Diploma Exam Preparation-Literary Exploration

Review Delaney’s tips for the Literary Exploration assignment on the following pages.

The Literary Exploration assignment is your opportunity to show what you know about a text you have studied in the course.

In this task, you will connect at least one character to the question they provide, and describe how his or her experiences in the text relate to the topic.

The teachers marking your diploma know the text you will discuss very well.  Do not retell the plot.  Instead, choose specific details and relate them to the topic in a purposeful way.

Don’t panic!  I am going to provide strategies and a guide that will help you respond to nearly any topic.

Focusing Strategies

As you approach the Literary Exploration topic, consider the following suggestions:

• Read the question first.  How would you answer the question, based on your opinion?
  
  
• Read the text excerpt provided on the exam.  Consider how it might help you answer the question.  Remember that you do not have to use this excerpt in your response, but you may wish to.
  
  
• List a few texts and characters from literature you have studied in this course consider how they might help you answer the question.
  
  
• Choose at least one character from a text from this course that you know well.  Options include: characters from a film you have studied or from a text you have read (like a short story, a play, or a novel).
  
  
• The character(s) you choose to discuss must help you develop and support your opinion.
• You may choose to focus on only one character who undergoes a significant transformation as a result of his or her experiences in the plot.
• You can also choose to compare two characters’ transformations from a text, if the comparison helps you support your opinion.
• Consider including a discussion of a minor character, if you have a thorough understanding of that character.