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RESPONDING TO A NON-FICTION TEXT

In an extended response essay on a non-fiction text you should show your understanding of text type,
audience and purpose, and how the author has used language and structure.

How to analyze an extract

An essay should be an argument, using evidence drawn from the text to make your points. You
should explore different aspects of the question or title.

Tasks can focus on effectiveness, themes and ideas, language, form and structure, or a
combination of these. You will usually need to think about:

 What kind of text is this?

 What is the purpose?

 Who is the audience?

 Is it an effective text - to what extent does it achieve its purpose?

A good essay creates a line of thought which directs the reader through from the beginning to
the end, using a convincing essay structure.

A good essay is a structured argument with a clear conclusion

Annotating

The key to planning an essay is to think about what the task is asking you to do. For example, it
may ask you to look at a particular theme or viewpoint. Read the text carefully, with the
question in mind. Thinking about the question, annotate the extract. Use highlighting or
underlining to pick out key parts of the text that you can use in your answer.

You might read the extract a couple of times, focusing on different things as you do. For
example, focus on the language used, then the way that the argument is structured (the
content of the first and last paragraph and how this is significant), and then finally how both of
these things cause the reader to react in a certain way.

Planning an essay response

When you’ve read the text carefully and annotated it, then make a plan. Make a bullet point
list or a mind map of all the ideas you can think of that are relevant to the question. Link the
ideas to specific quotations from the extract.

Then pick the best points to use. Aim for at least four to five main points, and arrange them in
a logical order. Your choice of order should help you to develop your ideas and reach a
convincing conclusion.
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Understanding the question

The key to a successful essay answer is focusing on the question. Your essay will begin with
an introduction. The first sentence of your essay needs to sum up your answer to the question.
Make a positive statement in relation to the question. Use key words from the question to
demonstrate your understanding.

Example questions
Example question 1
Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to interest and engage readers.

Support your views with detailed reference to the text.

This is a very general question, which asks you to look at the technical aspects of the text –
language and structure – to see how the writer has used them to appeal to their audience. Here
you need to identify features and then explain how these features will interest
and engage readers. You need to think about who the audience is, and what the purpose of the
text is. As always, you will need to use quotations and examples from the text to support every
point you make.

Example question 2
Read the letter from Henry to his father.

How does Henry use language to try to influence his father?

This question also looks at language use in relation to its effect on the reader, except that here the
relationship between the writer and the reader is a specific one. Knowing that relationship means
that you can infer more things from what the text says: can you tell what kind of a father he is?
The word ‘influence’ suggests that the purpose of the text is also key: Henry is trying to achieve
something.

Example question 3
How does the writer use language and structure to make his description of the lesson
entertaining?

This question is asking you to focus on a specific part of the text: a description. You need to
consider the technical aspects of what writers do – language and structure – to see how the writer
achieves his purpose. The question highlights that there are two purposes – to describe and to
entertain.

Example question 4
‘In these texts school is presented as a challenging place for the pupils.’

How far do you agree with this statement?

This question is of a different type – it makes a statement about the extracts, which has an
interpretation in it. This statement is the focus of the question. You might agree or disagree with
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it, but must present examples from the text to support either opinion. When planning your
answer, you will keep to the idea of ‘challenging place for pupils’. The word presented is
important too: it signals that you need to think about all the ways the writers are showing their
ideas. You will need to look at language, structure, voice, and all the other things a writer can
use.

Structuring an essay

It can be useful to think of your essay as a layered sandwich or burger to make sure you
include all the main parts
An essay should include:

1. a brief introduction (which focuses on the question)

2. the main body (four or five paragraphs)
3. a short conclusion (which focuses on the question)
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Writing an introduction
When you’ve planned your points, and ordered them, it’s time to start writing. Your opening
sentence should summarise your main argument. The rest of the essay then shows how you've
come to that conclusion.

Example
In this article from the 'Comment is free' section of The Guardian newspaper, how does Charlie
Brooker use language to persuade us of his point of view on the television show MasterChef?

Have you seen MasterChef? Of course you have, even if you've been trying to avoid it, because
it's always there, like the sky or the ground or that skin you're in. MasterChef dominates the
schedules like a slow-moving weather system dictating the climate. Your TV's stuck on
MasterChef mode. It's not even a TV these days, more a MasterChef display unit. Cooking
doesn't get more omnipresent than this.

Masterchef is the best television show in broadcasting history, if you ignore all the other ones,
Charlie Brooker (2014)

Suggested introduction
In this article, Charlie Brooker establishes a sarcastic tone through exaggeration and simile to
persuade us that he does not like the programme ‘Masterchef’.

This:

 specifically answers the question rather than just rephrasing it

 says what the text is effective in doing (by creating a sarcastic tone)
 says in general how that effect is created (using exaggeration and similes)

Structuring an essay – Writing the main body

Use each paragraph to make one main point. A paragraph should contain:

 a link to the previous idea

 a statement of the main point in this paragraph
 some evidence from the text to support what you think - this will probably include
something on language or structure
 a discussion of the evidence, and links to any other possible evidence
 a link back to the question, or to the next point
Start each paragraph with a link to the essay as a whole, and the part which came immediately
before. This way you are able to make a chain of your different paragraphs. Connectives help to
show the relationship between them:

 Firstly...
 Secondly...
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 On the one hand....

 On the other hand...
 Similarly...
 In contrast...
 However...
 Alternatively…
 Finally…

Using quotations and close analysis

Keep your quotations short and to the point. Using just a few words is more powerful than
copying out chunks of text: it shows you are being selective in what you say. You should also be
careful to copy accurately. Put the quotation inside your own sentence, rather than sticking it in
the middle of a page and then commenting on it. This is called embedding a quotation.

So rather than:

‘He flew like a butterfly.’ This is an example of a simile, which shows that he was light and
graceful.

Or:

The author uses similes, e.g. ‘he flew like a butterfly’.

You would write:

The author uses the simile of the boy flying ‘like a butterfly’ to convey the impression that he is
light and graceful.

The words from the text are embedded as part of your sentence – the quotation fits into the
sentence to form part of it.
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Making the most of quotations

You should make a close analysis of the language in the quotation and use that to support your
point.

There are several ways you can do this:

 Pick out a word from the quotation and think about what the choice of that word means.
The connotations of a word are the things or ideas it reminds you of, rather than its meaning.
Some words might have connotations which are important to the point you are making, eg the
word ‘scythe’ has connotations of death and it might be being used to create
an ominous atmosphere.
 The quotation may have a metaphor, simile, or other devices in it – what is the effect of
that technique? Make sure that if you use a quotation with a literary technique in it, you name
the technique in whatever comment you make about it.
 Link the quotation to another example in the extract, if there is one. Or show how it is
similar to another point you’ve made. This shows an overview of the text, rather than being
focused on individual examples.

Structuring an essay – Writing the conclusion

To conclude, sum up the points you have made so far. Finally, write a single sentence which
answers the question again – it will be quite like your opening sentence, but don’t repeat the
same words.

Example

If the question is:

How does Charlie Brooker use language to persuade us of his point of view?

The conclusion could be:

Brooker uses a style of writing that encourages the reader to agree with his viewpoint towards
the television show ‘Masterchef.’ He effectively achieves this through his use of persuasive
language and anecdotal, informal tone to convey his views. The writer appears to have written
the article not only to share his opinion of the television programme, but to cause the reader to
question the overbearing presence of shows such as ‘Masterchef’ directing the television
schedule, ‘dictating the climate’ causes the reader to consider whether the television programme
is being forced upon the viewer rather than being provided in response to viewer demand.
Brooker is clearly writing to evoke a strong reaction in his reader by highlighting the possibility
that they themselves could be being manipulated.

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