Unit 3 Analysing Argument Year 12 Mainstream English
Students in Year 12 need to analyse and compare the use of argument and persuasive language in 2 or 3 media texts on an issue for the SAC in Unit 3.
Students in Year 12 need to analyse the use of argument and persuasive language in an unseen text or texts for the VCE English Exam.
The Task is referred to on the front page of the exam for Section C: ‘Write an analysis of the ways in which argument and written and visual language are used in the material on pages 12 and 13 to persuade others to share the points of view presented’.
How to Read, Analyse and Write a Language Analysis in 4 Steps
Don’t feel stressed, follow my 4 main step process below which will unlock your concerns about language analysis.
For the SAC you may be asked to analyse 2 or 3 media texts, however, for the Exam it may be 1 text and a visual.
Use my Language Analysis Essay Structure Using 3 Media Texts to complete your essay (see link below).
Handwrite your Essays
An important tip is to practice writing your essays in handwriting. The exams are all handwritten, not typed on a computer. If you have trouble with your writing, ie. it is not easy to read for your teachers to mark, then please do something about it well before the exams in October-November. If you feel your writing is terrible in cursive then print instead.
Year 12 you may Analyse 2-3 Media Texts in the SAC
Remember that in Year 12 you may be given 2-3 media texts to analyse and write your language analysis essay for the SAC. Therefore you will need to the follow 4 main steps of analysis each time you analyse the 3 media texts you are given.
Carefully Annotate your Texts
A really important step in this process is to carefully take notes or annotate all the persuasive techniques in the texts. This annotation will help you to link your persuasive techniques together when comparing and contrasting the 3 media texts in your essay.
The following 4 main steps will help you to understand how to analyse persuasive language:-
Step 1: Read Carefully and Take Notes (Annotate on the 2-3 texts you are given in the SAC or 1 only if you are answering Section C in the exam)
You will need to read the article at least twice. In the 15 minutes you are given before you can pick up a pen use this first reading to identify the writer’s point of view on the issue and their main arguments. Then in the second reading, focus on how language (and any images) are used to present this viewpoint and to position the reader to agree with it.
Ask key questions using What? How? Why? for each of the 3 media texts (or just 1 text)
- What is the writer saying? > Identify the main contention. > Track the supporting points or arguments. A good approach is to put these in brief annotations around the article by clearly showing each Argument and numbering them so you can identify each Argument in your comparative analysis with the other articles > identify the audience the author is targeting with his arguments > Remember to look at the Similarities & Differences as your Points of Comparison between the Texts > Use your Comparison words = to express similarity of the point of view expressed in the article = supports / reinforces /endorses /confirms / corroborates > to express differences in the point of view expressed in the article = contradicts/ challenges / disputes /negates / opposes
- How is it said? > Write a few key words to describe the writer’s tone and style > Highlight some of the persuasive words, phrases and techniques being used
- Why is it persuasive? > Why are some of the highlighted words and techniques persuasive? > Think about how the author makes the readers = think (logic based) / feel (emotion based) & do (a call to action) > What effects do they achieve? > Do the techniques help to persuade the audience to agree with the writer? How?
Step 2: Prepare Your Ideas for Writing
- Rewrite the main contention in your own words. This forces you to clearly understand the writer’s point of view, and allows you to refer back to it as you write.
- List the supporting points or arguments – you may want to quote them directly from the text
- Select the language and techniques you are going to analyse
- Select some examples, including brief quotations, to use as evidence and for close analysis. Choose the most obvious examples but also those that give you the greatest range of techniques. Choose examples that also allow you to show how the writer progressively persuades the audience
Step 3: Plan Your Structure
As in all essays, your analysis will have an Introduction, Body and Conclusion.
Remember to use appropriate Linking Words to connect your sentences and paragraphs so that your essay will flow smoothly and give your analysis cohesion. Some examples of Linking Words = by contrast / conversely / furthermore / just as / however / in addition / moreover / whereas / on the other hand / similarly / therefore / while
- Introduction: What is the writer saying? > You must include the following information in the Introduction: CATTACIS =
- Context (what is the big issue?)
- Author of text
- Tone
- Title
- Audience
- Contention > Use phrases such as: ‘The writer contends that’, ‘The writer argues that’, ‘The writer asserts that’ or ‘The writer is adamant that’
- Intention
- Source
- The Body: How is the writer saying it? > The body of your analysis consists of a series of paragraphs in which you analyse the major points and persuasive techniques. > Break the body paragraphs into 3 strategies = Opening Strategy / Body Strategy / Closing Strategy > the three key questions used to structure the body paragraphs are: (1) What is the writer saying? (2) How is the writer saying it? (3) Why are the language and techniques persuasive?
- The Conclusion: Why is it Persuasive? > Sum up the overall effectiveness of the article in persuading readers. > Mention which persuasive techniques work best and why > Show how the language used positions the reader/audience to agree with the author > how does the language make them think/feel or do something?
Step 4: Write your Language Analysis
- Use the plan you have constructed and stick to it.
- Edit carefully, check that you have explained how language is used to position and persuade the reader.
- When you have finished writing, use my 10 Point Checklist to check your analysis:
- Author Who wrote the piece? His/her credentials?
- Text type Is this text a letter, opinion piece, speech, editorial?
- Publication Where did the piece appear and date?
- Audience Who is the writing appealing to?
- Contention What is the author’s main point of view of writing?
- Main arguments What are the author’s main points to back his contention?
- Title How is the title persuasive or engaging?
- Tone What tone best describes the persuasive techniques?
- Persuasive techniques Name at least 5 techniques. What is their intention?
- Visuals Cartoons, photos and pictures used to link the contention
Language Analysis of a Cartoon
Just as writers use techniques such as exaggeration, tone and emotive language to manipulate and position readers, so too cartoonists can use many highly persuasive techniques.
Be Careful to Consider = If the cartoon is in a separate box from the article it may be a STAND ALONE Cartoon which has it’s own point of view on the issue. That said, the cartoon may agree with one text and disagree with another text, therefore, it could have 2 opinions about the issue.
When analysing a cartoon that may be included along with the persuasive writing text, ask yourself the following questions:
- What is the main point of the cartoon?
- What is the issue being represented? What is the context of this issue?
- Who are the central figures/characters? What are they doing or saying? How are they represented?
- What visual strategies does the cartoonist use to persuade us to agree with the point of view presented?
- Why did the author include the cartoon with the written text?
- Does the cartoon enhance the point of view of the author?
- What is significant about the background of the cartoon?
- Is there a caption? Dialogue? Are other words used? What do they add and how do they persuade?
- Is the cartoon linked to the other 2 media texts?
- If it is linked with a similar main contention, then describe how it is similar to the other media texts
- If it is not linked and has an alternative main contention to the other 2 media texts, then describe how it is different to the other media texts
Robert Frost
Frosts poetry is a Metaphor for the ways in which we make sense of our lives
The ways in which people develop their imaginative landscapes, their attitudes and values and how they respond to the world around them are influenced by their sense of place. In analysing texts the landscape may be seen in literal or metaphorical terms. Places where we have lived and people we have lived with contribute to our outlook on life and how we respond to particular situations. For some people these memories stay with them throughout life. The imaginative landscape derives from the diversity of these experiences over the years. The physical landscape of a person’s life forms a literal and metaphorical yardstick with which to measure the passage of time and the acquisition of personal characteristics. The physical becomes intertwined with their imaginative landscape.
Robert Frost’s Imaginative Landscape
Encompasses both the beauty and dark side of the land and of human nature. While his love of the natural world is evident, inspiring him as a poet and a person, he does not romanticize it, rather he imbues it with strong moral tones, reflecting in his love of rural America.
As well as describing the physical world, Frost is also preoccupied with how the human figures are placed in the landscape and in time. His characters are aware of where they have come from and their history. They move in time from the past but also encompass the future. Frost’s imaginative landscape helps us to construct versions of ourselves by exploring where and who we have come from and who we might become.
‘The Road Not Taken’ Poem by Robert Frost
The speaker stands in the woods, considering a fork in the road. Both ways are equally worn and equally overlaid with un-trodden leaves. The speaker chooses one, telling himself that he will take the other another day. Yet he knows it is unlikely that he will have the opportunity to do so. He admits that someday in the future he will recreate the scene with a slight twist, he will claim that he took the less-travelled road.
One of the attractions of this poem is its archetypal dilemma, one that we instantly recognise because each of us encounters it numberable times, both literally and figuratively. Paths in the woods and forks in the roads are ancient and deep-seated metaphors for life, its crises and decisions. Identical forks, in particular, symbolise for us the nexus of free will and fate. We are free to choose, but we do not really know beforehand what we are choosing between. Our route is, thus, determined by an accretion of choice and chance, and it is impossible to separate the two.
The Fourth Stanza Holds the Key to the Poem with 2 Tricky Words
“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference”.
Those who interpret this poem as suggesting non-conformity take the word “difference” to be a positive difference. There is nothing in the poem that suggests that this difference signals a positive outcome. The speaker could not offer such information, because he has not lived the “difference” yet.
The other word that leads non-discerning readers astray is the word “sigh”. By taking “difference” to mean a positive difference, they think that the sigh is one of nostalgic relief. However, a sigh can also mean regret. There is the “oh, dear” kind of sigh, but also the “what a relief” kind of sigh. Which one is it? We do not know.
If the the sigh is one of relief, then the difference means the speaker is glad he took the road he did. If the sigh is one of regret, then the difference would not be good, and the speaker would be sighing in regret. The speaker of the poem does not even know the nature of that sigh because that sigh and his evaluation of the difference his choice will make are still in the future. It is a truism that any choice we make is going to make “all the difference” in how our future turns out.
Private Home Tutoring of English Not an On-Line Free Tutoring Service
I am NOT an on-line free tutoring service. My resources on this website are for general use only. I do not write student’s essays for them or give advice on essay prompts. However, for more intensive tutoring in a specific area of English, I will visit students in their own homes for private tutoring sessions that are paid on an hourly basis.
Maestro
Signifance of ‘Place’ in Maestro
Place is integral to an understanding of the characters in Maestro by Peter Goldsworthy.
In some ways, the cities of Darwin, Adelaide and Vienna parallel the growth of the characters. In other respects, the character’s attitudes towards the cities reveal their motivations and, in the case of Keller, the mystery of his past. Darwin and Adelaide exemplify the most obvious and literal examples of the polarity of North and South.
“Up North” Darwin in the 1960’s – a Wild Frontier Town
“Up North” in the 1960’s traditionally represented the outpost of civilisation in Australia, with Darwin as its wild frontier town. In pre-Cyclone Tracy Darwin, there were few opportunities for public entertainment or cultural events. The town’s residents had a reputation for heavy drinking, fast driving and little regard for fine music or the arts. In 1967 few homes had air conditioning so that Darwin’s wet heat had to be alleviated with iced drinks, ceiling fans and evening sea breezes through louvred windows. Initially John Crabbe described Darwin’s inhabitants as “wife-beaters, fugitives from justice, alcoholics and maintenance dodgers” (p.17). Darwin was “the terminus … A town populated by men who had run as far as they could flee” (p.17).
Goldsworthy Portrays Life in Darwin as a Rhythm of Dramatic Contrasts
Life in Darwin is portrayed as a rhythm of dramatic contrasts between day and night, and the Wet and Dry seasons. Thunder is “the sound of February, of deepest, darkest Wet” (p.4). The Wet exaggerates nature in every way. The hard-drinking customers at The Swan where “it was always Wet season” (p.17), provide the background rhythm to Paul’s lessons with Keller and their wrangles over the choices of compositions for his lessons and practice. The change of season to the Dry marks an important point in the characters’ moods. Everyone’s mood is lightened and refreshed at the beginning of “seven months of clear, enamel-blue days” (p.28), when meals are taken outside in “a nightly cooling ritual” (p.30). Throughout the novel, Goldsworthy uses the imagery of night and day, Wet and Dry, sunshine and darkness to symbolise or illustrate his characters’ states of mind.
Darwin confronts the Crabbes with Physical and Mental Challenges
The Crabbes’ move to Darwin, a career promotion for John, confronts all three family members with both physical and mental challenges. To Paul, Darwin is a tropical paradise; to his parents it is, initially too hot, humid and uncivilised. John Crabbe declares Darwin is “A city of booze, blow, and blasphemy” (p.9) but Paul loves Darwin from the moment he steps off the plane from Adelaide: “I loved the town of booze and blow at first sight. And above all its smell: those hot, steamy perfumes that wrapped about me as we stepped off the plane, in the darkness, in the smallest hours of a January night. Moist, compost air. Sweet-and-sour air …” (p.9).
Goldsworthy Describes Darwin in Lush Descriptive Passages
Goldsworthy devotes considerable attention to crafting lushly descriptive passages which evoke Darwin’s exotic quality, its multicultural population and the strong emotions of sexuality. Paul delights in the dense foliage of their garden, at the “unnatural greenness” of leaves, and marvels at the brilliance of parrots, butterflies, huge insects and grubs: “Everything grew larger than life in the steamy hothouse of Darwin, and the people were no exception. Exotic, hothouse blooms” (p.11).
Darwin for Eduard Keller was an Exile
For Herr Eduard Keller, the maestro, Darwin was an exile, a self-imposed punishment stemming from his perceived responsibility for the deaths of his wife and child. Darwin is the maestro’s decision to live as far as possible, both literally and metaphorically from his cultured European background. Paul vividly remembers his first encounter with the maestro. He was fascinated by Keller: “I’d seen nothing like him before. He was short: migrant-height, European height…The hair above that flaming face was white, sparse, downy. On his red nose he had placed … a pince-nez… Above all, I remember the hands: those dainty, faintly ridiculous hands” (p.5). Despite Darwin’s oppressive heat, Keller is dressed in a white linen suit, crisp and freshly laundered. As Paul pushed his way through the drinkers in The Swan each Tuesday for his piano lesson, he found it “easy to place Keller among these fugitives” running away from things they chose not to remember.
Private Home Tutoring of English Not an On-Line Free Tutoring Service
I am NOT an on-line free tutoring service. My resources on this website are for general use only. I do not write student’s essays for them or give advice on essay prompts. However, for more intensive tutoring in a specific area of English, I will visit students in their own homes for private tutoring sessions that are paid on an hourly basis.
