The Critical Essay: SQA Higher English Question Paper 2 quiz quiz

10 marks

15 marks

20 marks

30 marks

The length of the essay

Using as many techniques as possible

Quoting the longest possible passages

Relevance to the exact question asked

State your line of thought in response to the question

List out every single technique you are planning to mention

Summarise the whole plot of the text from start to finish

Apologise in advance for any gaps in your knowledge of the text

Analysing far too many different techniques in one essay

Retelling the plot instead of analysing technique

Writing an introduction that is far too short for the essay

Using too many short embedded quotations in each paragraph

Rhyme and metre

Narrative voice and tense

Conflict and structure

Stanza shape and enjambment

Analysing the overall structure and shape of the poem carefully

Using accurate poetic terminology throughout the whole essay

Tracing how the poem develops from the start to the end

Paraphrasing the poem instead of analysing technique

Point, evidence, analysis, link

Introduction, body, body, conclusion

Quote, quote, quote, conclude

Name, describe, narrate, summarise

Quoting a whole paragraph from the text as a separate indented block

Integrating a short quotation grammatically into your own sentence

Listing all of your chosen quotations together at the end of the essay

Memorising the exact wording of the quotation without ever using it

Because longer essays always score higher marks automatically regardless of content

Because every quotation you use must always be a complete full sentence

Because the marks come from the analysis, not the quotation itself

Because the markers simply count up the total number of quotations used

To memorise the whole of the studied text once again from memory before you start writing

To count up the total number of marks available for the critical essay

To decide for the very first time which studied text you will write about

To note a line of thought and the points and quotations, so you stay on the question