STRUCTURING YOUR WRITTEN COMMENTARY

STEP 1 - Planning The key to a well structured commentary is effective planning. There are several stages to planning. -Reading the extract or poem -Initial observations -More detailed annotation -Deciding on the central idea or tension

Planning continued… Once you have an idea about the central focus of your commentary you can create a more structured plan. Your plan should be detailed and organised – then the commentary writing becomes easy!

Planning your introduction Your introduction should contain the following 3 parts: -A brief literal description of what’s happening in the poem or extract. -Your thesis statement (or argument). -The literary features you will explore as evidence for your thesis.

Planning the body of your commentary You should follow what you said you’d do in the introduction: -Literary feature 1 -Examples -How they support the thesis -Literary feature 2 -Examples -How they support the thesis And so on…

Planning your conclusion Your conclusion will include two things: - How all the evidence you’ve presented supports your thesis -How this could relate to a wider theme or issue.

SAMPLE INTRODUCTION This descriptive passage by Sasaki presents the life of a woman who sinks into depression after her four grown-up daughters have departed her home. The writer explores how a loom she is given by one of her daughters comes to replace them in her life. Through the loom and her weaving she keeps her daughters present in her house and the items she weaves come to symbolize her relationship with them. Sasaki presents these ideas through the use of colour and imagery, through careful attention to structure and through the punctuation used in the extract.

So what did the plan look like? INTRODUCTION Literal: Descriptive passage, life of a woman who sinks into depression - grown-up daughters have left home. Thesis: Daughters left home – mother has no purpose, loom replaces them initially but then takes on greater significance. Features: Symbolism, colour, imagery, structure, punctuation.

Main body paragraph plan Para 1. The symbol of the loom – replaces daughters (gives purpose) - preserves memory - allows mother to learn about herself and daughters to learn about mother

Conclusion Plan - Features show development of relationship between daughters and mother. Daughters learn about mother, but mother also learns about herself. - Raises issues of labelling, self-fulfilling prophecy and search for identity.

A word about overall structure… Your commentary needs to follow a logical structure from introduction to conclusion. That means organising your paragraphs so that they follow on from each other in a logical way: It makes sense to start with the major features of the passage or poem that support your thesis, be it characterisation, imagery etc. and lead towards the less important features. You should decide on logical structure in your plan.

REMEMBER Planning is vital! Spend 25 – 30 minutes (SL) or 30 – 40 minutes (HL) planning. Do not write until your plan is absolutely clear in your head and on paper. Follow your plan!