Critical Essay Workshop
Effective Topic Sentences
For today’s lesson you are going to need:
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Your notes on P.Q.E.
Your notes on all three texts studied.
Your generic essay plans.
Your example P.Q.E paragraphs.
It is very important to ensure that
each P.Q.E paragraph in your
critical essay has an effective and
detailed topic sentence.
Point (topic sentence)
You write one sentence and you do 3 things:
• Make a point about the text which indicates what
you will be focusing on in your paragraph.
• Refer to the essay question (try to paraphrase).
• Refer to the theme of the text (directly or
indirectly).
You should also:
• Avoid listing techniques.
• Vary your vocabulary.
“Shooting Stars”
“Shooting Stars” example
The atmosphere of death that permeates
the poem is made apparent to the reader
through Duffy’s depiction of the pain and
suffering that the Jews were forced to
endure inside the concentration camp as
a result of the inhumanity of their Nazi
captors. The speaker would have been
constantly reminded of her imminent death as she
informs us that she was forced to live “beneath the
gaze of men with guns”. Duffy’s use of emotive
language with “guns” clearly demonstrates the
persistent threat of violence and aggression that…
3 minute Task- “Shooting Stars”
Write a topic sentence for a paragraph about
Duffy’s portrayal of the Jewish prisoners
inside the concentration camp.
Essay question:
Choose a poem in which the tone is sinister.
Show how the poem creates this tone and discuss
its relative importance in your appreciation of the
poem.
The sinister tone that permeates the poem is
made immediately clear to the reader
through Duffy’s depiction of how the
Jewish prisoners maintain their dignity and
self-respect despite being exposed to such
brutal and humiliating inhumanity inside
the concentration camp.
2 minute Task- “Shooting Stars”
Write a topic sentence for a paragraph about
Duffy’s portrayal of the barbarity of the Nazi
soldiers.
Essay question:
Choose a poem in which the tone is sinister.
Show how the poem creates this tone and discuss
its relative importance in your appreciation of the
poem.
The inhumanity of mankind is represented
through the brutal and horrific actions of
the Nazi soldiers and how they abuse,
torture and murder their prisoners and this
enables the poet to effectively establish a
sinister tone throughout.
1.5 minute Task- “Shooting
Stars”
Write a topic sentence for a paragraph about Duffy’s
portrayal of the pain and suffering that the Jewish
prisoners were forced to endure.
Essay question:
Choose a poem in which the poet explores the emotion of
anguish.
Show how the poet explores the emotion and discuss to
what extent he or she is successful in deepening your
understanding of it.
The intense anguish of the speaker is made
apparent to the reader as she vividly
describes the pain and suffering that she
had to endure at the hands of the Nazis
while imprisoned inside the concentration
camp.
“The Prime of Miss Jean
Brodie”
“Jean Brodie” example
Jean Brodie’s flaws as an educator are
abundantly clear from the beginning of the
novel and the reader is made aware of how
her fascist philosophy has such a dramatic
influence on her conduct in the classroom.
Brodie’s extremely close relationship with the six favoured
young women in her “set” means that they are
“immediately recognisable” in the school, mostly as a
consequence of being “vastly informed on a lot of
subjects irrelevant to the authorised curriculum”. This
effectively demonstrates the extent of Brodie’s
dereliction…
3 minute Task- “Jean Brodie”
Write a topic sentence for a paragraph about
Brodie’s relationship with her “set”.
Essay question:
Choose a novel in which friendship or love is put to
the test.
Explain briefly how this situation arises and go on to
discuss how the outcome of the test leads you to
a greater understanding of the central concern(s)
of the text.
The loving relationship between Brodie and
her “set” is put to the test at numerous
points throughout the novel as she
attempts to win their loyalty and devotion
through deception and manipulation and,
ultimately, she betrays the girls through
her exploitation of them.
2 minute Task- “Jean Brodie”
Write a topic sentence for a paragraph about
Brodie’s relationship with her colleagues.
Essay question:
Choose a novel or short story in which one of the
main characters is not in harmony with her/his
society.
Describe the character’s situation and go on to
discuss how it adds to your understanding of a
central concern of the text.
Brodie’s fascination with fascism means that
she has a fractured relationship with her
colleagues as this political philosophy
would not be in harmony with the British
political climate at this time.
1.5 minute Task- “Jean
Brodie”
Write a topic sentence for a paragraph about
Brodie’s betrayal by Sandy and its aftermath.
Essay question:
Choose a novel in which a confrontation between
two characters is of central importance in the
text.
Explain the circumstances of the confrontation and
discuss its importance to your understanding of
the novel as a whole.
Brodie’s reaction to being dismissed leads to
a revealing confrontation with Sandy in
which she reveals the true extent of her
arrogance and self-delusion and how she
becomes obsessed with discovering who
betrayed her.
“The Crucible”
“The Crucible” example
The nature of Proctor’s heroism is put to the
test in Act Two as he is faced with a
dilemma over whether he should continue
redeeming himself by revealing the lies of
Abigail, or stay silent in order to protect his
reputation. Proctor is aware that Abigail is
making false accusations of witchcraft and his
wife, Elizabeth, tries to persuade him to go to
court in order to expose her lies; yet he is
reluctant...
3 minute Task- “The Crucible”
Write a topic sentence for a paragraph focusing
on Act 1.
Essay question:
Choose a play in which a character has to exist in a
hostile environment.
Briefly describe the environment and discuss the
extent to which it influences your response to the
character’s behaviour and to the outcome of the
play.
As the play opens, the audience is
immediately made aware of the extent of
Proctor’s self-hatred as he loathes himself
for being a sinner and a hypocrite in such
a religious society and he is determined to
redeem himself for his un-Christian
conduct.
2 minute Task- “The Crucible”
Write a topic sentence for a paragraph focusing
on Act 4.
Essay question:
Choose a play in which the dramatist creates
tension at the beginning or at the end.
Explain how the tension is created and discuss how
it contributes to an effective introduction or
conclusion to the play.
The tension in the play gradually builds to a
climax in Act four as Proctor is faced with
a dilemma over whether to sign his
confession to witchcraft and live as a liar
and hypocrite, or refuse and so die a man
of honesty and integrity with his reputation
intact.
1.5 minute Task- “The
Crucible”
Write a topic sentence for a paragraph focusing
on Act 3.
Essay question:
Choose from a play a scene in which you consider a
character makes a significant error of judgement.
Briefly explain the nature of this error of judgement and
discuss how this error and its consequences influence
your understanding of character and/or theme in the
play as a whole.
As Act Two draws to a close, Proctor makes
another crucial error of judgement by
relying on the testimony of Mary Warren in
order to undermine Abigail as her inability
to convince Danforth of Williams’ lies in
Act three ultimately leads to Proctor risking
his reputation by being forced to reveal the
affair.