Want to learn about writing big picture essays? How to order your paragraphs to achieve top marks? This post dives into writing essays that sustain a big picture argument through a logical flow of ideas, essential for reaching the peak of your essay writing capabilities.
Possibly the most common mistake students make when writing English essays is that they focus on the analysis of their text. Since they’ve spent 10 weeks learning about the quotes and characters of their novel or film, they get bogged down in the details.
The number one fix: consider the bigger picture
A. An Essay’s Purpose
The purpose of an essay - specifically looking at high school and HSC English - is to answer the given question by exploring complex ideas through simple expression. A little complicated, I know.
Let’s break it down.
Answering the question
When you’re doing a mathematics test and your first question is 33 x 27, you’re not going to answer 33 ÷ 27. It’s the same with English. Why would you write something irrelevant to the question?
Our upcoming page on Responding to the question guides you through all different kinds of questions and how to go about answering them. Check it out for more help.
Responding to the rubric
In all your exams, the question asked will have something to do with the relevant rubric. For example, the 2023 English Advanced Module A question:
When we engage with a text, the question we must ask ourselves is, ‘What is this text really about?’
Consider the pair of prescribed texts that you have studied in Module A. To what extent does your engagement with the later text make you ask this question about the earlier text?
This question looks at a bunch of parts of the rubric:
Resonances and dissonances
Common or disparate issues
Composers are influenced by other texts, contexts and values, and how this shapes meaning.
Your essay must constantly be in conversation with the rubric. You can do this through using key language and considering the main aspects of the rubric
Exploring complex ideas
Like we’ve said in our other posts, essays are not just information dumps with analysis and quotes. They are sustained and developed arguments that consider complex themes relevant to our world.
These ideas range from time’s oppression of traumatised individuals to the flexibility of art as a way to bridge uncertainties. Developing multi-layered arguments is a great way of showing the markers that you’re capable of thinking deeply about a text and not just regurgitating what you learnt in class.
Simple expression
But complex ideas are nothing if you can’t communicate them clearly.
How we express our ideas and the fluency of our analysis is key to demonstrating our control of language (a big part of the English syllabus). To see how to do this, we have a growing library of samples to investigate and upcoming posts on concise writing and quote integration.
B. Layers of an Essay
So we’ve got to consider the bigger picture. And we also have to write detailed analysis. So let's look at our essay in layers.
Holistic Argument
Our holistic argument is our response to the question. It should be broad enough to relate to different aspects of the text and module, and be framed as a strong perspective on the question. You only really come to this decision after learning your text for a term so don’t worry if you don’t get it straight away.
Quick Tip: usually your holistic argument is similar to the composer’s purpose. Think about what your author/director is trying to say to the audience and then reframe that under the context of your module.
This is entirely dependent on what module and texts you’re doing so check out our study guides for specific thoughts on what to talk about.
An example:
Module B, An Artist of the Floating World: Art is a flexible medium that facilitates the acceptance of uncertainty caused by cultural change
Key Ideas
It’s one thing to respond to your question in your introduction. It’s another to explore a wide pool of ideas in sufficient depth and still be relevant to the question.
Part of the English syllabus is covering a range of ideas in your analysis and so this is where our two or three body paragraphs come into play. Instead of seeing them as two or three sets of techniques and quotes, we need to see them as distinct but connected ideas.
Thinking about big picture ideas can be difficult but there are simple questions to ask to find your three big ideas:
What struggles do the characters face?
Why do the characters behave the way they do?
What is the outcome of the characters’ behaviours?
What is the composer’s purpose?
Where does the text fit into the rubric? More on this is the upcoming Writing to the Rubric page
Is the chosen perspective and tense important?
Is the chosen form important?
What are the main symbols and motifs of the text?
Do different settings have different meanings?
Sticking with An Artist of the Floating World, here are a few ideas we got from this process
The exclusionary and destructive extremes of cultural change
The rejection of tradition caused by a strength of identity
The damage arising from subjective retrospection and validation of the past
The importance of social reputation in construction of identity
The familial tension caused by generational divides
The beauty of uncertainty unveiled through art
If your key ideas can be said in less than 3 words, you need bigger ideas.
So, there are loads of avenues to go down with main ideas. A lot of them can be integrated within each other but it's important to always consider the bigger argument and question to be answered.
For our example, you can see how these ideas might fit into our overarching argument about art reconciling cultural uncertainties, and nothing is completely separate from the rest of the essay.
We’ll go into more depth about which ideas to pick and how to order them later in the post and future articles.
Points
One step smaller is the points we make within our paragraphs. This is where our Evidence and Explanation comes in as we explain each point using quotes and techniques from the text.
A lot of this evidence you’ll get from your classroom discussions and work, but if something sticks out to you while you’re reading your text, write it down and check back later. You never know when a small sentence might contain the perfect quote to include in your essay.
Here are some key points from my Band 6 Module B essay:
Viewing change as “undeniably disturbing”, Ono rejects “the sway of things” to microcosmically embody the older generation’s isolating inability to properly appreciate “the changes taking place around [them]”.
The “floating world” is similarly represented through the setting of Kawakami’s bar, an “outpost of civilisation” distinct from the consequences of “progress”, following the motif of a renewing “morning” in “the bulldozers had pulled down everything” to encapsulate the impossibility of denying change.
Ishiguro further juxtaposes Ono’s “more spacious, traditional house” to Noriko’s modern apartment which reflects the rapidly developed social culture of post-war Japan and demonstrates the extent to which this transitionless upheaval of tradition leaves “no space” for the older generation and exposes the exclusionary faults of conclusively accepting change in the search for collective identity.
Each point involves separate quotes and techniques to piece together the idea which in turn answers the given question. In these examples, we’re painting the picture of an absolutist world with destructive diametric views (our first key idea). Later on we’ll talk about how to order these points to effectively develop the paragraph.
That’s the three thematic layers of our essay: Argument, ideas, points. But complex ideas aren’t enough on their own. Let’s jump into how to order these ideas in a logical way to constructively present an argument.
C. Order of Ideas
There are many ways you can order your ideas to build a cohesive argument. There are also different types of essays (eg. comparative, extract) which can involve different numbers of paragraphs and assortments of ideas.
Here we’ll be looking at your regular critical essay, looking at a singular text and one holistic argument. If you want to learn more about comparative essays, we have upcoming posts on comparative essays and writing with an extract.
Some context for our examples:
Question: ‘How has your study of an Artist of the Floating World altered and expanded your understanding of art and tradition?
Thesis: Through the dismantling of imperialist absolutism, Kazuo Ishiguro’s 1986 ‘An Artist of the Floating World’ propounds the flexibility of art as a validation of uncertainty surrounding tradition and transformation.
Ok so, we’ve got a holistic argument surrounding art validating uncertainties arising from changing traditions. Now we need to build a flow of ideas that reaches that eventual argument.
Structures
Here are a few structures we could implement for our essay.
Collective/Individual:
BP1 - Collective conflict
BP2 - Individual conflict
BP3 - Conflict resolution
Struggle/Response/Solution:
BP1 - Major thematic struggle
BP2 - Response from/effect on the individual
BP3 - Composer’s solution to the problem
I used both of these structures in my HSC exams and they’re versatile across texts, modules and years.
Selecting and Arranging Ideas
Let’s look at the key ideas I used in my Module B essay and why I didn’t choose some of the others that we brainstormed.
Quick reminder of the brainstormed ideas:
The exclusionary and destructive extremes of cultural change
The rejection of tradition caused by a strength of identity
The damage arising from subjective retrospection and validation of the past
The importance of social reputation in construction of identity
The familial tension caused by generational divides
The beauty of uncertainty unveiled through art
BP1 (Struggle): The exclusionary and destructive extremes of cultural change
BP2 (Response): The damage arising from subjective retrospection and validation of the past
BP3 (Solution): The beauty of uncertainty unveiled through art
Using this structure, we have one of the core struggles of the text and our main character’s response to that conflict. Ultimately we end with Ishiguro’s proposal of a resolution to these problems.
This is a great way to build suspense within the reader’s mind and push them towards the end of your essay.
But we brainstormed other complex ideas, why not choose those instead?
For this question and the thesis we came up with, we needed ideas that steered us towards art unveiling the beauty of uncertainty. Social reputation and familial tension within post-war Japan don’t point us in that direction. For a different question specific to, say, the construction of identity, those might work better.
It’s up to you to determine which key ideas play best into your question and the essay you want to write. This can be done while drafting your exemplar essay or on the day with memorised points and quotes.
If you’re struggling to determine, select or arrange your ideas, we have an ever-growing collection of text-specific study guides to lift up your essay-writing game and deliver you essential resources for your academic growth.
D. Order of Points
After ordering your key ideas, the next layer is arranging our points within each paragraph.
This is the part that is most unique per person and is entirely dependent on what quotes and techniques you want to use in your essay. But again, there are formats that can guide us in the right direction. The first;
Compare and Contrast
This is perfect for our first key idea where we’re looking at diametric extremes. After writing your topic sentence and establishing context, discuss your first extreme using quotes and explanation. Next, consider the opposite perspective with a similar amount of evidence and elaboration. Then, for your linking sentence, explain why these are or are not viable options for the characters or their world.
In short;
Topic sentence and elaboration
First perspective
Second perspective
Link to idea and question
Action and Effect
Now looking at our second key idea about subjective retrospection/validation and the damage arising from that, the action and effect format provides the reader with a logical showcase of your discussion.
Pretty simple really;
Topic sentence and elaboration
Response of character
Effect of that response
Link to idea and question
Composer’s Purpose
Often referred to as “The Art Paragraph”, the final paragraph of an essay is usually (almost always) about the composer’s overall purpose. This is easier to talk about with a single text but if you’re doing poetry, this paragraph discusses what links all of the poems together. It should explicitly mention;
Form
Context
Purpose
This is less of a format and more of an ‘include these points in a logical order’. For more information on the Art Paragraph, we’ll have upcoming posts on this key idea and our study guides explore specific composer purposes in depth.
E. That’s It
You’ve just learnt the essential framework behind big-idea essays. The proven Band 6 essay architecture will refocus your essay-writing efforts towards thinking bigger and using your analysis as evidence for those ideas.
If you want more help with structuring your introduction and body paragraphs, we’ve got dedicated pages that dive into the details.
Key lessons to take into your next essay are;
Essays are about answering the given question by exploring complex ideas through simple expression
Order your ideas and points to build towards a complete picture
Summit Study Hub is built by proven tutors and students so that you have all the resources and support you need to climb to the top. Our blog and study guides give you detailed insight into how to advance your marks. If your text hasn’t got its own page or guide, let us know and we’ll add it to our collection. Our professional tutors are also available for one-on-one tutoring to help boost your confidence and lift your marks to that Band 6 height. Book a free trial lesson with us to go the extra academic mile.
If you found this post helpful then check out our others on Body Paragraphs and Before Writing Your Essay, share them with your friends and let us know how you go in your exams.
Good Luck and Happy Writing!
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