How do you write a reflective commentary on your own original writing?
Original writing and commentary: producing a crafted text from a style model and writing an analytical reflective commentary on the linguistic choices and their effects.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level English Language NEA, covering how to produce a crafted original text from a style model and write an analytical, reflective commentary justifying linguistic choices and their intended effects on the audience.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
Have a quick question? Jump to the Q&A page
What this topic is asking
AQA's original writing task has two linked parts: a crafted original text based on a style model, and a reflective commentary that analyses your own linguistic choices. This dot point covers how to produce both and link them effectively. The distinctive skill, and the one the marker most rewards, is metalinguistic awareness: being able to analyse your own writing with the same rigour you would apply to someone else's.
The original writing
Choosing and analysing the style model first is essential, because the commentary must show how your writing draws on and adapts it. The model is not something to copy; it is a source of conventions and techniques you absorb and then redeploy for your own audience and purpose. If your model is a broadsheet travel feature, you study its structure (an anecdotal opening, sensory imagery, an authoritative but personal voice) and then craft your own piece that uses those conventions for your chosen subject. Aim for a polished, purposeful piece, with a strong opening, a consistent voice, a controlled structure and an effective close, rather than length for its own sake. Crucially, make your choices consciously, because everything you do here must be defensible in the commentary.
The reflective commentary
Treat the commentary exactly as you would any analytical task: quote your own text, name the feature with the correct term, and explain both the effect and the reason for the choice, tying it to audience, purpose and the style model. The biggest pitfall is description ("then I wrote a question, then I used an adjective"), which earns little. The reward is analysis: "I opened with a rhetorical question to draw the reader into the argument directly, echoing the direct address in my style model and positioning the reader as already part of the debate." Cover a range of levels (lexis, grammar, discourse-level structure, and graphology where the form invites it) but only on the choices that genuinely matter. Showing that a deliberate deviation from a convention is purposeful, such as a one-word minor sentence for emphasis, is strong evidence of craft awareness. This metalinguistic reflection is where much of the credit lies.
Try this
- Choose a style model and list three conventions you could adapt for your own piece.
- Take one sentence of your own writing and turn a description of it into an analytical commentary point.
- Identify a deliberate deviation from a genre convention in your draft and explain its intended effect.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of AQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AQA 202018 marksProduce a piece of original writing (NEA component 2) in one of the areas of the power of persuasion, the power of storytelling or the power of information, based on a style model you have studied, for a defined audience and purpose. (Original writing, marked within the NEA band descriptors.)Show worked answer →
This is the original writing task of the AQA NEA "Language in action", assessed against AO5 (creative, controlled writing) and the application of language study to your own production. The marker rewards deliberate, audience-aware craft, not length.
Choose one of the three areas and a clear audience and purpose, and let a studied style model shape your register, genre conventions, structure and techniques. For persuasion, control rhetoric, direct address and emotive lexis; for storytelling, control narrative voice, imagery and tension; for information, control clarity, structure and an authoritative but accessible register. Aim for a polished piece of around 750 words with a strong opening, a consistent voice and an effective close, where every choice is conscious because the commentary must justify it.
Markers reward sustained control of register and genre, evidence of the style model adapted rather than copied, and crafted, purposeful choices throughout.
AQA 202218 marksWrite a reflective commentary (NEA component 2) analysing the language choices in your original writing and their intended effects, with reference to your style model. (Commentary, marked within the NEA band descriptors.)Show worked answer →
This is the reflective commentary, assessed against AO1 (terminology and method) and AO3 (analysis of your own writing in context). It carries much of the credit, so it must be analytical, not a retelling.
Be selective: choose your most significant choices and, for each, quote your own text, name the feature with accurate terminology, and explain why you made it and its intended effect on the audience, linking back to the style model you adapted. Cover several language levels (lexis, grammar, discourse structure, graphology where relevant) but in depth on the choices that matter, not a line-by-line walkthrough. Show metalinguistic awareness: explain how a deliberate deviation from a convention creates an effect, for example a sentence fragment for emphasis.
Markers reward analytical reflection with precise terminology, clear links from choice to effect to audience, and explicit reference to the style model.
Related dot points
- Planning a language investigation: choosing a topic and research question, forming a hypothesis or aim, ethics and data collection, and applying a theoretical framework.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level English Language NEA, covering how to choose a topic and research question for a language investigation, form a hypothesis or aim, handle ethics and data collection, and apply a theoretical framework.
- Methods of language analysis: applying the language levels, quantitative and qualitative analysis, using theory and concepts, and presenting findings with terminology and data.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level English Language NEA, covering how to analyse data using the language levels, combine quantitative and qualitative methods, apply theory and concepts, and present findings with accurate terminology and evidence.
- Writing for an audience: matching register, genre and form to audience and purpose, the craft of persuasive and informative writing, and conventions of different text types.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level English Language NEA original writing strand, covering how to match register, genre and form to audience and purpose, the craft of persuasive and informative writing, and the conventions of different text types.
- Lexis and semantics: vocabulary choice, word classes, semantic fields, connotation and denotation, figurative language and how word meaning creates effects.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level English Language lexis and semantics level, covering vocabulary choice, semantic fields, denotation and connotation, figurative language and how lexical choices create meaning and effect.
- Discourse: text structure, cohesion and coherence, discourse markers, turn-taking and adjacency pairs in spoken interaction, and genre conventions.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level English Language discourse level, covering text structure, cohesion and coherence, discourse markers, turn-taking and adjacency pairs in spoken interaction, and how whole-text organisation shapes meaning.
Sources & how we know this
- AQA A-level English Language (7702) specification — AQA (2015)