English Extended Essay

[Guest fierybabe14]

I'm doing an English Extended Essay but I'm stuck as to what I should specifically look at or which book/s to focus on, are there any suggestions?

[Afterglow]

well first of all - What are you interested in?

Is there a particular topic that you are fond of? Certain themes?

You could either approach it by choosing a topic/theme and then select the books OR you could select the books and then choose a topic/theme.

I knew I wanted to work with a homosexual theme so I looked for books that had that theme and then I choose one book, specified my theme a great deal and woila.

Remember that it is a research essay. It won't be fun or easy to spend a great deals of hours if you do it in something you don't like so choose wisely after your interest.

Edited November 3, 2007 by Afterglow

[Guest milkshakeblue]

hello!

I´m posting some ideas into finding a topic for an English A1 EE. I hope that they are helpful. Please remember that they are just an opinion!

I agree with Afterglow that whatever you choose to do your extended essay about, it should be something that you find interesting. However, you should keep in mind the specific part in the guidelines that says that an A1 extended essay should not be an excuse for the candidate to discuss random subjects. At all times, your extended essy should be focused on the literary aspects of the books you chose as it is a research paper.

Now, back to your question:

When choosing a topic (in an English A1 Extended Essay) you can generally do two things:

1) Examine a literary element found in two works

For example, you can compare the use of the narrator in two works by a same author. Don´t limit yourself: you can speak about imagery, narrators, the use of space and time, etc...

Other specific examples :

The use of closed and open spaces in two texts by Edgar Allan Poe in order to convey the idea of fear

The use of religious imagery in two texts by William Golding

You can also speak about two literary works in the same period, or written in the same style, etc...

2) Examine a theme (in a specific text, or in comparison to similar texts)

When writing about a certain theme, you must be able to analyse the implications of it on the text that you are reviewing.

Examples:

The concept of death as seen by two contemporary female writers: Angela Carter and Margaret Atwood

The portrayal of irish society in A modest Proposal and Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

*When choosing books, remember that they should have originally been written in English, and they should be literary works

[snowday]

Hey, I think that a strong English paper really has to focus on a literary aspect of the work. Be careful of going off on tangents based on themes or motifs of the work, which seems to happen a lot in english papers. For example, several marked papers I have seen have been marked down because the candidate begins to write about the author's philosphical views as portrayed in the work, and soon the paper becomes heavily philosophical.

My topic is quite specific, but the gist of it is that I am analyzing the stream-of-consciousness technique in James Joyce's Ulysses. I chose to do the essay on his writing style specifically to ensure that my essay is focused on a literary element of the work, which is what (I hope) is the foundation for a strong english paper.

Hope it helps.

[kc4293]

The topic does need to be literary, but I've heard that you should avoid general themes or motifs and the like because they are so overdone and so freshman year-ish. I'm sure there exceptions, though. Also, while at least one of your works has to be in your original language, if you do a comparison the other works may be translations. Start with your favorite book and then work from there- what is it about how the author has written that makes you love it? If you like the characters in the work, then maybe talk about their journey or how the author develops or uses the characters, perhaps in comparison with another work?