Writer’s Methods & Techniques (AQA GCSE English Literature)

Examiners want students to analyse a wide range of the writer’s methods (AO2), not just the language. Remember, analysing methods means evaluating all of the writer’s choices, which includes a lot more than just the lines they wrote for each character. It includes characterisation, form and structure. In this guide you will find sections on:

• How to Quote from a Modern Text in your Essay

• Analysing the Writer’s Methods

How to quote the writer in your essay

• The modern text exam is a closed-book exam, which means you don’t get a copy of the text to use in your exam

  • This means that examiners do not expect you to memorise dozens of direct quotations from the text

  • If you are memorising quotations, focus on learning a few, short quotations that are relevant to the key themes in the text you are studying

• References don’t need to be direct quotations

  • They can be things that characters say in different parts of the text in your own words

  • They can be references to things that happen in the text, or the way that different characters are presented elsewhere

• Examiners repeatedly stress that textual references are just as valuable as direct quotations, when referencing the rest of the text

  •  “You don’t get extra marks for more quotations, but you do get more marks for making plenty of interesting comments about the references you have selected.”

  • The most important thing is that these references are directly related to the ideas and themes you are exploring in your essay, and provide evidence to prove your thesis

Analysing the writer’s methods

In order to achieve the highest AO2 marks, think about methods as the writer’s choices, not just the language they are using. One way to address this is to recognise that writer’s methods embrace anything the writer has done to create and develop meaning, so while this obviously includes language, other aspects of the texts also should also be explored. The structure of the text, the juxtaposing of scenes and incidents, the use of characters as contrasts or foils all allow you to see the text in a larger sense, linking different parts of it together and exploring the choices the writer has made. Therefore, you should consider: What overall decisions has the writer made in relation to characters, setting, form and structure? For what reasons have they made these choices? What overarching message do they help to convey?

What not to do when analysing the writer’s methods

• Don’t “spot techniques”

  • Examiners dislike when students use overly sophisticated terminology unnecessarily (“polysyndeton”; “epanalepsis”)

  • Knowing the names of sophisticated techniques will not gain you any more marks, especially if these techniques are only “spotted” and the writer’s intentions for this language is not explained

  • Instead of technique spotting, focus your analysis on the reasons why the writer is presenting the character or theme the way they do

• Don’t unnecessarily label word types

  • Similar to technique spotting, this is when students use “the noun X” or “the verb Y”

  • This doesn’t add anything to your analysis

  • Instead, examiners suggest you focus on ideas, or images, instead of words, or word types

  • Instead of “Russell uses the metaphor to show…” use “Russell repeatedly uses allusions to superstitions which illustrate…”

• Don’t limit your analysis to a close reading of the writer’s language

  • You gain marks for explaining all of the writer’s choices, not just their language

  • Only focusing on his language, therefore, limits the mark you will be given

  • Instead, take a whole-text approach and think about the writer’s decisions about:

    • Form

    • Structure

    • Characterisation

    • Stagecraft

    • You do not need to include quotations to analyse the above, but you will still be rewarded well by the examiner

• Never retell the story

  • “Narrative” and “descriptive” answers get the lowest marks

  • Move from what the writer is presenting to how and why they have made the choices they have

What to do when analysing the writer’s methods

• Take a whole-text approach

  • This could involve commenting on structure: “ ‘at the start / this changes when / in contrast…’ “

  • Think about how characters develop: are they presented differently at different parts of the text? Why has the writer chosen to present this change?

  • Are characters presented differently from each other? Why? What does each represent?

  • Do characters’ relationships with each other change? Why might the writer have chosen to do this?

• Remember that characters are constructs, not real people

  • Think about what each character’s function is in the text

  • What does the writer use each character to say about humanity, or about society?

• Always frame your essay with the writer in mind

  • As the examiners say: “writers use methods, including language and structure, to form and express their ideas – the choices the writer makes are conscious and deliberate”

  • Therefore, write that the writer “highlights X”, “suggests Y”, “challenges Z”

  • Use the words “so” and “because” to push you to explain your own ideas further

    • “Russell uses the omniscient Narrator at the beginning of the play so that the audience is reminded of the impending fate of Mickey and Edward”

• Zoom out to big ideas in your analysis

• Go from analysing language, or other writer’s choices, to the writer’s overall intention, or message

• This should also link to your thesis, and argument throughout

• You can begin these “zoom-out” sentences with “Russell could be suggesting that because X, then Y” or “Russell could be using the character of X to challenge contemporary ideas about Y”

• Use modal language to present sophisticated ideas

  • Using words like “could”, “may” or “perhaps” shows that you are thinking conceptually