Supervised Writing
Supervised writing is intended to stimulate independent thinking and choice of topic. It must be in continuous prose. However, the format is not prescribed – it could be journal writing, or it may be more like a draft.
At this stage, it is no longer important to consider the cultural or contextual elements of the work.
The students complete three pieces of supervised writing and their essay topic must be generated by one of them. The link between the final choice of title and the supervised writing does not have to be direct, but there must be a recognisable germ of an idea that can be tracked.
When students are deciding on which work to write (and hence which piece of supervised writing to use as a starting point), it is not the quality of the supervised writing that counts, but the link with the essay.
Students should develop from the supervised writing a tightly focused title for the essay. The examples below demonstrate how prompts for the supervised writing can lead to a precise title for the essay.
Supervised writing prompts and essay titles:
Work: Selected poems of Derek Walcott
Prompt: How are different voices used to express thoughts and feelings? What effect do these have on your responses to the poems?
Final Essay title: Allegiance and identity in the poems of Derek Walcott
Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Prompt: In what ways is memory important in the work?
Final Essay title: The significance of memory for Jane in Jane Eyre
Work: Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
Prompt: How do external and internal structures work together?
Final Essay title: Conveying a sense of purpose in Waiting for Godot
Supervised writing is intended to stimulate independent thinking and choice of topic. It must be in continuous prose. However, the format is not prescribed – it could be journal writing, or it may be more like a draft.
At this stage, it is no longer important to consider the cultural or contextual elements of the work.
The students complete three pieces of supervised writing and their essay topic must be generated by one of them. The link between the final choice of title and the supervised writing does not have to be direct, but there must be a recognisable germ of an idea that can be tracked.
When students are deciding on which work to write (and hence which piece of supervised writing to use as a starting point), it is not the quality of the supervised writing that counts, but the link with the essay.
Students should develop from the supervised writing a tightly focused title for the essay. The examples below demonstrate how prompts for the supervised writing can lead to a precise title for the essay.
Supervised writing prompts and essay titles:
Work: Selected poems of Derek Walcott
Prompt: How are different voices used to express thoughts and feelings? What effect do these have on your responses to the poems?
Final Essay title: Allegiance and identity in the poems of Derek Walcott
Work: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Prompt: In what ways is memory important in the work?
Final Essay title: The significance of memory for Jane in Jane Eyre
Work: Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
Prompt: How do external and internal structures work together?
Final Essay title: Conveying a sense of purpose in Waiting for Godot