Evaluate Key Quotations and their Impact in 'Anita and Me'

As we seek out a higher grade, we will not only identify key quotations, we will also analyse and evaluate the impact they have in the novel.

This will involve looking at what makes the quotation significant in the way characters or themes develop.

Does it show a stage in a character’s development?

Does it build a theme, give information about the context, or contrast with other parts of the novel? Does it connect the novel to its genre, or provide a good example of the author’s use of language? Phew!

Your exact use of a quotation will depend on the question you are answering, or the topic you are exploring.

One way that we can use our essay structure to attract marks is to add to the PEA / PEE model. We use our opening topic sentence to make a point. Refer to a part of the text or use a quotation as our supporting example, and we explain or analyse its significance.

To do even better, try to include additional sentences that evaluate the quotation by providing further detail or comment.  In this way you add 'D' for develop to your response. A really helpful technique is to start the sentence with a conjunctive adverb such as ‘furthermore’, ‘moreover’, ‘thus’ etc. This turns your paragraph into a PEAD or PEED model. This isn't the only style, of course, but it does help you to keep your focus, especially when writing under timed conditions.

In this activity, we will build up our style by evaluating some key quotations in the PEAD / PEED model, and we will look at some key passages that have lots of features to evaluate too.

You should always refer to your own text when working through these examples. These quotations are for reference only.