2. PEE! SEE! SQA! What!? You have a knack for creating topic sentences now, but then what? One thing you HAVE to do to write a successful essay is back up your points with evidence
3. Evidence? Evidence comes in two forms: A direct quotation (such as the actual words said by a character in a play) An indirect reference to something that happens in the text (such as a sentence summarising Piggy’s suggestion about using the conch to call a meeting could be used as evidence that he is a character who comes up with practical ideas)
4. How do I deploy this evidence? You need to use your quotes and references carefully and convincingly Simply learning them and regurgitating on paper won’t do the trick Instead, you must put the evidence in context: introduce it properly by making it clear who spoke the words, where they came into the story, etc.
5. Check it out Example mini-paragraph Comment ‘We’ve got to decide if this is an island.’ Ralph takes command and tells the others what to do. Don’t begin the paragraph with a quote. There should always be a statement (POINT) first In Lord of the Flies, Ralph is a character who exhibits strong qualities of leadership. ‘We’ve got to decide if this is an island’. Statement is followed by a quote, which is good, but it’s not clear who said these words, or when. There’s also no following explanation/exploration. In Lord of the Flies, Ralph is a character who exhibits strong qualities of leadership. For example, at the first meeting of the survivors it is he who stresses to the others that ‘We’ve got to decide if this is an island’. The statement here is followed by a quote which is placed in context. It could, however, benefit from further discussion (quotes shouldn’t be left ‘dangling’)
6. The paragraph dance Step 1 Make a general statement (POINT/ TOPIC SENTENCE) Step 2 Find a quotation that backs it up (EVIDENCE) Step 3 Introduce the quotation by placing it in context (WHO?WHEN?WHERE?) Step 4 Follow the quotation with a comment (EXPLORE-What does it show about the character/theme/setting? In a poetry essay, this might analyse the poet’s word choice, imagery or other techniques)
