How to analyse an extract
An essay should be an argument, using evidence drawn from the text to make your points. You should explore different aspects of the question or title.
Tasks can focus on effectiveness, themes and ideas, language, form and structure, or a combination of these. You will usually need to think about:
- What kind of text is this?
- What is the purpose?
- Who is the audience?
- Is it an effective text - to what extent does it achieve its purpose?
A good essay creates a line of thought which directs the reader through from the beginning to the end, using a convincing essay structure.
Annotating
The key to planning an essay is to think about what the task is asking you to do. For example, it may ask you to look at a particular theme or viewpoint. Read the text carefully, with the question in mind. Thinking about the question, annotate the extract. Use highlighting or underlining to pick out key parts of the text that you can use in your answer.
You might read the extract a couple of times, focussing on different things as you do. For example, focus on the language used, then the way that the argument is structured (the content of the first and last paragraph and how this is significant), and then finally how both of these things cause the reader to react in a certain way.
Planning an essay response
When youâve read the text carefully and annotated it, then make a plan. Make a bullet point list or a mind map of all the ideas you can think of that are relevant to the question. Link the ideas to specific quotations from the extract.
Then pick the best points to use. Aim for at least four to five main points, and arrange them in a logical order. Your choice of order should help you to develop your ideas and reach a convincing conclusion.