Studying and Revising a Text

Research the Author
• Biography
• Significant Influences
• Other Writing

Research the Context
• Historical Context: what historical events might be reflected in it?
• Social Context: what factors like race, class, religion and gender might it be exploring?
• Literary Context: what other writing might have influenced it, or what writing might it have influenced?
• Cultural Context: how might it relate to other arts, like music, painting and design

Read Actively
Always read with a pencil in your hand, underlining key points, and noting significant moments at the top of the page this will make you pay more attention to details and patterns as you read.

Summarise the Plot and Map the Structure
Using the notes you have collected during your reading, write down a point-form summary of the plot. Check through the text to ensure that you have everything in order and have not missed anything.
Then see if you can divide the plot into obvious sections. This will allow you to see the structure or how the text is constructed.
• Are some parts more important than others? Which are they? And why?
• Do patterns emerge? Do some themes or characters reappear at particular times or places?
• Do some characters change at particular stages?
• Is there a climax?
• Does your emotional response vary at different stages?

Study the Characters

Identify the main characters. Give each one an A4 page, and collect notes as many notes and quotations about them as you can. Then re-arrange your notes and quotations in logical order.
Remember, however, that you are not dealing with real people. They are all literary inventions, so ask yourself how the author has defined and presented them. Usually, we understand and form views on them through:
• What the author has them say
• What the author has them do
• What the author has them think
• What the author has others say about them
Consider these factors and explore what they reveal about each character.

Identify and Explore the Themes
Identify the main themes. Give each one an A4 page, and collect notes as many notes and quotations about them as you can.
One useful way to identify themes is to try setting exam questions. Look at exams questions and list the main themes they focus on. Then try setting your own questions in the same style but for different themes.
Now try planning and writing responses to your questions to force yourself into saying something about the themes. It is important that you do this, so that they don’t remain vague. You need to be able to write about them in considerable detail.

Analyse the Techniques
In English, whenever you write about a text, you are required to write about the author’s technique. In other words, you must not only consider WHAT the author is saying, but also HOW the author says it. You cannot gain high marks without it.

As always, ask yourself questions:
• Does the author have particularly characteristic techniques?
• Does the author use a particular type of language?
• Do particular words and phrases stand out?
• Are there particularly striking images or symbols, especially ones that recur throughout the text?
• From whose perspective do you see what happens in the text?
• Why has the author chosen this particular form over all the other possible forms for expressing the same ideas?


Collect Quotes
Just as you cannot gain high marks in English without analyzing techniques, you cannot do well without supporting everything with quotations.
Go through the text and write down as many of the most important quotations as you can. Rearrange them into groups, by theme and by character. Link them on diagrams.

Analyse, Plan and Write Exam-style Essays
Use the practice questions given in the lessons or on the blog. If you run out; then set your own.