Writing English Essays that Examiners Love to Mark

Explore the secrets of successful analytical essays with our latest blog post, authored by one of our top tutors, Anish, who scored an impressive grade 8. Master the PEA (Point, Evidence, Explanation) method and transform your writing skills today!

When crafting analytical essays, plan each paragraph and the essay as a whole, ensuring cohesion and relevance to the prompt. This planning order mirrors the examiner's marking criteria: Point, Evidence, and Explanation. Deeply understanding the purpose of each section is essential, as this structure fosters clarity and depth in analysis, essential for high-scoring essays.

Point:

The first sentence should be a clear point that directly addresses the question. This point serves as the foundation for the rest of the analysis. It should demonstrate understanding of the text and the question, while also presenting a reasoned opinion. Many students lose marks by stating points that don't connect clearly to the question, so it's crucial to ensure the point is well-formed. For instance, if the question asks about the portrayal of violence in a poem, a suitable point might be:

"The poem illustrates emotional violence as deeply affecting individuals."

Importantly, the point should stand alone and make sense even without evidence. This sets the stage for the subsequent evidence and explanation, allowing for a coherent and effective paragraph structure that fully addresses the essay question.

Evidence:

After carefully selecting a point which answers the question, you must provide evidence for it. It can be tempting to choose quotes which have advanced techniques or vocabulary just so you can analyse them, but this will actually make it harder to write a good answer. This is because you will have to twist the quote and derive meaning which simply isn’t there to get it to fit your point. Instead, the best quotes are the ones which genuinely resonate with you and which really made you believe your point. After all, this is the evidence section, which means you are showing which parts of the text lead you to your answer.

If a whole section of text prompts your response rather than a single word or phrase, it's acceptable to cite evidence from various parts of the text. As long as there's a common link, analysing these snippets collectively is valid.

Explanation:

After establishing your point and selecting evidence that strongly supports it, the analysis or explanation becomes the focal point of the paragraph. This stage should consume most of your writing time, as it's where you delve into the crux of your argument. With a solid foundation laid by the preceding sections, this step should flow smoothly. Your task here is to articulate your thought process in a clear and formal manner, guiding the examiner through your interpretation of the text. This is also where the named techniques such as oxymoron, tricolon and others become important. However, ensure these references align with your point; if you struggle to connect a technique to your argument, reconsider your point's validity – purposeful techniques should yield obvious effects in the text.

Don't avoid techniques because they sound too basic; you may just need to touch up on your terminology. For instance, frequent references to angels, devils, heaven, and judgment in a poem could be called a lexical field centred on the afterlife. It's crucial to familiarize yourself with various techniques to effectively discuss what you observe. If you lack the vocabulary, it's fine to describe concepts in simpler terms, as long as you're precise and brief.

After planning each paragraph, it's essential to consider how they collectively address the essay question. Essays are assessed not only based on individual paragraph quality but also on overall question response. Each paragraph should touch on distinct yet interconnected aspects of the question. For instance, in an analysis of violence, one paragraph might discuss physical violence while another explores emotional violence. This approach ensures coverage of diverse topics within a unified essay, as well as facilitating smoother transitions between paragraphs.

For a top-scoring answer, all of the points should also come together into a more nuanced overall answer. It can be quite difficult to make such large-scale considerations under time pressure, so it can be approached as just another PEA structure. But in this case, the introduction serves as the "point," each paragraph functions as "evidence," and the conclusion acts as the "explanation" tying everything together. For instance, the introduction may assert:

"The poem depicts violence with lasting negative repercussions for all involved."

Subsequent paragraphs may explore diverse perspectives on these effects; and the conclusion would unify these insights, demonstrating the poem's comprehensive portrayal of violence and its all-encompassing consequences.

Initially, it may feel challenging to articulate your analytical thought process, but with practice, it becomes intuitive. Reading a text, forming opinions, and expressing them analytically will become second nature over time.