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English with Mrs Phenix

A blog to support your classwork. check back regularly for additional work and course updates., national 5 folio and an introduction to the creative writing piece.

During the National 5 course you will have opportunities to create a range of different written pieces in various genres. Your strongest piece under ‘Creative’ and under ‘Discursive’, will be included in your folio. Firstly, we will focus on creating a creative piece for the folio, more specifically, a piece of prose (a short story). When writing a short story there are several elements to take into consideration:

• Characterisation

• A note on setting :

When creating the setting consider the five senses . What do you see? hear? smell? taste? feel? Note down some ideas using interesting vocabulary and use a thesaurus to help if necessary. When planning the setting for your story consider imagery which you may wish to use to describe place. Imagery can mean a metaphor, a simile or personification. It’s helpful to have thought about examples before writing which you can slot into your story at an appropriate place to add interest.

A quick recap – very basically a metaphor is comparing two things saying something IS something. For example, “He’s a night-owl”.  A simile also compares two things but uses the words AS or LIKE. For example, “As light as a feather”. Personification is when you give an inanimate object the characteristics or a human. For example, “The moon played hid and seek with the clouds”. 

• A note on Characterisation :

Your role is to create a protagonist (main character). It is important your character is likeable; someone who your reader can relate to. To achieve this you need to ensure he/she possesses positive traits. But if your character is too perfect then it becomes more difficult to relate to him/her, the characterisation can seem unrealistic or your reader may end up despising your protagonist. I encourage a ‘two stars and a wish’ approach. There should be a couple of admirable traits which make him/her attractive to others, but perhaps there is an obvious flaw e.g. pride, which acts as an obstacle and leads to the character’s downfall. You can tell a lot about a character by the way others react to him/her, so for a more interesting slant on characterisation consider using the way other characters treat your protagonist through the actions, language and tone.

• A note on Plot :

Your story should contain basic elements of structure such as: Exposition, Inciting Incident / Conflict, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action and Resolution / Denouement. Your plot does not need to be in chronological order. You can begin mid way through the action for example. Feel free to play around with structure. This makes your piece more captivating.

• The opening line:

A good opening line has the ability to stand the test of time, just have a read through some of the most universally admired lines in literature:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.” – Charles Dickens, ‘A Tale of Two Cities’. 1859.

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” – George Orwell, ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’. 1949.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”- Jane Austin, ‘Pride and Prejudice’. 1813.

An effective opening line acts as a ‘hook’ reeling in your reader, just as a fish is reeled in using enticing bait. Think of it this way: your readers are Koi Carp and your opening line is a fly fish. (Metaphor much?)

Suggested ways to begin your prose include using:

• an action hook – begin mid-way through the drama to create intrigue.
• an atmospheric hook – begin with a descriptive introduction to the setting of your story.
• a character hook – start with a description of an intriguing character.
• a puzzle hook – make your reader try to figure out what’s happening because you have created an air of mystery.
• a dialogue hook – commence your tale using conversation between your characters.
• a narrator hook – allow your narrator to address the reader directly, letting them in on the story in a compelling voice.
• a question hook – ask the reader a rhetorical question which involves them directly in your piece.
• a statement hook – begin with a popular quote which introduces the theme of your story.

Although there are many other ways to begin…

• Other tips :

Try to have a mix of narration and direct speech.

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English National 5 Essay Examples Available

The English Department have sent more resources for National 5 critical essay revision to this site for inclusion.

They take the form of exemplar timed essays on the novels studied in the course: Stone Cold, Of Mice and Men and Animal Farm.

Find them on the dedicated critical essay revision page . The PDF files are named according to: the novel they are concerned with; whether they are the first or second example (1 or 2); and each example is numbered into parts – (i) – (iv).

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Portfolio-writing 2021  (all links open as pdf files), reflective writing - a reflection of my 12-year-old feminist self.

• Candidate 1 Evidence

Reflective writing - The Ruby Jubilee

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Reflective writing - Old Saint Paul’s

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Candidate 2 (Creative - poetry | Celestial)

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Candidate 3 (Creative - poetry | The Boy Soldier)

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Candidate 4 (Creative - reflective | These Old Yellow Bricks)

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Candidate 5 (Creative - drama | Corruption)

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Candidate 6 (Creative - prose fiction | Inner Demons)

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Candidate 7 (Creative - prose fiction | Get to Heaven Fables)

• Candidate 7 Evidence
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Candidate 8 (Discursive - persuasive | Politics: Public Profile over Policy?)

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Candidate 9 (Creative - prose fiction | Split Infinities)

• Candidate 9 Evidence
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Candidate 10 (Creative - prose fiction | White Rose)

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Candidate 11 (Creative - poetry | Sonderkommando Man)

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Candidate 12 (Creative - reflective | Fifteen, five, twenty, and ten ... Can I return?)

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• Sep 19, 2019

Our top 8 tips on how to write your National 5 English Critical Essay

Your critical essay is an essay that allows you to demonstrate your analysis, interpretation and evaluation of pieces of literature. Your national 5 English critical essay is worth 20 marks (or half of the critical reading exam) so it is important to make this count. In this post, we have outlined our top 8 tips on how to write and pass your National 5 English critical essay.

Remember: The N5 English Critical Essay questions are found in Section 2 of the Critical Reading paper. You must only answer one question.

1) Choose the right genre!

Ensure you select the correct genre for your essay. The Critical Essay paper will give you a choice of genres: Drama, Poetry, Prose and Language . You can only write an essay on a novel or short story using one of the Prose questions.

Writing about the wrong genre will stop you getting the grade you deserve.

Remember that your Critical Essay cannot be from the same genre as your Scottish text.

2) Choose the right question!

Under each genre heading, you will have a choice of two questions. Make sure that you read both of them carefully and select the one which you feel you could write about best.

3) Identify the key words in your chosen question! These words will be the focus of your essay.

For example:

Choose a poem in which the poet creates a powerful sense of place …

Choose a novel in which there is an interesting character .

In each of these examples, you would use the underlined phrase as your key words.

4) Introduce the text! Your introduction should consist of a brief paragraph consisting of two parts. Firstly, include the title, author, form and subject of your text.

E.g. ‘Dracula’ by Bram Stoker is a powerful gothic novel based upon an ancient vampire’s attempt to move from Transylvania to England.

The second part of your introduction should be a link to the question – using those key words.

E.g. Throughout the novel, we can clearly see how Stoker portrays Count Dracula as a mysterious and interesting character .

5) Structure your discussion! After your introduction, identify where you first see the key words in your chosen text.

E.g. In the opening stages of the novel, Stoker establishes Count Dracula as an interesting character when the protagonist – Jonathan Harker- is travelling to his castle:

 ‘I was not able to light on any map or work giving the exact locality of the Castle  Dracula…’

Start every other paragraph, with a topic sentence that includes the key words.

Later in the novel, we see Stoker further develop the idea of Count Dracula as an  interesting character , when Jonathan meets him in person…

6) Provide analysis of any evidence!

Here, the author makes effective use of setting , when he locates Dracula in a mysterious home. This helps develop the sense of the count being an interesting character.

Note that evidence can be quotations, but it doesn’t need to be – especially if you are writing about drama or prose. You just need to explain what events are significant and why they are effective.

7) Remember to evaluate!

Use phrases throughout your discussion to evaluate the writer’s methods:

E.g. this clearly shows… this is effective in revealing… this provides a vivid image of…

8) End in a proper manner!

Your essay must be complete. This means that you need to include a separate concluding paragraph, which sums up your discussion.

You can start your conclusion with

In conclusion, throughout (name of text) we can clearly see (key words) in terms of…

Ultimately, throughout (name of text) we can clearly see (key words) in terms of…

Just remember to include the key words in your conclusion and include an evaluative term too.

Eg. In conclusion, throughout the novel ‘Dracula’, Bram Stoker has clearly presented Count Dracula as an interesting character . This is evident in his effective use of setting to make Dracula mysterious, and later through the character development where the count changes from a proud Transylvanian to a murderous monster.

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Personal Essay Examples – S4 Nat 5

This one PASSED.

Type: Reflective Essay

Title: “Cowal Games”

It was a warm August morning. I had laid out my kilt and the rest of my uniform the night before. I was going to Cowal Games – to play my bagpipes. I had never been very good at getting up in the morning … except for that August day. I ran down the stairs almost tripping up on my dressing gown.

My first really important performing event! I was mentally listing all the ceilidhs and parades I had ever done, thinking how important these events had seemed to me – even the time I piped in the New Year.

I dressed, rather hurriedly, in my kilt, sporran, belt, shirt, tie, socks, flashes, shoes and finally my thick tweed jacket. I scraped my hair back, and left the house, pipes in one hand, hat in the other.

As I drew close to the rendezvous point, I noticed everyone waiting eagerly, their sky blue kilts waving in the wind. The minibus was waiting. Turned out I was late! We all scrambled on and squeezed our equipment into the back, even Billy’s Big Bass Drum.

Before we knew it, we were off. We were travelling with another pipe band who kindly paid for the ferry ride there and back. The journey went fairly smoothly except for a few minor hiccups (Billy stalling the bus). Apart from that we had to wait in a long queue before boarding the ferry. I passed the time texting furiously on my mobile. The bus finally made it to the front of the queue, but as we were leaving the pier and moving onto the ramp, the bus stalled. We all looked round at each other.

Billy restarted the engine and everyone sighed with relief as we entered the car deck of the ferry. The ferry was dazzling white and the sea choppy, so I clambered up to the top deck to see Dunoon on the horizon. The salt air whipped my face but I still watched us travel towards the horizon. My kilt was almost whipped up in the wind, but I managed to catch it in time!

We arrived at the pier at the same time as the Waverley. We stopped with a jerk. Hundreds of people, young and old, piled out onto the pier. We sped out – without stalling. Soon we stopped on a grassy verge to unload all of our equipment.

We all strolled to the largest piece of trampled grass we could find. I hid myself under my tweed jacket and hat, hoping no one would recognise me. The drummers showed off their skills and I tapped my foot to the beat. Just being there with the band as a piper was an achievement for me. The

Pipe Major made sure everything was perfect before we formed into a circle and went straight into a reel.

Quite quickly a huge crowd gathered round us. I tried to make no eye contact and stared straight into the sky so the sun was beating down on my forehead.

That was just the begining of it. Before I could take a rest, we were parading up a long road that ran through the heart of Dunoon. We played “Scotland the Brave”, which is an all-time favourite of mine. My lungs filled and deflated like bellows. I tried to ignore the audience of people around me

but – instead I crinkled my eyes to keep the sun out. People “awed” at the band’s youngest pipers,

Peter and Alan, only 8 years old.

Later on that evening after enjoying the Highland Games and talking to lots of new people, one of the pipers invited the band to a ceilidh which didn’t finish till midnight. So I danced the night away to Strip the Willow and the Dashing White Sergeant. At exactly midnight I watched the serene sky

become a huge drama of fireworks. This display ended with an enormous explosion and flash of purple with what looked like glitter or a falling star come towards me and the earth.

Finally, exhausted, and after spending about 20 minutes looking for two pipers who were found boozing at the hotel bar, we made the last ferry and the two rather drunk pipers scrambled to the front to play the Skye Boat Song with another 25 pipers and drummers.

The long drive home was made shorter by the 2 pipers playing reels and jigs non-stop all the way home. As I waved goodbye to everyone I realised how tired and exhausted I was. Back home, I launched into my bed after dumping all my gear on the floor.

Looking back now I realise how I have changed so much from one experience, which has made me so determined to go and play at even bigger events, like the Tattoo and the World Championships. It has also given me confidence to perform in front of hundreds of people.

This one FAILED.

Title: “The Big Day”

The day had arrived. I had nothing but sheer panic whizzing around my head. I had butterflies in my stomach. I couldn’t calm myself down no matter what I tried. I kept thinking to myself, would my teacher like me? I was thinking what if I don’t make any friends and what if nobody likes me? Help!

Have you thought what this dreaded day is? Yes, my first day Primary School.

When I got up that morning I remember seeing my new school uniform hanging outside my wardrobe and I felt dread in me. I would have been so much happier just to stay warm, snug in my bed with the covers over my head but I knew I couldn’t. I would have to get up and face my nightmare. My mum had made me breakfast that morning but I couldn’t eat it because of my nerves. I was looking at the clock every two seconds. It felt as though the clock was going a million times faster than it should be. I was thinking, slow down please.

As my mum pulled up outside the school I remember seeing all the children scrambling about and shouting like foghorns. This made me even more nervous. My mum took my hand and we walked through the playground. It felt as though everyone was gazing at me in wonder. I was thinking, is

there something wrong with me? Why is everybody staring? My mum said to me not to worry and to be brave, everything was going to be allright.

We slowly walked into the classroom. I saw my teacher. She looked like a witch. She had long straggly brown hair, big massive brown staring eyes and a mole on her chin. Her big eyes were looking right at me. I felt quite frightened. Once she began to talk she seemed quite nice and bubbly.

Luckily our parents were allowed to stay for half an hour or so. The time flew in and I was trying to be brave for my mum, but my tears just came bursting out and splashing down my face.

When all the parents had left, she got us to introduce ourselves. Once we had done that we were put into groups. I was thinking. What if I am put in a group full of boys, or girls who don’t like me and pick on me? That never happened though. I made a really nice friend called Hannah.

That first day I had loads of fun and was loving playing around with the play doh, sand, etc. The parents arrived back at twelve o’clock to take us home. I was having so much fun I didn’t want to leave. I couldn’t wait for the next day to come.

Thinking back now of all the things I have learned in primary school such as to read and write and have discipline are precious to me. I would go back to my primary school any day to get one more thought of the place. Now I am in High School its so much different as your treated like an adult and

its so much stricter. But I guess you just have to live with it as your much older.

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Miss Tomelty: National 5 English

Structure of a critical essay

In Section 2 of the National 5 English Critical Reading Paper you will write ONE essay in answer to a question about  question from the following genres — Prose OR Poetry OR  Film and Television.

Your answer must be on a different genre from that chosen in Section 1. In Section 1 you will be answering the questions on the play Sailmaker by Alan Spence to you CANNOT AND MUST NOT write about it again in a critical essay.

In your essay you should follow a structure like this:

• Introduction – must include  T.A.R.T.S
• Body paragraphs – follow P.E.A.R.
• Conclusion – summarise your points; ensure you have answered the question.
• Check – You must check the quality of your writing. Check capital letters, spelling, sentences, expression, punctuation…

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National 5 creative essay

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The Challenge Is to Write 50,000 Words in a Month. Should ChatGPT Be Able to Help?

An online writing community was set aflame this week after National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, said it wouldn’t take a stance on the use of A.I.

By Madison Malone Kircher

For over 20 years, writers around the world have participated in National Novel Writing Month , or #NaNoWriMo, as it’s known online. The challenge is simple: Write 50,000 words in the month of November. Well, as simple as writing 50,000 words can be. (That’s 1,667 words per day, for those of you doing the math at home.)

Of course, using a generative artificial intelligence platform, like ChatGPT, could make those words go by much quicker. But is that really ethical? In the spirit of the event? Good for the craft of creative writing in general?

These are some of the questions that fueled a heated debate this week among writers, editors and others in publishing who fear the creep of A.I. in their industry. It started with a statement from NaNoWriMo, the nonprofit organization that coordinates the writing marathon every year. It ended — though perhaps there is more to come — with resignations, a lost sponsor and plenty of prickly feelings in what is meant to be an uplifting community.

“NaNoWriMo does not explicitly support any specific approach to writing, nor does it explicitly condemn any approach, including the use of A.I.,” the organization wrote on its website at the end of August. To fully condemn the technology, it said, would be “to ignore classist and ableist issues.”

“For some writers, the decision to use A.I. is a practical, not an ideological, one,” the statement continued, noting the “upfront cost burdens” in the publishing industry as well as the challenges that writers with different mental and linguistic abilities may face. “The notion that all writers ‘should’ be able to perform certain functions independently is a position that we disagree with wholeheartedly.”

Kilby Blades, the executive director of NaNoWriMo, did not make herself available for an interview for this article.

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