Hello and welcome to our HSC edition of our blogs! The introduction of the new syllabus has meant that on top of learning new texts, there is also a new layout and exam style that you need to become familiar with.
It might seem a little overwhelming but the team here at Tutoring4All has put together the best guide based on the concerns and areas they have been covering with their students.
Our blogs will cover the following topics:
- Understanding Paper 1 (Common Paper)- A review and understanding
- Understanding Paper 2 (Standard and Advanced) – What is required for each section
- Deconstructing Texts and Human Experiences – What am I expected to write about?
- Deconstruct Module C – The Craft of Writing – Tips for Standard and Advanced
- Deconstruct Module B – Advanced (Critical Study of Literature) -Best essay advice
- Deconstruct Module B – Standard (Close Study of Literature) – How to write a Band 6 Essay
- Deconstruct Module A – Advanced (Textural Conversations) – Identifying the Conversation
- Deconstruct Module B – Standard (Language, Identity and Culture) – How meaning is created through language
One by one we will be sharing our ideas, tips and ideas so follow us along the journey!
The first we will start with is Deconstruct Module C – The Craft of Writing – Tips for Standard and Advanced.
The previous HSC English syllabus had an individual section dedicated to ‘Creative Writing’ which was part of paper 1. Students were provided with a stimulus and the task generally incorporated the ideas covered as part of the Area of Study. However, it was common practice for students to struggle with this (as narrative writing was not often practiced) meaning that pre-prepared responses were submitted.
To overcome both issues, this module has been developed to help students develop and learn the skills of writing. Its further aim is to ensure that students develop the skills necessary so that they are confident to compose an original piece on the day of the exam.
The rubric for the module reads:
Standard & Advanced Module C: The Craft of Writing
In this module, students strengthen and extend their knowledge, skills and confidence as writers. They write for a range of authentic audiences and purposes to convey ideas with power and increasing precision.
Students appreciate, examine and analyse at least two challenging short prescribed texts as well as texts from their own wide reading, as models and stimulus for the development of their own ideas and written expression. They examine how writers of complex texts use language creatively and imaginatively for a range of purposes, to describe the world around them, evoke emotion, shape a perspective or to share a vision.
Through the study of texts drawn from enduring, quality texts of the past as well as from recognised contemporary works, students appreciate, analyse and assess the importance and power of language. Through a considered appraisal of, and imaginative engagement with these texts, students reflect on the complex and recursive process of writing to further develop their ability to apply their knowledge of textual forms and features in their own sustained and cohesive compositions.
During the pre-writing stage, students generate and explore ideas through discussion and speculation. Throughout the stages of drafting and revising, students experiment with a range of language forms and features, for example imagery, rhetoric, voice, characterisation, point of view, dialogue and tone. Students consider purpose and audience to carefully shape meaning. During the editing stages students apply the conventions of syntax, spelling, punctuation and grammar appropriately and effectively for publication.
Students have opportunities to work independently and collaboratively to reflect, refine and strengthen their own skills in producing crafted, imaginative, discursive, persuasive and informative texts.
What’s involved?
The first thing to understand is that there are two main parts to this module:
- The first is composing an original a piece of “imaginative, discursive, persuasive or informative writing” and then…
- Critically reflecting on your piece of writing and discussing the ways you have incorporated the literary forms and features from your prescribed text in your original piece.
Now that we know what the end goal is, let’s take a look at the steps needed to get there.
The Rubric
A few key take home points from the rubric:
- Your pieces of writing for this module focus on you as the writer developing your skills to produce an edited, sophistical and refined text that demonstrates power and precision. This means that every single sentence needs to have a purpose and contribute to the entire composition.
- There is a strong focus on they ways that your original composition includes a range of literary forms and features such as “imagery, rhetoric, voice, characterisation, point of view, dialogue and tone”
- The original composition needs to have a clear purpose, audience and output such as to “describe the world around them, evoke emotion, shape a perspective or to share a vision”.
- There is a step away from writing a strictly ‘creative’ piece and the module invites texts to be composed as “imaginative, discursive, persuasive or informative texts”
Prescribed Texts
- You will be required to study two short texts from the list of prescribed texts.
- The prescribed set of texts are varied – each offering a perspective/example of the text types that you are required to write.
- When analysing your text, consider the following questions as a starting point:
- What is the purpose of the text and how is this achieved?
- Who is the intended audience and how is this evident in the text?
- As a responder, what reaction to the text are you positioned to develop? How is this reaction provoked?
- What literary forms and features have effectively been used in the text?
- Make sure to include textual evidence for each point!
Part 1 – The text types
One of the main focuses of this module is students being able to expand beyond creative writing and appreciate how to write imaginative, discursive, persuasive or informative texts. That’s all good and well but I hear your cries “how do we write each?” Just as luck has it, you’ve arrived at the right place.
NESA has put together a definition of the way they construct each of the meanings (check out all their definitions here: https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/learning-areas/english-year-10/english-k-10/glossary)
Listed below are NESA’s definitions and then our comments and tips to ensure your writing incorporates the different elements:
- Imaginative texts – texts that represent ideas, feelings and mental images in words or visual images. An imaginative text might use metaphor to translate ideas and feelings into a form that can be communicated effectively to an audience. Imaginative texts also make new connections between established ideas or widely recognised experiences in order to create new ideas and images. Imaginative texts are characterised by originality, freshness and insight. These texts include novels, traditional tales, poetry, stories, plays, fiction for young adults and children, including picture books and multimodal texts such as film.
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- How to adopt: Start with your traditional understandings of an imaginative – usually a narrative. Then think about the setting of your narrative and the plot that it will follow. This will help with your transition of a idea or feeling into a piece of communication that responders can engage with and come to understand the connections you are trying to make. Ensure that your characters have authenticity, your plot is credible (this will depend on setting) and the overall structure is unique. When the reader has finished reading the story, they want to feel refreshed and have been made to feel something or appreciate a different perspective.
- Informative texts – texts whose primary purpose is to provide information through explanation, description, argument, analysis, ordering and presentation of evidence and procedures. These texts include reports, explanations and descriptions of natural phenomena, recounts of events, instructions and directions, rules and laws, news bulletins and articles, websites and text analyses. They include texts which are valued for their informative content, as a store of knowledge and for their value as part of everyday life.
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- How to adopt: We all remember this one from primary school when we wrote information texts about native flora and fauna. At a HSC level, this text type is looking beyond a report that simply outlines information and rather it aims to present the information with a distinctive tone and approach. Consider the different ways you are presented with information and what makes one more effective than the other. Is the way you consume information across different platforms presented to you differently? Consider the tone you would use – news articles are known to be formal however website can adopt a colloquial tone. Creativity is also rewarded in this text type.
- Persuasive texts – texts whose primary purpose is to put forward a point of view and persuade a reader, viewer or listener. They form a significant part of modern communication in both print and digital environments. Persuasive texts seek to convince the responder of the strength of an argument or point of view through information, judicious use of evidence, construction of argument, critical analysis and the use of rhetorical, figurative and emotive language. They include student essays, debates, arguments, discussions, polemics, advertising, propaganda, influential essays and articles. Persuasive texts may be written, spoken, visual or multimodal.
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- How to adopt: When writing or creating a persuasive text, the most important thing to do is plan. Start with a clear idea over the overall argument or point of view that you want you audiences to adopt for themselves. Write it out clearly at the top of your document. Read it back to yourself and consider if the statement has a specific angle that you will be communicating. Then list the points that you will be presenting in order to prove or sustain your argument. Sometimes it also also useful to acknowledge opposing ideas and then fault them to add more credibility to your argument. Take note here the importance of logos, pathos and ethos. If you have effectively used all three, your piece is bound to convince the reader of the idea that you are putting forward.
- Discursive texts: Texts whose primary focus is to explore an idea or variety of topics. These texts involve the discussion of an idea(s) or opinion(s) without the direct intention of persuading the reader, listener or viewer to adopt any single point of view. Discursive texts can be humorous or serious in tone and can have a formal or informal register. They include texts such as feature articles, creative nonfiction, blogs, personal essays, documentaries and speeches.
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- How to adopt: This is one of the recently introduced text types that NESA has implemented to form a significant part of the new syllabus. Quite basically put, these texts aim to demonstrate multiple points of view about an idea or a topic that exists in the world. The topic can be about absolutely anything and the way that you structure your piece can be as creative as you like – depending on the question and stimulus. Don’t restrict yourself to only considering ideas ‘for and against’ – this will provide a very limited response. Rather, you want to acknowledge multiple points of view and discuss how each exist concurrently with the other.
So our best advice is to making sure step 1 is done properly is start with reading the stimulus and instructions because they will be specific yet broad – that is, the topic may be broad by the text type and audience will be specific.
Then make a plan before you start writing. Always make a plan otherwise your piece will become lost. This planning stage will also assist with the part 2 reflection.
Once you have your first draft, read over and edit. Try and put yourself in the position of a responder rather than the writer – if you were presented with this piece, is the purpose and audience clear? Has the stimulus and instructions been appropriately addressed?
Part 2 – The reflection
The second part of this module asks you to reflect on the writing process and discuss the ways in which the prescribed texts have shaped your learning and influenced you writing.
So, to make this section slightly easier, make sure that you are aware and conscience of the stylistic features that you have included in your text that you have learnt from your study of the prescribed texts. This can be a range of things such as structure, use of ethos, pathos and logos, tone, register and other techniques of simile, metaphor, visual imagery and point of view.
However, don’t be tricked in this section, the question will be providing a very specific statement outlining what is required. Make sure you take time to read the instructions and provide a reflection that specifically relates to the areas required.
The sample HSC papers provided by NESA give an indication that this section could fall a few different ways. For example, you might only be required to write a piece for the 20 marks without the need for a reflection. There are also two other variations -one where the writing piece and the reflection are weighted equally and then a third circumstance where you are required to complete both but they impose different weighting. That’s why it’s always important to read before writing – we always tell our students that they might write a response worthy of a band 6 but if it fails to answer the question, you are going to limit your chances of achieving higher marks.
The above is a lot to take in and we would love to help you with any questions you might have. Feel free to drop us a line and we will do our best to help.
For all you tutoring needs, Tutoring4All is here to help 🙂