Writing and Redrafting
Year 11 ATAR Literature • Combined revision • Critical writing
A first draft is for finding out what you think. Redrafting is for making that thinking clear to a reader. The two jobs need different attention, so do them separately.
Plan before you draft
| Step | Question | What to write |
|---|
| 1. Read the question | What is being asked, and what is the scope? | Underline the key terms. Rewrite the question in your own words. |
| 2. Choose a claim | What is my answer, in one sentence? | A contestable claim that names how the text works. |
| 3. Choose three reasons | Why should a reader accept the claim? | Three distinct reasons, not three examples of the same point. |
| 4. Choose evidence | What short detail supports each reason? | One or two precise details per reason, with a note on effect. |
| 5. Name the counter-reading | What is the strongest objection? | One sentence that states it fairly, and one that answers it. |
| 6. Order the reasons | What sequence will be clearest? | A simple plan with one line per paragraph. |
Paragraph architecture
| Move | What it does | Example opening |
|---|
| Claim | States the paragraph's specific point. | "The opening of the story makes isolation spatial rather than emotional." |
| Context | Places the evidence and narrows the focus. | "Before the snake arrives, the narrator describes the house and the bush..." |
| Evidence | Supplies the short detail. | "The country is described as having 'no horizon'..." |
| Analysis | Explains what the detail does and how. | "The phrase removes the vanishing point..." |
| Link | Connects to the claim and the larger argument. | "Isolation is therefore built into the way the setting is seen..." |
Introductions and conclusions
Introductions should be short and specific. Name the text, the question and your claim. Avoid broad opening statements about humanity, society or the power of literature; they delay the argument and usually say nothing that the rest of the response needs.
Conclusions should return to the claim, not repeat the introduction. Say what the argument has shown, why it matters for the text as a whole, and what remains uncertain or unresolved. Do not introduce new evidence in the final paragraph.
| Weak opening | Stronger opening |
|---|
| "Since the beginning of time, writers have explored the theme of isolation." | "Lawson's 'The Drover's Wife' makes isolation a property of the landscape rather than a passing mood." |
| "In this essay I will discuss the use of symbols in the novel." | "In Picnic at Hanging Rock, the Rock is less a setting than a limit on what the novel can explain." |
Cohesion
- Repeat key terms deliberately so the reader can follow the argument.
- Use signposting that names the move: "A second pattern...", "The contrast matters because...", "A reader might object...".
- Keep the tense consistent: use the present tense for events in a text.
- Put the most important idea at the start or end of a paragraph, not buried in the middle.
- Keep sentences manageable. If a sentence contains three claims, split it.
Three-pass redraft
| Pass | Question | What to change |
|---|
| 1. Evidence pass | Is every claim supported by a specific detail? | Add a detail, shorten a quotation, or cut a claim you cannot support. |
| 2. Clarity pass | Can a reader follow the argument from sentence to sentence? | Split long sentences, define terms, replace vague pronouns with nouns. |
| 3. Effect pass | Does every quotation have an explanation of what it does? | Add the missing analysis, or delete the quotation if it is not doing work. |
Before and after
| Before | After |
|---|
| "Lawson uses lots of description to show that the bush is isolated and this makes the story sad." | "Lawson repeats 'bush' and removes the horizon, so the setting feels enclosed even though it is described as endless. The sadness comes less from what happens than from the sense that there is nowhere else to go." |
| "The author uses symbolism to show that the Rock is mysterious." | "The Rock is described through measurements and observations that never quite account for it. The novel uses this gap to make the landscape resist the school's habit of classification." |
Writing under time pressure
- Ten minutes of planning. Read the question, choose a claim, select evidence and write a one-line plan for each paragraph.
- Draft the body first. Write the paragraphs in the order you planned. Leave the introduction until you know what the argument actually is.
- Leave time to redraft. A short, focused pass on evidence and clarity will improve the response more than adding another paragraph.
- Check quotation accuracy last. A misquoted phrase weakens an otherwise strong point.
Final checklist
- My introduction names the text, the question and a contestable claim.
- Each paragraph makes one point and develops it.
- Every quotation is short, accurate and explained.
- I have analysed how the text works, not only what it is about.
- I have answered a counter-reading.
- My conclusion returns to the claim and does not introduce new evidence.
- I have read the response aloud to check clarity.
This page describes formative writing and feedback. It does not publish an assessment instrument, a scoring scheme or a set of scores.