URGENT!! How do you make a personal connection to the text? (1 Viewer)

[sweetalmond]

whenever I read tips for doing well in HSC English they go along the lines of:
- show your own unique perspective on the text
- most students will regurgitate the same themes, ideas so try to "one-up" your essay by giving a feminist perspective or psychoanalytical perspective
- show you have made personal connections to the text (but how can you if the essay must be in 3rd person)

The problem is how can you present your own perspective, or create a unique twist or thought-provoking perspective or view if everything has already been said about the text e.g. wuthering heights
How do they expect a student to come up with something completely, original or genius. Isn't that risky, especially if your wrong.
Because is you study wuthering heights, or any text for that matter there will be themes or ideas that are common and everyone will learn about. Obviously you must discuss these themes or ideas in your essay or you won't be answering the question. But then they mark you down because every other student says the same things.
I AM SO CONFUSED. PLEASE HELP!!! ANYONE WHO HAS SCORED A BAND 6 IN ENGLISH (ADVANCED) OR EXTENSION 1

 

[astroman]

bs, rote a band 6 response, done.

 

[enigma_1]

Essays are in first person. Practice defs helped me.

Essays are not in first person what

 

[astroman]

bs, rote a band 6 response, done.

/thread

 

[photastic]

Essays are not in first person what

Whoops, got confused with narratives

 

[DepressedPenguino]

First person in an essay? I guess it would depend on the essay question. Something like how does Wuthering Heights impact your perspective on the concept of discovery

 

[watermelondayo]

You're not going to be marked down for an idea/ideas being 'wrong' as long as you provide enough evidence to back your claims. As for the personal connections if you really have to write the essay in third person, you can still always make 'personal connections' with the typical person who does not have to be yourself - for instance you could refer to yourself as 'the audience' e.g. "the book makes personal connections with the audience in that..."

 

[watermelondayo]

You also need to ensure (will be obvious, but a lot of students fail to do this) that you know exactly what you're conveying in your thesis, otherwise the marker will see your argument as flimsy and far-fetched, hence you will be punished. Providing evidence can only do so much if you can't express your ideas concisely.

Absolutely, was addressing this

How do they expect a student to come up with something completely, original or genius. Isn't that risky, especially if your wrong.

Also as long as your argument actually originates from the text, isn't nonsense, is expressed clearly and succinctly and can be sufficiently validated, then you're good to go. Aka if the argument is presented with the appropriate coherence, sophistication, proof and other requirements for a typical A grade essay, then any argument is fine.

What you want to first establish to the teacher is that you derived your argument from a comprehensive understanding of the text, not wild ideas with no relation to the text.

Then comes the evidence to support your claim, which is equally important. Because what use is an argument if you can't justify it?

Those are the basics to keep in mind, if you want to be able to appropriately utilise unique ideas, the rudimentary requirements must first be met. Only then with original and unique ideas are you able to add a positive spin to your essay.

 

[egress]

Read some articles on JSTOR or some of those other places where academics publish papers about English literature. Pull some ideas from articles there. The more esoteric and abstract those ideas are, the more unique and personal your response will be. Alternatively, if your English teacher gives lots of handouts, try and read the ones that offer different perspectives, like what you've mentioned.

It worked for me, at least.