Response to Text

A guide to writing at Year 11, 12

and 13

What do I NEED to do??

600-700 words for Level 3
400-600 words for Level 2
300-500 words for Level 1 (guide only)
You must refer to aspects of THEME/IDEA
and STYLE

Main issues in literature:

Appearance and reality.

Inhumanity - Mans inhumanity to man.
The ridiculousness of everyday life.
Life is a journey.
Connections - No man is an island
In and between texts

Common themes in literature:

Good versus evil

War versus peace
Justice
Prejudice/racism
The fate of the future human race

Think about authors purpose and readers

response.
Be aware of the main issue your text is presenting

Positioning
Respond as we to indicate you are the
spokesperson of all readers.

Use the reader to indicate a critical

viewpoint..

Crafting refers to style.

 Think about where you are being

positioned
Viewer

Writer of
the essay

Author

Text

Characterisation
How are the characters presented?
Who do they represent?
How is the CENTRAL character
presented?

To achieve Merit or
Excellence
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Remember details.
Understand what happens and why.
Apply your knowledge.
Analyse texts by providing explanations and
reasons for the importance of incidents.
Evaluate texts by making links to theme and
authors purpose.

And most importantly

Create. Putting it all together. Look at how

text is read by modern audience.

What social events shape these readings?
MAKE CONNECTIONS Personal
responses
Think about big picture - refer to style and
purpose
Create means to SYNTHESISE all information
together to relate to the modern world

Quote Sandwich Inside your

paragraph
Introduce the quotation

State quotation
Give importance of quotation

Personal response
Personal response is your own feelings,
opinions and thoughts on the text.
You need to be able to include personal
response in your essays or text responses
to show the marker that you have been
thinking about the character, theme or
important event.

Personal response starters:

We can apply these lessons to

The reader is forced to appreciate that
As readers, we admire him/her because
Everyone can learn _______ from this
because
From this example, we are reminded as
teenagers that
We can find similar situations when

What they want

The examiners want to see original and
insightful engagement with the text.

When explaining the significance of the

quote, they want you to link this to other
wider-world issues/ideas and then BRING
IT BACK TO THE NOVEL AGAIN. Dont
leave it hanging out in the world!

Must knows continued

Work out two minor characters that reflect
the key theme and know their importance
and how they contrast to the main
character(s) Violet? Quendy?
What changes the main character is forced
to undergo. See Titus essay at end of Feed booklet
Show engagement in the text.

Remember
Its what readers see in books that is
important, not what the writer intended them
to see.
Iser