Section A - Reading
Question 1: Retrieval
Approaching and answering
Question 1
Question 1: Retrieval
•8 marks
•15 minutes, including active reading time
•Make 4-5 relevant points
•You’re not analysing language
•You’re showing you fully understand the text, using
evidence (short, embedded quotes) to prove it
1.
•Read the question, and highlight the most important words in it.
•The most important words are those telling you what to write
about in your answer.
What do you learn from Elisabeth Hyde's article about where she has been
and what she has been doing?
What do you learn from Ben Leach’s article about the issues and concerns
regarding the building of wind farms?
What do you learn from the article about the reasons behind Zaki
Badawi’s success?
What do you learn from Tim Jonze’s article about the popularity of the
Mercury Music Prize?
What do you learn from the article about the benefits of a third runway at
Heathrow Airport?
2.
Text 18: What do you learn from the article about
the achievements of Holly Budge?
•Actively read Text 1: Find whatever it is you’re looking for in
the text (e.g. ‘where she has been and what she has been doing’ / ‘issues
and concerns regarding wind farms’ / ‘the reasons behind Zaki Badawi’s
success’ / ‘the popularity of the Mercury Music prize’/ ‘the benefits of a third
runway at Heathrow Airport’) and highlight 4 or 5 points as you are reading
it.
•To answer the above question, you are looking for what?...
‘the achievements of Holly Budge’
IN GROUPS
3.
Purpose and Audience
•Now you’re ready to write up your ideas, think
about the purpose of the article, and who its audience might be. When
writing an introductory sentence to your answer, you can mention these
things.
•For Question 1, likely purposes will be to inform (or to ‘make the reader
aware’), explain or describe.
•Sometimes it may be clear that a text is aimed at a particular group. If
you’re not sure about the particular group, don’t guess but simply
mention ‘the reader’ / ‘its readers’ (the article’s readers) / or even ‘us’.
IN GROUPS
3.
Purpose and Audience
Don’t write things like this:
Text 1 aims to inform readers about the success of the Mercury Music
Prize, and also to entertain them and make them think the Mercury Music
Prize is a really good thing. The audience are people who are in their teens
and 20s and who like music or are in bands themselves.
Text 1 aims to tell readers about all the problems to do with wind farms in
the UK. Readers will be people who are concerned about the environment
and the government and they will be shocked, sad and angry when they
read the article.
What’s wrong with these openings?
WHAT TO AVOID
3.
Purpose and Audience
Do write things like this:
Text 1 aims to inform ‘Guardian Music’ readers about the success of the
Mercury Music Prize.
Text 1 explains to ‘Telegraph’ readers the reasons behind the success of
the businessman Zaki Badawi.
In this article Ben Leach explains issues and concerns to do with wind
farms to readers, perhaps especially those concerned about the
countryside or the environment.
What’s better about these openings?
WHAT TO WRITE
3.
•Write your clear, simple opening sentence.
•Now you need to address the question, writing about the things you’ve
highlighted by re-phrasing them and putting them in your own words.
•Don’t copy chunks of the text.
•Pepper your points with two or three word quotes.
•Aim for 2-3 sentences per point; explain points to
show you’ve understood the text.
IN GROUPS
3.
Connective
The text /
article…
The reader…
(or ‘we’…)
Firstly
Secondly
Thirdly
As well as this
Furthermore
Moreover
Finally
Lastly
Argues
Describes
Emphasises
Explains
Highlights
Informs
Raises
Refers to
Reveals
Shows
Tells
Is made aware
Is informed
Is told
Learns
Discovers
Realises
USEFUL WORDS & PHRASES
Text 2: What are the reasons given
for visiting England’s forests in this
article?
IN PAIRS
Question 1: Retrieval – Sample Mark Scheme
Text 4: What arguments are given for
eating meat in Text 4?
ON YOUR OWN