Thursday

I thought we had some very strong performances today. Congratulations and thanks.

The written commentaries are looking a little thin, however. To start, ask yourself, 'What is the author doing with this scene? What is its purpose, and how does the author accomplish that purpose?" The characters are simply tools and have no importance in and of themselves: they communicate something. What is the author communicating, and why this way in this particular extract?

Then, recognize the sentence as the basic unit of logic. Each one must make sense and transition logically (in time, space, and meaning) to the next. Finally, use these sentences to construct one paragraph at a time. Write good paragraphs. That's important. It's not about dashing off sacred genius thoughts. It's about figuring out a tough problem and explaining it to someone else.

Then look at this model for body paragraphs:

Hypothesis (or topic sentence; it should include a word suggestive of WHY the author chose the methods he did).

Evidence from the text (quotes or very close references)

Analysis of component parts of the quoted text (break it apart and look at how each piece functions to do the WHY of the hypothesis. You are looking at sentence and paragraph structure; word choice (diction); figures of speech; temporal and spatial arrangements and changes; punctuation; ANYTHING that signifies.

Evaluation of the analysis and connection to what has come before. No randomizing here; every piece contributes to some overall effect (theme, character, mood, tone (try looking up the difference between tone and mood if you insist on not listening)). All the analyzed parts work to communicate something. What? Answer, on the paragraph level, SO WHAT?

Now look back. I called the first sentence a hypothesis. Does your evidence support it? If not, go back and modify it. You are not ramming a thesis through the text, or cramming evidence into the Procrustean bed of a thesis, but you are testing your way through the text to find out what hypothesis the evidence can support. Then double check to make sure you make sense, sentence by sentence from beginning of the paragraph to the end.

Conclude the multiparagraph commentary by making meaning of the entire extract and how it fits within the whole work. Connect up as many loose ends as you can. If you are deliberate and logical, and don't hurry just to dash something down, you will enlighten yourself through this process. Plus, your paper and your score will be MUCH BETTER!

You have to work to get anything. If you don't do something, nothing will happen.