Essay writing: the short story

This is a structured exercise, suitable for Year 9 students, in which students complete a partially-written essay about a short story. Answer suggestions have been included.

In order for students to successfully complete this task it is necessary that they:

– have read the short story ‘Morning Minuet’ by Roger Holt, and
– are familiar with the features and conventions of the short story.

The short story ‘Morning Minuet’ is approximately 1200 words in length and appears in the anthology The New Paper Families, ed. Richard Baines, Cambridge University Press Australia, 2010, ISBN 9780521157285. This anthology is available from a number of school and public libraries.

The exercise is primarily aimed at familiarising students with the essay form. However, it also requires them to analyse ‘Morning Minuet’ and describe how it displays the typical forms and features of the short story. It is consequently a challenging exercise and teachers are advised to do some preliminary work with students before setting the essay completion task. The following unit outline is suggested:

– read and discuss ‘Morning Minuet’ with students
– have students complete the worksheet ‘Questions on Morning Minuet’ and go through the answers with them (a separate sheet containing suggested answers has been included)
– issue and go through the explanatory sheet ‘Short stories features and conventions’
– issue and describe the ‘Short stories features and conventions grid’ and have students fill out the grid for ‘Morning Minuet’
– discuss the essay form and issue the task (the pages of the task itself, which contain notes on essay structure, could be used to illustrate the main features of an essay).

Suggested curriculum relevance Australian Curriculum - English (Year 9) Literacy Creating texts

– ACELY1746 - Create imaginative, informative and persuasive texts that present a point of view and advance or illustrate arguments, including texts that integrate visual, print and/or audio features

Literature Responding to literature

– ACELT1771 - Present an argument about a literary text based on initial impressions and subsequent analysis of the whole text

National Curriculum in England - English, key stage 3 Writing

Pupils should be taught to … write accurately, fluently, effectively and at length for pleasure and information through …
writing for a wide range of purposes and audiences, including:
– well-structured formal expository and narrative essays

Reading

Pupils should be taught to … read critically through:

• studying setting, plot, and characterisation, and the effects of these

Please provide a rating. Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Cover image from Public Domain Vectors. Creative Commons.