The IBDP English Language & Literature is designed to test your ability to extract meaning in literary and non-literary texts.
While it can be challenging to sift through the features and literary strategies, there are certain strategies that you can employ in order to develop your points and improve the overall quality of your writing.
I. General Writing Tips
Focus on the key words being asked
Be clear about what is being asked in the questions and what features you are being asked to evaluate.
Aim for five (5) paragraphs
- one (1) introductory paragraph
- three (3) body paragraphs and
- one (1) conclusion
Be clear about your stance
Your thesis statements and topic sentences should outline the scope of your arguments.
II. Paper 1: Guided Textual Analysis
Your goal in this paper is to show how the feature draws your attention to specific information using visual cues and features and how it aids in our interpretation of them.
Let us consider the following question as our example:
How do the formal features aid the author in delivering the message of the Infographic?
Let use this infographic centred on plastic waste mismanagement across the world (Source: Visual Capitalist):
1.
Identify the message
It is important to know the specific details about the message of the author. In this case, the infographic attempts to draw attention to the biggest offenders when it comes to the mismanagement of plastic waste across the world by geographic region. The question now is how did the author choose to visually represent this information for the reader? Remember that the purpose of this literary type is to communicate information clearly.
2.
Identify the feature
Now that we know what message the author is trying to deliver, we can choose a feature from the infographic. In this case, the question is asking us to focus on the formal features (e.g. vectors, graphs, colours, etc.) Of these elements, the most prominent and most-eye catching feature is that of the water bottle that has been portioned by country. This will be our example.
3.
Comment on its effect
When naming our effect, consider how the feature assists the viewer in processing and making assumptions about the information given. In this case, we can comment on how the author purposefully adjusted the size of each section in order to show how much plastic each country contributes to the world’s oceans. That said, we might then say that one effect it has on the reader is that it creates a visual representation for the amount of plastic that makes its way into our oceans.
4.
Dive into the meaning
From here, we can proceed to make some evaluations. Here, it is useful to consider what is not explicitly said in the text. We can proceed by asking questions such as:
- What do some of the largest offenders have in common?
- Which geographic area has the largest contribution to the amount of plastic dumped into our oceans globally?
- What could be the reasons why Asia is the largest contributor among the regions given?
5.
Link it back to the theme or message
We said earlier that the message of the infographic is to outline the biggest perpetrators of plastic waste mismanagement. Using the questions we raised, we link it back to the message using the following points we can gather from this feature:
- That the largest offenders are the largest countries known for pollution and large industries.
- It is clear that Asia has the most plastic waste mismanagement because it is where the largest offenders are.
- Asia is the location for the largest global industries.
III. Sample Approach in Tackling Paper 2 Question
[Note: There are different questions in Paper 2: technical, thematic, and contextual. How you tackle these would vary with the question that you will cover. This is one approach you could consider.]
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Your goal in this paper is to interpret, analyse and make comparisons about your two chosen works based on a universal theme.
While it can be daunting to choose a jumping off point for our arguments, we can return to elements of story-telling common in all narrative writing and ask questions of our own.
As an example, we’ll use Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Gabriel García Márquez’s 100 Years of Solitude.
Let us consider the following example question.
In two of the works you studied, in what ways is identity an important aspect of one’s character?
This is a very common question type where you are asked to explore a universal theme or experience in both of your works. In this case, we are being asked to focus specifically on one’s character.
Some useful angles to take when engaging questions surrounding characters include the following:
What are the characters goals in the story?
What changes does the character go through throughout the story?
What are the internal struggles that a character is grappling with?
Does he/she overcome them by the story’s conclusion?
While there are many ways to analyse a character’s place in a story, these are good places to start as they cover a character’s change (their “arc”) and the personal struggles they overcome. Remember that all narrative writing must follow a character’s journey and their growth. If a character does not undergo any sort of change in the story, we might consider this an example of bad writing.
From here, we can accommodate the key words of the question. Recall key moments in your character’s story.
- In what way are my character’s goals important to their identity?
- In what way is my character different from before and after they overcome their internal struggle?
In the case of “The Handmaid’s Tale”, we can guide our analysis by applying the questions above to our story.
- In what way does Offred’s identity as a handmaid affect her aspirations in life?
- How is the character of Offred different from when she is subservient to the Commander and when she finally decides to leave that world behind?
We can do the same for “100 Years of Solitude”, this time from the perspective of the Buendias.
- In what way does the Buendias’ reputation as the founders of the town of Macondo inform their decisions throughout the generations?
- How are the family members different before the catastrophic events such as the war and the revolt at the banana plantation?
You can do this for other parts of the text. While this is by no means an exhaustive list of the features that define a piece of narrative writing, these are good jumping off points for developing arguments.
You might consider the following:
ELEMENT
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
Plot
Setting
Characters
Conflict
Climax
Resolution
Literary Devices
It is useful to bear these in mind not only when scouring your chosen works for evidence but also when you are looking for a good jumping off point from which to launch your arguments.
IV. Comparison & Contrast
Looking at the similarities and differences between texts is another important component of your composition. You might consider going over the above elements again for this section. This time, recall that while such elements are found in all literary texts, different authors will employ these elements more prominently than others.
Some may choose to develop characters more while others may lean more heavily towards figurative devices.
From this, you can ask:
- Which of the authors more effectively employs figurative language and the elements of narrative writing in order to address the problem that they raised?
- Which work is a more effective portrayal of the theme for the modern reader?
In this case, we are focusing on which of the authors addresses the theme of identity much more prominently and more effectively. Perhaps the character of Offred is a much more compelling portrayal of the struggle of finding one’s identity rather than the decades-spanning saga of the Buendia family. Or maybe Márquez raises a more interesting question in the form of generational trauma.
Your reading of the text will determine your direction but knowing what kinds of questions to ask is a potent way of finding your bearings.
V. Conclusion
While writing is hardly a skill that can be acquired in a day, there are plenty of places from which to launch a strong literary analysis. Ultimately, it is up to you to evaluate these elements of the text and decide which of the works more compellingly employs these techniques and devices.
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