Structuring the Literature Essay for O-Level Literature in English (SEAB 2065) quiz quiz

A summary of the text's plot

The first quotation you use

A list of the techniques in the text

A clear, arguable answer to the question that the whole essay defends

It turns an information dump into a controlled argument that takes a position and proves it

It allows you to avoid using quotations

It lets you write everything you know about the text

It makes the essay longer

Plot, Events, Ending, List

Point, Evidence, Explanation, Link

Paragraph, Example, Essay, Length

Plan, Edit, Explain, Learn

Narrate the plot in order

Quote at maximum length

Make a point, support it, explain the effect, and link back to the thesis

Avoid using evidence

To drop a whole line on its own with no comment

To quote the longest passage you can find

To paraphrase instead of quoting

To weave a short quotation smoothly into your sentence and immediately analyse it

Because a short plan keeps the essay on the question, prevents drift and repetition, and gives a clear shape

Because planning replaces the need to write an essay

Because markers award marks for the plan itself

Because it lets you avoid forming a thesis

Using too many short quotations

Answering a question you wish had been set rather than the one asked

Writing a thesis in the introduction

Linking each paragraph back to the question

They are identical

The essay forbids a thesis

The passage-based question wants close analysis of a printed extract; the essay wants an argued response across the whole text

The passage-based question requires retelling the whole text

Summarise the entire plot

List every quotation you will use

Describe the writer's life

State the thesis that directly answers the question

Return to the thesis and clinch the argument

Introduce a brand-new argument

Repeat the introduction word for word

Apologise for what was left out

With a new, unexplained quotation

By linking the point back to the thesis or the question

With a summary of the whole text

With a fact about the author

Add more plot summary

Remove all quotations

Lead with a point, embed a short quotation, and explain how the writer's choices create effect, then link to the thesis

Lengthen the quotation further