Writing an essay I: Answering the question

THE aim of studying literature is to gain an understanding of your texts, of how and why they were written, but the practical question of how to write in the examination so that you do justice to your understanding and pass with a good grade is an important problem for most students. Although several different forms of examination are set for literature, your main task in any of them will be writing essays, so these three chapters focus on how to write essays about the texts you have studied. You will probably be asked to write essays both as part of your course and in the examination at the end. I will be discussing what to do in the examination, but the essays you write at home are much the same, you just have more time to write them. The advice I give, though based on examinations, applies to all the essays you write.