State Ranker Guide: Related Texts for Worlds of Upheaval (English Extension 1)

How to best structure the elective essay while effectively incorporating related texts is a question that many students frequently ask. Being able to integrate ideas and arguments from your chosen related texts with your main texts is a skill that will require to practice by completing many essay questions. Even drafting out a plan to sample questions can help create a framework that will help you determine whether you have a strong enough understanding of all your texts. It is important to remember that being able to dissect certain parts of your related texts when linking them to your main texts is very important as without a flow to your essay, you could lose marks easily.

Here are some key questions to answer yourself throughout your studies of your texts to ensure you are well-equipped for any essay question that is thrown at you:

·     How do your chosen related texts explore the key ideas within your chosen elective?

·     In what ways have the different types of context (historical, political, social, literary etc.) impacted your related texts?

·     What are some examples of how literary forms and features have helped in portraying notions of upheaval and activated change?

TIP 1: Use the paragraph linking technique to your advantage to create flow and cohesion

One technique that you can implement to improve the cohesiveness and create more of flow of your essay is to mention the text and the key idea explored at the end of the main text paragraph. For instance, if your first paragraph after your introduction is for Waiting for Godot (main text), the last sentence could include a simple yet catchy link to the next paragraph (related text).

Below are examples of the last sentence of the main text’s paragraph showing how this could be implemented:

(Main: Frankenstein, Related: Doctor. Faustus)

“Similarly, Doctor Faustus explores the implications of knowledge through diametrically opposing ideological and historical discourses.”

(Main: Waiting for Godot, Related: The Waste Land)

“Correspondingly, Eliot’s The Waste Land maintains the impetus of adopting subversive forms to contribute to its didactic exegesis’, exploring life after World War I through a modernist lens.”

TIP 2: Remain analytically consistent even for texts you haven’t studied as much for in class

A lot of the time, students tend to compose very strong paragraphs for their main texts, then fail to remain consistent with this when writing their related text’s paragraphs. It is always important to remain on top of the analysis even for a text that isn’t studied as much in class. The main reasoning for this is that it shows your knowledge for texts beyond those required by the syllabus and also expresses your motivation to look for links between texts that share similar or disparate ideas.

Although the length of your paragraphs doesn’t need to be the same for the main and related texts, the depth and complexity of the analysis should nonetheless be of substantial quality. Seeking feedback from teachers or asking classmates to review your paragraphs will help offer a new perspective.

Below is a sample structure of an essay that can be used:

1.  Introduction (mention main text 1, related text 1, main text 2, related text 2 in that order).

2.  Main text 1 paragraph (idea 1)

3.  Related text 1 paragraph (idea 1) – linked to paragraph 2

4.  Main text 2 paragraph (idea 2)

5.  Related text 2 paragraph (idea 2) – linked to paragraph 4

6.  Conclusion (summarise key ideas from main and related texts)

Consider some of the below related texts for the Worlds of Upheaval elective:

·     The Waste Land by T.S Eliot

·     Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe

·     Anthropocene by Nomi Stone

·     Waste by Afaa Michael Weaver

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