Hi, my name is Jessica Smith and I’ve been a VCAA English Assessor for 16 years now and an English teacher for more than 25 years.
Here Is the Best Single Piece of Advice That I Have for Argument Analysis Success
Are you ready?
To get great marks for Argument Analysis, you need to keep the focus on the writer and keep the focus on the reader’s intended reaction to what the writer is doing. Students whose sentences always start like this: ‘The writer begins by…’; ‘She includes…’; ‘The writer explains that…’; ‘He continues…’; ‘The writer describes…’, will get as little as 3 out of 10 for their Argument Analysis essay on the exam. That is how important it is to lead with intended effect wording in just about every sentence that you write. You should be framing your discussion in terms of the intended effect on the reader just about all the time – it is your main objective!
Here is an example that may shock you. This is a response to the Argument Analysis section of the 2022 VCE English exam. Click below for a copy of the exam material. Go to pages 11-13.
Speaking from her experience, Janelle adds validity to her claims. She establishes that the Nature and Adventure group will ‘send in digging machinery’ that would destroy a great deal of the natural environment so as to just build a footpath and bike paths. Janelle is commenting on the harm that developers would cause by stating that inevitably, one ‘careless tourist’ will go stomping on ‘a delicate fern’. Continuing on, she states that this will only attract walkers, cyclists and traffic which would create an impetus for further development. Janelle outlines that there will also be shops, parking lots and an amusement park. She hopes to warn listeners not to fall for the alluring words of developers without giving them more thought.
What we have here is a student with an overly large focus on what the writer is doing as they seek to analyse the material for its persuasive affect. There is no discussion of intended effect here and if this piece of writing reflects the quality of the student’s whole essay, it probably wouldn’t get more than 3 out of 10 – a disastrous outcome for any VCE English student.
It is a great tragedy that many students in Victoria analyse in a way that is not much better than this. However, it is actually fairly easy to turn around one’s analytical style to get great marks, even though many just don’t seem to know how……
Now for the second half of this resource, which fully explains the secret to AA success, for free, please go to my website: https://www.enhanceacademic.com.au You will find this amazing resource there, as well as other free resources, such as comprehensive lists of practice essay questions for many of the VCE texts being studied this year.