Step 1 - Understanding the question

What is the question?

What are the key words of

the question?

What are synonyms for

the key words?

Step 2 - Understanding the extract

Where in the plot does

this extract occur?

Which characters are

involved? Do they have an
equal amount of dialogue
or is one more dominant?

What is the main conflict

occurring onstage?
(Could be internal
conflict, external
conflict, or both)

What themes does the

extract explore?

How is the audience

feeling throughout this
extract and why?

What is Sophocles
revealing to us through
this extract?

What are different

interpretations of this
extract?

Which elements of Greek

tragedy appear in this
extract?

Step 3 - Thesis (this will also serve as your introduction for this paper)

The extract in which __________________________________________________________________________ is

________________________ because ______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________

and it is _____________________________ because__________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________
Step 4 - Arguments that support your thesis

Point Examples and analysis (At least 2 quotations) Link back to question/thesis

After writing the essay:

Checklist:

❏ I have moved chronologically through the extract, showing my awareness of how a scene unfolds in real-time
❏ Each of my paragraph proves my thesis statement
❏ My first paragraph is my strongest/most convincing point
❏ Each of my paragraphs contains one developed idea
❏ Each of my paragraphs begins with a topic sentence, indicating the direction of my thinking
❏ I have analysed a range of different language features from the dialogue
❏ I have analysed a range of different dramatic features
❏ I have explored the effects on the audience, being specific about how they would feel and why
❏ I have commented on the various themes explored in the extract
❏ I have commented on Sophocles’ purpose
❏ I have made links to the features of a Greek tragedy and where we see its features in this extract
❏ I have explored how different audiences (past and present, different values etc.) might react differently to this scene or the
characters in it
❏ In my conclusion, I have summed up my main points concisely

Advice from Cambridge: