What to look for in texts

First impressions

Start with your initial thoughts after having read the text once. Ask yourself ‘what do I think, feel, or believe?’
Brainstorm a list of points or interpretations.
For each point, ask yourself ‘how do I know?’ This will prompt you to go back to the text and find evidence to back up your initial thoughts.
When you write your analysis, just reverse the order of these questions so that you first present evidence from the text and then explain how it supports an idea.
E.g. The author’s use of ridiculous imagery in characterising the “effeminate swank” of Tom’s clothing as well as the semantic field of superiority seen in words like “supercilious” and “arrogant” strongly suggest that the narrator dislikes Tom and sees him as a fool worthy of contempt.

Look for meaningful moments

If something stands out in the passage to you, trust your instincts! Maybe it’s a specific choice of words, an emotional moment, or a point that is given special emphasis. If it seems important to you as a reader, it probably is, so pay attention to these parts and ask yourself ‘why is this important?’ or ‘what is the author trying to do here?’

Look for structural features

Depending on the type of text, this can include:

Paragraph order
Contrasts/juxtaposition
Tonal shifts
Shifts in perspective
Sense of progression from beginning to end
Flashbacks/non-linear narrative

Read the questions first

Reading the exam questions before reading the passage is a good way to ensure your mind will be primed for the most relevant information in the passage.
For example, if question 1 is about the character’s appearance, and question 2 is about the character’s relationship with their parents, you will naturally pay more attention to any moments in the source text that mention their appearance or parents.
Likewise, if the text opens with a lengthy description of the setting but none of the questions are about the setting, then you can skim read that part quicker and perhaps revisit it later if you need additional evidence for a 10+ mark extended response.

Look for language features

Look for obvious techniques like imagery, metaphors, similes, etc.
Annotate past papers by highlighting every language feature you can find so that this becomes an automatic process.
In the exam there’s no need to highlight everything, but training your brain to naturally pick up on techniques will make it much easier to find evidence to support your answers.

And so it happened that on a warm windy evening I drove over to East Egg to see two old friends whom I scarcely knew at all. Their house was even more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red and white Georgian Colonial mansion overlooking the bay. The lawn started at the beach and ran toward the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sun-dials and brick walks and burning gardens—finally when it reached the house drifting up the side in bright vines as though from the momentum of its run. The front was broken by a line of French windows, glowing now with reflected gold, and wide open to the warm windy afternoon, and Tom Buchanan in riding clothes was standing with his legs apart on the front porch.

He had changed since his New Haven years. Now he was a sturdy, straw haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining, arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward. Not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hide the enormous power of that body—he seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained the top lacing and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat. It was a body capable of enormous leverage—a cruel body.

His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed. There was a touch of paternal contempt in it, even toward people he liked—and there were men at New Haven who had hated his guts.

- Extract from The Great Gastby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

⬇️

What do I think / feel / believe?	How do I know?
Tom's house is fancy	Word choice (“elaborate,” “cheerful,” “mansion”) Polysyndeton (“sun-dials and brick walls and burning gardens” imply endless wealth) Imagery (“glowing now with reflected gold”)
The narrator doesn't like Tom	Ridiculous imagery (“effeminate swank of his riding clothes […] standing with his legs apart on the front porch”) Semantic field of superiority (“supercilious,” “arrogant,” “dominance”)
There will be a fight later involving Tom	Word choice (“cruel body”) foreshadows his capacity for selfish violence Focus on physicality rather than his emotions (“glistening boots” and “great pack of muscle”) but no description of his inner world

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