Literature Paper 1 tips

[Arif Guluzade]

Im doing russian lit self study at my school (cause they dont have a russian teacher) and starting to prepare for paper 1 atm. I was wondering whats a ball park figure of how many words you should write for paper 1, especially for poetry cause i feel more comfortable with that rather than texts. When i practice i write about 400 words but that seems way to little. Any advice? Thank you !

[intranet3]

That is way too little. You have to analyze the text, that is explain the meaning and give examples from the text. This is the structure our teacher gave us, and I managed to get a 7 in French A HL using it! 

 

You should adopt this structure:

INTRO (100-150 words)
- Little intro related to the theme of the poem/text (general ideas)

- Present your poem/text (what's the theme? What's going on in it? Who's the author? etc.)

- Present your two main ideas that you will develop in your text

 

FIRST PARAGRAPH OF DEVELOPMENT (250-350 words)

- Present your main idea (ex.: the poem presents the sea as a dangerous entity.... whatever suits your poem/texts)

- Give examples FROM THE POEM/TEXT (you must use figures of speech)

   For each example

      * Give the name of the figure of speech you intend to use
      * Give a quotation of the example you'll use

      * Analyze the meaning of your example: how does it prove your paragraph's main idea?

   You must give from 4 to 5 examples per paragraph

 

SECOND PARAGRAPH OF DEVELOPMENT (250-350 words)

- Present your main idea (ex.: the poem presents the sea as a dangerous entity.... whatever suits your poem/texts)

- Give examples FROM THE POEM/TEXT (you must give figures of speech)

   For each example

      * Give the name of the figure of speech you intend to use
      * Give a quotation of the example you'll use

      * Analyze the meaning of your example: how does it prove your paragraph's main idea?

   Then again, you must give from 4 to 5 examples per paragraph

 

[i recommend using your most original idea as your second main idea, and begin with the most obvious one.]

 

CONCLUSION (100 words)

- Present, once again, your two main ideas, but in different words (if possible!)

- Opening (you can link your poem/text to other pieces of literature you've read before (in the target language), or you can do as you like)

 

Hope this will help!

Edited July 14, 2015 by intranet3

[ebu]

I normally use two ib answer booklets to answer all my questions and write nonstop apart from the 5-10 minute planning session I give myself beforehand.

 

Hope this helps!

[Arif Guluzade]

 

[i recommend using your most original idea as your second main idea, and begin with the most obvious one.]

 

 

Thank you for the reply! I just wasn't clear on one thing. Are u saying that i should have 2 different interpretations of the text? Or should i just develop my main idea further in the second paragraph of development? 

Edited July 14, 2015 by Arif Guluzade

[intranet3]

Not necessarily two different interpretations of the text, but two different main ideas. 

 

Your main ideas are two themes that you can find in the text. For example, if you have a poem about war, you might come up with:

 

1- The war as a source of suffering

2- The hope that remains in the poet's mind despite the war

 

These are just examples I've come up with, but your ideas must of course fit the text you get.

 

It's quite difficult for me to explain, because we did these paper 1 during two years at our school, so at the end I was able to find my main ideas without thinking about it.

 

Hope this helps!

Edited July 14, 2015 by intranet3