Guide Navigation
1. Introduction
2. Narrative Viewpoint
3. Structure
4. Social / Historical Context
5. Language
6. Top Ten Quotations
7. Exam Preparation
8. Using Quotations
9. Sample Exam Response
How to raise your grade?
Examiners’ advice about how to improve your grade when writing about The Woman in Black:
- Be relevant – this isn’t a test on everything you know about the text, only write about things that that relate to the question.
- Be sufficiently detailed – it’s better to give a lot of detail about a small part of the text than trying to cover lots of different points.
- Be well structured – with a clear concise introduction, which addresses the question and has a clear conclusion that returns to the question. Use the P>E>E style for each paragraph in an answer.
- Use effective vocabulary – including literary terms where relevant.
- To gain a top grade you should show an enthusiastic and critical personal response.
- Do not use slang / colloquial language unless in a direct quotation from the text.
- Do not address the reader directly or become too personal e.g. ‘Mr Bentley reminds [me] of [my] doctor because…’
- Use academic phrases, e.g. ‘It could be argued that…’ rather than ‘I reckon’. Use discourse markers: e.g. Firstly…, furthermore…, however…, another example…, moreover…, lastly…
- You MUST use well-chosen quotations and references to the text in an exam answer to back up your argument. You ideally need a quotation to support every point you make. Therefore, four points will need four relevant quotations (this forms the Evidence part of the PEE process).
