5 Tips for Analysing an Unseen Text

Hey guys, it's Laya from Ignite and in today's video, I'm giving you my five best tips for analyzing unseen texts. But before we get into that, please do like and subscribe to our channel and click the bell for notifications. And if you're looking for resources to help you enhance your approach to your HSC English studies, check out our website at Ignite HSC. But for now, let's get into today's video. So responding to unseen text is undoubtedly in my view the most difficult part of studies in English. Particularly if you are HSSE student and you're preparing for the comprehension section of your paper one in the HSSE. Looking at texts that you haven't analyzed before and very candidly unpacking them and looking at questions can be quite daunting task. So, I'm hoping in today's video that with five of my tips, you'll feel little less daunted by the task of analyzing those unseen texts and you'll feel more confident in knowing that there are certain strategies you can apply to this very tricky task. So, let's start with tip number one. First tip, use the question to guide you. Now, if you've watched our other vids on comprehension, some of this content will be familiar, but there is no harm in hearing it again because this is so important. When you go into your comprehension papers or whenever you're looking at unseen text generally, it's absolutely crucial that you look at the questions based on that text first. Often the text will actually give you the question, sorry, will give you an insight to what that text is about and what you're looking for in that text. The question will also give you the mark allocations for that particular text in answering that question. The mark allocation is important because it's an insight to how much evidence you need from that text when you're responding to it. So if it's four mark question, you're looking for about three quotes. General rule of thumb, by the way, is marks minus one is how much evidence you should be using. So use the question to guide you. The question is going to tell you what kinds of ideas we're looking for in that text. And through knowing the ideas, you're already getting bit of picture of what that text is about. If it's quite long text, you're only answering two marker. That also tells you that we don't need to dwell too much on looking at this particular text. We can afford to skim through, pick out the quotes that are necessary, and be efficient with your time and then move on. So, tip number one, use the question to guide you. Use it to help you work out where the key themes are in the text. know how many quotes to use and to give you bit of feel of the kinds of ideas that you'll need to be extracting from the text in order to answer your question. So that's tip number one. Tip number two, look actively for the number of quotes necessary to answer the question. So this is bit of segue from my previous slide. think it's important, and do come to this point later on, to consider how you don't need to look at the text and feel like you're understanding every single line, every nuance, every technique. Responding to unseen text is very strategic process. You're looking through and you're wanting to just quickly extract the quotes that are necessary for you to answer the given question. So looking at the mark allocation, looking at the question itself from those two things alone, you're thinking okay which quotes are going to be most relevant to me answering the given question and you have to very quickly navigate through the text in that particular way. So actively look for the quotes. Don't feel burdened to work out exactly what the meaning is behind the text. Just work your way through and very quickly take out what is necessary. Okay, tip number three, issue spot the techniques. And where you can't find techniques, describe what's happening. often find that when students are looking at unseen text, they get really panicked that they can't find the typical techniques that they would usually call upon. The metaphors aren't jumping out at you. You don't see personification. You can't spot the sensory imagery. And that's okay. In that case, by the way, come back to couple of basic techniques. have bit of an acronym for written text that think is really useful. The acronym is mest for modality, for emotive language, for syntax, and for tone. And you'll notice with those four techniques I've just listed there, they're kind of like go-to techniques. There's always going to be tone that's conveyed in what's being written. There's always certain level of modality. There's always potentially an emotion that's being conveyed. And syntax is relevant to every sentence because you're considering the sentence construction, the uses of pause, the word order, and so on. So come back to those techniques. But nevertheless, even when you can't find the techniques in the text, if you're noticing something about the way the text is being written, describe how you see the language unfolding. If particular voice is being used, or if the text is fast-paced or if it seems kind of fragmented or even jumbled, if the sophisticated words you usually use to describe language aren't coming to you, strip it back. Don't put so much pressure on yourself and just describe what is happening within the text. And when you do that, it enhances your analysis ability and you don't feel so pressured to categorize through using techniques what's happening in the text. So of course, focus on issue spotting. Try and find those techniques. But if you can't at least describe how the language is working in the text, and that will give you some marks because you're still considering the construction of the text. And just because you're not labeling technique doesn't mean you're not analyzing. So that's an important bit of advice as well. All right, tip number four. Yes, if you don't understand the text, it doesn't really matter. Remember, you're not writing full-on dissertation or huge essay on this unseen text. The approach here is for you to answer question that is most likely maximum of seven marks. Okay? So, all you're really looking for are extracts that you can link to given themes that have been framed in the question. It's really the process of extracting evidence, identifying technique, or describing what you see in that particular quote and linking it back to the question. So, when you're looking at these texts, don't look at them with the critical lens that you need to unpack very deeply what the hidden meaning is in there. It might be the case that there is no hidden meaning in the text. You might be given an extract from larger piece, which means it's impossible for you to work out the overarching meaning the composer is trying to convey. So, shift your focus. You're being strategic. You're picking out the best quotes, linking them to the question, and not getting lost or burdened by the desire to know fully what the text is trying to convey. Liberate yourself, issue spot, find the quotes, and just sufficiently answer the question and move on. You will not have time to waste if you were looking at unseen questions and text in the comprehension exam. But this advice, of course, is applicable more broadly to anyone analyzing the unseen text. And our final tip is remember your basics. Okay, at the end of the day, the marker is looking for evidence, technique or form, effect linked to question. Tattoo that sequence onto your mind. When I'm teaching younger students, it's quite common to see them forgetting to actually give me the quote where the technique has been mentioned. Make sure you're actually showing that you can identify where in the text that technique is taking place. If you've picked quite long quote, make sure you pinpoint within that quote where the technique actually is. The marker needs to be satisfied that the student actually understands how analysis is working in the text and you're not actually circumventing the need to analyze specifically show where the technique is taking place and explain the effect. And of course, most importantly, the effect that you're unpacking in the quote must be linked back to the question. Okay, guys, that concludes my five tips for today. Please remember to not feel so burdened by the text in the sense that you have to unpack its full meaning. You're being strategic. You're picking out your quotes and you're using them to answer the question. Keep keen eye to the questions themselves. They're going to tell you what you're looking for within the text and they can help inform your understanding to give you some context. The marking allocation will tell you how many quotes you need to take away from the text. Remember, if you can't see the technique, don't be worried. describe how the language is functioning and come back to your basics quote technique effect link and guarantee that'll enhance your marks. If you have any questions guys, please do pop them below and will get back to you. If you're liking our content and hope that you are, please do like and subscribe to the channel and click the bell for notifications so you know when we've got fresh content coming your way. And if you'd like resources to really enhance your HSC English studies, to give you those exemplar responses, notes on context, close analysis on text, and if you want trustworthy insights that have been formed by students who have gotten state ranks and HSC markers, check out our website at Ignite HSC. guarantee you won't regret it. But for now, guys, thank you so much for watching and really hope to see you in the next video.