Literary essay skills, Year 10: context and argument

AO3

HintIt is neither the objective for your response and evidence nor the one for the writer's methods.

The whyAO3 is about the relationship between a text and its contexts. In each 30-mark essay it carries 6 of the 30 marks, so it supports an answer; it does not lead it.

The ideas, beliefs and attitudes of the time that shaped the text and how it was received

HintThink of what the first audience or readers took for granted.

The whyIt can also include the kind of text it is and how a modern reader responds. It does not mean the author's life story.

B

HintOne of them is tied to something in the text.

The whyB uses an attitude of the time to explain an effect on the reader. A is a fact about the writer that explains nothing in the text.

Inside your analysis, at the point where it explains a choice the writer made

HintNot in a separate block.

The whyA paragraph of history at the start or end is often called bolt-on context. It reads as if it could belong to any essay on the text.

The period in which the text was written and first read or performed

HintThink about the people the writer was writing for.

The whyThe gap between the two is often the point: the first audience knew things that the characters could not.

A thesis statement

HintA two-word term; the first word is also the name of a long university essay.

The whyEverything after it should support, develop or qualify that one answer. Without it an essay tends to become a list of points.

Make a judgement about the extent: you may agree in part and argue for limits

HintIt is a question of degree, not yes or no.

The whyThe strongest answers often say “to a large extent, but…” and then show where the statement stops being true.

Make a point that helps answer the question

HintIt is sometimes called a topic sentence.

The whyA reader should be able to follow your whole argument by reading only the first sentence of each paragraph.

It is backed up with evidence from the text

HintAn opinion on its own is not enough.

The whyYou are meant to have your own view. It becomes informed when references and quotations show where in the text it comes from.

Answer the question directly, drawing your argument together

HintIt looks back, not forward.

The whyIt should not bring in new evidence. A good one often ends on the writer's overall purpose: what the text leaves its audience thinking.