Comparing Texts - Sample answer - version one
Question
Compare how the writers of Text 1 and Text 2 present their perspective and ideas about life as a writer.
Support your answer with detailed reference to the texts. (14 marks)
Steinbeck says that the life of a writer is easy because Mark Twain used to write in bed. But you might go to sleep, like his father did, so then you won鈥檛 write anything. A writer needs to have someone to look after him, like his wife. Then he can tell his story. This is a diary sort of text and is about writing and the writer.
In contrast Stephen King is not writing a diary. He is writing advice. He thinks you need a good desk to be a writer. You should put it in the corner of the room. You also need a big room, which is spacious. He likes it when his children come to his study and he doesn鈥檛 mind if they leave rubbish behind. He tells us that he used to have quite cramped places to work in and now he doesn鈥檛 have such bad conditions, but he likes his desk to face the wall and not be in the middle of the room.
Both texts are quite long and tell the reader about writing and what writers do as well. The reader finds these details interesting.
Feedback - basic
This answer is limited because:
- it鈥檚 very short and has no quotations from the text to support it
- it discusses one text and then the other - the texts should be compared together throughout the answer
- it summarises bits of the texts, but doesn鈥檛 analyse the writers鈥 methods
However, it does:
- use the phrases 鈥榠n contrast鈥 and 鈥榖oth texts鈥 to show differences between the texts
- pick out some examples from the texts
- mention the reader鈥檚 response
- begin to think about text type for comparing the two texts