Every card in Literary essay skills, Year 10: context and argument
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- Which assessment objective rewards showing how a text relates to the time and setting in which it was written? (AO and a number)
AO3
HintIt is neither the objective for your response and evidence nor the one for the writer's methods.
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.
- In a literature essay, what does “context” mainly mean?
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.
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.
- Which sentence uses context well? A: The author was born in 1812 and had ten children. B: Readers in the 1840s were used to hearing that the poor were lazy, so a hard-working poor family challenges them.
B
HintOne of them is tied to something in the text.
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.
- Where in an essay should context go?
Inside your analysis, at the point where it explains a choice the writer made
HintNot in a separate block.
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.
- Some texts are set in one period and written in another. Besides the period of the setting, which other period do you need to know about?
The period in which the text was written and first read or performed
HintThink about the people the writer was writing for.
WhyThe gap between the two is often the point: the first audience knew things that the characters could not.
- The sentence, usually in the introduction, that states your overall answer to the essay question
A thesis statement
HintA two-word term; the first word is also the name of a long university essay.
WhyEverything after it should support, develop or qualify that one answer. Without it an essay tends to become a list of points.
- A question begins “How far does the writer present…”. What do the words “how far” invite you to do?
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.
WhyThe strongest answers often say “to a large extent, but…” and then show where the statement stops being true.
- What should the first sentence of each essay paragraph do?
Make a point that helps answer the question
HintIt is sometimes called a topic sentence.
WhyA reader should be able to follow your whole argument by reading only the first sentence of each paragraph.
- The assessment objective for your response asks for an “informed personal response”. What makes a personal response “informed”?
It is backed up with evidence from the text
HintAn opinion on its own is not enough.
WhyYou are meant to have your own view. It becomes informed when references and quotations show where in the text it comes from.
- What should the conclusion of a literature essay do?
Answer the question directly, drawing your argument together
HintIt looks back, not forward.
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.
1★ GCSE-ENLI-ESS-0017
2★ GCSE-ENLI-ESS-0018
3★ GCSE-ENLI-ESS-0019
4★ GCSE-ENLI-ESS-0020
5★ GCSE-ENLI-ESS-0021
6★ GCSE-ENLI-ESS-0022
7★ GCSE-ENLI-ESS-0023
8★ GCSE-ENLI-ESS-0024
9★ GCSE-ENLI-ESS-0025
10★ GCSE-ENLI-ESS-0026
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