Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Paper 1 is, by definition, unseen until the exam begins; therefore, you cannot prepare in
advance for the actual content of these texts.
The time available for Paper 1 is limited: with just 90 minutes for SL and 120 minutes for HL,
your close reading must be efficient and confident.
Paper 1 represents the infinite possibilities we encounter outside the classroom or the course:
unseen texts are everywhere, from media reports to music videos and professional
documents. Our world is filled with texts that we need to read closely, for work and leisure.
Questions
Author?
William Shakespeare
Audience?
Elizabethan England
Why written?
About?
Meaning?
Tone and mood
Tone?
Effect?
Stylistic devices
Language devices?
Structure
Genre?
drama, tragedy
Conventions?
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You should note that the answers provided here are fragmentary. When carrying out your own
analysis, you may want to use a more formal style and include precise references. For example, an
Internet resource like www . folger.edu might supply greater detail about the purpose(s) for which the
text was originally written; a source such as www.virtualsalt.com may provide some insight into
stylistic devices or structural conventions in this case specific to Elizabethan drama.
Questions
Author?
Audience?
Why written?
About?
Meaning?
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Tone?
Effect?
Stylistic devices
Language devices?
Structure
Genre?
Conventions?
Flip classroom
Have you ever heard of a flip classroom? This concept is growing popular, with students taking on
the role of the teacher in teaching a skill or concept to their fellow students.
Now that youve completed the table of The Big 5 analytical tools using a text you know well, teach
that text to a group of your classmates.
You might read an extract or two (or the whole text, if it is short for example, a poem) and ask
questions to your audience about their own first responses to the text. You might try out new
adjectives to describe the tone and mood, and ask your audience for alternatives.
You should try to practise The Big 5 as often as you can when you:
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