AS ENGLISH LITERATURE
LITERATURE POST 1900
2000 WORD COMPARATIVE
COURSEWORK ESSAY – TROUBLE SHOOTING
Here is a table showing areas of concern and some
suggestions on how you can improve your essay. If there are other solutions you
think will help please let me know.
AREA TO IMPROVE
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WHAT TO DO
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1
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Your essay shows little or
no understanding of the relevant context and its influence on the texts
|
·
Follow up context
link on the teaching blog
·
Do a google
search using key terms from the essay
·
Go back over
notes taken in class
|
2
|
Your essay shows little or
no awareness of different audience readings of the texts
|
·
Follow up links
in the General Pages of the blog
·
Do a google
search looking for reviews of Equus and Spies
·
Consider the
way a Marxist or a Feminist may view the texts
|
3
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Your essay shows little or
no comparison between the texts
|
·
Accurately
consider the way in which your chosen theme is addressed in the two texts.
·
Make clear and
explicit any similarities and differences between the texts
·
Take time to
reflect on the topic you are comparing. It may help to talk to others doing
the same topic or talk to someone else unrelated to the course.
|
4
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Your essay is generally unstructured
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·
Assert an
argument in your essay. What message is being communicated about your chosen topic
through the two texts.
·
Break down your
argument into sections. This will help put your essay into a structure.
·
An example of
an argument might be “Secrets are
presented in Spies and Equus as destructive and damaging.”
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5
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Your essay uses little or no critical terminology
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·
Through your
essay as you comment generally on quotations identify a key language feature
and show how it contributes to your argument.
·
Draw on a range
of different language features
·
Check the Key
Words and Phrases page in General Pages on the teaching blog
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6
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Your essay contains
persistent technical errors and or inappropriate register
|
·
Carry out a
spelling and grammar check on your essay
·
Record your essay
on your phone and play it back to yourself. Make a note and edit the text
where it sounds wrong
·
Generally use
shorter sentences rather than long complex ones
·
Write your
essay using a formal academic register.
·
Avoid slang, cliché’s,
hackneyed expressions, poetic or metaphorical language, informal lexis,
contractions
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7
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Your essay shows little or
no relevant understanding of the texts
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·
Read the
relevant extracts from the texts that you have chosen to write about
carefully
·
Make notes and
annotate the relevant passages from the texts where appropriate
·
Take time to
reflect and consider carefully the relevant extracts you are writing about.
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