Essay Writing

Essay Writing Tips:

Basic Essay Writing:

Tips for Writing Essays

  • Read the question 3 times before reading the extract

  • Read the extract/passage carefully and annotate it

  • Try not to quote more than 5 words in the extract

  • Have synonyms for repetitive words to not make the essay to wordy

  • When looking at a play, focus on audiences for AO3 compared to a modern audience whilst including directorial interpretation. Also focus on the status of characters as well as the way they speak

  • For prose texts, have many different synonyms for words like unsettling

  • Practice timings by practicing past paper questions

  • Use key elements that make up a story such as exposition, climax etc. for structural marks

Common Mistakes

  • Don’t say emphasize if you haven’t established something already

  • Don’t make easy grammar mistakes

  • Use pronouns when referring to characters and if too repetitive, refer to them as the later or for the former

Planning:

  1. Identify 3 - 5 points to answer the question

  2. Note down as many quotes as possible to answer that question

  3. Around the quotes, quickly note down aspects of your explanation

  • Prepare quotes and analysis before-hand and practice using those in PPQs

  • Be careful of timing as you’d only have about 2 - 5 mins for planning

  • Use quotes from throughout the play/novel to make your points

Thesis Statement:

  • It should take a stand, be clear and be specific instead of being vague, allowing the reader to understand the main point

  • It should summarize the evidence you’ll use to support your argument

  • It should justify a discussion instead of merely stating and observation - can easily be done by showing the topic is controversial, making it interesting for readers

  • A strong thesis immediately answers the HOW and WHY through specific language.

  • Formula for a weak thesis: Broad Noun + Weak Verb + Vague, Evaluative Adjective. e.g. The economic situation is bad.

  • Formula for a strong thesis: Specific Noun + Action Verb + Assertive Predicate. e.g. The tax policies of current administration threaten to reduce the tax burden on the middle class by sacrificing education and health-care programs for everyone.

e.g PPQ: Starting with this speech, explain how far you think Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as a powerful woman.

Write about:

  • how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth in this speech

  • how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth in the play as a whole [30 marks]

    AO4 [4 marks]

e.g. Ans: In this passage, Lady Macbeth is presented as a powerful and manipulative figure who is determined to pursue her dark ambitions. Through her language and the imagery, Shakespeare uses, Lady Macbeth demonstrates her desire to control her fate and even transcend the limitations for her gender. She seeks power by rejecting traditional feminity and shares her desire to become cruel with a view of achieving power.

Conclusion:

Conclusions are tricky. Lots of English teachers have slightly different opinions on how to write conclusions for a GCSE English Literature essay. Some teachers might even say that it is not necessary to write a conclusion, but here at SME we always think it’s a great idea. This is because it really helps create what examiners call a “coherent response”: an argument that is focused all the way through, right to the end. Here are my top tips for writing a conclusion for a GCSE English Literature essay:

  • A conclusion should only summarizes the proof you have provided for your argument

  • It only needs to be two or three sentences long

  • It should include the words of the question and your thesis statement

  • Remember, you do not get rewarded for including the same information twice, so try to be brief when summarizing the points you made in the main body of your essay

Synonyms

Emphasize:    Highlights, spotlights, stresses, underscores

Ominous:        baleful, inauspicious, doomy, menacing, impending, bleak

Heroism:         bravery, fearlessness, prowess

Fear:               terror, fright, distress, unease, dread

Tyranny:          dystopia, megalomania, absolute power

Contextually:   circumstantially, contemporary audiences

Hamartia:        fatal flaw, vulnerability, Achilles heel

Denial:            Abjure, abnegate

Start of TH:    alacrity, affluent, ambivalent

End of TH:     callous, contrite, covet for throne