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SENTENCE WRITING

FROM DESCRIPTION TO INTERPRETATION


TO ANALYSIS TO SYNTHESIS

From Cambridge Checkpoints HSC English by Dixon and Simpson, p.8.

Analysis is not the same as description. It requires a much higher level of thinking and
shows that you are going beyond the subject matter to draw conclusions about the ideas in
texts. A good essay will still use description when necessary, but this will lead to the higher
order approaches of interpretation, analysis and synthesis.

Description is simply telling the reader what the text is about. It is like a recount or plot
summary or just describing a section closely.

Interpretation means that you explain words and ideas.

Analysis means that you go outside the text and search for a hidden meaning that links
different parts of the text with values and beliefs in society; this shows the real thinking
behind the composers choices of language.

Synthesis is the most difficult thinking as it requires you to start linking ideas from
different parts of the text/s and go outside the text/s to find connections.

Look at these four ways of discussing place in a text:

Description: Two of Skrzyneckis poems are called 10 Mary Street and St Patricks
College and are about his home and school life.

Interpretation: The titles of Skrzyneckis poems 10 Mary Street and St Patricks


College show us that the poems are based on real places and are factual.

Analysis: Place is a significant factor in Skrzyneckis poetry. Even his titles draw our
attention to the fact that he sees his life through place, though the simple and factual
nature of the titles also suggests that his feelings about place may be ambivalent.

Synthesis: A constant feature of most of Skrzyneckis poems is the search for


belonging and what it means for a migrant who has to renegotiate the relationship
between self and place.

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ACTIVITY
Are these sentences examples of descriptions, interpretation, analysis or synthesis?

The violence and evil of Macbeth is transformed into Japanese Kabuki fight scenes
with bamboo sticks in the Zen Zen Zo performance.

The pathos of Lady Macbeths death scene and the clear suffering that she has
endured, albeit through her own actions, is presented in slow motion with carefully
choreographed arm movements showing her despair.

Zeferellis Lady Macbeth is a gentle figure who fails to negate her femininity but it is this
femininity which attracts Macbeth and draws him on.

When Othello says he wants to be remembered as one who loved not wisely but too
well, he is casting blame for his actions on Desdemona and his relationship with her.

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PARAGRAPH WRITING AND QUOTATION
Quotations should never be added as a separate sentence. They have to be linked to the
ideas they are discussing and explained properly as this proves that you are interpreting and
analysing the text.

Note how the quotations are integrated into the paragraph below about Othello. Othello is
often studied in Year 11 courses. This paragraph is a close reading of one scene,
demonstrating how to discuss an extract.

The passion of their initial response to each other takes on a more physical dimension in Act
2, when there is often mention of the bed to which Desdemona and Othello retire. On her
arrival in Cyprus, Iago is very derogatory, describing women to Desdemona as sexual
creatures who rise to play and go to bed to work. He goes further and talks of the union of
black and white reversing her relationship and maligning the woman who be black and
witty and finds a white that shall her blackness fit.

The coarse language is very different to the language of love in the Dukes palace but
Desdemona manages to hold her own, showing her ability to stand up to criticism. Othellos
expression of love when he enters is in sharp contrast to Iagos coarseness referring to
Desdemona in religious terms as my souls joy and combining both classical and religious
allusions in the mention of Olympus high and heaven his feeling that he is escaping hell
when he sees her (as hells from heaven) is ironic, given the final scene.

Further irony comes in the words of Desdemona which also foreshadow her end when she
declares The heavens forbid/ But that our loves ad comforts should increase,/ Even as our
days do grow. Desdemona and Othello are breaking the rules of polite society in declaring
themselves so openly to be in love. They are revealing themselves as acting outside the
norm.

The implication of sexuality would have had a very negative reaction from the Elizabethan
audience but would have been further sign of Desdemonas imperfect nature.

ACTIVITY

Find the topic sentence and see if all the sentences prove the topic.

Note how the quotations are integrated.

Find examples of description, interpretation, analysis and synthesis.

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LINKING IDEAS IN THE ESSAY
A successful essay links ideas between paragraphs and sentences. By linking you are
showing how one idea relates to the one before and leads to the next. This can be done in
two ways:

Using cohesive devices (linking words).

Creating a lexical connection to a word in the sentence before.

EXAMPLES OF CONNECTIVES AND


OTHER SIGNAL WORDS
Reference: Thus, therefore, former, latter, as follows, respectively, so, if not, if so.

Example: For example, for instance, such as, exemplified by/in, can be seen in.

Cause: Makes, produces, causes, results in, affects, brings about, conveys, gives rise to,
creates, accounts for, owing to, due to, on account of, the result of, because, since.

Reasons: Because, for, since, as.

Change: Is transformed, is converted, is influenced by, is affected by.

Effect: As a result, thereby, because of, consequently, subsequently, hence, thus, therefore,
resulting in, in that case.

Requirement: Depends on.

Conclusion: Thus, therefore, in conclusion, to conclude, ultimately, finally, it can therefore


be seen that , we can conclude , overall.

Purpose: In order that , so as to , in order to , so that.

Conditions: If, in the case of, in that case, on the condition that, provided that, so long as,
unless, if not, but for.

Addition: And, as well (as), also, besides, additionally, in conjunction with, together with,
similarly, furthermore, moreover, another, even, both.

Restriction: Only, just, merely, simply, apart from.

Alternative: Either or, whether or (not), alternatively, instead of, otherwise, or else.

Contrast: But, although, whereas, even though, while, in contrast, on the other hand,
alternately, nevertheless, notwithstanding, even so, yet, however, unlike, conversely.

Similarity: Like, in the same way, resemble, in common, likewise, as if, as though, just as
so alike.

Component parts: Consist of , is made up of , is composed of , is comprised of ,


subsequently, initially.

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A COMPARATIVE ESSAY

METHOD 1
In both Standard and Advanced courses you will be required to write essays comparing two
or more texts (in the Area of Study, Modules A and C). There are a few ways of doing this.
Here are two methods.

INTRODUCTION

Answers the question with a thesis that links all the texts

E.g. Journeys can be a source of learning and growth but only if the person on the journey
is open and receptive. This is what we see in the two texts and where the first text
shows how a positive view can be enhancing and the second text shows the negative
consequences of not accepting new experiences.

Names the texts and authors.

Can state the form of each text.

BODY

Method One: Method Two:


Discuss one text first, then text two in Use ideas to lead the paragraphs with a
relation to the thesis, making comparisons clear indication in every paragraph of how
after the two text are discussed. the two texts fit together.

CONCLUSION

Offers an overview of the comparisons between both texts while reinforcing the thesis.

Note:
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METHOD TWO
This requires some thinking about the two texts and the topic being discussed. You will need
to focus on ideas that provide comparison or contrast. If done well this can lead to synthesis,
a higher order thinking skill.

Doing one text and then the other will not endanger your marks as long as some attempt is
made to bring together the discussion of texts.

SAMPLE COMPARATIVE ESSAY

Texts: Montana, 1948 and To Kill a Mockingbird

Every novel tells a story and that story is about the way a life is lived. Two novels that tell
their story are Montana 1948 and To Kill a Mockingbird. Despite their superficial differences,
on closer reading the texts reveal many similarities in setting, characterisation, style and
themes.

The texts are both set in America, but that in itself is hardly a point of similarity. Montana is a
dry arid area ,quote.. in the centre of America, a place which is identified as
part of the wild west which took place in the end of the nineteenth century. The title indicates
the place and date and implies the importance of place in the scheme of the book. 1948,
after the Second World War is far removed from the Wild West. To Kill a Mockingbird is also
far removed from the Wild West, being located in the deep south in Mississippi. The town is
.quote. The date is the 1930s, before the Second World War, so, on the surface
there are no similarities beyond the American connection.

As the stories progress, however, the connections become clearer. Both are small towns,
both are sleepy places where family history is important, both are hiding places for
eccentrics and both contain marginalised groups, American Indians in Montana 1948, and
American Negroes in To Kill a Mockingbird. Apart from these points of comparison, both
have a strong hold on the American psyche there are connotations about the setting that
any American would understand and perceive. Montana and Maycomb might be far from
their roots in time but implicit in each place is a set of values about people and beliefs about
how to live life and these values are founded in the past. This includes the way marginalised
people live their lives and the way justice is served. This is the real connection between the
books.

Apart from this issue the characters themselves demonstrate remarkable similarities. Wesley
Hayden is the sheriff, the son of the sheriff and an established leader in his community
because of his family background. Atticus Finch is also part of the establishment in
Maycomb. Like Wesley Hayden, he administers justice but not as a sheriff but as a lawyer.
Both protagonists are law-abiding men of principle and both characters are placed in difficult
situations where it becomes their duty to defend the rights of the marginalised group. For
Wesley, the decision is made even harder because he has to arrest his own brother.

The events that trigger this crisis in each book revolve around the relationship between the
marginalised group and the dominant group. In Montana, the Haydens Indian housekeeper
dies in suspicious circumstances soon after she has declared the sheriffs brother to be a
rapist of Indian women. Wesley has to make a hard decision: can he live with his conscience
if he does not defend the rights of the reservation Indian women against his own brother?

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Atticus does not have quite as difficult a decision to make because it does not directly
involve his family but he has to face the consequences of becoming an outcast when he
defends an American Negro, Tom Robinson, of raping a white girl. The rape situation is
reversed in each text but the crisis is the same: both men find their principles challenged.

Their stories are told by their children. Scout Finch, in To Kill a Mockingbird, narrates the
events of her childhood, and the process of growing into the adult world. As she unfolds her
fathers story, we see her growth from innocence into experience. We hear her beliefs
change and adapt. The same change takes place in the life of David Hayden. He realises
the vulnerability of adults as he sees their weaknesses, especially those of his uncle,
emerge. He starts to see his parents in a new light. With this knowledge comes experience
and with experience comes entry into the adult world. Both texts are in their own way
examples of rites of passage.

These two seemingly dissimilar books have had a major impact on American readers. They
have both become bestsellers part of the canon of American texts because both ask
Americans to have a closer look at themselves, rewrite their history and acknowledge the
place of their marginalised people. Both texts ask for justice for all and defend the creed of
the American people that all people are born equal. These stories of different lives give us
a guide for the way life should be lived and it is because of this that the books have become
great.

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LOOKING CLOSELY AT THE ESSAY
Introduction

What is the thesis of the essay? (point of view)

What is the plan of development? (the outline of the areas to be examined in the
essay)

Does the essay follow the plan of development in the order suggested in the
introduction?

Paragraphs

Does each paragraph have a topic sentence?

Does each paragraph connect to the paragraph before?

Is there enough explanation of the topic in each paragraph?

Are examples given to support the topic?

Are there enough quotations from the books? Find places where more could be added.

Can you find any paraphrased evidence?

Is everything contextualised? (If you didnt know the books is there enough
evidence/explanation for you to follow the main ideas?)

Sentences

Find an example of a contrasting sentence.

Find an example of a comparison sentence.

Find an example of a connective word.

Description/ Interpretation/ Analysis

Find examples of plot summary (describing the story).

Find examples of interpretation (understanding the storys underlying ideas).

Find examples of analysis (understanding the larger message of the text).

Find examples of synthesis (bringing together different parts of the two texts).

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ESSAY CHECKLIST
Structure and Content

Does the essay follow the correct essay format?

Does the introduction respond to the topic?

Does the introduction give a plan of development?

Is enough information given to answer the question?

Does the body of the essay deal with one idea only per paragraph?

Has each paragraph answered the question?

Do the paragraphs explain their focus and offer supporting evidence?

Do the ideas flow smoothly in each paragraph?

Are the paragraphs connected to each other?

Does the conclusion sum up the ideas of the essay?

Language and Sentence Structure

Has the essay used appropriately formal language?

Has the essay used a variety of sentence structures simple, and complex?

Does the essay use interesting and appropriate vocabulary?

Does the essay avoid the use of the first person?

Does the essay use correct English spelling, grammar, punctuation?

Audience

Does the essay convince the reader?

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