REQUIREMENTS

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Length: no word limit

If you quote any direct sentences from the text you have to use quotation marks, and if that is an indirect
quote you put them in reported speech.

ACADEMIC HONESTY

Here are some tips on how to avoid plagiarism, stimulate originality and give your work more depth.

 Before you look on the Internet or at other students’ work for help, ask yourself how you would
respond to the task at hand. This will help stimulate creative and original thought.
 If you use any ideas or statements from other people, be sure to reference your sources through
footnotes or bibliography. Spending time doing this is very worthwhile, as you will be rewarded with
higher marks.

Summary of descriptors Marks available

For maximum marks, your 6
understanding of the text is very
Understanding of the text perceptive and you place the
text in its context. Your
commentary is supported with
examples from the text.
For maximum marks, your 8
analysis is well organized and
Organization and development structured. You integrate
examples well into your writing
and use signposts to indicate the
relation between ideas.
For maximum marks, your 6
writing style is clear and exact.
Language You demonstrate an effective
range of vocabulary and your
use of grammar is appropriate
and accurate.
You provide a constructive 10
critique, review your friend’s
Peer review paper from an objective and
impartial standpoint
 A COMMENTARY

Writing a commentary means making a detailed analysis of an article or a text. Your

response to a text is important and the best pieces of literary analysis are those which blend a
personal reponse with an objective examination. The objective analysis will look at aspects such
as the content, theme, style, language, and structure of the text. A personal reponse means that
you become involved in the critical process so that you give your own individual reading, which
may be similar to that of others, but which will be stamped with your own perceptions and arise
from your own experiences.

You will need to prepare and gather the points to be covered in your commentary. Then you can
write an outline and a draft and finally, you can polish it to make it presentatble.

Before writing

To have a clear understanding of the text, you have to read it multiple times. Read each word
and sentence carefully to understand the meaning between the lines that the author wants to
convey. You will be able to develop an analytical mindset by reading the text slowly.

Writing steps

Once you are done with preparation, i.e. analysis and creating an outline, you are ready to start
writing your own commentary. Follow the checklist given below.

1. Provide an overview: the title, the author, the publication date and the genre. You have
to include these details in the introduction of your commentary.
2. In the body you have to describe the main text and its focus. Discuss the answers to
basic questions like who and what is the center of the text? What is the main point of the
text? What purpose has been achieved through the content of the article? What are the
outcomes?
In an article, the characters and the main event associated with them can be considered
as a subject. Then comes the audience. You can identify by observind the dedication of
the work towards a particular person or a group (the audience). Then you have to
describe the theme of the text.
3. Observe the structure and genre of the content:
You have to identify if the content maches a particular genre like a story, a travel
experience, a fiction, etc. What is the overall structure of the piece? How many
paragraphs? Does each one deal with a different aspect? Are form and content closely
related? Look at the sentence structure (are they long or short)? How do they contribute
to the overall meaning?
4. Vocabulary or diction: what do you notice about the words that the writer has chosen? Is
the diction simple or complex? Are technical, scientific, or archaic words used? Are there
words, or types of words, that recur? Are there words that are unexpected or seem out
of place?
5. Identify how the text is presented: it can be a first person or the second person voice.
You can identify this by checking who is the speaker or the narrator.
If there are words like “you” or “we”, you can say that there are two or more characters
communicating with each other in the text. You can describe this in your commentary so
the readers know the voice of the text being discussed.
6. Understand the tone: the style of expression of the thoughts. The attitude and the mood
of the author can be known by looking at the tone of the text. Depending on the need of
the subject and the effect on the message to the audience, the author may have used
different tones in different situations. Observe how the tone changes to understand the
fluctuations of the mood and changes in the situations or events. The choice of words
may play an important role and it will help you understand this thing accurately. Author’s
experience and mood may be different in different situations and the words and diction
will reflect it reflectively.
7. Look for literay devices that deepen the meaning: How a literary technique works is
more important than knowing its name (symbolism, metaphor, imagery, allusion,
alliteration, repetition, assonance, etc.) Identify them and mention them in your
commentary to describe the point. Show how they interrelate and contribute to the
overall effect (i.e. how they serve to develop and communicate meaning). These literary
devices help make your discussion effective.
8. Take the quotes included in the text: to support your point and opinions, you can use the
quotes from the text. You can directly take the quotes and use the quotation marks. Use
only the quotes that are relevant and can support the discussion.
9. Wrapping up your commentary with a summary: In this part you will be concluding the
discussion with the summary of your thoughts and viewpoints throughout in your
commentary. End with personal comments on the impact of the whole text, but show
deeper level of understanding and evaluation.
10. Don’t forget:
- Use transitions between sentences and paragraphs by using conjuntions.
- Write in the present tense. Literature continually happens.
- Write formally (avoid slang, dialect, and abbreviations)
- Remember “Paraphrase is not criticism and citing an element is not the same as
analyzing it!”

After writing

Review your writing and identify the spelling mistakes or grammatical errors. The quality of
the text is very important, so you should ensure that there is no writing mistake. Also,
observe the punctuations like commas and periods, and correct where you feel necessary.