2.  Very well done, generally  High marks even for lengths well below 1300 words  Strong on creative/reflective (+2 marks on persuasive)  Very few fails  No range 4-0 grades

3. To improve your persuasive essay you may wish to include (if appropriate) some of the following strategies:  Newspapers: broadsheet vs tabloid  Including some analysis and comment on the quotations you have included  Triangulation: 3 different sources from different places backing up the same point  Case studies  Interviews/questionnaires/focus groups

4.  Hand your final drafts of your folio in with 10 close- reading style questions based upon your essay with mark allocation (plus an answer- scheme).  Your essay should be full of things like word choice with connotative meaning indicting your attitude/views; decent, comment-worthy sentence structure, imagery of some kind, summary questions, linkage.  If you struggle to find these in your essay, then I’, afraid it wont be a particularly strong essay…

5.  Irrelevance: key response to question  Memorised responses: these are very obvious  Genre infringements: Take a deep breath. Breathe deeply. Count to ten. Do a genre check before progressing.  Brevity of responses: (too short) must use time wisely

6.  Brevity of responses: Planning. Preparation. Timed responses.  Do textual analysis first as quickly as possible and then complete essay after doing a plan including identifying key words in the question.  Relevancy: Re-use the key words of the question 3 times in your response. Mechanical, yes, but avoids markers questioning relevance.

7. 1) Choose a poem which takes as its starting point a memorable experience. Discuss how the poet’s presentation of the experience helps you to appreciate its significance. 2) Choose a poem which encourages you to think differently or to understand something in a new way. Discuss how the poet’s ideas and techniques led you to change your thinking or understanding. 3) Choose a poem which is written in a particular poetic form or which has a particularly effective structure. Discuss how the poet’s use of form or structure contributes to the impact of the poem’s central concern(s).

8. Word choice  ‘quoted word or phrase’  ‘quoted word’ has connotations of … and this suggests (go on to ANSWER THE QUESTION)

9.  Help the marker! Use formula structure, layout, and headings. Don’t forget to number the question…  Avoid continuous prose  Always, always give more than you need  Extremely harsh on blatant lifts in own words questions