TOP OF THE CHARTS
Studying with charts can make exam prep a little easier, advises Conor Murphy
There are many ways for you to approach your study but most find starting the process to be overwhelming. There are just so many texts genres, styles to study. How can you gather all that information from your notebooks into something a bit more manageable? One of the easiest ways is the use of charts.
By creating charts for your poems, plays and novels you can create a simpler way of holding the information and an easier way for you to check, analyse and learn that information.
A poetry chart is a very simple thing. Along the left-hand side is a list of a poet’s poems and across the top is a list of areas of study. Story, analysis, language, theme and opinion. Each one can be filled in with bullet points. The story element is straight forward. Here you are just writing down what happens in the poem, disregarding the metaphors etc. This is just a list of events. This might be a simple word or a sentence or a list of bullet points.
Next is Analysis. Here you write a simple outline of what the poem might be about. A reading of the poem. You don’t have to include details, this is brief, the details are in your notes.
Next is language. What poetic techniques, words, images, form etc, are most prominent? Again, you only include a couple of representative elements here.
Theme. One-word themes please, if possible. The opinion section is crucial. Here you write down what you think. This is an honest opinion, not one received from notes, not one that everyone necessarily agrees with. This is your opinion.
When the chart is complete you can look across all the poems and find connections. Which poems use the same techniques? Which poems touch on the same themes? Which poems did you prefer and why? This guides your essays and your study. Connections between poems is vital to a good essay on a poet, as is an original opinion.
This is what you study. But to really study you have to be able to replicate this off the top of your head. Come up with questions for yourself and plan out an answer. At first you can use the chart to help. After a while you should attempt this without the chart, use a blank sheet. If you find this difficult you know where you have to return to. Blank sheet to chart to notes to poem. And back again.
Charts can be created for the comparative modes as well. Along the left are the three texts and across the top are various headings. For instance, for Cultural Context you can have; gender roles, clothes, entertainment, social groups, religion, money, entertainment etc. Whatever you have been studying in class.
Using this is the same as the poetry one. Here though we can see possible comparative paragraphs laid out before us. Pick a heading and look down over the three texts. This is your paragraph.
Similar charts can be created for your Shakespearean play with the acts or scenes along the left and plot, main characters, themes, language, opinion across the top.
The key to each one of these is that you can eventually replicate them without looking at them. Use them at first to gather and revise information and then to test yourself.
Studying English isn’t easy. Then again nothing worthwhile is.