It sounds like you have a great family collection. And if you’ve been set something to read for seminars that addresses this, don’t miss the chance to bring it in. 5. Commentary on Quotations from Text in an Interpretive Response (English II Writing) | Texas Gateway If they’re paying enough attention to be suspicious then they’ll carry the idea with them into future classes and trips to the library when they’re handling primary/secondary sources after the class ends. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. Rarely will the source be an outright forgery, but you should still question the validity, reliability and representativeness of the source. The bread and butter of studying history is the use of primary sources. Likewise, quantitative or visual sources need to be handled appropriately. It is important to select the main points that you are going to be analyzing further in the text and make a summary; but refrain from adding some critical commentary … 2. What can’t it tell you? L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia . We might often think of letters, official documents, photographs and maps – but it could literally be anything. You do need to establish what your source is, when and why it was produced, by whom, and what form it takes – as well as the basic content, the central message and perhaps the structure of the source – to give you a platform for the following commentary. Put your source in context. That was very useful. They usually devote themselves to analyzing for bias and discussing a text's prehistory and literary traditions, as well as seeking to place the text in a historical … Saying so can often mask the need to ask how. Usually you would be focusing on one source, perhaps two or three compared. However, I would advise against using the term bias. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Commentary can be a hard concept to understand without examples to guide you. Great article! Consider the limitations of the source. How to write a Commentary Approaches to Literary Criticism IB A1 Paper 1 “Your task is not so much to discuss what is being said, rather it is to discuss how it is being said.” Theme (The) – also Topic & Subject • What is the subject and concern of the text? The Bible, like any book, is a product of its time. Beside the wonderful examples and explanations presented in Richard Straub's and Summer Smith's articles, I have included links to some of my own commentary and the papers on which those comments were based.. Then, dive right into a detailed discussion of the text. Remember, the question is not: Is this source useful to historians? Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Remember, there is no one form for a primary source. For one thing, you still need to put in the same amount of effort. (I’m sure you do something like that already.) Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Devotional commentaries, sometimes called “popular commentaries,” help readers explore two main tenets of Bible study—what the text means, and what it means for everyday life. But I think it’s ok for them to be suspicious. Would you say this is the same as what’s expected at A Level? Whether you’re new to commentaries or you’re looking for examples of thoughtful, biblical teaching, you can’t go wrong with a devotional commentary. I too try to explain the difference between primary and secondary sources with examples, but try to link it to an overarching theme in my study skills teaching – that the trick in so many cases is matching your sources with the question they can answer, and that not all historians are asking the same questions. Their letters are no more than glimpses of Army and Navy life. All other parts of the essay are more formulaic in nature. the text. If you can answer that, the rest is process. What I have found, working with the First World War letters of my grandfather and his brothers, was that they wrote very differently depending on who the letter was for (their mother, their sisters, each other) and there was a lot of self-censorship. It´s a historic – circumstantial text. Some useful aids to commentary-writing Working through the challenges and opportunities of each point I quickly made could have filled many more blog posts. Cultural-historical context . A document may be of various types: a written document, a painting, a monument, a map, a photograph, a statistical table, a film or video, etc. The difference is merely that your supporting evidence will mostly be drawn from one place – the source you’re writing about. Identify and summarise the source. They are written as though they are collections of information. Guide to Writing a Commentary on Primary Source(s) Each week we discuss pieces of primary text, so essentially this exercise replicates on paper the type of analysis you routinely conduct in class. ( Log Out /  Writing static texts. You might answer these questions in a number of different ways or orders, but they will usually fall broadly into the structure of description then commentary. Historians often disagree over what "the facts" are as well as over how the… Make sure you polish the literary commentary for style, grammar, and spelling before handing it in so it is at its best. These are some nice examples of just why we need to read our sources critically and dig around them. If that was the case, historical research would be a lot quicker. What sort of historian, trying to understand what about the past, would find this source useful? I’ve recently had students use newspaper and periodical databases to select articles and write headnotes for a source book on a specific subject. In this article, we have discussed the steps in detail to learn and prepare for it, write it effectively and polish it to make it presentable. However, whether a source analysis or a review assignment, there are some similarities with the usual essay. Some questions you might want to ask (not all will be applicable to all sources, but many will be): The marking criteria are the same as for any other piece of work. You can update your cookie preferences at any time. This is reinforced through the use of textbooks used in teaching history. Maybe next time. Now that you have a draft, it is time to contextualize the text in the author's work.. You should start your analytical essay by relating the text with a brief reference to the author, as well as the historical period and philosophical context in which he/she lived. Sounds like an interesting exercise. The closing sentence needs to wrap up the discussion by giving a clear answer to the question. So, my lecture notes on conscientious objectors might be used as a secondary source for historians of the First World War, but as a primary source for historians of education. Everything around us will be of interest, it’s just a matter of matching up the right source with the right historian, asking the right question. Labelling a source as biased may not be wrong but it is redundant, since every source is biased in some way. In the History programmes at Exeter Uni, we have several source-centred modules from year 1 onwards. For this reason you might read less than usual, but that wider reading is still important. FREE 7+ Commentary Writing Samples and Templates in PDF How to write a commentary ib myp english 9 Lesson commentary for 'Write a conclusion to an informational text using the reserve funnel method' The author's philosophy should be explained through the ideas found in the text under analysis. Thanks a lot, George! It’s a hard thing to learn in abstract. Critical commentaries usually reference relatively recent scholarly sources, focusing on small units of a text rather than the whole. This is where questions of bias might be brought in. So it’s no surprise that a common assignment in a History degree is to write a source commentary or analysis. A commentary is one type of literary work that contains a detailed analysis of an article, story or a passage of text. 3. Instructions Listen to some further instructions about the analysis of historical documents as a mp3 file. Instead, you want one or two sentences. More than that and the danger is you end up just writing a standard essay that draws heavily on primary sources. Thank you a lot! But there’s no harm in letting them provide a definition as a quick group exercise, then you know you’re starting from where they are. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. You don't need a question heading unless you would find it useful to give you an angle on the source(s). So often, students jump straight over the basics to get to the important stuff. The point is, the difference is functional – not so much about what the source is, but how it’s used. Reference secondary material in the normal way. A fourth kind of commentary is a technical or critical commentary which tends to be focused on detailed study of the Hebrew or Greek text, a detailed study of historical, cultural, social, religious background. You will be able to write an essay that uses embedded quotations to provide evidence in your response to an expository or a literary text. Anything from the past that helps us learn what happened, and why, is a document. The commentaries include the instructional context, student text, analysis, and instructional implications. Each week we discuss pieces of primary text, so essentially this exercise replicates on paper the type of analysis you routinely conduct in class. Over the course of your source commentary, there are five things you need to make sure you do. You raise some interesting questions. So what does writing this sort of assignment entail? This system of analysis is called “versification” of the biblical text. IDENTIFICATION: Start by identifying and locating the text in its right literary and historical context. o Within this there may be more than one theme. Alternative assignments of this sort can be worrying, since they’re self-evidently rather different from a standard essay. The opening sentence needs to make it clear what source is under review. Examples of Commentary. How 'Writing Unseen Commentaries' will help you If you are an International Baccalaureate student following the Language A (English) Literature course, the Help Book will be invaluable to you as you prepare for the important Literary Analysis or Literary Commentary part of the final written exam. But how many sources is optimal to use? Please let us know if you agree to functional, advertising and performance cookies. You can also read the information as a txt file. Here is a suggested sample document analysis. Writing Samples and Commentaries Each sample of proficient student writing is accompanied by a completed rubric and a written commentary that provides a rationale for and specific examples used to determine proficiency. Good to hear. By the way, I have a question for you, and for the forum. Examples from Straub's article Straub's example of Directive commentary More than naming it, this means identifying the type of source it is. We’ll return to what exactly it is. A campaign speech or the posthumously published diaries of the same politician, for example. To write a commentary, write about your observations and analysis of the text you read. I find they arrive at uni with similar ideas about primary sources. Knowing the culture and history surrounding your passage is important for understanding it. History consists of making arguments about what happened in the past on the basis of what people recorded (in written documents, cultural artifacts, or oral traditions) at the time. Usually commentaries will acknowledge pertinent cultural-historical context, but you may need to turn to Bible dictionaries and other resources for more information. @gcgosling and read the source, of course. The next section of your paper should include a much more detailed exploration of the main ideas of the text. In fact, history is NOTa "collection of facts about the past." Thanks. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. While both writing styles can be used to discuss another piece of work (like a play, book, movie, or … It is doubtful whether any of them were committed to writing before the Christian Era. Writing commentary is undoubtedly the most difficult part of writing any essay. Consider the historical, social, economic, political, and religious background of what is in the text and of the time when it was written (the two may not be the same – think about a novel that takes place in the Middle Ages but is written in the 20 th century). History’s subject matter is immense, encompassing all of human affairs in the recorded past — up until the moment, that is, that you started reading this guide. The assignment will also help prepare you for both a second or third year dissertation, or a third year module, where close engagement with primary material is a basic requirement. Yet students often complain of exactly that. In order to maintain secrecy the Proclamation of the Irish Republic was printed out on a hand press a few hours before the Rising. Hello George, Great piece! So it’s no surprise that a common assignment in a History degree is to write a source commentary or analysis. However, you still need to read around each topic or issue you raise. ( Log Out /  To write a literary commentary, start by reading the text and creating an outline. Thank you. They are important as indicating the character of the Hebrew text used. How to write a commentary The commentary exercise For some of the assessments you are doing, you might be required to produce a commentary to accompany the translation you have produced. An easy mistake would be to offer some general thoughts on the source, perhaps doing all of the above, but not to really answer this question. Some general questions to ask as you read and examine any historical document in this course. It would be unrealistic to expect one source to provide the answer to every question. It was produced in two sections and due to the shortage of lettering, the letter “e” had to be improvised, standing out for the rest of the text. Don’t be fooled – there is a question and that question is always ultimately the same. It’s also worth keeping in mind that you still need to back up each point you make with evidence. I hope the term goes well for you, too! Answer the question: How useful is this source to historians? There are particular challenges and opportunities offered by private or official writings, even when the author is the same. These are not easy-option assignments and the most common reason for students being surprised by a low mark, especially early on in their studies, is simply not working as hard on this as they would for an equally-weighted essay. Although it might be implicit, this is always ultimately the question. Consider the particular type of source. Writing a Source Commentary The bread and butter of studying history is the use of primary sources. However, for the historian seeking to understand how university students were taught History in the early twenty-first century, it fits. Analyzing an Historical Document . Do you think primary and secondary sources are defined differently for students in high school? Rather, it’s: In what ways is it useful? How to Write a Good Essay Part 1: Learn the Difference between Commentary and Summary You need to understand the difference between commentary and summary. You can refer to the online versions of the sample documents (cite as 'Coursework document X, p.y) or go back to the originals. As ever, the advice of the tutor setting and/or marking your work trumps all else, but here’s my checklist: 1. Summarise your findings, drawing together the different aspects of the text that you have discussed in your commentary. Most people believe that history is a "collection of facts about the past." ( Log Out /  The exact schema of your assignment will depend on the nature of the source. The assignment will also help prepare you for both a second or third year dissertation, or a third year module, where close engagement with primary material is a basic requirement. There’s a wealth of methodological literature on many different source types, so make sure you’re aware of what the issues are with the source in front of you. This post would have helped them immensely with the headnotes. An increased consideration of material culture in recent years has made this more true than ever. Skipping this will leave you on shaky ground. Better to identify the perspective from which events are described. Without the secondary sources and other primary sources, we don’t know what they hold back. I am going to use it in my teaching this year at the Univesity of Exeter. Some commentaries also feature detailed introductions to the books of the Bible. But when it comes … Sometimes they will put Hebrew and Greek in the footnote, but not in the main body of the text. Therefore, your commentary should contain at least the following parts: IDENTIFICATION DISCUSSION OF THE MAIN FEATURES OF THE TEXT CONCLUSION 2.1. For example, the introduction and conclusion might be far more brief than for a standard essay. That said, not every historian will use every kind of source. This chapter uses Frank Walbank’s Historical Commentary on Polybius as a palmary example of the sub-genre of ‘the historical commentary’, and notes that the sub-genre is largely ignored by the literature on ‘commentary theory’. The following sections will guide you through the steps needed to write your very own commentary formulas. Babylonian and Assyrian text commentaries represent the oldest well defined and cohesive group of text commentaries worldwide. This means asking three questions, each of which will mean drawing upon your wider reading: 4. Static text elements written in the formula should be enclosed in the quotation marks and terminated by semicolon sign as shown below: "This is sample static text … ( Log Out /  We use cookies to give you the best online experience. Some of the differences are simply because this is typically a shorter assignment. Assess briefly the achievements and significance of the passage, both in itself and in relation to the work from which it is taken. I have needed other sources to discover that their shipmates were burned beyond recognition at Jutland (“of course I’ve lost heaps of pals”) or where they were marching from and to (“I got interrupted by a job of work”) or that they were sitting next to a man killed by a shell (“I had the narrowest of close shaves”). To do so, you will need to specify the following: TITLE AUTHOR Payment & Philanthropy in British Healthcare, 1918-48, Understanding the Roots of Voluntary Action, Early-Career Life 2015: George Campbell Gosling | History Lab Plus. I like to think of this as: If this is the answer, what’s the question? Coronavirus (Covid-19): Latest updates and information, FAQs in response to the SSLC Term 2 Survey, Corruption in Britain and its Empire 1600-1850 (HI2D2), Guide to Writing a Commentary on Primary Source(s). In the future, this blog post will be of little use to the historian interested in explaining the outcome of the 2015 general election. You should craft a clear and specific thesis statement about the novel, poem, or play you are evaluating. Every year, I open these modules (the ones I teach) with the question: “So, what is a primary source?” And every year, Year 1 students respond with conviction: “Primary sources are those sources that were produced at the time of the event, and secondary sources are those that were produced later, hence they are derivative, secondary, less important.” And then begins the process of explaining that while their definition of primary sources may be correct in some cases, being contemporary to the event is not a necessary quality of a primary source; also that secondary sources are not just post-dated and less important, they are professional analyses based on the data that primary sources provide. Change ). Your thesis statement should explain your stance or argument about the text. Thanks Nandini (and sorry for the delay in replying). There are standard rules for how to write a thesis statement, a topic sentence, a blended quotation, etc. An excellent piece. On the MA Specialised Translation module, the commentary will be used to compare and contrast the translation approaches taken to texts from two different domains.

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