during the short answer essay part of the examination ethan was absolutely

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How to Write a Good Answer to Exam Essay Questions

Last Updated: July 9, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Tristen Bonacci . Tristen Bonacci is a Licensed English Teacher with more than 20 years of experience. Tristen has taught in both the United States and overseas. She specializes in teaching in a secondary education environment and sharing wisdom with others, no matter the environment. Tristen holds a BA in English Literature from The University of Colorado and an MEd from The University of Phoenix. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 649,790 times.

Answering essay questions on an exam can be difficult and stressful, which can make it hard to provide a good answer. However, you can improve your ability to answer essay questions by learning how to understand the questions, form an answer, and stay focused. Developing your ability to give excellent answers on essay exams will take time and effort, but you can learn some good essay question practices and start improving your answers.

Understanding the Question

• Analyze: Explain the what, where, who, when, why, and how. Include pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses, etc.
• Compare: Discuss the similarities and differences between two or more things. Don't forget to explain why the comparison is useful.
• Contrast: Discuss how two or more things are different or distinguish between them. Don't forget to explain why the contrast is useful.
• Define: State what something means, does, achieves, etc.
• Describe: List characteristics or traits of something. You may also need to summarize something, such as an essay prompt that asks "Describe the major events that led to the American Revolution."
• Discuss: This is more analytical. You usually begin by describing something and then present arguments for or against it. You may need to analyze the advantages or disadvantages of your subject.
• Evaluate: Offer the pros and cons, positives and negatives for a subject. You may be asked to evaluate a statement for logical support, or evaluate an argument for weaknesses.
• Explain: Explain why or how something happened, or justify your position on something.
• Prove: Usually reserved for more scientific or objective essays. You may be asked to include evidence and research to build a case for a specific position or set of hypotheses.
• Summarize: Usually, this means to list the major ideas or themes of a subject. It could also ask you to present the main ideas in order to then fully discuss them. Most essay questions will not ask for pure summary without anything else.

• Raise your hand and wait for your teacher to come over to you or approach your teacher’s desk to ask your question. This way you will be less likely to disrupt other test takers.

Forming Your Response

• Take a moment to consider your organization before you start writing your answer. What information should come first, second, third, etc.?
• In many cases, the traditional 5-paragraph essay structure works well. Start with an introductory paragraph, use 3 paragraphs in the body of the article to explain different points, and finish with a concluding paragraph.
• It can also be really helpful to draft a quick outline of your essay before you start writing.

• You may want to make a list of facts and figures that you want to include in your essay answer. That way you can refer to this list as you write your answer.
• It's best to write down all the important key topics or ideas before you get started composing your answer. That way, you can check back to make sure you haven't missed anything.

• For example, imagine that your essay question asks: "Should the FIFA World Cup be awarded to countries with human rights violations? Explain and support your answer."
• You might restate this as "Countries with human rights violations should not be awarded the FIFA World Cup because this rewards a nation's poor treatment of its citizens." This will be the thesis that you support with examples and explanation.

• For example, whether you argue that the FIFA World Cup should or should not be awarded to countries with human rights violations, you will want to address the opposing side's argument. However, it needs to be clear where your essay stands about the matter.
• Often, essay questions end up saying things along the lines of "There are many similarities and differences between X and Y." This does not offer a clear position and can result in a bad grade.

• If you are required to write your answer by hand, then take care to make your writing legible and neat. Some professors may deduct points if they cannot read what you have written.

Staying Calm and Focused

• If you get to a point during the exam where you feel too anxious to focus, put down your pencil (or take your hands off of the keyboard), close your eyes, and take a deep breath. Stretch your arms and imagine that you are somewhere pleasant for a few moments. When you have completed this brief exercise, open up your eyes and resume the exam.

• For example, if the exam period is one hour long and you have to answer three questions in that time frame, then you should plan to spend no more than 20 minutes on each question.
• Look at the weight of the questions, if applicable. For example, if there are five 10-point short-answers and a 50-point essay, plan to spend more time on the essay because it is worth significantly more. Don't get stuck spending so much time on the short-answers that you don't have time to develop a complex essay.

• This strategy is even more important if the exam has multiple essay questions. If you take too much time on the first question, then you may not have enough time to answer the other questions on the exam.

• If you feel like you are straying away from the question, reread the question and review any notes that you made to help guide you. After you get refocused, then continue writing your answer.
• Try to allow yourself enough time to go back and tighten up connections between your points. A few well-placed transitions can really bump up your grade.

Community Q&A

• If you are worried about running out of time, put your watch in front of you where you can see it. Just try not to focus on it too much. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• If you need more practice, make up your own questions or even look at some practice questions online! Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

Tips from our Readers

• Look up relevant quotes if your exam is open notes. Use references from books or class to back up your answers.
• Make sure your sentences flow together and that you don't repeat the same thing twice!

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.linnbenton.edu/student-services/library-tutoring-testing/learning-center/academic-coaching/documents/Strategies%20For%20Answering%20Essay%20Questions.pdf
• ↑ https://success.uark.edu/get-help/student-resources/short-answer-essays.php

About This Article

To write a good answer to an exam essay question, read the question carefully to find what it's asking, and follow the instructions for the essay closely. Begin your essay by rephrasing the question into a statement with your answer in the statement. Include supplemental facts and figures if necessary, or do textual analysis from a provided piece to support your argument. Make sure your writing is clear and to the point, and don't include extra information unless it supports your argument. For tips from our academic reviewer on understanding essay questions and dealing with testing nerves, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Personal or Social Tragedy? A Close Reading of Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome

Photograph of writer Edith Wharton, taken by E. F. Cooper, at Newport, Rhode Island. 

Wikimedia Commons

"…after all, the tragedy unveiled to us is social rather than personal… 'Ethan Frome' is to me above all else a judgment on that system which fails to redeem such villages as Mrs. Wharton’s Starkfield." —Literary critic and author Edwin Bjorkman

Readers of Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome (1911) can hardly fail to be moved by the suffering of the title character. Ethan is, quite literally, a physical and emotional wreck. His misery captivates the narrator. Indeed, the whole body of the novel represents the narrator’s effort to reconstruct the tragic circumstances of Ethan’s life. Yet even as the story concludes, we are not quite sure what or who to blame for Ethan’s ruin. Was Ethan ruined by his personal problems (his loveless marriage) or by “the crushing, choking atmosphere” of his social environment? Had Ethan been able to express his love for Mattie, could he have lived happily in Starkfield?

This lesson will challenge students to weigh the textual evidence for and against the claim that Ethan’s woes lay in staying in Starkfield—and not in the details of his personal relationships. In the process, students will engage in a close reading of pre-selected passages from the novel, along with a few passages of their own choosing through at-home reading journals. These close reading exercises will culminate in an in-class debate and possibly the crafting of a short argumentative essay, in which students will have an opportunity to respond to Bjorkman’s thesis.

Guiding Questions

Is Ethan’s story a personal tragedy born of his indecision and personal failures, a social tragedy forecast by the oppressive New England setting, or both?

Learning Objectives

Situate Ethan Frome within the context of American regionalist literature.

Gather, annotate, and analyze key quotations from Ethan Frome.

Respond to contemporary reviews of Ethan Frome.

Use textual evidence to support their own claims about the plight of the novel’s protagonist.

Lesson Plan Details

Who is responsible for Ethan’s ruin and misery? Ethan himself? Zeena? Fate? Starkfield? What would it have taken for Ethan to be happy? Marrying Mattie? Having more money? More courage? Better luck? Leaving town? Ever since the book’s publication, these questions have been central to the critical reception of Ethan Frome . The critic Edwin Bjorkman, for example, offered the following comment in a 1913 essay:

"Glancing over the all too brief volume [Ethan Frome] in retrospect, I can find only one point where it suggests a certain degree of failure, of growth still unachieved…   "As I read the book now, I come away with an impression that, in the author’s mind at least, the one thing needed to change Ethan’s life from a hell to a heaven would have been the full and free expression of his love for Matt. "Romantic love, as idealized for us by our forefathers, has long ago gone into bankruptcy. Had Zeena died and Matt married Ethan—well, it is my private belief that inside of a few years life on that farm would have been practically what it was before Matt arrived, with Matt playing the part of a Zeena II—different, of course, and yet the same. For the life in our Starkfields is cursed or saved not by this or that single incident, not by the presence or absence of this or that individual, the curse lies in staying there, in breathing the crushing, choking atmosphere of Starkfieldian sterility."

Bjorkman points to a fundamental ambiguity in Wharton’s narrative—is the oppression of the environment such that opportunities for personal growth are choked out? Is this a problem for the society as a whole, or is it, instead, simply a problem for Ethan and his family?

Wharton conception of Ethan Frome was motivated, in part, by her response to a previous generation of (mostly female) “New England fiction” writers, who wrote with some affection about the small communities tucked away in the New England landscape. What follows are Wharton’s own comments on the New England fiction of the late nineteenth century, and its influence on the writing of Ethan Frome :

"I had known something of New England village life long before I made my home in the same county as my imaginary Starkfield; though, during the years spent there, certain of its aspects became much more familiar to me.   "Even before that final initiation, however, I had had an uneasy sense that New England of fiction bore little—except a vague botanical and dialectical—resemblance to the harsh and beautiful land as I had seen it. Even the abundant enumeration of sweet-fern, asters, and mountain-laurel, and the conscientious reproduction of the vernacular, left me with the feeling that the outcropping granite had in both cases been overlooked. I give the impression merely as a personal one; it accounts for 'Ethan Frome,' and may, to some readers, in a measure justify it." —From Wharton’s Introduction to Ethan Frome

"But the book to the making of which I brought the greatest joy and the fullest ease was 'Ethan Frome.' For years I had wanted to draw life as it really was in the derelict mountain villages of New England, a life even in my time, and a thousandfold more a generation earlier, utterly unlike that seen through the rose-coloured spectacles of my predecessors, Mary Wilkins and Sarah Orne Jewett. In those days the snowbound villages of Western Massachusetts were still grim places, morally and physically: insanity, incest and slow mental and moral starvation were hidden away behind the paintless wooden house-fronts of the long village street, or in the isolates farm-houses on the neighbouring hills…" —From Wharton’s 1934 autobiography, A Backward Glance

These comments, along with the Bjorkman passage cited above, are all reproduced in the Ethan Frome: Sources handout . You may want to print and distribute that handout before beginning the lesson in preparation for the activities below.

Note that the generation of New England fiction that motivated Wharton was a subset of the much broader “local color” or “regionalist” movement in American literature, which flourished during the decades following the Civil War. An overview of the local color movement (its defining characteristics, techniques, and authors) is available on Prof. Donna Campbell’s American Literature site. You may wish to copy and distribute this overview for use with Activity 1 below, or prepare to project it on a screen or otherwise share it with students.

Edith Wharton: A life in pictures and texts , via Internet Public Library, offers a biography of Wharton through pictures, and serves as a nice introduction to her life for students. The excellent exhibit, Edith Wharton’s World , at the EDSITEment-reviewed Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery website highlights Wharton’s associations with various great literary, cultural, and political figures of her era, including: William Dean Howells, Henry James, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Theodore Roosevelt. 

• Review the lesson plan and the websites used throughout. Locate and bookmark suggested materials and websites. Download and print out documents you will use and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing, including the “Close Reading” worksheet and the Ethan Frome: Sources handout .
• Students can access the primary source materials and some of the activity materials via the EDSITEment LaunchPad .
• An online text of Ethan Frome is available at Project Gutenberg .

Activity 1. Edith Wharton and (New England) Regional Literature

Begin by introducing the class to Edith Wharton’s life, using the resources discussed in the Background section above. Explain that Wharton follows a generation of mainly female authors who wrote about life in New England—authors who placed a heavy emphasis on the significance of the regional landscape, culture, mores, and dialect. Note that these authors belonged to a movement in nineteenth century American literature called “local color” or “regionalist” fiction.

Provide an overview of the local color movement, drawing from Prof. Donna Campbell’s American Literature site (see Background for more information, above). Review the list of “characteristics” and “techniques” associated with regional literature, and have students take note of the specifics for the following:

• Detailed description
• Frame story

As you go through this list, remind students that they will be keeping “reading journals” as they read Ethan Frome , and they should keep the above in mind as possible ways to respond to their reading selections (e.g., for one journal entry, students might focus on the narrator, or a specific theme, or the use of description in a chapter).

Note to students that Edith Wharton was in some ways critiquing some of the New England regionalist writers of the time. Read with the class Edith Wharton’s own comments on her New England regionalist predecessors, which can be found in the Ethan Frome: Sources PDF (a link is also available via the EDSITEment LaunchPad ). Notice that despite the apparent affinities between Wharton and her predecessors, Wharton’s own motivation lay largely in repudiating the idealized portrayals of New England life characteristic of the regionalist genre.

Take note of the two authors whom Wharton explicitly accuses of viewing New England through “rose-coloured spectacles”: Sarah Orne Jewett and Mary Wilkins (Freeman). If students in the class are familiar with the works of either Jewett or Freeman, ask them if Wharton’s complaint against Jewett and Freeman seems justified? Otherwise, encourage students to pay close attention to the qualities of regionalist literature as discussed above. Throughout their reading of Ethan Frome , they should keep in mind this question:

• Based on the criteria discussed in class, to what extent is Ethan Frome consistent with the typical regionalist novel? To what extent does it break from the regionalist mold?

This question is an excellent one to return to at the conclusion of the novel.

Activity 2. Introducing Ethan

Turn to the introductory chapter of Ethan Frome and, if time allows, read it aloud with students (alternatively, have them read it the night before). As the class completes the chapter, help them closely review the chapter with the following questions in mind, pointing to specific passages in order to discern answers. The point of this exercise is both to introduce the novel as well as to demonstrate close reading skills that students show employ as they read the novel and consider ideas in their reading journals.

Review “who” is telling the story and how the narrator is getting his information. Ask students to describe the characters they are introduced to in the opening “frame” of the narrative. Invite the class to discuss the setting of Ethan Frome and its role in the overall construction of the novel.

• Who is the narrator and where is he from?
• Is it significant that the narrator is from out of town? Why or why not?
• How does the narrator differ from those who supply him with information about Ethan Frome?
• How is Starkfield depicted? What does its name suggest?
• How does the narrator describes the town and its inhabitants? Is the tone celebratory, disdainful, or somewhere in between?

This exercise is partially to review the novel, but also to show students how to read closely by first beginning with a simple question (e.g., who is speaking?) and then move into a deeper reading of the situation with more in-depth questions. Be sure to point out to students how beginning with straight-forward questions and then “drilling down” with increasingly complex questions in the same line of thought can reveal quite a lot about a novel’s elements, be it narration, setting, or theme. Also note that questions can begin as factual ones (e.g. “What is the name of the town”) to more abstract, argumentative ones (e.g. “Is Wharton’s depiction of Starkfield always ‘stark,’ or does she also note some redeeming qualities of the landscape?”).

As students read through the whole of Ethan Frome , they can focus on any number of issues, while keeping track of their ideas in their reading journals. In addition to following attributes of regionalist literature, students might consider any or all of the following questions:

• Where in the text of Ethan Frome can we detect Wharton’s professed commitment to portraying life in New England “as it really was”?
• Based on Ethan Frome, what are some characteristics of rural New England and the people who live there?
• How do we know that the story is as much about Starkfield—the place—as it is about Ethan, the person? How are the characters and the setting intertwined?

With these in mind, conversations about literary realism, depictions of community and setting, and other such topics can be discussed throughout the class exploration of the novel. To help guide students further in their close-reading efforts, use the following activity as your class is reading the novel.

Activity 3. Reading Ethan Closely

To stimulate close reading of the novel, present the short excerpt from Edwin Bjorkman’s essay, written 2 years after the publication of Wharton’s novel. (Note that the excerpt can be found in the attached Ethan Frome: Close Reading handout .) First, ask students to explain Bjorkman’s central thesis: namely, that Ethan was ruined by staying in Starkfield—not by staying with Zeena. Then discuss:

• Is Bjorkman right to claim that, “in the author’s mind at least, the one thing needed to change Ethan’s life from a hell to a heaven would have been the full and free expression of his love for Matt”? Does the class share Bjorkman’s impression that Wharton concedes too much to “romantic love”?
• Is there any textual evidence to support Bjorkman’s claim that, “Had Zeena died and Matt married Ethan…inside of a few years life on that farm would have been practically what it was before Matt arrived”? Is there any textual evidence against that claim?
• How does Bjorkman’s critique square with Wharton’s own comments on New England regionalist literature?

After a brief discussion of these points, students will be ready to complete the “Close Reading” worksheet . The worksheet contains four pre-selected passages from Ethan Frome , each containing evidence for and/or against Bjorkman’s claims. With his claims in mind, as well as Wharton’s own professed reasons for writing the novel, students should analyze and annotate the passages. Then, in the space provided, students should write 3-4 sentences using each passage to address the following question:

Does the text portray Ethan as a victim of his social and physical environment, or of his own personal choices and temperament?

Once students have analyzed the four assigned passages, they should add additional quotations of their own choosing and repeat the passage analysis exercise for each one. Note that this activity can be assigned in a variety of ways—spread out over several evenings of reading; given as an in-class assignment for individuals or for groups; divided among groups who then must debate one another on either side of the issue; or any number of other options.

Depending on the time available, generate discussion based on quotations students find, questions such as those listed above, ideas students share from their reading journals, or return to the discussion about regionalism. Students will likely bring up issues such as free choice (or lack thereof) and personal agency, peer pressure, public versus private, personal versus social roles and responsibilities, and any number of others. Feel free to contextualize Wharton further as a realist who reflected, in Ethan Frome particularly, a more deterministic flair often seen in the naturalists. As with previous exercises, ask students to use textual evidence to back up their assertions.

As a final activity, consider asking the class to take one side or the other on the central issue of Ethan’s agency and debate the point. Give students at least 5 minutes to find key passages to use as evidence (and more time, if possible, so that the debate is substantive).

There are a number of potential assessment activities for this lesson plan. Student reading journals can be collected for review, as can the close reading worksheets. Teachers might evaluate the students’ group work or individual participation in the final debate in Activity 3. Attention to textual evidence, originality of ideas, and presentation of material all serve well as criteria for evaluation.

For an essay assignment, students who completed the Close Reading Worksheet will be ready to compose a short essay discussing the following claim: Ethan is portrayed as a victim of his social and physical environment . Students should not merely state their agreement or disagreement with the claim; they should try to articulate a more complicated reading of the text, indicating the extent to which the claim is true and the extent to which it must be qualified. They should give reasons for their conclusions, in the form of close analysis of textual passages. The most effective essays will strive to account for the whole body of evidence, noting counter-examples and anticipating counter-arguments along the way. Note that by this point, students have already done all the prep-work necessary to begin this assignment, as they will have already compiled and annotated at least eight passages that bear directly on the essay prompt.

As Wharton began her career, the realist school that had so dominated American fiction since the Civil War was just beginning to give way to the rising stars of literary naturalism. Indeed, in many ways Ethan Frome stands at the confluence of the realist and naturalist periods of American literary history. Wharton was claimed by the older generation of prominent realists (like William Dean Howells) for depicting life “as it really is”; yet her emphasis on the power and hostility of our physical and social environments also marked her as a naturalist. Students will notice that both of Wharton’s literary identities are on full display in Ethan Frome , making the text an ideal segue into the works of naturalists like Stephen Crane and Jack London. To explore the complex relationship between realism and naturalism, this lesson can be taught in conjunction with Crane, London, and Literary Naturalism .

Selected EDSITEment Websites

• Local Color
• Edith Wharton: A life in pictures and texts
• Ethan Frome
• Edith Wharton’s World

Materials & Media

Personal or social tragedy: worksheet 1 - ethan frome sources, personal or social tragedy: worksheet 2 - ethan frome close reading.

Structuring the Essay ( AQA GCSE English Literature )

Revision note.

Answering just one essay question can seem daunting. However, examiners just want to see your ideas and opinions on the modern text you have studied. The guide below will enable you to best express these ideas and opinions in a way that will gain the highest marks. It includes guides on:

Answering the question

Planning your essay, writing your essay.

As Paper 2 requires you to answer three questions in 2hr 15min, you have 45 minutes to plan, write and check your modern text essay. A good rule of thumb is to spend:

• 3 minutes analysing the question
• 7-10 minutes planning
• 26-32 minutes writing

It is always a good idea to use the rest of your time to review what you’ve written and to make any adjustments.

Students usually think that spending more time on the writing will gain more marks, but this isn't true: more essay doesn’t mean more marks! Examiners prefer shorter, well planned responses that have a clear argument throughout. Indeed, long essays that are unstructured and sprawling can in fact lose marks for being unfocused. Therefore, it is vital to always set aside time to write a plan.

Regardless of which modern text you study, the type of question you’ll need to write an essay for will be the same. You will be asked a question that asks you to analyse and write in detail about an aspect of the text. Your answer will need to address the text as a whole.

Completing the steps below will ensure you answer the question in the way that examiners are looking for.

6 key steps to answer the modern text exam question effectively:

1. The very first thing you should do once you open your exam paper is to look at the question:

• This sounds obvious, but it’s really crucial to read through the question a few times 
• Why is this important? Regardless of what subject you’re being examined in, the single-biggest mistake most students make in their exams is not reading the question through carefully enough that they answer the question they think they’re being asked, rather than the question they’ve actually been asked 
• It’s especially important to get this right in your GCSE English Literature exams because you only have five essay questions to answer across two papers, so if you misread a question, you’re potentially costing yourself a large number of marks     

2 . Identify the keywords of the question:

• The key words are the focus of the question: the specific themes, ideas or characters the examiners want you to focus on
• For the above question, the key words of the question are “how Russell presents the importance of friendship”
• This is the theme the examiners want you to explore in your essay
• Do not be tempted to write a question on a related theme, even if you have revised more for it: this will affect your overall mark badly, as you won’t be directly answering the question! 
• In the example above, the theme is about friendship, so make sure you plan and write an essay about friendship , rather than, for example, the role of family in the text:
• Although this could be viewed as a related theme, your answer won’t be focused on the question and will lose you marks

3. Critically evaluate the idea or theme of the question in terms of the text as a whole

• Think: what is this question asking, and what is it not asking?
• It is asking you to explore ideas about friendship – a special relationship or bond that exists between people
• The question is not asking you to explore any other themes
• Again, writing about related ideas will actually lose you marks as you aren’t answering the exact question you have been set. The examiner isn’t going to reward you extra marks for information that is factually correct or demonstrates a great understanding of the text if the information is not relevant to the question being asked

Planning your essay is absolutely vital to achieve the highest marks. Examiners always stress that the best responses are those that have a logical, well-structured argument that comes with spending time planning an answer. This, in turn, will enable you to achieve the highest marks for each assessment objective. The main assessment objectives are:

It is important to remember how marks are distributed for each assessment objective: there are 12 marks for AO1, 12 marks for AO2 and 6 marks for AO3. The mark scheme places assessment objectives AO1 and AO2 as the key skills, therefore while AO3 must be addressed in your response, your essay should focus predominantly on AO1 and AO2.

• Your plan should include all aspects of your response, covering all of the assessment objectives, but mainly focusing on AO1 and AO2:
• Your overall argument, or thesis (AO1)
• Your topic sentences for all your paragraphs (AO1)
• The quotations you will be using and analysing from elsewhere in the text (AO1 & AO2)
• A sense of why the writer has made the choices they have (AO2)
• A sense of what contextual factors give further insight into the ideas and theme presented in the question (AO3)
• Therefore, a plan may look like the following:

Some other tips:

• You do not need to include a counter-argument (disagreeing with the question/including paragraphs which begin “On the other hand”)
• The questions have been designed to enable as many students as possible to write essays 
• Examiners say that the inclusion of a counter-argument is often unnecessary and unhelpful
• It can affect your AO1 mark negatively

Given the time pressure of the exam, there is always a temptation for students to do without a plan, especially if they feel they understand the focus of the question well. However, this is a mistake. 

The exam board states: “Where students have written a plan, there is often a sense of a coherent and organised response, for which references and quotations have been selected to support the student’s argument.”

What this means is that writing a plan not only enables you to achieve the highest AO1 marks (for organisation of argument) but also helps you select the most precise quotations and references, which will lead to more relevant analysis of writer’s methods (AO2).

Once you have read and evaluated the question and created a clear plan, you are ready to begin writing. Below is a guide detailing what to include.

Your essay should include:

• An introduction with a thesis statement
• A number of paragraphs (three is ideal!), each covering a separate point. It’s a great idea to start each paragraph with a topic sentence
• A conclusion

Introduction

• Your introduction should aim to clearly, and briefly, answer the question
• The best way to do this is to include a thesis statement
• A thesis statement is a short statement (one or two sentences) that summarises the main point or claim your argument is making
• You should include the exact words from the question in your thesis statement
• Examiners want to see your own opinion : your interpretation of what the writer is trying to show
• Your thesis statement should also attempt to explain why you think the writer has presented their characters in the way that they have: what are they trying to say overall? What is their message?
• A good way to think about this is to ask: what is the writer’s one big idea in terms of the characters or themes addressed in the question?
• Include contextual ideas and perspectives to help explain the writer’s intentions
• Including the writer’s message or one big idea helps create a “conceptualised response”, which examiners reward with the highest marks
• An example of a thesis statement:

Thesis statement:

“Russell presents the importance of friendship through several characters in Blood Brothers, especially Mickey and Edward whose friendship is central to the play. Russell chooses to contrast the power and beauty of their childhood friendship with its final collapse in adulthood, which results in their tragic ending. Their friendship highlights one of Russell’s key messages concerning social class, inequality and poverty which can have devastating consequences on people’s lives.”

• Introductions should not be too long, or include all the details of what each paragraph will include
• You will not be rewarded for including the same information twice, so don’t waste time repeating yourself
• Write your thesis in the third person, not the first person (don’t use “I”)
• “I believe that Russell presents ideas about the importance of friendship …. ❌
• “ Russell presents the importance of friendship through several characters … in order to illustrate …” ✅
• Try to include three separate paragraphs that cover three separate points
• This will ensure your response is to what examiners call the “full task”
• Start each paragraph with a topic sentence
• A topic sentence is an opening sentence which details the focus of its paragraph
• It should include the words of the question
• All topic sentences must relate to your thesis
• They should be seen as sub-points that provide a more specific and narrower focus than your thesis statement
• Everything that follows a topic sentence in a paragraph must support the point it makes

Example of a topic sentence:

“Russell initially depicts Mickey and Edward's friendship as strong despite their disparate social backgrounds, which underscores his message that natural human bonds and relationships are more important than societal norms and expectations.”

• Beware of writing an overly structured paragraph which follows a set pattern
• You may have learned PEE, PEAL, PEED, or other structures for your paragraphs
• However, examiners often say that although these are excellent for learning what to include in essays, they can be limiting in an exam
• Instead, be led by the ideas in the text, and prove your own argument (both the overall thesis and your topic sentences)
• It is always a good idea to include a conclusion to your essay so that your essay reads as coherent and focused on answering the question throughout
• This can result in improved marks for AO1
• However, there is no need to spend a long time writing your conclusion
• A conclusion for a modern text should only summarise the proof you have provided for your thesis
• It only needs to be two or three sentences long
• It should include the words of the question and your thesis
• Remember, you do not get rewarded for including the same information twice

An example of a conclusion:

“To conclude, Russell presents friendship as a fundamental aspect of people’s lives and he demonstrates how these special relationships can be impacted by social inequality and injustice. Through Mickey and Edward, Russell argues that even the closest friendships - and by extension, all bonds between different groups in society - are tested, and potentially broken, by these inequalities.”

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Author: Nick

Nick is a graduate of the University of Cambridge and King’s College London. He started his career in journalism and publishing, working as an editor on a political magazine and a number of books, before training as an English teacher. After nearly 10 years working in London schools, where he held leadership positions in English departments and within a Sixth Form, he moved on to become an examiner and education consultant. With more than a decade of experience as a tutor, Nick specialises in English, but has also taught Politics, Classical Civilisation and Religious Studies.

The Searchers

By john ford (director), the searchers essay questions.

What does Ethan giving his saber to his nephew imply?

After the Confederacy was defeated in the Civil War, the Southern soldiers turned in their sabers as a sign of surrender. The fact that Ethan still has his saber is a statement that he has not nor will he surrender and he continues to believe in the ideals of the Confederacy after the war is over. This shows Ethan's stubbornness, his loyalty to the Confederate cause, and his refusal to go along with something just because everyone else is doing it.

Why is Ethan opposed to Martin calling him "uncle?"

Ethan rescued Marty when he was a young boy and brought him to live with the Edward family. Even so, Ethan is exceedingly prejudiced against Native Americans, and he knows that Marty is 1/8th Cherokee, and so will not accept him as a nephew. This detail creates a tension between the two men, and shows that Ethan is a racist when it comes to thinking about and accepting Native Americans.

How does Ford use the doorway to both introduce and close the story on Ethan?

The opening of the film shows the door to the Edwards family home being opened, as Ethan rides in from the desert to greet his family after years away. This image represents the fact that the family is opening its door to the wildness of the American West. Once she is returned home, Ford shoots an image similar to this opening image, as Laurie and the Jorgensens greet Ethan and Marty as they bring Debbie home. With Debbie returned to the family home, the film reaches its conclusion, and everyone walks towards the safety of the house. Ethan, however, remains outside, and plans to keep moving, a restless soul who will never settle down.

What is Ethan's change of heart in the film?

Ethan is a rather stubborn and immovable character throughout the film. However, by the end, he changes his mind in an important way. When he and Marty initially see that Debbie is living with the Comanche tribe, evidently content in her role as one of Scar's wives, Ethan is disgusted and believes that she is better off dead than integrated with the Comanches. When the Rangers go to rescue Debbie, Marty goes ahead in hopes of convincing her to willingly come back to white society, but as far as he knows, Ethan is set on killing his niece to save her from the humiliation of miscegenation. In a definitive moment, Debbie finds herself in the arms of Ethan. Instead of killing her, however, Ethan changes his mind and simply says, "Let's go home, Debbie." He changes his mind about killing his niece, and decides that she is worth saving after all.

Explain Mrs. Jorgensen's monologue about the white settlers being "Texicans."

Mrs. Jorgensen gives a monologue in the middle of the film that expresses the broader sentiments of white settlers in the West. She discusses the fact that the land is still wild and untamed, that there are still many dangers to living in Texas, but that they are entitled to settle the land for themselves. She suggests that the white people who have chosen to settle there are accepting both a dubious fate and an isolating existence, one that is more transitional than established, but that will pave the way for other white settlers to have an easier time in the future. "Some day this country's gonna be a fine, good place to be. Maybe it needs our bones in the ground before that time can come," she says, remarking on the sacrifices they are making in order to create a better tomorrow.

The Searchers Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Searchers is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Study Guide for The Searchers

The Searchers study guide contains a biography of director John Ford, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Searchers
• The Searchers Summary
• Character List
• Director's Influence

Essays for The Searchers

The Searchers essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Searchers, directed by John Ford.

• The Real Wild West: From The Searchers to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
• The Searchers and Taxi Driver: A Tale of One Anti-Hero

Wikipedia Entries for The Searchers

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Oxford school shooter was ‘feral child’ abandoned by parents, defense psychologist says

A teenager who killed four students at his Michigan high school was like a “feral child,” neglected by his parents and mentally ill, a psychologist testified at a pre-sentencing hearing (Aug. 1)(AP video: Mike Householder)

Ethan Crumbley listens to testimony from Dr. Colin King during his hearing at Oakland County Circuit Court, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Pontiac, Mich. A Michigan judge is expected to hear the third and final day of testimony Tuesday at a unique sentencing hearing for the Oxford High School shooter. (Clarence Tabb Jr./Detroit News via AP, Pool)

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Dr. Colin King, uses an egg to demonstrate the softness of brain tissue in Ethan Crumbley’s brain during testimony in Ethan Crumbley’s hearing at Oakland County Circuit Court, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Pontiac, Mich. A Michigan judge is expected to hear the third and final day of testimony Tuesday at a unique sentencing hearing for the Oxford High School shooter. (Clarence Tabb Jr./Detroit News via AP, Pool)

Defense attorney Paulette Loftin questions witness Dr. Colin King during Ethan Crumbley’s hearing at Oakland County Circuit Court, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 Pontiac, Mich. (Clarence Tabb Jr./Detroit News via AP, Pool)

Buck Myre, father of Tate Myre, listens to the testimony of Dr. Colin King during Ethan Crumbley’s hearing at Oakland County Circuit Court, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 Pontiac, Mich. (Clarence Tabb Jr./Detroit News via AP, Pool)

Assistant Prosecutor David Williams cross-examines Dr. Colin King, a psychologist, during Ethan Crumbley’s hearing at Oakland County Circuit Court, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, in Pontiac, Mich. (Clarence Tabb Jr./Detroit News via AP, Pool)

Dr. Colin King, a psychologist, answers questions during cross-examination from Assistant Prosecutor David Williams during Ethan Crumbley’s hearing at Oakland County Circuit Court, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, in Pontiac, Mich. (Clarence Tabb Jr./Detroit News via AP, Pool)

Assistant Prosecutor David Williams cross-examines Dr. Colin King during Ethan Crumbley’s hearing at Oakland County Circuit Court, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, in Pontiac, Mich. (Clarence Tabb Jr./Detroit News via AP, Pool)

Ethan Crumbley, listens to testimony from Dr. Colin King, a psychologist, during his hearing at Oakland County Circuit Court Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, in Pontiac, Mich. The teenager killed four students at his Michigan high school in 2021. The psychologist testified Tuesday at the hearing to determine if Crumbley will get a life prison sentence. (Clarence Tabb Jr./Detroit News via AP, Pool)

Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald listens to testimony during Ethan Crumbley’s hearing at Oakland County Circuit Court, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, in Pontiac, Mich. The teenager killed four students at his Michigan high school in 2021. A psychologist testified Tuesday at the hearing to determine if the mass shooter will get a life prison sentence. (Clarence Tabb Jr./Detroit News via AP, Pool)

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A teenager who killed four students at his Michigan high school in 2021 was like a “feral child,” deeply neglected by his parents during crucial years and mentally ill, a psychologist testified Tuesday at a hearing to determine if the mass shooter will get a life prison sentence.

Ethan Crumbley’s lawyers also played disturbing videos from jail showing the 17-year-old wailing in distress earlier this year as deputies restrained him. In one image, his head is completely covered with a hood.

“Why didn’t you stop it? I’m sorry. ... Stop it, God, why?” he said.

A psychologist, Colin King, said the shooter was experiencing psychosis, a break from reality. He later predicted that the boy “absolutely” can be rehabilitated.

“A number of my clients have had issues with the law,” said King, who has testified in many homicide cases. “Through psychotherapy and support, they’ve been able to make progress. ... Ethan’s brain is still maturing.”

Crumbley pleaded guilty to murder, terrorism and other charges in a shooting that killed four students and wounded seven others at Oxford High School, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Detroit.

Because of his age — 15 at the time — the shooter can’t automatically be a given life sentence. Oakland County Judge Kwame Rowe first must consider the shooter’s maturity, mental health, unstable family life and other factors set by the U.S. Supreme Court.

A teenager testified in a Michigan courtroom about how she helped save a girl who was severely wounded during the Oxford High shooting in 2021, saying she applied pressure to stop the bleeding and prayed with her (July 28)(AP video: Mike Householder)

He still can order a life sentence, but it would be a rare outcome for a teen. Crumbley otherwise would face a minimum prison sentence between 25 years and 40 years, followed by eligibility for parole. His maximum term would be 60 years.

King said he spent more than 20 hours with the shooter during several meetings, interviewing him and running him through a series of psychological tests. He also reviewed the teen’s dark journal entries and text messages.

King disclosed that the boy believed that a gun was going to be found in his backpack on the day of the shooting when he was sent to the office for drawing violent images in class.

“Ethan said for the first time in his life he felt relieved,” King testified. “He said he just knew the sheriffs were going to burst into the office and arrest him because there was no way — after all that they saw — they weren’t going to search that backpack.”

Sheri Myre, background, mother of slain Oxford student Tate Myre, hugs Assistant Principal Kristy Gibson-Marshall in court, Friday, July 28, 2023, in Pontiac, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

But the backpack was never checked, and the boy was allowed to remain in school. He later emerged from a bathroom and started shooting.

King said the shooter was raised in a turbulent home by parents who left him alone for hours, argued in front of him and weren’t discreet when discussing infidelity, divorce and suicide. The boy was even forced to figure out what to do with his beloved dead dog.

“He can be considered a feral child,” King said.

“It is essentially a child who has been abandoned. ... Someone who is abandoned has what is called arrested development,” he said. “They lack social cues. They become misfits in society.”

The shooter, King concluded, has major depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

“A number of innocent people died,” King said. “I’m not here to make excuses for Ethan Crumbley. He planned the attack. My heart goes out to the victims and their families. He was mentally ill.”

His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, are separately charged with involuntary manslaughter . They’re accused of buying a gun for their son and ignoring his mental health needs.

Prosecutors want a life prison sentence with no chance for parole. During cross examination of King, they suggested the psychologist was giving the shooter a break.

People with depression “all don’t become mass shooters, do they?” assistant prosecutor David Williams said.

Williams repeated evidence that was entered last week: journal writings and a video made the night before the shooting in which the teen declared his plan to attack the school.

He noted that victim Justin Shilling was executed in a bathroom. “You think that’s the product of a juvenile brain?” Williams asked.

“I do,” King replied.

King said adults repeatedly missed opportunities to help the shooter. But Williams noted that help was just a few days away if the boy really wanted it. His parents had assured school staff that he would get counseling within 48 hours after they saw his violent drawings.

Prosecutors last week called four people who witnessed the shooting, including a staff member who was wounded and a student who saved a wounded girl. It was the first time their accounts were aired in court.

The hearing will resume Aug. 18.

Follow Ed White at http://twitter.com/edwritez

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