Task 1: Close Reading: What The Question Is Asking (OCR A Level English Literature)

Task 1: Close Reading: What The Question Is Asking

The non-exam assessment (NEA) is a compulsory component of the A Level English Literature qualification. It is worth 40 marks and counts as 20% of the total A Level. The NEA comprises two pieces of work, totalling approximately 3000 words, and you are required to study three literary texts: one prose text, one poetry text and one drama text. The texts must have been first published or performed in 1900 or later, and one literary text must have been first published or performed after the year 2000. The choice of texts must be different to any of the core set texts for this specification.

In Task 1, you should choose one of the following tasks:

• A close, critical analysis of a section of your chosen text or poem:

  • Your selection should be a small section of text, three to four pages of prose or drama, or up to 45 lines of poetry

  • You are required to include a copy of your chosen passage when you submit your coursework folder

• An item of re-creative writing based on a selected passage of your chosen text or poem, with a commentary explaining the links between your own writing and the original passage selected:

  • Again, you are required to include a copy of your chosen passage when you submit your coursework folder

The guide below will enable you to approach the first option of Task 1 (the close reading exercise) with confidence. This is divided into:

• Overview

• Breaking down the task

• Top tips

Overview

For the close reading task, you are required to critically analyse a section of your chosen text, or an individual poem selected from an anthology or collection. Any selection made from poetry should be either a single poem or one extract from a longer poem. The recommended word length for this task is 1000 words, excluding quotations.

The task is worth 15 marks and you are assessed on:

• AO2: analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in literary texts:

  • This is the dominant Assessment Objective

• AO1: articulate informed, personal and creative responses to literary texts, using associated concepts and terminology, and coherent, accurate written expression

The wording of the task itself should balance a focus on close analytical discussion with an informed view of how the chosen extract relates to the rest of the text from which it is taken. The task is generally set by your centre, but you can submit your own for approval. 

The most successful responses contextualise the passage or poem and blend the analysis with wider text awareness, demonstrating how key methods, techniques and concerns are reflective of the text as a whole. It is important to show how content and meaning are communicated by the writer’s choices of language and structure, and also to make clear and specific references to other parts of the text or other poems to show characteristic features. A strictly narrative approach, only explaining content and meaning, will not gain a high mark.

Candidates should:

• Present a coherent reading of the selected extract or poem

• Use analytical detail to demonstrate your understanding of ways in which the author guides the reader or audience response

• Relate the selection to the whole text, considering methods as well as content and concerns

• Consider genre, form and structure as well as language

Breaking down the task

Your centre (or you) can choose to write your own task, or choose from a list of pre-approved tasks using OCR’s Text and Task Tool. Whichever method you select, it’s important that the wording of the task allows you to explore both a detailed, critical analysis of the passage or poem as well as prompting you to demonstrate your awareness of how the extract, passage or poem relates to the text as a whole.

Therefore, tasks should:

• Make explicit the requirement to comment closely on the writing of the extract, passage or poem

• Ask you to relate the extract, passage or poem in some way to the text from which it is taken

For example:

Top tips

• While you will not be specifically penalised for exceeding the suggested word length, any response that significantly differs from the word count is likely to be self-penalising by either not demonstrating the AOs to the required level or through lacking coherence and concision:

  • Therefore, try your best to stick to the word count!

• If quotations from secondary sources are used, these must be acknowledged by the use of footnotes (these do not form part of the word count)

• All work must be accompanied by a complete bibliography – again, this does not form part of the word count

• Candidates who do well in this task:

  • Demonstrate an understanding and familiarity with the requirements of the task

  • Are able to explore and pursue their own interests in terms of tasks and/or texts, producing lively, engaging and thoroughly researched essays

  • Engage with language, structure and form, whether that be poetic, narrative or dramatic

  • Contextualise the passage or poem and blend the analysis with wider text awareness

  • Make clear, explicit references to other parts of the text or poems to demonstrate characteristic features that have been highlighted in the close analysis

  • Structure a clear and well developed argument

• Candidates who do less well in this task:

  • Take a strictly narrative approach, just “re-telling” the poem or passage

  • Concentrate too much on plot and character

  • Do not demonstrate their awareness and understanding of the Assessment Objectives in their response:

    • AO2 is the dominant AO because the task requires close, detailed textual analysis

  • Do not analyse how the poem or extract relates to the rest of the text or anthology from which it is taken

• If you are closely analysing a poem, you should ideally make some detailed references to between two to four other poems, dependent on length, with others mentioned in passing where they fit with your developing argument:

  • You might also wish to consider the placement of the selected poem within the structure of the collection as a whole