Choosing Your Related Texts

Choosing the right related text for a HSC® Exam English essay can seem daunting at first. This is understandable: related texts are a big factor in determining how sophisticated the insights and arguments in your essay can be. This blog will take you through some of the best ways you can narrow down your choice of related text for the HSC® Exam!

 

Text Type

A good indication of which related text you may want to choose depends on the type of text. Consider the text type for your prescribed text. Now cast that text type aside and look elsewhere! As a general rule of thumb, try and choose a related text that is different in type to your prescribed. If your prescribed text is a poem, don’t choose a poem for your related text. This isn’t because the HSC® Exam markers hate seeing too much poetry, but because they want to see how widely you have read, and how you are able to analyse and critically write about texts of different types. It’s great that you are able to critically analyse a film and write about camera angles, lighting and costuming, but to do that again for a different text doesn’t give you the opportunity to expand on your knowledge and showcase just how much you know about each different text type. Simply by writing about a poem and a play, you get the chance to discuss rhyme scheme, symbolism and imagery or even stage directions, cues, and dialogue. This in itself gives more scope to show off your knowledge.

 

Content

Next, you should consider the content of your prescribed text, and find a related text which in some way resonates with it. You’ll want to find a text that shares some of the same themes or ideas so that you can draw ties seamlessly with your prescribed text. For instance, if your Area of Study prescribed text is a non – fiction biographical novel about a soldier in the early 1900’s, you might want to find a related text that has similar themes; perhaps loss, war, or even nostalgia. It will be hard to write a deep essay if your related text is about an inventor who manages to create a time machine, who in one sentence mentions having had a friend who was alive during the war. Having superficial relations between your prescribed and related texts will give your essay a superficial undertone, and will only hinder your ability to create meaningful ties between your texts. Rather, having strong thematic or symbolic ties between the texts allow you to delve into deeper ideas and develop more mature and sophisticate insights.

 

Popularity

This might be a fairly obvious point, but avoid choosing a related text which is the latest pop culture trend. So, if you were doing your HSC® Exam while Twilight came out, and you chose Twilight as a related text, there’s pretty good chance that thousands of other students did the exact same thing. Don’t choose amazingly popular texts that are all over social media or pop culture. Just don’t. You want to stand out.

 

Textual Integrity

The final thing I would recommend when trying to find a related text is making sure that what you are about to write about has textual integrity. This basically means how likely a text is to hold up in the history of literature in the near or distant future. To reference my previous example, something like Twilight lacks textual integrity compared to anything by Shakespeare, Dickens, or Eliot. As a general rule of thumb, English teachers love classic texts and authors. They will be far more impressed that you have chosen to write about 18th century Romanticism than if you discuss Finding Dory, no matter how well you do it. If you know a text has stood the test of time and is considered a distinguished and influential text, then that’s a good indication that your English teachers and HSC® Exam markers will love it. In saying this, also steer away from popular classics, like Romeo and Juliet or To Kill a Mockingbird, because there’s a good chance a lot of students will write about them too.

Of course, if in doubt, there’s no harm in double checking with your teacher that the related text you have chosen works well with your prescribed text. At the end of the day, if write about a text you enjoy writing about; this will definitely shine through in your final essay!