Essay writing Inheritance shows us that everyone suffers from prejudice when personal interests are challenged. Discuss.

BREAKING DOWN THE TOPIC KEY WORD List the key words in the topic 1 Everyone – do they all suffer the same? To what degree? Prejudice – What types of prejudice are at play here? Personal Interests – greed, self-interest, selfishness, egotism? Challenged – Does prejudice require challenge for it to surface? Rewrite the topic in your own words 2

PLANNING MAIN IDEAS THE TOPIC MAIN IDEAS MAIN IDEA 1 MAIN IDEA 2 Most of the rural characters in the play show prejudice when their personal interests or the threat of something new (that they don’t understand is threatened MAIN IDEAS MAIN IDEA 2 Dibs – stands out as one character who goes against this philosophy, but when the new will is discovered, she quickly turns on Nugget. What does this say? MAIN IDEA 3 It’s not just the country folk! Consider how the ‘city’ characters display prejudice when their self-interest in threatened? Consider the notion of ‘education’ over ‘working the land’ MAIN IDEA 4 Nugget – is he the giver of intolerance or the receiver?

THE INTRODUCTION YOUR ESSAY’S INTRODUCTION SHOULD CONTAIN THE FOLLOWING INTERNAL STRUCTURE Introduce writer and text. Give a general intro that sums up main ideas of the text. Answer the topic directly. Use key words from the topic. State a firm opinion. Give an idea of the direction your response will take. Outline the main arguments/points you will make. Give some hint as to the organisation of your essay. Concluding sentence relating back to the topic. Remember the importance of key words. MINI INTRODUCTION MINI BODY MINI CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION EXAMPLE THE TOPIC Introduce writer and text. Give a general intro that sums up main ideas of the text. Answer the topic directly. Use key words from the topic. State a firm opinion. Give an idea of the direction your response will take. Outline the main arguments/points you will make. Give some hint as to the organisation of your essay. Concluding sentence relating back to the topic. Remember the importance of key words.

THE BODY EACH PARAGRAPH IN YOUR ESSAY’S BODY SHOULD CONTAIN THE FOLLOWING INTERNAL STRUCTURE MINI INTRODUCTION MINI BODY MINI CONCLUSION Topic sentence – this is the main idea of what you will be discussing in the paragraph. Develop/explain/illustrate the idea of the topic sentence. Provide supporting detail and examples. Include 1 – 2 quotations. Concluding sentence relating back to the topic. Remember the importance of key words.

BODY EXAMPLE: THE TOPIC Topic sentence – this is the main idea of what you will be discussing in the paragraph. Develop/explain/illustrate the idea of the topic sentence. Provide supporting detail and examples. Include 1 – 2 quotations. Concluding sentence relating back to the topic. Remember the importance of key words.

THE CONCLUSION YOUR ESSAY’S CONCLUSION SHOULD CONTAIN THE FOLLOWING INTERNAL STRUCTURE MINI INTRODUCTION MINI BODY MINI CONCLUSION Summing-up statement about the text and main idea of ideas you have covered. Summarise/draw together the content of the body of your essay, drawing together main points. Give a final evaluation of issues/point of view. Have links back to the intro – key words are important. Strong terminating sentence. It could relate back to the topic.

CONCLUSION EXAMPLE THE TOPIC Summing-up statement about the text and main idea of ideas you have covered. Summarise/draw together the content of the body of your essay, drawing together main points. Give a final evaluation of issues/point of view. Have links back to the intro – key words are important. Strong terminating sentence. It could relate back to the topic.

Here is a main body paragraph for this essay Here is a main body paragraph for this essay. Be warned, it is not perfect and there are some errors. Read it carefully and note what is good/bad and indifferent about it. Remember to re-read the topic. Most of the residents of Rushton are depicted as being racist or homophobic. The Prejudice demonstrated by characters in the play is deep-seeded and learned over time. Their opinions are products of their environment where ‘gay men are not welcome’ and ‘piss weak coon’ is part of their vocabulary. The characters justify their bigotry by claiming a sense of entitlement and ownership of the town. Their ‘Australian way of life’ is to sustain a town where ‘people say g;day to each other in the street’ and ‘pooftas’, ‘wogs’ and ‘thieving Greeks’ know their place; they are not part of the Mallee. In this ‘limbo between being and nothingness’ exists a community where ‘ a man has to live or die on his own piece of dirt’. When their monocultural, isolated and protected safety is threatened, their intolerance and ignorance surfaces in a most spectacular and vocal way. 

And another…… Despite the endemic prejudice demonstrated within the town of Rushton, it is not displayed by every character. The differences between the Hamiltons and the Delaney’s are numerous. The Hamilton’s with their ‘____’ are different to the Delaney’s who live ‘like peasants’ and ‘hate blacks, hate wogs’ and ‘hate brown people.’ Dibs, however stands in stark contrast to her sister, Girlie, both in material possessions, ownership of land, and most notably in her tolerance and compassion. For the most part, we see Dibs as a kind mother who has ‘put herself second’ her entire life. Married to Farley who ‘couldn’t keep his dick in his trousers’ Dibs adopts Neville (Nugget) and accepts him into the family. Her ‘compassion’ and selflessness serve to remind the audience of contrasts and differences both in the characters material wealth, but in their abilities to interact with each other. 

Where can I get more help? Try this link to the VCE English page – How to structure a text essay: http://learn.stleonards.vic.edu.au/vceeng/reading-and-responding/planning-a-text-response-essay/ It is also very helpful for you to understand the assessment criteria: https://learn.stleonards.vic.edu.au/vceeng/student-assessment-sheets/ In fact, you really should get into the habit of reading through the criteria sheet BEFORE you start to write, and then re-read it AFTER you have written the essay.

DON’T FORGET TO… Proofread Check grammar and spelling Check written expression – read your work out loud Check vocabulary