How to Write a Full Mark Essay in Yr 7-12 (Tips from a James Ruse Graduate)

1Read your text thoroughly

It's the start of the term and it's English class again. The teacher presents a welcome back gift for the class. The next prescribed text in the English syllabus. You sigh in despair as you prepare yourself for the terrible ordeal of writing another essay. Well fear not, as I have been in the exact same position! Here are set of guidelines I would recommend abiding by as you begin the arduous journey of writing an essay!

The first step to writing any good essay begins with a thorough understanding of your prescribed text, which can only be attained by reading it thoroughly. I would recommend reading the text at least TWICE, with the first time giving you a general overview of the plot, characters, and themes, while your second run through the text should involve you picking 3 themes (one for each body paragraph), and creating TEA tables for each of them.

So what exactly are TEA tables? TEA stands for Technique, Example, and Analysis. For example, when analysing Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, an example of a TEA entry would look like a technique identified in the text, the example (quote) that demonstrates it, and your analysis of its effect.

Hence, for each theme that you have decided to examine during your second reading of the text, try to complete TEA tables for each of the themes, with 3-4 examples for each theme as these quotes will prove handy when you begin to construct your body paragraphs.

2Begin writing your essay

Before you write your essay, it is important to understand the structure which you should adhere to in order to create a logical piece, which the reader can easily follow, even if they haven't studied the text extensively.

Firstly, your INTRODUCTION should consist of:

• 1st sentence: Thesis – A Thesis statement outlines the main argument which you will be supporting with your three body paragraphs and the quotes within them. A thesis statement MUST answer the question, which is most easily done by using the keywords from the question.
• 2nd + 3rd sentences: Introduce your texts – Introduce your texts including author, text type, name of text (in underlines), and year of publication. Introduce the main ideas they explore, which MUST be relevant to the essay question.

Once you have written the introduction, you should write your three body paragraphs, which should each follow the PEEL structure – the recommended structure we teach here at JP English. For a detailed dissection of what is required to perfect a PEEL paragraph, click here.

After your body paragraphs, a conclusion is required. This should be a short paragraph, which re-outlines the three main ideas you have analysed in your three body paragraphs.

3Answering the question on the day

Now that you've understood how to write an essay in preparation for an exam, how exactly should you approach an essay question on the day? As we've emphasised in our previous blog post ‘How to answer SAQ’, the difference between a mid-range response and a full mark response lies in its ability to ANSWER the question. So how exactly do we achieve that?

1. Unpack the question

When you are presented with the essay question, you should immediately be picking out the KEYWORDS of it, in order to figure out what concepts the markers want you to discuss about your text. Regardless of how sophisticated your pre-planned essay is, if it does not answer the question, your marks will not reflect your preparation. As you figure out the keywords of the question, think of synonyms for them or ways to rephrase them, as you will need to include all these words in your subsequent body paragraphs.

2. Tweak your topic sentences to answer the question

Topic sentences of your body paragraphs are the first parts of your essay that need to be tweaked in order to answer the question. In order to achieve this, ensure that the causes and effects in each of your topic sentences are relevant to the essay question, and adapt them accordingly to answer the essay question.

3. Adapt the analysis of your quotes to answer the question

Within each of your EEs (evidence + explanation) in your body paragraphs, it is essential that you include at least ONE keyword from the question, in order to ensure that you are answering it.

If each of these steps are followed, your prepared essay will be elevated to a full mark response by simply ensuring that you are ANSWERING the question.

Well, that marks the end of this guide! Writing an essay may seem like one of the most daunting aspects of high school English, but after reading this guide, what previously seemed like a terrifying ordeal should hopefully be nothing more than a simple process.

Want to learn more? Click here to see a recording of our essay writing seminar on our Youtube channel.

Keep exploring