Passage based approaches

Step one is ticking all the boxes for your planning.  As far as that approach goes, I'm calling it "squeezing an accordion".

First and foremost, identify the key concerns of the question.  If you don't know what the task is asking, you will have difficulty responding to it!  For our accordion analogy, this is like figuring out the keys to press before squeezing.

Then do this:
1.  Start 'overview'.

• What is the main point of it?  What happens here, and what happens as a result of this moment?
• What is the excerpt's importance / place in the overall text?
• What is the overall tone?

2.  Narrow your focus - Identify contributing factors.  What built this into what it is?
   a) Think of the structure of the passage - what are its main elements?

• Example - Description.  Dialogue.  Thoughts.  Setting.

   b) Consider conflict & tension.

• Who is present?
• What are the major moments of conflict in this passage, and what is the progression of conflict within the scene?
• What caused these conflicts?  (Language, tone, action, description, etc)

   c) Before & After

• What happens directly before and directly after this passage?
• Have we seen a situation like this before?  Will we again?
• If the event does repeat, what is different about it?  What is the same?  What does this suggest?

   d) X-factors

• These are stand-out aspects of the text that are unique in some way.  It might include shifts in time, narrator voice, a particular contrast, or some other anomaly.

Anything that you isolate, remember that it is only useful for your essay if it is relevant to the key concerns of the question.


3.   Widen focus again - gain perspective!
   a) What is the symbolism / message we may derive from applying the following?

• Consider context - historical & modern
• Consider reader / audience response
• Possible interpretations / moments of ambiguity
• Think about critical comments; then evaluate how well you think they apply.

I admit, this is a lot to juggle.  Still, even if it is not always occurring to us to ask ourselves these questions, I bet right now you're able to answer most or all of them without breaking too much of a sweat.  At the very least, you can think of what areas of study you'd need to brush up on to make your answer!

Most of this should be stuff you figure out through annotation.  Once you've got all this, the next step is to put your thoughts into written form.

The Essay Itself-

• Start with your overview comment.
• Select your best evidence.
• Order your points so they flow logically toward the symbolism / message you discerned.
• Journey your reader to your conclusion; YOU are in your head, but you're the only person there.

Further writing tips:

1. Pray.
2. Breathe.
3. Accuracy in grammar is your friend; so are full and complete sentences.
4. Avoid vague / open-ended statements.  Have a point.  Make it.
5. Never repeat.
6. Never repeat.
7. Repeating is not useful.
8. Saying the same thing in different words does not assist; it antagonises your audience.
9. If you keep discussing the same material or referring to an earlier point, it will not add to your marks.
10. Finally, under no circumstances should you employ repetition.  It just makes you sound silly.

I trust this makes sense.  Hope the long post wasn't too much of a bother.


- T. Marcus