9 replies to this topic

[Work hard party harder]

Hello,

I'm doing my EE on Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I have started with quite a long summary of the relationship and how it changes of Elizabeth and Darcy and then only analyzed their action. Is that acceptable? I mean, spending so many words on the summary only? Is a summary even needed?

Please help, I'm very worried
Work hard party harder

P.S. I need replies very soon please, because my English teacher is resigning in a month and I have to do as much as I can and I'M REALLY FREAKING OUT!!

[sweetnsimple786]

That doesn't sound good as pure summary, but maybe you were analyzing as you went. If you were, then this could be okay.
I don't know what you mean by "the action."
If you want to tell me your research question or summarize the argument of you EE, then I'd be able to say how important the description of the change of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy as characters is.

If your argument deals with how they change, then you should include the details, except it shouldn't be pure summary--it shouldn't be a retelling of plot. It should be insightful and it should discuss how these two characters have changed and how you know and the significance. Does that help any? Basically, your readers are going to be familiar with the work, which is one reason you avoid summary in the World Lit papers and the EE.

[Work hard party harder]

Okay my research question is like is love blind - more like: does love come before knowing a person and their good and bad qualities or can you only love a person after knowing them well....I'm like going to discuss this with reference to the various couples in the book, starting of course with Elizabeth and Darcy....so I'm summarizing the parts of the story which includes them from the beginning to end...I know most of the book is about them, so I might as well call it a summary of the whole book...but the thing is, I'm excluding parts like Mr. Collins and his proposal....you know, basically, happenings that don't affect Liz and Darcy....

Right, so I'm doing that, and this has taken me more than 700 words....please don't tell me that's unacceptable, I've spent agesss on it!
Okay so after the Liiz-Darcy summary, I'm going to go over everything that happens to them from start to beginning, except this time, including their emotions, emotion changes, analysing whatever they do, my opinion, etc....

What say?

*scared*

[snowscar]

Work hard party harder, on Jun 13, 2010 - 14:36, said:

Okay my research question is like is love blind - more like: does love come before knowing a person and their good and bad qualities or can you only love a person after knowing them well....I'm like going to discuss this with reference to the various couples in the book, starting of course with Elizabeth and Darcy....so I'm summarizing the parts of the story which includes them from the beginning to end...I know most of the book is about them, so I might as well call it a summary of the whole book...but the thing is, I'm excluding parts like Mr. Collins and his proposal....you know, basically, happenings that don't affect Liz and Darcy....

Right, so I'm doing that, and this has taken me more than 700 words....please don't tell me that's unacceptable, I've spent agesss on it!
Okay so after the Liiz-Darcy summary, I'm going to go over everything that happens to them from start to beginning, except this time, including their emotions, emotion changes, analysing whatever they do, my opinion, etc....

What say?

*scared*

Well, you should never just simply retell a story. Most likely, the examiner will have read Pride and Prejudice being a classic. You have to have in mind that an examiner reads many EEs in a session and will likely be bored if you simply retell the plot. Books which are unlikely to have been read can have their plot explained briefly, but just enough for you to give a proper analysis. It would seem from your description that you have just retold it. Don't do that.
Remember the acronym P.E.E. Point, Example, Explain. Point - what is your idea with this paragraph? Example - A situation from the book which applies to this idea. Explain - How does it apply to the idea and how does it contribute to your research question?

My advise would be to cut parts of your summary and add your analysis to it instead. Do you have any EE available for you to read and such get a grasp of how others have used P.E.E.? Never describe something if you're not going to analyse it, that's just wasting the examiner's time and risks loosing the reader's interest.

Edited by snowscar, Jun 13, 2010 - 19:04.

[Work hard party harder]

Hey Snowscar!

THANK YOU SO SO MUCH! I really needed that piece of advice, really, thank you!

By the way, can you tell me if my topic is a good enough one?

I really loves that P.E.E thing...I never knew that and I'm going to follow it for sure!

Thanks!!

[snowscar]

Well... I'm no examiner and I've frankly avoided Pride and Prejudice completely since those kind of books don't appeal to me, so I might not be the best person to cast my vote if you have a "good or bad" topic. However, I can say that I've read a couple of EEs about love and relationships which have scored quite well.

If I'm getting you right your topic is roughly "Is love blind? - A case-study based on Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice". Let us look at the criteria from the IB EE Syllabus. It simply says for the research question to get a full mark:

"The research question is clearly stated in the introduction and sharply focused,
making effective treatment possible within the word limit."

Well, I'd say you have narrowed it down to not simply looking at love, but looking at whether it is blind or not and limiting yourself at analyzing the relationships in Pride & Prejudice. So I'd say you could score well on this criterion, however, it is better to talk to your supervisor or someone more experienced than me. If you realise further ahead that it needs more limitation, then just focus on some relationships in P&P.
It more comes down to how well you describe the question in your introduction and if you can create an interesting EE on this subject.

And you're free to use the P.E.E. acronym. : ) Or English teacher used it a lot for our preparations in the IB finals, especially for paper 2. It's simply about that you should never write anything which doesn't have a meaning or just bull****ting to fill up words. That doesn't score well.

Good luck!

[Work hard party harder]

Hey snowscar!!

Thanks a million! You make me feel so much better!

So what did you do your EE in? (just as a matter of interest haha)

[snowscar]

My research question was Shades of Gray in Tolkien's moral universe: A case study - The Silmarilli and the One Ring.

Basically, I had found a reviewer by the name of Edwin Muir who had said that Tolkien's characters are simply black and white and nothing in between. I didn't agree so I was determined to show him wrong. Thus, my EE attempts to show how both good and evil properties exist in even two inanimate objects, the Ring and the Silmarils. : )

I was quite happy with it by the end of the day. ^^

[Work hard party harder]

Okay, that sounds cool! I like it man! I have a feeling you'll score well on it! Good luck!

[Survival Robot]

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