Year 13 - Level 3- Critical analysis.

The key to success at Level 3 NCEA, is this new phrase: Critically analyse.

That means:

1. For any text you need to know the technical term of either the words, or visual, techniques used by the author, poet, director, etc.
2. Then you need the quote.
3. Then you need to know what the author's purpose was in using that technique.
4. Then you need to know how the technique achieves that purpose.
5. Then you need a personal response to the author's purpose. this needs to be linked to the text overall, or another text, or a critic's response.

Therefore, our paragraph, based on one of Baxter's technique, may be:

Baxter uses the metaphor, Old Samurai" to describe the tomcat. The reason he does this is because he wants to honour the fighting ways of the cat. A Samurai was an honourable fighting warrior in traditional Japanese society, and if a samuari did not fight, then their life lacked purpose. The fact that the cat is old means that it is a successful fighter, because there were no old bad samurai, and Baxter honours this part of the cat's personality. This relates to the scars and stitches that others may think make the cat look scruffy and ugly, but Baxter calls them, "badges of bouts and fights" which makes us think of the medals we give soldiers to honour them when they survive a battle.

Practise the steps with all techniques, and then the paragraphs need to be cobbled together to make a successful essay.