Essays - Integrating Context

Integrating Context into Essays

Context = B Range

Integrating Context is important to get higher marks

As you argue your points about the text, try to consider how these points were influenced by the context of the author or the historical period.
The best way is to connect the context to the big ideas or worldviews of the time.

Context in English

English is not History. You are not to spend time writing a historical summary of the context. No history essays.

1. We are ONLY interested in how the context influences:

   1. Themes

   2. Language

   3. Purpose

   4. Audience
      

Word Cloud

Write some things that are a part of the context of a text. Eg. country, time period.

Poll

In your opinion, what is the biggest influence on a text?

• Life of the author.

• Worldviews and philosophy.

• Historical events.

• Time period

• Country or nation

Multiple Choice

Which of these does NOT belong?

• The language in the text.

• Historical period.

• The time period.

• The author's life.

Multiple Choice

It is very good to spend time summarising the author's life in your essays.

• True

• False

Researching with AI

As long as you do NOT copy and paste, AI can be useful in researching context and giving you ideas.

1. Prompts

   1. "What are the significant worldviews that influenced [insert name of text]"

   2. "What influences from [insert author] life impacted the composition of [text]."
      

Researching with AI

Always check what AI tells you. It may be incorrect. Check other sources and do your own research.
Keep asking: how does this impact the themes I am wanting to talk about.
You can ask follow up questions: Eg. tell me more about the bush legend in Lawson's short stories.

Drag and Drop

AI can be ​

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in researching context or in understanding the ​

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or historical context. You should never ​

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. You should ask ​

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questions to research something more ​

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.

Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

useful

cultural

copy and paste

follow-up

fully

unhelpful

use ChatGPT

difficult

partially

Open Ended

Open up an AI program or Google and ask it what the significant context was of the text you are studying. Write down THREE key ideas.

How to Integrate

Context should NOT be used as a sentence by itself. It should be a part of your discussion of the ideas.

1. Good example: "The exaggerated way Wilde represents the trivial approaches to marriages reflected some of the concerning attitudes he would have seen in the upper class of Victorian society."
   

Multiple Choice

Which word means the same as integrate?

• Categorise

• Analyse

• Blend

• Compare

Draw

Highlight in yellow the part of this that is talking about ideas in the text. (You can enlarge the image with a button on the side.)

If you would like a demerit, draw something stupid.

Draw

Highlight in yellow the part of this that is talking about the context outside of the text. (You can enlarge the image with a button on the side.)

How to Integrate

When you make a point, consider if the author is directly commenting on his/her society or culture.

1. Good example: "When Lawson says that liquor is more important than unionism and religion, he may be making a critical comment on the obsession with alcohol in Australian male culture."
   

How to Integrate

Consider if the author is simply reflecting an aspect of their culture.

1. Good example: "Jane Austen's novels often focus on the marriage plot because it was an expectation in her culture that female writers would limit themselves to writing about marriage and romance."
   

Draw

Highlight in yellow the part of this that is talking about ideas in the text. (You can enlarge the image with a button on the side.)

Draw

Highlight in yellow the part of this that is talking about the context outside of the text. (You can enlarge the image with a button on the side.)

Match

Match the example with the type of context.

• Wilde lived a double life.

• Humanism led to people questioing how involved God was in their lives.

• The Civil Rights movement in 1960s

• Lawson writing just before Australia became a nation.

• Harper Lee lived in the Jim Crow South.

Personal life of the author.

Worldviews.

Historical events

Historical period.

Culture

• Personal life of the author.

• Worldviews.

• Historical events

• Historical period.

• Culture

Add to Your Notes

As you research the contexts of the text, add in interesting points under the main headings in your notes.

1. Problem of Trusting Others:

   1. Context: the culture of university maths departments is incredibly competitive, possible leading to people cheating each other.

Add to Your Body Paragraphs

Reorder

Place the following in the correct order.

• Topic Sentence

• Elaborating on topic.

• Connecting topic to context.

• Giving a quote.

• Connecting quote to context.

1

2

3

4

5

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Poll

How helpful do you find discussing or getting feedback from other students on your work?

• Very unhelpful

• Unhelpful

• No better or worse

• Helpful

• Very helpful

Poll

Would you like to work with other students to get them to check you work?

• Work more with other students to get their feedback.

• Work less with other students. Work by myself more.

• Just get more feedback from the teacher.