4 replies to this topic

[i.h.]

For English AI HL Paper 2, is it a comparative essay??

My teacher said if the question does not say "compare or contrast" there is no need to compare the works chosen and we do not integrate the 2 or 3 works together in arguments, but rather do separate paragraphs for each work in every argument. I just found this a bit strange since what's the point of using 2 works if we're not comparing them....

Any thoughts/advice?

An example my teacher gave is this example (where we do NOT have to compare)

"Authors favor certain characters, often portraying them in positive light, wherein others are portrayed contemptuously. How far have you found this to be true with your chosen novelists?"

[drmar]

I believe your teacher is essentially correct. I attached the IB HL A1 paper 2 assessment rubric (although you should check to make sure this is the most current version). You are assessed on how well you understand and respond to the question.

B: Response to the Question
How well has the candidate understood the specific demands of the question?
To what extent has the candidate responded to these demands?
How well has the candidate illustrated claims?
To what extent has the candidate expressed a relevant personal response?

And the markscheme for criterion B is:

Criterion B
"Personal response" and "independence of thought" appear as the levels of the descriptors increase. What is sought is an engaged and individual treatment of the chosen topic. Engaged and individual essays will usually make themselves clear by insight into the implications of the question and the quality and interest of the details cited in support.
The first person singular does not automatically constitute a personal response and conversely an impersonal academic style does not necessarily indicate a lack of personal response.

So, for example, if you are asked to write about how each author feels about his characters, you could write about each author's treatment of characters individually. If you are asked to compare how two authors feel about their characters, then you obviously need to compare them. For sake of flow (another criterion), I don't think it would hurt in any case to include linking sentences or words (e.g., 'Similarly' or 'In contrast'). But the main focus of your response should always be to answer the question. If you're not asked to compare the works, then you don't have to. Refer to Criterion D markscheme below (Presentation):

Criterion D
Any form of structuring to the essay will be rewarded if it is effective and appropriate. Different conventions are in operation and therefore all approaches are acceptable and will be judged on the basis of their effectiveness. Examiners should remember that structure does not exist by itself, but any structure must be measured by appropriate reference to the terms of the question and by its capacity to integrate these towards the development of an organized and coherent essay.

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[ro_1293x]

For English AI HL Paper 2, is it a comparative essay??

My teacher said if the question does not say "compare or contrast" there is no need to compare the works chosen and we do not integrate the 2 or 3 works together in arguments, but rather do separate paragraphs for each work in every argument. I just found this a bit strange since what's the point of using 2 works if we're not comparing them....

Any thoughts/advice?

An example my teacher gave is this example (where we do NOT have to compare)

"Authors favor certain characters, often portraying them in positive light, wherein others are portrayed contemptuously. How far have you found this to be true with your chosen novelists?"

At HL level you are expected to have a good hold of the language not just the texts you have studies. So in this case just because the question has NOT explicity asked you to 'compare or contrast' the texts that does NOT mean that you will attempt your paper like this

Intro

In text A the characters are portrayed as such:
Point 1
Point 2
Point 3

and in text B the characters are portrayed as such:
Point 1
Point 2
Point 3

Conclusion

Because you will instantly be losing your marks for criterion D because that structure wouldn't be a very good one. It would be like reading two separate essays sort of morphed into one because the topic is the same. But yes you do NOT necessarily need to draw many points of 'comparison' or 'contrast' per se between them.

Instead what you do is if your points for each text (When you brainstorm this will be clear to you) seem to have a general direction they both follow you link up similar points from each text so you discuss them in a fashion that flawlessly intertwines the texts without necessarily comparing/contrasting them against each other (though honestly it becomes almost difficult not to somewhere when you write this way). So for example an approrpiate structure could be something like this... You notice that both in Text A and in Text B they portrayed their protagonist almost to be a saint (or this could even be the opposite, doesn't matter) the point is that you will discuss the treatment of BOTH the protagonists in the same 'chunk' of your essay.

You could start with,...

Para 1: Author A presents so and so in Text A as a saint by such and such, for example through such and such imagery etc...

Para 2 (or something): Very similarily, (or not) Author B presents the protagonist so and so in Text B also as a angelic figure by such and such, for example through such and such imagery, metaphor, use of tone of voice etc....

then move on to the next point, like how the author specifically treats the important sidy character like a FOIL character.


I'm sorry if that's a bit confusing I couldn't think of enough points to use as examples for an essay, I'm a bit brain dead from studying for English myself, but basically yes you don't exactly need to strongly compare or contrast your texts if it is not mentioned in the question but because they are asking you to talk about this in more than one text you should try to link up your texts as much as possible in terms of what points you are making so that your flow of your essay does get distrubted by sudden awkward switches of topic because you need to mention the 2nd text now. When you brainstorm you will most likely come up with too many points for both texts anyway where you can probably only effectively talk about 3 or 4 so pick the ones that you can link

[Sandwich]

Nooo, compare and contrast. You don't have to do it quite as clearly in a non compare-and-contrast type question but honestly it's the only way to structure your essay well, as mentioned above.

For instance the question you posted: "Authors favour certain characters, often portraying them in positive light, whereas others are portrayed contemptuously. How far have you found this to be true with your chosen novelists?"

Could (should) be broken down by authorial techniques used to give the reader an impression of the character or some other commonality between the two texts. For instance one author might use the time that the character is first introduced to sum their personality in a few sentences which give the reader a view of them (...e.g. Jane Austen, queen of the unsubtle penguins...), whereas the other one might not introduce the character at all but let the reader build up a view based on their actions throughout the novel.

One might use really expressive adverbs 'creepily' 'bravely' etc. whereas the other doesn't.

One might use dialogue to make a character seem stupid, and the other have all the characters speaking the same.

...and many other possible points. But essentially you should be picking out a feature in one and then examining how the other author has (or has not) done the same thing. That way you can integrate both texts. It's not quite comparing and contrasting in the strictest sense, but it's not too dissimilar. It also establishes analysis and intellectual inquiry that you're able to take a technique from one novel and apply it to the second and so on. That'll make your essay a lot deeper than simply dealing with one in full and then the other, because you can prove you're actually thinking about the effectiveness and applications of different techniques and observing them in different combinations used to different effects in different places and all that jazz

[Shelly Tsui]

Paper 2 is not strictly about comparing and contrasting. It's more like, "How is x presented in at least 2 works you have studied and provide evidence but don't only pick details that can be directly used for points of comparison?"

It's all about proofs baby. In other words, start referencing quotes to back up every single point you make. The goal is to provide proofs of X in the two literary works you have chosen with specific examples.

Eg. How is tension presented in two works you studied?

Obviously the two books you choose must contain some element of tension but what kind of tension is dependent on the work. Book A has tension concerning family relations and Book B has morality-related tension. While the two types of tension cannot be directly compared, the point is to present these two tensions in your essay by illustrating proofs in the form of quotes and specific referencing to scenes/chapters/characters, etc.

First you can begin with defining your interpretation of tension. Then refer to the literary works that you have chosen and refer specifically to the examples that you will be talking about, i.e Book A's example is Mary's hatred for her father's new girlfriend and Book B is Mark's decision to escape prison but not wanting to leave his buddy behind, who is staying because he feels he needs to be punished. (Terrible examples I know but bear with me )

After establishing that which you will be talking about, you start pointing out the literary features that made those two examples worthy of being compared based on tension. You will look at:

Tone: Can you feel/hear the author's voice when those particular scenes were written?
Diction: Why did the author choose to use those words in particular? Do they have significance or connotations? What if I use a synonym, will the integrity of the overal meaning be lost?
Syntax (sentence structure): Long sentences/choppy short sentences: how do they convey the idea of tension?

Etc etc.