Revision for Paper 1

Text types most often featured in Paper 1: revise their characteristic features.

* web page * blog post * infographic * newspaper or magazine article * opinion column * leaflet * cartoon * comic strip * speech * letter * review * brochure * travel writing * tabloid cover

Don't forget about mood and atmosphere and authorial intent and target reader.

This source helps a lot: https://ibenglishguys.com/paper-one/

NB! 

Answer the guiding question. 

Have a proper thesis statement. 

Introduction and conclusion necessary, too.

What you write should be logical, easy to follow, formal and impersonal. Illustrate with specific examples from the text.

Concentrate on analysis.

Literary texts we'll be working with

Carol Ann Duffy's poetry (Europe, the UK, 20th-21st century; SL/HL)

Kate Chopin's short stories (America, the US, 19th century, SL/HL)

Hendrik Ibsen's play ""A Doll's House" (Europe, Norway, translation, 19th century, SL/HL)

NB! The three above are the ones you can use for the IO.

In your IO, you are not supposed to mention your name or the name of your school. So, start with something like the following:

I'm a Language A English Language and Literature student, and for my Individual Oral today I have chosen the Global Issue of ...

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie\s novel "Purple Hibiscus" (Africa + America, Nigeria / the US; 21st century, SL/HL)

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's novel "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" (Europe, Russia, translation, 20th century, HL/SL?)

Ian McEwan's novel "Atonement" (Europe, the UK, 20th-21st century, HL)

The Higher Level Essay (=HLE)

The Higher Level Essay is a 1200-1500 word essay completed internally but externally assessed by an examiner.  It is a processed piece of writing that is completed over time and with guidance from the teacher.

You may write about a non-literary text or texts studied as part of the course. Alternatively, you may write about a literary work studied as part of the course.  You may select any texts or works already studied as part of the course, but texts and works used for the internal assessment (IO) are not acceptable choices. Neither may you use texts intended for Paper 2.

Where you to decide to focus on non-literary texts, and consult a number of texts, it is important that these texts are of the same text type, and that the texts are the work of one writer or producer. Also, at least one of the texts must have been studied in class as part of the course. You may base your essay on texts or works in translation. These should be professional translations. Texts and works in other languages that have not been translated are inappropriate.

The HLE must be your own work and thinking.  There cannot be prescribed topics or titles.   

To reiterate:

The HLE is a 1200-1500 word formal, academic essay.

The HLE is a processed essay and will take time to develop.

The HLE is based on work(s) or text(s) studied in the course.

You select your own topic, title, line of inquiry and thesis although the teacher can guide and support you.

You cannot base your essay on any work or text that was used for the Individual Oral or that will be used for Paper 2.

It is not a requirement to use or consult secondary sources.

Assessment of essays

Assessment of essays:

The maximum mark you can get for a subject in IB is 7.

One way of looking at whether you are there already is to assess your work and deduce points for the following:

* not writing on the topic

* illegible handwriting

* focusing on oneself / not impersonal enough

* using past tenses instead of present ones

* logic hard to follow

* missing or extremely weak introduction or conclusion

* no thesis statement

* short forms

* too few literary terms used, or terms used wrongly

* excessive grammar / vocabulary / spelling problems

* important issues not mentioned

* nothing on authorial intent

* faulty structure (we should be able to see since the beginning where the essay is headed, and it shouldn't be jumping all over the place)

Flash fiction

To complement PhilpotNew U1.10 Short stories and novels

Definition: a type of fiction characterized by being very short, typically consisting of only a few hundred words.

* Can fall under any genre, although the more common genres include romance, thrillers, horror, sci-fi and fanfiction.

* Brief- compresses an entire story into the space of a few paragraphs. The average word count ranges anywhere from five to 1,500 words, but the consensus is that the maximum tops out at 2,000.

* Despite its briefness, it has a complete plot and still offers character as well as plot development. 

* Has few characters.

* Often incorporates surprise, usually in the form of a twist ending or an unexpected last line.

* Tends to be published in anthologies, journals, and collections.

* The aim of flash fiction is to prompt the reader to think deeply about the true meaning of the story.

Example: https://www.fridayflashfiction.com/100-word-stories/the-end-by-mary-wallace

It lay on the bed; its red cover stupidly declaring its name, as if the fact that it usually lay hidden in a locked drawer wasn't enough to proclaim its purpose.

Life had been different lately. She was bored; she could no longer tolerate his gentleness, and yet his quiet integrity was the thing that had once attracted her.

Marie watched through the keyhole as he replaced the journal back into its drawer unopened. How much easier if he'd opened it and read her message.

Damn his honesty, she thought, I'll have to end it in person.

A most famous six-word story: https://i.imgur.com/gQlAy.jpg

Task: write your own.

Two-sentence horror stories:

https://www.boredpanda.com/short-scary-two-sentence-horror-stories/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

Sources: https://blog.reedsy.com/what-is-flash-fiction/

https://www.writersdigest.com/improve-my-writing/flash-fiction-faqs

https://medium.com/@joannasmith008/everything-you-need-to-know-about-flash-fiction-29e2513b4f4a

Twitterature: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitterature

Drabble: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drabble