1. National 5 Revision Tutorial 1 (January 2016)
Critical Essays
Paper 2: Section 2

2. Critical Reading: Section 2
How Long?
How Many Marks are Available?
How Many Questions?
Dos and Don’ts?

3. FILM & TELEVISION DRAMA
Process
Selecting a Task
- Look through relevant ‘Genre’ Sections
POETRY
DRAMA
PROSE
FILM & TELEVISION DRAMA
LANGUAGE STUDY

4. Deconstructing the Task
How many parts are there to each task?

5. Helps Planning Response Helps Planning Response
Answers to questions in this section should refer to the text and to such relevant features as: characterisation, setting, language, key incident(s), climax/turning point, plot, structure, narrative technique, theme, ideas, description…
Helps Planning Response
Helps Choose Task
3. Choose a novel or short story or non-fiction text which deals with an important issue (e.g. social, political, moral, religious…).
Helps Planning Response
Identify the issue and, by referring to appropriate techniques, show how the author deepens your understanding of it.
What is the function of each part of the task?
What decisions do you have to make and when?

6. Planning and Writing your Response
Good idea to do a quick/basic plan first
Put a line through the plan when finished
Could make a quick note of quotations you will use
Be clear about your line of argument – what are you proving/arguing in your essay?

7. Your Response Should Demonstrate (success criteria)
UNDERSTANDING (What the text is about)
- of the text ‘as a whole’
- of the ‘central concerns of the text’ – themes/ideas/details
- of the task

8. Your Response Should Demonstrate (success criteria)
ANALYSIS (Techniques/Effects/How created)
- ‘thorough awareness’ of the writer’s techniques
- ‘confident use of’ critical terminology
- ‘very detailed/thoughtful’ explanation of how stylistic devices create certain effects/meaning
- ‘a range of’ well chosen references/quotations

9. Your Response Should Demonstrate (success criteria)
EVALUATION (How effective text & techniques are)
- ‘very well developed’ commentary of what has been enjoyed/gained
- genuine engagement with themes/purpose
- success of techniques and effects
- ‘a range of well-chosen’ references to relevant features

10. Your Response Should Demonstrate (success criteria)
EXRESSION (clarity & sophistication of response)
- clear line of thought through use of language
- spelling/grammar/punctuation/sentence construction ‘consistently accurate’
- structured effectively – enhances meaning/purpose
- paragraphing ‘accurate & effective’

11. REMEMBER! A Critical Essay IS A Discursive Essay
Arguing/Proving something about Text
Must have a clear line of argument throughout
Clear & logical Structure
Must have Evidence to support points
Explain significance of evidence = analysis
Conclusion – conclude line of argument
Introduction – set up line of argument
Topic Sentences/Linkage/Transitional Markers

12. Reference to Key Themes/Message/Purpose
Type of Text
(‘genre’ – poem, novel etc.)
TITLE
(in inverted commas, with capitals)
Writer’s Name
(first time in full, thereafter just surname – remember caps)
INTRODUCTIONS
Reference to Task
(set up line of argument which should be based around words of task)
Reference to Key Themes/Message/Purpose
(again show understanding – might be built into task)
Some context
(demonstrate your knowledge of text)
Evaluative Language
(show your engagement)

13. ‘The Veldt’, by Ray Bradbury, is a thought-provoking short story which deals with an important social issue, which is society’s over-reliance on technology and the damaging effects this can have. Despite being written in the 1950s, a time when the television was enjoying a Golden age and becoming more common in people’s homes, Bradbury successfully delivers a powerful and ominous message which is still pertinent in today’s society. Through clever characterisation, striking imagery and the irony of the ending, Bradbury effectively warns us that an over-reliance on technology can severely damage our relationships and leave us unable to do things for ourselves.

14. Main Points of Analysis Evidence – at least one quotation
Topic Sentences
Main Points of Analysis
MAIN PARAGRAPHS
Sub-conclusion
Evidence – at least one quotation
Evaluative Language

15. Create sense of Linkage/Progression = Transitional Markers
Introduce Focus of Paragraph
Link To Task
TOPIC SENTENCES
Use Writer’s name to stay analytical
Evaluative Language

16. Furthermore, Bradbury’s effective use of imagery helps to convey his warning by creating a sinister and ominous atmosphere around the technology in the house and nursery.

17. QUOTATIONS Must be introduced by making clear analytical point
Must be properly integrated
QUOTATIONS
Must be followed by an analytical comment – explanation of what it suggests/shows and how
Evaluative Language
Vary/avoid ‘This Shows’

18. Bradbury suggests the realistic nature of the nursery by using the senses to create a vivid and overpowering impression. We are told that George ‘could feel [the hot sun] on his neck like a hot paw’. Here, the physicality of the comparison effectively emphasises how real the African Veldland seems, whilst the idea of the paw cleverly conjures up the image of the lions and makes even the sun seem threatening, as though it could pounce at any moment.

19. Bradbury suggests the realistic nature of the nursery by using the senses to create a vivid and overpowering impression. Whilst in the nursery, George takes in his surroundings:
‘That sun. He could feel it on his neck like a
hot paw’.
Here, the physicality of the comparison effectively emphasises how real the African Veldland seems, whilst the idea of the paw cleverly conjures up the image of the lions and makes even the sun seem threatening, as though it could pounce at any moment.

20. SUB-CONCLUSIONS Sum up/bring together the points of the paragraph
Refocus on the Task
SUB-CONCLUSIONS
Use Writer’s name to stay analytical
Evaluative Language
Relate points to theme/purpose – may be necessary to task

21. By combining vivid similes and metaphors when describing the technology within the house, Bradbury creatively delivers his warning and implies the potential threat that an over-reliance on technology could have within society.

22. CONCLUSIONS Sums up main line of argument Refocuses On Task
Sums up main points relating to task/argument
CONCLUSIONS
Restate title, writer’s full name, type of text
Evaluative Language

23. Overall, Ray Bradbury successfully explores an important social issue in his powerful short story ‘The Veldt’. Through a combination of clever characterisation, vivid imagery and an ironic ending, Bradbury delivers a stark warning about the danger of relying too heavily on technology. The story skilfully leaves us wondering whether the seemingly exaggerated ‘Happylife Home’ is in fact closer to modern living than Bradbury could ever have imagined.

24. Varying ‘This Shows’ Depicts Conveys Embodies Implies Evokes Reveals
Suggests
Reinforces
Emphasises
Portrays
Conveys
Implies
Reveals
Indicates
Highlights
Illuminates
Here Bradbury indicates…
By comparing… Bradbury suggests that…
The image of… embodies the idea that…

25. Evaluative Language This successful portrayal of…
Successfully
Effectively
Skilfully
Creatively
Cleverly
Imaginatively
Powerfully
Emotively
Evocatively
Realistically
Harrowingly
Disturbingly
Poignantly
This successful portrayal of…
The powerful way in which…
The setting is effective in…

26. Revision Suggestions/Strategies
Familiarise yourself with the main ideas/themes/message in your class text(s)
Make sure you know key details of text for introduction – (Title, writer, type of text, context, themes/key ideas/message)
Revise Key analytical techniques and points
Rewrite revision notes in another format, condensing/transforming information e.g. Mind-map/table form
Identify and memorise a range of quotations (5-8) which are evidence of key ideas/techniques in each text
Practise introducing, integrating and analysing these quotations
Practise writing example introductions/conclusions
Practise essay planning based around a task (Past/Example Tasks)
Review Critical Essay guidance sheet/pointers – rewrite as notes on key hints/tips/points to remember in essay writing (identify the areas you need to focus on from marked essays and concentrate on these)

27. English Blog This Tutorial can be found on the N5 English post at:
If you Google ‘Moray Glow Blogs’ and select first option there will be a list of blogs – click on ‘Miss King’
Lots of other revision materials can be found on the English Hub: