In Eng A L&L Paper 1, you are given the task of writing essay analysing unseen non-literary texts, and like all essays, what I emphasise the most is to spend 10-15 minutes properly preparing the outline of the essay first, and then start writing.
What is decent outlining that guarantees a level 7 paper 1?
Let's check out one of the Paper 1 text outlining that was completed through a revision class of mine. The text below is a written text from 2021 May IB English A Paper 1 exam.
A. The first thing you need to check is the Guiding question!
In this question, you are asked to focus on the 'narrative structure' and analyse it. That means that your essay structuring should be centred around this!
B. Let’s check the outlining sample of a student who decided on an essay structure according to the guiding question. The key to outlining is that just by reading this, you should be able to clearly see what structure, main points and quotations you will use to write the essay!
Introduction:
Present: article by Tomi Obra on “BuzzFeed News” website
Target audience: english speakers who are interested in informative knowledge and entertaining contents such as about culture
Purpose: To share the author’s own experience living as a twin, expressing its hardships and preciousness/ by sharing her own anecdote, criticising the rigid misjudged idea set by the society on twins
Thesis: The author organises the article’s structure in a chronological order to illustrate her journey to solidifying her own identity and appreciating her twin overtime.
In the intro, you identify the text source, target audience, purpose and main focus through a thesis statement, for this text, the student focuses on ‘chronological narrative structure’.
Body 1: exposition conveys the idea that in the childhood years, the narrator and her twin had similar identities due to their similar appearances, personalities, and interests.
During childhood years, the author and her twin accepted and followed the external factors/ norms of twins provided by society.
Last paragraph shows the juxtaposition between the society’s depiction as a twin & her own
Visual imagery to depict their younger childhood together
Juxtaposition
The main point of Body 1 is the period of Childhood that is defined as the ‘exposition’ stage, and the supporting quotes and their literary significance to support the main point 1.
Body 2: The rising action of the article implies that during the twins’ adolescent years, the deviation of their identities from each other created emotional and physical distance between them.
During adolescent years, the twins identities deviated to become themselves, and formed resistance against the societal norms
Diction: “Untwining”
Anaphora first, second, third “to go”
Repetition “Oh…?” - emotionally vivid
Metaphor “I remember the jabs, the vicious jabs”
In Body 2, the focus shifts to "rising action," that shows the beginning of changes in characters and relationships during adolescence. You can also check the linguistic devices and quotes to be analysed.
Body 3: The resolution of the article suggests that as the author and her twin reached adulthood, they could reunite through mutual love despite the differences in their identities.
Appreciate one another as individuals
Emotive language “emotion, attachment, sentiment”, “horrifying”
Compromising tone
Repetition: “my father prayed for twins. And we came.” - the sisters gained a more mature understanding about being a twin
Diction: We are “we” again
In Body 3, it will finally analyse the structure of "resolution” that occurs in adulthood & present" that shows the current situation, and linguistic devices and quotes are also well identified.
Conclusion
Evaluation:
Could be more relatable if there's explanation about the image included in the article
How the writer responded to the social bias on twins, does not explicitly confront the social bias
In conclusion, there must be critical evaluation of this text along with rephrasing the thesis and purpose written in the intro.
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