What the exam asks
How you are marked. Examiners read your whole answer and give each criterion the mark whose description fits it best (the IB calls this “best fit”). They do not mark paragraph by paragraph, and the IB sets no paragraph formula. The structures in this lesson are Courselo’s practical method for meeting the criteria under time pressure. For planning a whole answer, see Writing the guided analysis (Paper 1) and Building the comparative argument (Paper 2).
Paper 1: guided textual analysis. You are given two unseen non-literary texts (texts such as a blog, a speech or a leaflet, not a novel, play or poem). Each comes with a guiding question about a technical or formal feature, that is, how the text is built or written. You do not have to answer the guiding question, but your analysis must have one clear focus.
- SL: you choose one of the two texts and write one analysis in 1 hour 15 minutes.
- HL: you write a separate analysis of each text in 2 hours 15 minutes.
- Marks: each analysis is out of 20. Criterion A (Understanding and interpretation), B (Analysis and evaluation), C (Focus and organization) and D (Language) are worth 5 marks each. Criterion C rewards a clear focus and ideas that are well organized and hang together. A sharp thesis, body paragraphs built on ideas and a conclusion that weighs them up give you exactly that.
Paper 2: comparative essay. SL and HL students sit the same paper: 1 hour 45 minutes, four general questions, and you answer one by comparing two literary works you have studied. The questions are general literary questions: they ask how two works present or use something (a character, a place, a relationship, a structure) through the writers’ choices.
- Closed book: you cannot take the works into the exam. You are expected to refer to the works in detail, but you do not have to quote them.
- Marks: out of 25. Criterion A (Knowledge, understanding and interpretation), B1 (Analysis and evaluation of textual features and/or authorial choices), B2 (Comparative analysis), C (Focus and organization) and D (Language) are worth 5 marks each. In Paper 2, C looks for a focus you keep all the way through, fair space for both works, and ideas that develop logically and convincingly.
Each part of the essay does most for certain criteria. Authorial choices are the decisions a writer makes, such as structure, voice, setting or word choice.
| Essay part | Criteria it does most for | Main job |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction | A (framing, interpretation), C (focus) | Frame the text or works, interpret the question, state your thesis and map your line of argument. |
| Body paragraph | A (evidence), B or B1 (analysis and evaluation), B2 (comparison), C (links) | Prove one claim about authorial choices and their effects; in Paper 2, compare how and why the works agree or differ. |
| Conclusion | A (larger meaning), C (holding it together) | Draw the argument together in fresh words and judge why it matters. |
| Everywhere | D (language) | Write clear, precise, formal English with accurate terms. |
Core ideas
Three terms first. Your thesis is the one main claim your whole essay will prove. It must be arguable: a sensible reader could disagree with it, so it needs proof. Your line of argument is the route your essay takes to prove it, step by step.
1. Introduction: Paper 1 (about 80 to 150 words)
- Frame the text: name the text type (blog, speech, leaflet), the audience, the purpose and any context, as you can read them from the passage itself.
- State a thesis: answer the guiding question, or state your own clear technical or formal focus, with a claim about what the writer’s choices achieve. “The writer uses many techniques” is not a thesis.
- Map the line of argument: name the two or three choices your body paragraphs will analyse, in an order that builds. In a multimodal text (one that uses images as well as words), include both visual and verbal choices. Save quotations for the body.
2. Introduction: Paper 2
- Name both works and authors: give full titles and authors. For a collection, name the author and the kind of work, such as “Maya Angelou’s poems” or “Franz Kafka’s short stories”.
- Interpret the question’s key terms: say what the key words mean for these two works. Do not just copy them.
- State a comparative thesis: answer the exact question, showing where the two works meet or part, and why (for example through form, perspective or structure). A thesis you prepared before the exam that ignores the question’s wording hurts you on A and C, which both look at how well you answer the question set.
- Set out a line of argument: name the broad authorial choices you will compare. Leave out author biography, historical background and big openings like “Throughout history...”.