A2 Lit: coursework 1-1s

Please bring a copy of your essay for yourself to the 1-1, so that you can make notes and follow which parts of the essay I am talking about. It would be good if you have read the essay through again shortly before we meet.

Thursday 6 March: 1E6
10.15 - 10.45: Alex R
10.45 - 11.15: Jess

Friday 7th March: 1D7
3.05 - 3.35: Alex G
3.35 = 4.05: Tekla

Monday 10 March: 1E6
10.15 - 10.45: Katie
10.45 - 11.15: Jada
11.30 - 12.00: Tolu - come to D8

Tuesday 11 March: come to D8
10.15 - 10.45: Sasha
1.00 - 1.30: Ali

Wednesday 12 March: come to D8
2.00 - 2.30: Noah
3.00 - 3.30: Leonie

Thursday 13 March:1E6
10.15 - 10.45: Amelie
10.45 - 11.15: Nana

A2 Comms - Coursework hand in details

The deadline is next Monday (3rd March).

Hand in between 12 and 2pm in 1D9. Make sure your name is on every page of your coursework and that you have included a word count and a bibliography.

AS LL - George's character

George's character in All My Sons

AS Lang Lit - the plan for the next 6 weeks...

This is a 6 week half-term.

For the next 4 weeks, we will be spending Monday lessons looking at Section A of the exam (this is the unseen bit, where you compare a transcript with another text). We will be spending Thursdays revising All My Sons and looking at past questions.
So, you only need to bring All My Sons to Thursday lessons.

Week 5 of this half-term (week beginning 24th March) is a reading and revision week in English & Comms {only - your other A-level lessons will continue}. There will be no AS LL classes that week - instead, you spend the week revising and re-reading. This is because ...

... Week 6 (week beginning 31st March) is MOCK EXAM WEEK in the English department.

We have 2 and a half weeks to revise when we come back after Easter, before ...

FINAL EXAMS:
14th May: ELLA1 (Jerome's half of the course)
16th May: ELLA2 (my half of the course)

A2 Literature - comparing context video

Now updated, complete with cheesy music:

AS LangLit / All My Sons: the ending

'The truth is revealed'

What does Miller reveal about Joe and Chris in this scene? How?
How has their relationship changed compared to the start of the play?

Of Joe Keller's death, Miller says: 'I began the play with that idea and everything in the play moves like the bow of a ship towards that point'. Do you agree - and if so, how does Miller achieve this?

Of Chris and Annie, Miller says: 'They are victims of this disaster.' Do you agree? How might you counterargue?

A2 Literature coursework - some advice

Some advice

 

• Go through each of our texts with a toothcomb & with the question you have chosen in mind. Identify key moments ripe for textual analysis; extract key lines that would work well in terms of quotations
• Create a mind map of the key ideas emerging from each text - use arrows to show where the connections could be made. Add social & literary context (relevant) in a different colour
• Remember that 'compare' also means contrast; examining differences can be illuminating
• You are unlikely to be spending a lot of time comparing all three texts at the same time - most of your connections will be between two of your texts
• Look again at the example openings we looked at in class - note the things you must include. Draft an opening (you might not be able to include a thesis (or an especially strong one) at this stage)
• Start writing where you feel comfortable - no need to start from the 'beginning' of the essay
• Make sure that your register is relatively formal and detached; the odd 'I would argue', 'I think', 'What I find most interesting' is fine, but also remember 'It can be argued', 'One counterargument might be...', 'Another interpretation could be ...'
• Avoid using contractions
• Use the first sentence of each paragraph (the topic sentence) to set up the paragraph and relate to the question / overall argument. Don't allow your paragraphs to drift off in a different direction
• Use comments from critics, don't just include them. Bounce off them, comment on them, create new arguments out of them
• Be painstakingly careful about not plagiarising
• Use the texts to anchor your analysis - don't slide across the surface of them
• The first draft you submit on 3 March should not be your first attempt at writing the essay. Have a go, then go through it and play with it, reshape it, rethink it, refine your thesis
• Make sure that you cover the three texts fairly evenly
• Make sure that you have proof-read & run a spell check before you submit the first draft; keep sentences controlled
• Please doublespace (or space & a half) your 1st draft & block paragraphs clearly

GOOD LUCK!

A2 Literature Coursework questions

A2 LITERATURE COURSEWORK TITLES

Remember that there are materials to support you on Moodle, in the folder labelled with my name.

First draft due: 3^rd March 2014

1.      “How we see the world defines our experience of it.”

Compare how Toni Morrison, Philip Larkin and Arthur Miller explore the power of perception in their texts.

2.      “It is the inability to reconcile our hopes and dreams with the reality presented by everyday life which makes our suffering inevitable.”

Compare Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Larkin’s Collected Poems and Miller’s Death of a Salesman in the light of this statement: to what extent do you think it is valid?

3.      “All relationships are selfish.”

Compare the ways that Toni Morrison, Philip Larkin and Arthur Miller present relationships: do they draw the same conclusion as the opinion offered here?

4.      “Time is a promise, a threat and a burden.”

Compare the ways that Toni Morrison, Philip Larkin and Arthur Miller present the effects of time passing on both the individual and society.

5.      “All writing is a form of social commentary.”

Compare the ways that Toni Morrison, Philip Larkin and Arthur Miller use their texts to comment on their respective societies.

6.      “You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.” (Albert Camus)

Compare the ways that Toni Morrison, Philip Larkin and Arthur Miller use their texts to explore the ways that we attempt to create meaning for our lives.

7.      ‘In a time of universal deceit – telling the truth is a revolutionary act’  (George Orwell)

Compare the ways that Toni Morrison, Philip Larkin and Arthur Miller use their texts to explore our negotiation between truth and deceit.

First draft due: 3^rd March 2014

Final deadline: 31 March 2014