IB English A HL Essay accounts for 25% of the final grade which is the reason why you should put a decent dedication to the task. Let me walk through the tips that you should know for writing decent quality HL Essay!
A. What is IB English A HL Essay? And how to nail it?
The HL Essay (HLE) is an analytical essay of 1200-1500 words about non-literary or literary texts studied in your school’s IB English A course. You can choose literary works that you read, or non-literary texts that you studied, such as newspaper articles or advertisements.
B. How do I choose my text for HLE? Which work should I choose?
The simplest answer is, first, choose the text that “was most interesting to you or was easy to understand when learning.”
And second is to “Choose a text that has a lot to say and a lot to write about.” Social, historical, cultural, economic issues are dealt with.
C. How do I choose my line of inquiry for HLE?! Line of inquiry is the most important sentence in HLE, right? How do you compose your LOI?
Considering the following concepts and related LOI,
Concept | Suggestions for your line of inquiry |
Identity | How is the identity of a particular character or group of characters represented? OR, how does the text relate to the identity of the writer? |
Culture | How is the culture of a particular setting, institution, or community represented? OR, how does the text relate to a particular culture/cultural perspective? |
Creativity | How does the text represent a collective or individual creativity/lack of creativity? OR, how does the text reflect the writer’s creativity? |
Communication | How are acts of communication/failures in communication conveyed? OR, how does the text represent an act of communication? |
Transformation | How is transformation represented? OR, how is the text transformative to other texts through reference to them, or to the reader in terms of transforming their beliefs and values? |
Perspective | How is a certain perspective conveyed? OR, how does the text represent the writer’s perspective? |
Representation | How are different themes, attitudes, and concepts represented? OR, in what way is reality/the world represented? |
Composing a good LOI with an accurate concept is one of the most important tasks. If the concept you want to analyse is too broad, you may not be able to write an in-depth analysis because there may be too much to write to answer the question.
Also, if the topic is too narrow, you may end up overanalysing unnecessary and ambiguous details without having enough to write about.
In general, a well-balanced LOI is one that is analysing one or two topics from the categories presented above.
D. So what are the key points that determine level 7 HL Essay?
One clear but challenging key point is Deep and Thorough analysis.
It can be said that the key to the entire process is to properly select the text and work you want to analyse, select the topic you want to focus on within the work and text, and add depth to the analysis with appropriate quotation.
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