Comparative Essay Planning Booklet

Name:

What documentaries will I be analysing?

Which practice question will I be responding to?

Which option/kind of comparative essay structure will I be using? (From the handout on
comparative essays)

What is/are the perspective/perspectives I will be focusing on/using as the main thread in
my essay?

What are some sub- ideas relating to this perspective/these perspectives, that I could use as
topic sentences?

What are four shots I could choose from to integrate into my body paragraphs? ( Copy and
paste images or screen shots of four shots from your chosen documentaries here – each one
with detailed annotations . Two annotated shots per documentary.)

How does each shot relate to my chosen perspective/s?

How does each shot relate to my topic sentences/ sub-ideas?

How are you positioned as a viewer by each of those shots in relation to your chosen
perspective/s?

What are four scenes I could choose from ( one from each documentary) to put into my
body paragraphs?
Summarise each scene in 1-2 sentences here.

How does visual language, dialogue, editing, and documentary conventions such as the use
of archival images, interviews, voice over or narration or careful selection of detail tie each
of those scenes to your chosen perspective/s in particular ways?

How are you positioned as a viewer by each of those scenes in relation to that
perspective/s?

Complete a Venn diagram that demonstrates the similarities and differences between your
two chosen documentaries. Copy and paste it in here:
Write 6-8 sentences using comparative language terms to compare the two texts, in relation
to your chosen question and your chosen perspective/s.

Note down 8 lines of dialogue from your two documentaries, four from each one.

Write underneath each line of dialogue where it is from in the documentary and what it
relates to. Also note how it connects in any way to your chosen question and perspective/s.

Start to put all of this together into a practice essay!