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Module B (Standard): Close Study of Literature
Quick questions on Sustained close engagement with a prescribed text in HSC English Standard Module B
15short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is building familiarity with a Module B text?Show answer
A protocol for genuine textual familiarity.
What are the analysis is anchored in specific moments?Show answer
A close response quotes phrases, lines, or short passages and reads them at the level of word, syntax, image, or rhythm. The general claim is always supported by a specific instance.
What is the specific instance is read as choice?Show answer
A close reader sees the text as the result of decisions. The word could have been different; the sentence could have been arranged otherwise; the scene could have been positioned elsewhere. The analysis treats the actual choice as the analytical object.
What is the reading does not paraphrase?Show answer
Close engagement is not summary in different words. A close response says something about the text that a summary could not have said. The analytical content is in the language work, not in the plot.
What is read the whole text at least twice?Show answer
The first reading is for comprehension. The second is for noticing. By the second reading, you should be marking moments where the language is doing something specific.
What are mark recurrences?Show answer
Track three or four recurring words, images, or motifs across the whole text. Note where they appear and how their meaning shifts across appearances. Recurrences are often the spine of a Module B essay.
What is map the structure?Show answer
Sketch the text's structure in a single page. Where does the narrative pivot? Where does the form do something the genre does not require?
What are memorise short quotations?Show answer
Five to seven short quotations from across the text, each carrying a different aspect of the text's work. Short enough to embed; specific enough to analyse. The quotations are your evidence base.
What is read about the text?Show answer
Some critical reading is appropriate (a scholarly article, an introduction to an edition). Not for content to insert, but for the critical vocabulary and the awareness of how the text has been read by others.
What is quote across the text?Show answer
The body paragraphs should quote from different parts of the text, not just the famous passages. A response that quotes only Act I of a play or only the opening chapter has not demonstrated sustained reading.
What is argue a pattern, not a single moment?Show answer
A claim about the text's work should be supported by at least two pieces of evidence from different parts of the text. The pattern is what sustained reading reveals.
What is analyse at the level of language?Show answer
Even when arguing structural points, the analysis should land at the level of specific quotation. The marker should be able to hear the text working in your prose.
What is plot summary as engagement?Show answer
Restating the text's events at length, treating retelling as analysis. Markers have read the text; what they want is reading.
What is famous-passage reliance?Show answer
Quoting only the most-anthologised passages from the text. Sustained reading involves the rest of the text too.
What are generic critical claims?Show answer
"The text uses symbolism to develop meaning" is a claim about all texts. The Module B claim should be specific to this text.