WHAT SHALL I PUT IN MY FIRST PARAGRAPH?
QVirgil’s Aeneid portrays Aeneas as an example of the ideal Roman. To what extent do you agree with this assessment?
This is a trick question. Because you may write your first paragraph last!
STEP ONE
Read the question carefully and the Guidance Notes too. I can see some important words.
QVirgil’s Aeneid portrays Aeneas as an example of the ideal Roman. To what extent do you agree with this assessment?
portraysThe Aeneid is going to be the main source, but we can think about the way V. chooses to present Aeneas and how we respond to him. We can ask about how he shapes the story to give us a particular image of Aeneas. We can ask whether a modern reader may be misled by imposing alien values on the narrative. We can think about who V. was and why he wrote – this brings in the idea of Augustan literature.
exampleExemplarity: Block 1 p.84-5, Block 2 p. 7-8. We will be doing lots more on this next. But you can think about how role models work, with particular reference to Roman society. Your previous reading will help here. Is a role model the same as a perfect person?
idealAre there clashing ideals of what an ideal Roman might be. ‘Ideal’ brings in the idea of values? What are the values V. is exploring and whose values are they. You can think about Augustan Values here.
RomanWe have thought of Augustus and idealism. We are looking at Aeneas not as an ideal man but an ideal Roman. Is there a difference? What values in the Aeneid seem distinctively Roman? Are there different versions of the ideal Roman?
STEP TWO
Now you have analysed the question, you need to plan your essay. You will have to choose which directions to take, and how far to develop your ideas. You only have 1,000 words.
STEP THREE
Now you have planned your essay, you can plan the first and last paragraphs.
The first paragraph is a short summary of where you are going to take the essay: a brief statement of your analysis of the question, a sign post, a sketch map.
Tutors are pathetically keen for people to tell them interesting things about their favourite subject. We really don’t want to get out more. The first paragraph should at least tell your tutor that you have read the question and are going to write something sensible. But ideally it should make your tutor well-disposed and enthusiastic by indicating that you have a confident line on your topic. It must be short, because your tutor will be keen to get to the main arguments.
During the essay you will make claims. These should be persuasive and tell a clear story. It is like setting out a case in court.
The last paragraph sums up the claims you have made. Adding up all your claims together, what is the overall gist of your answer?
Your tutor reads your essay from top to bottom. By the time she gets to the end, she may have forgotten all the brilliant things you said at the beginning and in the middle. You don’t want to leave her with her attention focussed on the paragraph you happened to position at the end of your essay, especially if you were running out of steam by that point or had thought of something more interesting to do. Your tutor doesn’t have anything more interesting to do. She is absorbed in her favourite subject. She really is reading that dashed-off jumbled paragraph which you have only put in to up the word count. So, last of all, put in a paragraph which reminds her of all your most brilliant moments, and, preferably shows how they all connect up to create a brilliant, consistent, balanced, well-planned response to the question, in fact, the best ever response to the question. Think of it as summing up the case for your essay, or even as your final verdict on the question. Keep it short for maximum impact.