A. What is the IB English A HL essay?
IB Eng A HL essay assessment is mostly being started at the end of Y1 and finalised at the beginning of the second term of Y2. This is a BIG assessment that accounts for 25% of the final IB English A score for HL students .
Eng A HL students write a 1200-1500 word essay about the selected works from the class texts either non-literary or literary texts.
B. What should students first focus on in the HL Essay?
In order to select and analyse literary or non literary texts studied from your school IB English A curricula, the very first thing to consider is to select the best Title of the essay.
C. Check out some good HL Essay Titles!
Here are some examples ofIB English HL Essay titles which have secured 7s:
The Inversion of Social Construct in Primo Levi’s If This is a Man
Masculinity and Strength in Yukio Mishima’s The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea
Alienated Masculinity in Katherine Mansfield’s The Garden Party and Other Stories
HL Essay titles that received a score of 7 have two characteristics in common.
Students identified and connected social, cultural or political issues that are uniquely discussed in the selected work.
The second characteristic is that the scope of the work and issue to be analysed is very specific, not vague or too broad.
D. IB English HL Essay Overview: Step by Step Overview for writing an Eng HL Essay!
Check the step by step guidelines for working on the IB HL English essay. I reckon that it will serve as a checklist, not only for students who have just started working on the HLE, but also for students who are already working on it :)
Step 1. Carefully Consider the Source you Wish to Write About.
You might think this point is so obvious that there is no point of nagging about it, but surprisingly, there are quite frequent occasions that students end up realising that the text they chose is not as deep as they thought or cohesive to discuss a certain topic, so they struggle and feel baffled whether they should change it or not.
Since you have to choose only one lit text or BOW from the works you studied at school, you should be careful selecting the best text, not to mention requesting some feedback from your Eng teacher.
Two simple tips here to choose the best text is that the best text is what you thoroughly and understand its main idea, theme etc. And the other is that the best text is the one that has a lot of room for academic discussion such as social, cultural, political issues.
Step 2. Decide on your Essay's Focus.
Brainstorm the HLE contents from Broader to Narrower scopes. For example, if you decide to focus on the social issues within the selected text, you first think of multiple social issues discussed in the text and then narrow down to 2-3, until you ultimately focus on one very main topic.
Step 3. Consolidate your Line of Inquiry in a clear sentence.
Having a strong LOI, along with composing an appropriate essay title, is very important to finish HLE with the level 7 quality. A LOI written in an easy-to-understand manner with precise words and structure determines the foundation and direction of your essay.
Step 4. Identify the Strongest Pieces of In-Text Evidence for your Argument.
After deciding your LOI, it’s time to collect specific evidence to support your analysis from the chosen text. Perhaps the more evidence, the better, but not always. Actually it is better to adopt the best 2 to 4 quotes that can most strongly and accurately support your LOI.
Step 5. Plan, Structure, and Research.
Having a proper planning makes your essay writing process multiple times easier and faster. This is especially true as the essay becomes longer and grander. You need to properly decide where, what, and how to write, including the intro, bodies, and conclusion, before getting started on actual writing.
Step 6. Write a First Draft with Citations.
In the intro, a total of three contents should be organised in an easy-to-read and easy-to-understand manner:
basic information about the work,
the work's relevance to topics such as society, culture, and politics
Your LOI
Body paragraphs should focus on one precise and clear point in each paragraph by keeping following structure,
P: point
E: Evidence
A: analysis
L: ink to thesis
Conclusion should include the restate of the LOI and concludes by mentioning the topic you have chosen and the significance of the work.
Step 7. Edit, Edit if necessary
It would be magically amazing if the first draft written as outlined above could be submitted without any issues, but that is quite impossible, as we all know. In most cases, the draft shall be edited and finalised many times based on feedback from your Eng teacher.
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