YHSC | Year 10 English | 2017
Please ensure that you are thoroughly familiar
with the content of the novel. If necessary, read
and/or re-read any sections that you feel would
assist you to have a more complete knowledge
and understanding of some of the characters or
key events of the novel. This knowledge will
help you to identify relevant things to discuss in
the body paragraphs of your essay.
Comprehension questions also help with this,
so ensure that you are up to date with those,
which are saved on Moodle.
Term 1 holiday homework
We have been working on building your level of comfort with writing analytical paragraphs, and
your awareness of the elements that it is necessary to include in them to make them effective.
Writing in this form and use of these structures are not new to you as they have formed part of
your learning in English for several years now, but it can take some time and practise to apply
your understanding in the context of a new text and to write this way quickly and easily.
Remember, writing analytically simply requires you to explain in detail your views on an aspect of
the text.
For the practice paragraphs you are to do for homework over the holidays, use the planning
templates provided and this preparing-to-write process we have been using in class:
- identify the key terms in the topic statement, and write definitions and synonyms for them
- re-write the topic statement in your own words – this helps to clarify you understanding of
the topic, and can often act as the contention (main idea) in your introduction
- brainstorm some relevant points and events from the novel to discuss (including at least one
brief direct quote)
- begin drafting your ideas about the topic, clarifying your point of view and providing more
detail as you go.
Task details
Topic statement: The novel I’m not scared shows how
times of hardship expose people’s capacity for evil. Discuss.
Form: 3 x body paragraphs for a text response essay (each will need to focus on one aspect of the
provided topic statement)
Length: minimum of 200 words per paragraph
Presentation: typed and carefully proofread, with at least one referenced quote in each paragraph
Due: in the first lesson back after the holiday break
Paragraph planning template
Paragraph 1
Topic sentence (clearly establish which aspect of the topic statement the rest of the paragraph will
focus on)
Explanation (give more detailed information about the subject matter for the paragraph that is set
up in the topic sentence)
Evidence (incorporate a brief direct quote from the novel into an explanatory sentence to support
the idea/s you are presenting about the topic)
Link (a concluding statement for the paragraph that summarises the relevance of the general
subject matter in this paragraph to the overall topic statement you are responding to)
Paragraph 2
Topic sentence (clearly establish which aspect of the topic statement the rest of the paragraph will
focus on)
Explanation (give more detailed information about the subject matter for the paragraph that is set
up in the topic sentence)
2
Evidence (incorporate a brief direct quote from the novel into an explanatory sentence to support
the idea/s you are presenting about the topic)
Link (a concluding statement for the paragraph that summarises the relevance of the general
subject matter in this paragraph to the overall topic statement you are responding to)
Paragraph 3
Topic sentence (clearly establish which aspect of the topic statement the rest of the paragraph will
focus on)
Explanation (give more detailed information about the subject matter for the paragraph that is set
up in the topic sentence)
Evidence (incorporate a brief direct quote from the novel into an explanatory sentence to support
the idea/s you are presenting about the topic)
Link (a concluding statement for the paragraph that summarises the relevance of the general
subject matter in this paragraph to the overall topic statement you are responding to)
3