Essay Guidelines

Sentence Starters: For Literary Perspectives

 When (text) is viewed from a (perspective)….

 It can be seen/understood that….
 A (perspective) reading of (text) suggests that….
 From a _______ perspective, the song could be read as implying/critiquing….
 The authors actions could be seen from a ______ perspective as supporting the idea of….
 Utilising the perspective ______, (text), can be interpreted as _____.
 This is evident when….
 Readers/audience can come to this conclusion as…..
 From a (perspective) point of view, (text) can be seen to highlight….
 From a (perspective) point of view, (text) can be criticise….
 Although, it is not directly stated or shown, this means…
 This illustrates…

Body Paragraph outline: For Literary Perspectives

 Topic sentence that outlines the idea stage of the paragraph. It should make a claim about
the text through the literary lens. Do not include evidence here.
 A series of sentences focused on providing textual evidence (Detail stage) for the claim made
in the idea stage. Refer to literary devices, and closely quote the text.
 Expand stage explains the significance or implications of the evidence you selected
previously. You should use this part to refer to the literary perspectives (article on the text)
and use them to support or contrast to your claims made in the previous stages. You are
allowed to evaluate the views or values of the authors of the articles.
 The therefore stage functions as a link back to the topic sentence, reaffirming the relevance
of your discussion.

1. Topic Sentence
2. Detail (evidence)
3. Expand (explanation)
4. Therefore

Embedding Quotes

How to embed quotes: Let’s pretend that you want to use a quote to support your argument that
Sara is in love with Miranda.
Choose an example from the book that supports your argument.

“Blanche says Sara writes poetry. In the dunnie, you know. She found one
on the floor all about Miranda. Poor little Sara, I don’t believe she loves
anyone in the world, except you Miranda.”

4) Select a key phrase or words from the quote

“Blanche says Sara writes poetry. In the dunnie, you know. She found
one on the floor all about Miranda. Poor little Sara, I don’t believe she
loves anyone in the world, except you Miranda.”

3) Introduce the quote (give it context; who is the quote about)

Sara is Miranda’s room mate at the school and she is writing poetry about
Miranda in the toilet, in secret. This poetry could be romantic as she is
hiding it.

2) Insert parts of the quote and change the tense or insert a word
by using brackets [ ] or ellipses… if necessary

Sara is Miranda’s roommate at the school and she “writes poetry in the
dunnie… about Miranda”, even Sara’s peers suggesting that they don’t
believe that Sara “loves anyone in the world, except… Miranda”.

1) Explain the quote, don’t leave it hanging (what does it shows

us?)

Sara is Miranda’s room mate at the school and she “writes poetry in the
dunnie… about Miranda”, even Sara’s peers suggesting that they don’t
believe that Sara “loves anyone in the world, except… Miranda”.
Therefore, it is clear that readers can assume that these poems were
romantic in nature to Miranda, especially if Sara is writing them in the
privacy of a school bathroom.