editing, match cuts involve cutting between two very visually similar shots to create a more seamless flow.
Dialogue The words spoken by characters. Regular literary techniques are used her (metaphor, simile, personification, etc.) but also consider character vocal inflection, tone, pauses, etc. as well as their vocal range (does the character have a deep voice? A high, feminine voice?).
Diegetic Sound The ‘literal sound’ created by the objects and people within a shot – sounds that the character is presumed to be hearing as well. This includes; character dialogue, fabric rustling, animals, background noise/voices, sounds made by objects (doors closing, rain), etc.
Digital Effects
Any images, characters, setting and effects added digitally in post-production to add to or alter the original shot. Remember that all digital effects are deliberate and have been added for a reason – to change the mood of a shot, change character gesture, etc. Example: Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump (above, Robert Zemeckis) loses his legs in the Vietnam War, which results in long years of suffering when he is discharged. By placing Lieutenant Dan onto the ground, and editing his legs out of the shot, the audience is drawn into the reality of Lieutenant Dan’s pain.
Establishing Shot
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The shot at the beginning of a film or scene that gives the basic or introductory information to viewers. Generally includes or introduces the location, characters, etc.
Example: The establishing shot of Sherlock (above, BBC, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss), depicts an aerial view of London’s most famous sites; the London Eye, the Tower of London, Parliament, Big Ben. This allows us to immediately assume the location of the series: London.
Fade In/Out A transition device whereby a shots fades into or out of black (or another image) at the end or beginning of the shot respectively. These are generally used to create a sense of slow movement, intimacy or ‘trailing off’ in a shot/scene.
Montage The cutting together or several shots that show small pieces of a larger scene or idea to create an overall sense of time passing/something occurring. Most commonly used in training sequences where a character must become skilled in a task over time, so many shots of them completing different training exercises are cut together to create a sense of them improving over time.
Non-diegetic Sound The ‘non-literal sound’ that has been added into a shot that the characters cannot hear. This includes; narration/voice-over, added sound effects, music (that isn’t shown to be produced from an onscreen source such as a tv, dance party, etc.) and the film score/ soundtrack.
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Props
Items and objects used within a shot to create a sense of setting, represent character interests, symbolise something else or be interacted with. Generally the most important props are those used or seen as important by characters, as well as recurring props that feature in several different scenes/shots throughout the film. Example: The Heart Shaped Necklace in The Man in the High Castle (above, Amazon Studios, Frank Spotnitz) was designed by Frank Frink and given to his girlfriend, Juliana Crane. Juliana’s leaving of the necklace in their home when she ventures off into the Neutral Zone to deliver a newsreel represents the fracturing of their relationship, and her departure from the Japanese Pacific States and her world under Imperial Japanese rule into a potential new life.
Voice-over Audio narration laid over the top of a shot’s regular soundtrack. Generally voiceover is used to give audiences extra information, additional commentary or character’s specific views/comments on the scene.
Disclaimer: Film images used in this Cheatsheet are copyright to their rightful owners.
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Literary Techniques Allegory A story or narrative with two meanings; the obvious or literal meaning that is immediately clear, and a second, usually hidden meaning. The second meaning often acts as a commentary on real world events or issues or relates to a specific topic/theme being dealt with. Example: Many people claim Lord of the Rings is an allegory for the World War I because it portrays war (and especially industrialisation for war production) negatively.
Alliteration Repetition of consonants at the beginning of successive words or within sentences/ phrases to create a sense of rhythm, though they can be overdone (as in tongue twisters). Also common in poetry. Example: “Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”
Allusion A subtle or passing reference to an event, person, place, other text, etc. that is intended to be noticed by readers (though isn’t always picked up on). Religious allusions are some of the easiest to spot, especially Christian religious allusions due to the oversaturation of Christian imagery in texts and media. Example: Remus Lupin in Harry Potter is named for Remus of ‘Remus and Romulus’, twins in Greek mythology who were raised by a wolf. This is a mythological allusion that ties into his being a werewolf.
Ambiguity When something is left to the reader’s imagination. Often this involves the author not stating explicitly what is happening, what has been said, etc. This boosts reader interest as they are encouraged to make up their own mind about what is happening, or they become suspicious of what they have not been explicitly told. Common in poetry. Example: The ending of Inception (Christopher Nolan) is incredibly ambiguous. In the film audiences are shown that the main character’s spinning top will continue to spin if he’s in a dream and topple if he’s in reality – however the final shot cuts just as the spinner begins to wobble, leaving audiences to wonder if he’s in reality or still dreaming.
Analogy Uses two similar concepts or ideas to create a relationship or draw comparisons between the two. Can also be used to contrast two ideas, however it’s most commonly used to
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prove how something is similar or use one idea to explain another. Often features the phrase “is to”, though not always. Example: “A sword is to a warrior as a pen is to a writer.”
Antithesis Using two sentences with contradictory or contrasting meanings close to one another, sometimes even in immediate succession. This creates strong contrast, however the two sentences are usually designed to balance each other out through opposite connotations and then represent a whole idea. Antitheses often show how a character or idea may be contradictory but still whole. ExExampleample: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities).
Archetype An archetype is an immediately recognisable character, concept or object that makes it easy for audiences to categorise them based on what they resemble in literature. Character archetypes are most common, with popular ones including: the femme fatale, the average joe, the class clown, the anti-hero, the bad boy, etc. Most characters fit into at least one archetype. Example: Hagrid (Harry Potter) and Hodor (Game of Thrones) fit the ‘gentle giant’ archetype, while Batman is the ultimate ‘lone vigilante’ archetype.
Assonance Similar to alliteration, however in this case it is vowel sounds that are repeated. This may be at the beginning of words/phrases, or within the words themselves. Very common in poetry. Example: “A long song.” has a repeated long ‘o’ sound in the last two words that creates assonance, however the name “Rita Skeeter” from Harry Potter also features assonance, as the ‘i’ and ‘ee’ create the same sound.
Atmosphere Atmosphere and mood are often used interchangeably, as they are similar but used in different ways and have different results. Atmosphere refers to the feeling or mood created by a place, situation or text – it usually changes from scene to scene and is built by sensory imagery and word choices. This is what makes dark, stormy nights in novels feel eerie and foreboding. Example: “The floorboards creaked in time with the wind whistling around the houses’ jagged edges, and waves crashed angrily against the rocky cliffs below. She clutched her coat tighter around her and stepped into the flickering light of the fire.” Copyright © 2016 Art of Smart Education All rights reserved.
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Characterisation The process by which characters are introduced, described and then fully formed through their choices, interactions, etc. Characterisation is what makes characters feel like real people, and is often based in their morals, values and personality traits. If a character has strong characterisation it is easy to imagine how they would react in any given situation. It also makes it harder to believe situations where characters do things that go against their usual traits, creating audience suspicion or disbelief. Example: Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games) is characterised as being independent, resourceful, focused on survival and having poor social skills. These traits determine how she interacts with people and makes choices, as seen in her initially being vocal in her hatred for the Capitol, but then doing as the Capitol tells her if it means protecting her family and surviving.
Cliché A common and/or overused expression, often found in similes and metaphors. While they can sometimes be used ironically or to symbolise a character themselves being unoriginal, clichés are often a sign of lazy or unimaginative writing. Clichés should only be used if there’s a reason for them. Example: “He ran like the wind.”
Connotations The ideas, feelings or concepts associated with specific words, phrases or situations that go beyond their literal meaning. Word choices are often made with the connotations of each word in mind to create a particular atmosphere or tone. In some instances an interaction or situation may have underlying connotations as well. Example: ‘Beautiful’ and ‘cute’, while both describing how something is visually appealing, have different connotations. ‘Beautiful’ creates a sense of grace, elegance and maturity, while ‘cute’ is more associated with youth, pettiness and the colour pink.
Contrast Any situation wherein two different or opposing things are presented together in order to highlight their differences. This can occur with ideas, settings, characters, objects, concepts, themes, etc. and often serve to make the audience more aware of the individual parts of the two things that make them different. Example: Timon and Pumbaa (The Lion King) are visually contrasting, with Timon being small, angular and lightly coloured, while Pumbaa is large, rounded and a darker colour. This emphasises their differences and the unlikeliness of their friendship.
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Context The time, place and social setting within which a text was created, including the values of the time, the world events, major topics of discussion, key figures, etc. There are three kinds of context; literary (what was happening in the literary world at the time), historical (what year it was and what major world events were occurring) and personal (who the author was, their experiences and values). These all influence the text, leading to the text often reflecting the authors own ideas and values as based on their context. Example: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley explores the idea of science being used to create life, reflecting Shelley’s own interest in science and the actual reanimation experiments of the time period.
Dramatic Irony Any situation wherein the audience is privy to some sort of information that the characters do not know, building audience tension, suspense, etc. This is usually achieved by cutting away from the main character to see what another character is doing/ planning, then returning to the uninformed character and watching the results play out, all the while knowing what the second character has done/planned. Example: Romeo and Juliet uses dramatic irony to create audience tension and emotional reactions when Romeo believes Juliet to be dead and kills himself, as audiences know she’s actually alive and will wake up any moment.
Emotive Language Words chosen to create a specific emotional response in the reader, often linked to the word’s connotations and commonly used in highly emotional or descriptive scenes/ situations. Emotive language can become awkward when used too much in character dialogue, as it doesn’t sound like something a person would realistically say. Very common in poetry. Example: “[...] which is what you didn’t do, because you’re weak and hollow and it doesn’t matter anymore.” (Richard Siken, Crush)
Euphemism A mild or ‘proper’ expression used to replace one that is harsh, blunt or otherwise offensive in order to not cause trouble or appear vulgar. Euphemisms are commonly used to more politely refer to topics of an unsanitary, sexual or ‘improper’ nature. Example: “I have to see a man about a dog.” is often said euphemistically when leaving a room or conversation to go to the toilet.
Exclamation A sentence ending with an exclamation mark (“!”) or said with a tone of shock/excitement is used to express high emotion – e.g. sudden revelations, important discoveries or Copyright © 2016 Art of Smart Education All rights reserved.
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enthusiasm. This is often used to better express the tone of dialogue or show emotional outbursts. Example: “I can’t believe you!” may be said when someone has done something shocking or betrayed a character in some way and elicited a strong emotional response.
Frame Narrative This is essentially a ‘story within a story’, wherein the main narrative is being told, remembered, etc. by someone in the ‘outside narrative. This is much easier to see and understand in films, though it is also very popular in written texts and novels – especially those that ‘jump’ between time settings from chapter to chapter. Example: Titanic (James Cameron) is a frame narrative, as the story is being told by ‘Old Rose’ and cuts back to her several times throughout the film. Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis) is another well-known frame narrative film.
Foil A foil is another character in a story that specifically contrasts the main character in order to emphasise the main character’s attributes and values or compare the values of the two characters. Oftentimes a character’s foil will have vastly differing ideas on the same topics, share some kind of similar background or experience, deal with the same situations in different ways, etc. Usually there are some similarities shared between the two characters, or a sense that character A is what character B ‘could have been’. Example: Draco Malfoy is a foil to Harry Potter, as he represents the opposites of Harry’s values and experiences, though the two are tied together by their positions on opposite sides of the battle against Voldemort.
Foreshadowing The act of hinting at or setting up a situation, event or action that will later be extremely important in the narrative but doesn’t seem important at the time. Audiences are usually made to notice a particular object/comment/situation/etc. as being of some level of importance, but not realise how important it will be until later in the narrative. However some authors include foreshadowing that the audience aren’t meant to pick up on until after the ‘big reveal’ has occurred. Example [Spoilers]: Fight Club (David Fincher) features several single-frame images of ‘Tyler Durden’ spliced into the film before we ever meet his character, foreshadowing his introduction and the fact that he is actually the manifestation of the Narrator’s Multiple Personality Disorder.
Form The construction and structure of a text based on the text type, the context and the author’s personal stylistic choices. This can include language choices, sentence Copyright © 2016 Art of Smart Education All rights reserved.
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structures, film choices, poetic styles (limerick, free verse, etc.) and is often influences by the context and literary styles of the time it was written. Example: Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkien) and Game of Thrones (George R. R. Martin) are both epic novels with similar genre, subject matter and concept, however their forms are incredibly different due to the time in which they were written and the authors’ stylistic choices.
Figurative Language Language, words and/or expressions that have meaning beyond their literal interpretation, often used to express links between ideas, characters and concepts or subtly tie into overall themes. Figurative language includes metaphors, similes, hyperbole, metonymy, personification, etc. and are also frequently used to describe characters and things. Common in poetry. Example: “A handsome manor house grew out of the darkness at the end of the straight drive.” (J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows)
Sound Devices Any techniques that focus on the sounds produced by words and/or how they relate to one another. Incredibly common in poetry. Example: onomatopoeia, resonance, rhythm, rhyme, etc.
Fractured Sentences Incomplete or broken off sentences used most commonly in dialogue to replicate regular speech patterns and being cut off or trailing off while speaking. Also used outside of dialogue to build suspense, tension or a sense of urgency. Very common in poetry. Example: “Wait, what are you-” he began, but she cut him off. “I know what I’m doing.”
Hyperbole The purposeful over-exaggeration of a statement in order to create a more intense or overthe- top effect. Hyperbole can be paired with similes or metaphors and are most commonly used in highly emotive situations or dialogue to create an even greater emotional reaction. Can also be humorous if used in mundane settings. Example: “I’m so exhausted I couldn’t move if I tried.” is hyperbole in itself, but if said by a character who has done nothing to warrant being tired it can also add a level or humour.
Icons An object, image or person that symbolises something larger, usually a complex concept or theme. This is most often seen in ‘hero’ characters, as they are intended to symbolise certain ideas and values. Copyright © 2016 Art of Smart Education All rights reserved.
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Example: Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games) is an icon to the audience of strength, survival and perseverance, but is also an icon within the world of the novel as ‘The Mockingjay’, a symbol of revolution and rebellion.
Imagery Words used to create an idea or mental image of something, most often found in descriptions or created through descriptive language. Imagery is generally focused on settings, objects and characters to ensure audiences have a very clear idea of what is happening and how it all looks. Common in poetry. Example: “It was in appearance a tall spacious tree of graceful form, with thin unwrinkled bark over white wood.” (J. R. R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings)
Intertextuality This occurs when one text makes reference to another text, either obviously or in a more subtle way (e.g. allusions) in order to make a point or draw links between the two. Example: Frankenstein (Mary Shelley) makes subtle intertextual references throughout the text to the Greek myth of Promethus in order to better express her warning against ‘playing God’.
Irony A disconnect between what is said and what is meant, usually with the words said having a second insulting, humorous or satirical meaning. Nothing like the Alanis Morissette song. Example: “Well aren’t I lucky!”, when said by an unlucky character or one who has just suffered due to bad luck, is ironic.
Juxtaposition Placing one character, idea, theme, object, setting, etc. parallel to another in order to compare and contrast the two. This is often done to encourage audiences to think about two things in relation to each other and draw conclusions about how they are similar and/ or different, especially in regards to characters. Example: Katniss and Peeta (The Hunger Games) are brought together in a constant juxtaposition to highlight their own personal strengths and weaknesses and ultimately show how the two character balance each other.
Language choices This includes individual word choices based on connotations, as well as specific overall language choices used to characterise certain characters and develop a stronger sense of voice. Having a character use slang or colloquial language creates a different effect that a
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character who always uses formal language, allowing authors to separate and characterise through these language choices. Example: “Oi mate, who was it?” versus “Pardon me, who was at the door?”. Though both sentences express the same idea, language choice give them different feelings and connotations – they would not be said by the same character.
Linear and Non-Linear This describes the way in which a narrative flows or is told. A linear narrative moves forward in time, directly from point A to point B with events occurring in chronological order. A non-linear narrative may jump from different times, characters, etc. with events occurring out of chronological order. Example: Memento (Christopher Nolan) and 500 Days of Summer (Marc Webb) are both nonlinear films.
Metaphor Comparing two things by saying that one ‘is’ the other in order to draw stronger comparisons and often add a level of figurative meaning. There are many cliché metaphors, but when done well metaphors can be extremely strong figurative techniques. Extended metaphors are reoccurring metaphors or ideas that show up multiple times in a text (e.g. a woman being referred to as different flowers throughout a text). Very common in poetry. Example: “He was a crumbling ruin of a man; once great, then left to erode into dust.”
Metonymy The act of referring to something not by its actual name but by a figurative name or the name of something associated with it. Many everyday phrases are examples of metonymy. Example: “Lend me your ears!” (Julius Caesar) in which ‘ears’ is used in place of ‘attention’, employing metonymy. ‘Silver fox’ is everyday metonymy for an attractive older man.
Modality The strength or force of a word, which low modality words being passive while high modality words are forceful. Characters giving speeches or rallying crowds would use high modality words, as they raise the intensity and strength of the language and scene. Example: “You might want to do this.” versus “You must do it.” Might is low modality, must is high modality.
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Mood or Tone Mood is similar to atmosphere, however it focuses more on the emotional or mental feeling the author has towards certain subjects or ideas and how they express that in the text. Mood can be ‘felt’ in a similar way to atmosphere through word connotations, figurative language, etc. Very common in poetry. Example: “The enemy? His sense of duty was no less that yours, I deem. You wonder what his name was, where he came from. And if he was really evil at heart. [...] War will make corpses of us all.” (J. R. R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings) This dialogue expresses a mood of distaste for war and that it only leads to death, reflecting Tolkien’s own views.
Motifs A motif is an idea, symbol, object, concept or theme that is always present throughout an entire text, playing a significant and/or symbolic role in the narrative. Generally motifs tie into the central ideas of the narrative or reflect a certain message the author is trying to present. Common in poetry. Example: Blade Runner (Ridley Scott) features an ongoing eye motif, with several close ups of different characters’ eyes used to draw comparisons between how the motif relates to each character.
Omission What is left out of a text – missing scenes, fade to blacks, conversations only mentioned in passing, etc. Omissions lend largely to ambiguity and often leave it up to the audience to ‘fill in the blank’ of what may have happened with their own imagination. Sometimes a specific scenario can be implied. Example: At the end of one scene character A and character B are fighting, however in the next scene they seem to be acting civilly to each other. Because audience’s aren’t shown why the characters’ attitudes changed, they are left to try to figure it out for themselves.
Onomatopoeia A word that it the ‘sound’ of what it represents, allowing the reader to ‘hear’ what is occurring. The words themselves are meant to represent the actual sound made, thus can often become ‘made up’ words. Example: Bang, crash, bam, screech, eek, oof, etc.
Oxymoron Two contradictory words or concepts used together to create a strange or complex thing/ idea that still makes sense. Oxymorons tend to add an extra level of meaning to the concepts discussed and are often used as descriptors. Common in poetry.
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Example: “Eyes burning cold.” uses oxymoron in the last two words in to contradict itself and create an extra layer of figurative meaning.
Parallels This involves setting up two characters, situations, settings or ideas to be parallel to one another, reflecting each other but having different outcomes. Often the stories of a hero and a villain will be parallels, with the villain making the ‘wrong’ choices and the hero the ‘right’ ones. Parallel situations are similar, with a similar setup or scenario having a different outcome to another based on characters and choices. Example: Boromir and Aragorn (Lord of the Rings) face parallel situations when they are each tempted to take the ring from Frodo. While Boromir succumbs to temptation and tries to steal the ring, Aragorn resists and tells Frodo to go on alone, showing how Aragorn’s choice makes him the stronger person.
Pathetic Fallacy This involves giving any non-human object or nature some kind of human feelings or senses. It’s a more specific from of personification. Very common in poetry. Example: “The willow leaves brushed forlornly at his face, the old tree trying to comfort him.”
Person or Narrative Perspective First, second or third person narratives are usually categorised by their use of “I”, “you”, or “they” respectively. First person refers to themselves, second person to the audience and third person to everybody. First person narration is seen as more personal, while third person is favoured for omniscient narration, while second person is very uncommon. Example: First person = “I broke the lamp.”, second person = “You broke the lamp.”, third person = “She broke the lamp.”
Personification The attributing of human characteristics to non-human objects, by which inanimate objects appear to have life and/or feelings. This is often used in figurative descriptive language and is common in poetry. Example: “The tree branches thrashed against the window, their spindly, arthritic fingers creaking in the wind.”
Rhetorical question A question that is asked without the intent of receiving an answer because the answer itself is obvious. Generally these are used to force audiences to come to the correct answer on their own, though sometimes they may be used to prompt audiences to think harder about a specific idea. Copyright © 2016 Art of Smart Education All rights reserved.
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Example: A group of warriors asking “Who will lead us?” when the narrative has already made it obvious that the hero will lead the quest.
Setting The location of a narrative – which may and often does change several times within the story. Settings can also often be tied to the narrative, rather than just being ‘where things happen’, and some settings are linked to certain genres. Example: Abandoned castles and stormy moors are classic Gothic settings, while teen dramas are typically set in high schools and suburban towns.
Sibilance A specific from of alliteration involving the repetition of ‘s’ within a phrase or sentence. Depending on word connotations it can be read as soft and flowing or cold and hissing. Most of the fictional language of Parseltongue (Harry Potter) is based on sibilant sounds. Example: “Susie sells seashells by the seashore.”
Simile Comparing two objects, and object and a person, etc. using ‘like’ or ‘as’ to draw parallels between them. Many similes have become cliché – a good simile shouldn’t be immediately obvious as a simile. Example: “He was cold as ice.” is cliché, “He was a cold, prickly man, like the first bite of early morning winter against your cheeks.” is not.
Symbolism When an object, person, etc. represents a more complex idea, concept or theme. Similar to icons, however symbolism doesn’t always represent something larger or more important than the literal object, and can also represent relationships, interactions, etc. Example: Characters shaking hands is symbolic of agreement or making a pact, but could also be symbolic of reconciling depending on the situation.
Syntax (sentence structure) The way a sentence is constructed – short, long, fragmented, compound, complex, etc. Different sentence structures have different effects, with short and one-word sentences creating impact and urgency, while compound sentences are slower and usually found in more formal writing. Example: “District 12 only has three existing victors to choose from. Two male. One female. I am going back to the arena.” (Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games) This features a longer sentence to give context then three successive shorter sentences to create impact and tension. Copyright © 2016 Art of Smart Education All rights reserved.
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Theme The overall message or moral of a narrative which is intended to cause audiences to think on real-life issues or moral questions. Generally these are what defines the story and is a reoccurring feature throughout the text. There can be more than one theme. Example: The themes of Harry Potter include ‘love conquers all’, good vs evil, death and the question of eternal life.
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HSC Practice Questions
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Area of Study: ‘Discovery’ Question 1 ‘Not all discoveries are made for the first time.’ Explore the truth of this statement in relation to the texts, you have studied. In your response, refer to your prescribed text and at least ONE other related text of your own choosing.
Question 2 ‘Most discoveries encompass rediscovering something that has been lost, forgotten or concealed.’ To what extent do you agree with this statement from your study? In your response, refer to your prescribed text and TWO other related texts of your own choosing.
Question 3 ‘Discovery is a product of curiosity and careful planning.’ To what extent do you agree with this statement from your study? In your response, refer to your prescribed text and at least ONE other related text of your own choosing.
Question 4 “Deliberate planning is essential for a discovery.” Is this your view? Write a persuasive response referring to representations of physical journeys in your texts. In your response, refer to your prescribed text and TWO other related texts of your own choosing.
Question 5 You have been invited to speak at the book launch of a new collection entitled Exploring Discovery. In your speech, explain and assess the ways in which discovery is represented in the texts included in this collection. In your answer, you should refer to your prescribed text, and at least ONE other related text of your own choosing. Copyright © 2016 Art of Smart Education All rights reserved.
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Question 6 Texts represent discoveries as being sudden and unexpected. To what extent do the texts you have studied support this idea? In your response, refer to your prescribed text, and at least ONE other related text of your own choosing.
Question 7 “Planning rather than curiosity, necessity or wonder leads to discoveries” Demonstrate how your prescribed text and ONE other related text of your own choosing represent this interpretation of discovery.
Question 8 Texts may show us that the discoveries can be fresh and intensely meaningful. To what extent do the texts you have studied support this idea? In your response, refer to your prescribed text, and at least ONE other related text of your own choosing.
Question 9 How has your understanding of the emotional, intellectual and physical discoveries been shaped by the techniques used by various composers? In your answer, you should refer to your prescribed text, and TWO related texts of your own choosing.
Question 10 ‘Discoveries confront and provoke the individual leading to change in self.’ Discuss this statement, focusing on how composers of texts represent the concept of discovery. In your answer, refer to your prescribed text, and at least ONE other related text of your own choosing.
Question 11 Explore how discoveries can cause the individual to have a new fresh and meaningful outlook on life. In your response, refer to your prescribed text and at least ONE other related text of your own choosing. Copyright © 2016 Art of Smart Education All rights reserved.
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Question 12 An individual’s discovery shapes the way they understand themselves and the world around them. How is this view represented in your prescribed text, and ONE other related text of your own choosing?
Question 13 More than anything else, discoveries lead to new worlds, values and ideas. Do you agree? Argue your point of view. In your answer, refer to your prescribed text, and at least ONE other related text of your own choosing.
Question 14 ‘Only through discovery can an individual speculate about the future.’ Discuss this statement, focusing on how composers of texts represent the concept of discovery. In your answer, refer to your prescribed text, and at least ONE other related text of your own choosing.
Question 15 ‘An individual’s interaction with others and the world around them can impact on their experience of discovery .’ Discuss this view with detailed reference to your prescribed text and ONE other related text of your own choosing.
Question 16 Explore how an individual’s discovery and process of discovery can be influenced by their personal values. In your response, refer to your prescribed text and at least ONE other related text of your own choosing.
Question 17 “An individual’s context influences the discoveries they make and ways they make discoveries” Demonstrate how your prescribed text and ONE other related text of your own choosing represent this interpretation of discovery.
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Question 18 The worth of an individual’s discovery evolves in response to the passage of time and interaction with their world. In what ways is this view of belonging represented in your prescribed text and at least ONE other related text of your own choosing?
Question 19 An individual’s discovery is questioned and challenged not only by the individual’s attitude but also by the attitude of others. How accurately does this statement reflect the ideas represented in your prescribed text and ONE other related text of your own choosing?
Question 20 To what extent has studying the concept of discovery expanded your understanding of yourself, of individuals, and of the world? In your answer, refer to your prescribed text, and at least ONE other related text of your own choosing.
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Module A General Questions Question 1 Text with similar content will inevitably reveal similar messages. Discuss this statement with reference to your two prescribed texts
Question 2 Context shape the perspectives of a text. Explore how this has influenced the two texts you’ve studied and the similarities and differences that resulted.
Question 3 Values presented in texts are always shaped by the text’s context. How true is this statement of the two texts you studied?
Question 4 A text’s form is central to the message it conveys and the values it presents. Discuss this statement with detailed reference to the two prescribed texts.
Question 5 Comparative study leads to appreciation for the impact of context on a text’s values. To what extent is this true of your study of the two prescribed texts?
Question 6 The influences of context are revealed when texts are studied comparatively. Analyse how your comparative study of the two prescribed texts has lead you to a greater understanding of their contexts.
Question 7 The purpose of any text is to convey values appropriate to its context. Consider this statement’s accuracy in reference to the two texts you studied.
Question 8 Do the two prescribed texts studied present the same underlying meanings, or provide new ideas about similar concepts?
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Intertextual Perspectives Question 9 A text’s perspectives are shaped by and created for the context in which they’re written. How true is this of the two prescribed texts?
Question 10 Similar content does not necessarily ensure similar meaning. Discuss how relevant this statement is to the two prescribed texts.
Question 11 How have the contexts of the two prescribed texts influenced the attitudes conveyed in each?
Question 12 Discuss how the treatment of similar content in different contexts can lead to a change in meaning. Make reference to two prescribed texts.
Question 13 In what way does comparative study heighten our understanding of the different perspectives offered by similar texts? Provide detailed reference to the two prescribed texts.
Question 14 Context, purpose and audience are all central to developing a text’s meaning. Discuss how this influences the two prescribed texts studied.
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Intertextual Connections Question 15 Connections between texts can only be fully understood through comparative study. How true is this of your study of the two prescribed texts?
Question 16 How can similar texts from different times challenge or reinforce the values of their individual contexts despite similar content? Analyse with reference to the two prescribed texts.
Question 17 Does similar content lead to similar or dissimilar ideas about the ideas explored in a text? Discuss this statement in reference to the two prescribed texts.
Question 18 Different contexts ensure differences in content, but not necessarily in meaning. How accurate is this statement when applied to the two prescribed texts?
Question 19 To what extent is our understanding of intertextual connections deepened through comparative study? Make clear references to the two prescribed texts.
Question 20 Though texts are products of their time, their values remain relevant in new contexts. How can this statement be used to describe the two prescribed texts?
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