Tips to improve structure for commentaries?

[TheMountainGoat]

Hey guys,

I was just wondering how to improve your structure for English commentaries. I've done a few practice commentaries but it always seems to fall apart. I would like to get my commentary writing skills to a sufficient level structure wise, since I have lost the marks mostly on structure criteria in the practice commentaries I have done so far. 

Thanks

[Excalibre]

Hello there!

 

Let me get right down to it. Big 5. That's what we used in our school to analyse English commentaries.

The 'Big 5' in brief:

1 - Audience / purpose

2 - Theme / content

3 - Tone / mood

4 - Stylistic devices

5 - Structure

 

Now I know that it's not exactly a layout, but it works just fine when used as one. Here's a link that better explains the 'Big 5': 

http://www.thinkib.net/englishalanglit/page/11116/the-big-5

 

Alternatively, you could use the tried and tested PIE structure. Here's a detailed breakdown (IB-friendly):

http://www.thinkib.net/englishalanglit/page/9692/pie-structure

Simply put, the PIE structure is a way of forming body paragraphs that can be used in virtually all analytical and argumentative papers. Particularly useful if you have trouble with organization.

 

Hope that helps!

Edited July 27, 2015 by Excalibre