There are no hard-and-fast rules to writing a context essay. However, you might find the structure in these slides useful.

2. • Identify the KEY TERMS (find some useful SYNONYMS
which could be used, too).
• Formulate a GUIDING QUESTION that uses these key
terms. This is the question you will seek to answer in your
response.
• Think of some ASSERTIONS (claims/ideas/arguments)
that could be made in response to this question.
• Find some EXAMPLES that can be used to explore or back-
up these assertions.

3. • You must provide a response to the topic.
• You should use your introduction to establish your
ideas, not your examples (i.e. texts, characters,
etc.).
• Depending on your format:
– Persuasive: establish a CONTENTION (i.e. the side/argument you
will take in response to the topic). You should take a clear line.
– Expository: establish what the different perspectives on the
issue are.

4. • Your topic sentence should establish an IDEA that is
connected to the essay prompt.
• Do NOT introduce your example until you have established
the key idea or argument that the paragraph is exploring.
• Once you have an idea established, you can explore it
through providing examples which illustrate how this idea
can work. Examples can come from:
Novels
Films
Short stories
General
knowledge
Current events
History
Philosophers
Etc…

5. • Remember that you should draw from multiple texts.
• Your purpose is NOT to recite the plot of the text. Pick
individual examples which suit the prompt, and use them as
illustrations of a broader idea.
• The more examples you know, the more examples you can
pick from, and the more targeted your response can be.
• Use 1 or 2 examples per paragraph. These examples can come
from multiple sources. However, your essay as a whole
should have a strong emphasis on the texts studied in class.

6. A theme that recurs throughout Bradbury’s various stories is the mindless
consumption of technology by the populations described. Whilst
acknowledging the favourable advances in the technological world, his
texts draw attention to the phase where electronics and gadgets have
become independent of humans and have become self-reliant. Fahrenheit
451 depicts a time where high-tech devices have become prolific and
earned a hypnotic presence within many households. In such a world
where people adapt their lives to suit their parlour ‘families’, Bradbury
draws attention to the possible overuses of technology as the world
becomes acclimated to the rapid advances within the industry. An
undesirable fate for humanity is further explored in There Will Come Soft
Rains where an automated house resides amongst the ravaged remains of
the world; a time when engineering feats outgrow the original intents and
purposes defined by the creators. The theme within this story particularly
emphasises the increasing redundancy of humans as technology is made to
be self-sufficient.
WHAT IS DONE WELL?
WHAT COULD BE
IMPROVED?

7. • Bring your ideas back together.
• Restate your argument clearly and forcefully (if a
persuasive response).
• Emphasise the connection between the prompt and
the texts/examples discussed.
• Have a strong finish (a thoughtful, summative quote
can work well).

8. • “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to
repeat it.”
George Santayana (19th Century Italian philosopher)
• “Those who control the present, control the past and those
who control the past control the future.”
George Orwell (author, quote from 1984)
• “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has
exceeded our humanity.”
Albert Einstein (scientist)