Commentary

Commentary

English 3

Objectives

We will learn to critique and evaluate characteristics and structural elements of argumentative texts.

What is commentary?

When reading a text, you have a reaction to what you read. When writing your response to a text, you state your reaction in the form of a main idea, thesis statement, or claim.

Support for your reaction

• To support your reaction, you first identify text evidence, and then you explain the thought process behind your choice of evidence.

• This explanation is your original commentary.

What is included in commentary?

• INTERPRETATION, as when you posit the meaning behind a line in a poem

• ANALYSIS, or an examination of how details in the text lead you to a certain conclusion

• EVALUATION, that is, your judgment about the content or the literary merit of the text

Be Original!

Above all, commentary reflects your ORIGINAL THINKING about a text, or your unique insights and associations not stated EXPLICITLY in the text. Strong commentary, combined with text evidence, moves beyond simply paraphrasing or summarizing text to help readers experience the text in a fresh way.

Important Vocabulary

• analysis - inferences and conclusions drawn from the text; detailed examination

• commentary - the portion of a response in which the writer shares ideas about a text and explains why the text evidence supports his or her ideas

• explicitly - directly stated

• interpretation - the explanation of the meaning or message of a work of literature

• original thinking - unique insights, ideas, or associations

• text evidence - details from the text that a reader can use to support his or her ideas and opinions about the text

Multiple Choice

Unique insights, ideas, or associations

• Interpretation

• Original thinking

• Text evidence

• Commentary

Checklist for Commentary

Take notes

Step 1: Prepare

• Phrase your reaction as a main idea, thesis statement, or claim.

• Identify evidence that supports your idea.

• Consider the following questions as a guide:

  What text evidence have I selected to support my point? How does this text evidence support my point?

Step 2: Interpret and analyze

• Check to see if you have created a new understanding.

• Be sure your ideas are not already explicitly stated.

• Ensure that quotations are meaningful to your claim or idea.

Multiple Choice

Which step for providing commentary involves phrasing your reaction as a main idea, thesis statement, or claim.

• Step 1: Preparing

• Step 2: Interpreting and analyzing

Step 3: Select signal words and phrases to write commentary

• Write supportive commentary for each piece of evidence using signal words to introduce commentary, such as:

  proves, shows, implies, indicates, establishes, demonstrates, Illustrates, or confirms

Step 4: Review Commentary

• Check your commentary using the following questions as a guide:

• Does your commentary resemble a summary? If so, revise it using Step 2.

• Does your commentary rely solely on explicit text meaning? If so, revise it.

• Does your commentary leave out parts of your thought process? If so, revise it using Step 3 so that it explains the step-by-step reasoning you used.

Multiple Select

Which of the following are signal words to introduce commentary? Check all that apply.

• Confirms

• Although

• Illustrates

• First

• Demonstrates

General Considerations

• Your response might be about style, analysis of a character, or your interpretation.

• Phrase your response as a claim, main idea, or thesis statement.

• Identify text evidence that supports your response.

• Use signal words to support your response.

Practice

On the next slide, read the following excerpts from a commentary written in response to the short story, “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier. On following slides you will answer questions that best identifies their function in a commentary.

Excerpts from a commentary written in response to the short story, “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier

• I believe the character, ‘Lizabeth, needed someone to support her at a sad and confusing time in her life when nothing seemed in place. Without the strength and hope of a parent’s comfort or counsel, she released her emotions inappropriately.

• ‘Lizabeth had to strike out to hurt someone innocent before she could face her own pain.

Excerpts continued...

• The narrator, ‘Lizabeth, experienced compounded grief so, not even realizing why, she rose in the night to destroy something beautiful.

• “—the great need for my mother who was never there, the hopelessness of our poverty ..., the bewilderment of being neither child nor woman …. And these feelings combined in one great impulse toward destruction.”

Multiple Choice

Which of the following excerpts fit into the category of text evidence?

• The narrator, ‘Lizabeth, experienced compounded grief so, not even realizing why, she rose in the night to destroy something beautiful.

• ‘Lizabeth had to strike out to hurt someone innocent before she could face her own pain.

• “—the great need for my mother who was never there, the hopelessness of our poverty ..., the bewilderment of being neither child nor woman …. And these feelings combined in one great impulse toward destruction.”

Multiple Choice

Which of the following excerpts fit into the category of commentary?

• I believe the character, ‘Lizabeth, needed someone to support her at a sad and confusing time in her life when nothing seemed in place. Without the strength and hope of a parent’s comfort or counsel, she released her emotions inappropriately.

• The narrator, ‘Lizabeth, experienced compounded grief so, not even realizing why, she rose in the night to destroy something beautiful.

Commentary Revision Practice

Use the following link to read a writer’s first draft of commentary in response to Guts, an autobiographical account by author, Gary Paulsen, and his real life adventures that led to writing Hatchet. Note areas of possible revision. Then, read each question and choose the best revision.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Zo-5zdQ6k8kdSltsNP1b_Tc8YAl4XsxZ3f1aHei7024/edit?usp=sharing

If link doesn't work, information can be found in Google Classroom.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following revisions can the writer make to the claim in Sentence 1?

• Paulsen’s experience with death illustrates that writing from first-hand knowledge is powerful.

• Paulsen’s account is interesting and it obviously made Hatchet a best selling book.

Multiple Choice

Which sentence most strongly supports the author’s claim?

• Sentence 4

• Sentence 3

Multiple Choice

Which sentence should be removed because it is not connected to the writer’s claim?

• Sentence 7

• Sentence 2

Multiple Choice

Which sentence makes a sound conclusion for the commentary?

• Sentence 4

• Sentence 9

To Wrap Up on Commentary

Commentary in a response may include your:

 

interpretation, as when you posit the meaning behind a line in a poem

analysis, or an examination of how details in the text lead you to a certain conclusion

evaluation, that is, your judgment about the content or the literary merit of the text

Commentary Wrap Up Continued

Commentary reflects your original thinking about a text, or your unique insights and associations not stated explicitly in the text.

Strong commentary, combined with text evidence, moves beyond simply paraphrasing or summarizing text to help readers experience the text in a fresh way.

Open Ended

Consider a book, movie, or TV show you have recently read or viewed. Recall your reaction to what you read or viewed. State your reaction in a main idea, or claim, and support it with text evidence or movie/show evidence. Develop your commentary by explaining how your evidence supports the claim.

You should refer to the steps in the checklist as a guide while you write your commentary.

If you need more space, you may use a Google Doc and share or email it to me.

Credits

Information provided by our Study Sync English 3 virtual textbook.