igcse english literature sample essays

iECRs - IGCSE Literature in English 0457

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IGCSE English Literature: Essay Writing Guide

Nuha ghouse.

• Created on May 7, 2019
• Blog , IGCSE , Learning Tips

Essay Writing Guide: How to Write Essay Writing for IGCSE

Guidelines for igcse essay writing.

While most of you have already had experience of essay writing, it is important to realise that essay writing at University level may be different from the practices you have so far encountered.

The aim of this tutorial is to discuss what is required of an English Literature essay at University level, including:

1. information on the criteria in relation to which your essay will be judged

2. how to plan and organise an essay

•     Planning an Essay: Essay Structure
•     Independence and Critical Reading
•     Use of Secondary Material

3. advice on writing style

4. a final checklist

Must Read: Cambridge IGCSE: Benefits, Subjects, Grading Scheme, and Tips

WHAT ARE THE CRITERIA?

In assessing essays , you are asked to bear in mind:

•  Relevance to the essay-subject as it has been set;
• A well-defined line of argument, with each stage clearly marked;
•  Appropriate, economical, and accurate illustration;
•  Mastery of the relevant background material (contextual, critical, theoretical), and evidence of independent and wide-ranging reading;
•  Evidence of independent thinking about the subject, and, where ideas are taken from critics, ability to apply them to materials of the student’s own choice;
•  Crisp expression. Failure to stay within the maximum number of words set for written work will be penalised;
•  Spelling, punctuation, grammar;
•  Accurate and comprehensive referencing of sources and list of Works Cited.

Must Read:  Notice Writing Format, Importance, Examples and How to Prepare

HOW TO PLAN AND ORGANISE AN ESSAY

Planning for IGCSE essay writing needs careful planning which is the key to producing a good essay.

Do NOT begin to write your essay the night before it is due to be submitted.

You should allow yourselves time to consider, plan, write, rewrite and revise, and proof read your essay before its submission.

The diagram and questions reproduced below will assist you in planning your essay .

Must Read:  Directed Writing: Format, Benefits, Topics, Common Mistakes and Examples

ESSAY STRUCTURE

Your essay should present a discussion and a reasoned argument:

it should not be a set of random reflections on the texts or topic you have chosen.

This will require some planning and organisation of your material before you begin to write, to ensure that your argument is coherent and engages directly with the question asked.

A good introduction is often the key to a good essay.

The first thing you should do is define any complex or potentially ambiguous terms in the question.

This can also be one good way of effecting an introduction. Another is to consider why the question might be asked, what makes it interesting, or why it is relevant to the texts you are considering.

You might also use your introduction to outline briefly your intentions in writing the essay: but remember that for a 1,000 or 2,000 word essay the introduction will necessarily be brief.

The body of the essay of the essay should relate to the issues you outline in your introduction. It also needs a coherent structure :

if you have used your introduction to identify the key issues of your discussion, structuring the essay becomes easier, as you can address these issues in separate paragraphs.

Make the links and transitions between paragraphs clear. Remember that every paragraph and sentence should contribute directly to your argument.

Your essay needs to strike a balance between argument and supporting evidence.

Avoid unsupported generalisations. Stating that ‘society is a patriarchy’ or that ‘evil is more interesting than good’ without offering evidence to support the assertion is little different from claiming that ‘the earth is flat’ or ‘tall people are more intelligent than short ones’.

Even your more particular points about texts or issues always need supporting evidence, often in the form of quotations from the texts. Remember that you may need to explain how your evidence supports your point.

Your essay needs a conclusion to avoid it petering out and losing its force. You might use the conclusion to draw together the threads of your argument, to re-visit the original question, or even to point towards new questions that your discussion has opened up. Whatever your conclusion, you should use it to step back slightly from the detail of the preceding argument to re-consider the wider picture.

INDEPENDENCE AND CRITICAL READING

The purpose of an essay is to develop and present your own thinking about the texts and issues raised by the question.

All essays are likely to draw on ideas taken from others, whether from critical books, lectures or discussions.

But clearly an essay is not intended to be simply an anthology of others’ ideas: those ideas should only be introduced in order to form and advance your own argument, which is both the substance and the purpose of the essay.

USE OF SECONDARY (CRITICAL) MATERIAL

Critical books and articles are often useful in stimulating your ideas about the literature you are writing on.

It is also important to develop some awareness of the ongoing critical debate about works and literary issues; sometimes you may even be asked to write about the critical or theoretical works themselves.

But ideas and words from other writers should never simply replace your own, either directly, or in the form of paraphrase.

Quoted or paraphrased thoughts and words from another critic should be included in the text of your essay only if you wish to say something about them. You may want to take issue with them, or to develop them, or to illustrate a particular view which you then discuss.

It is not helpful to quote from or paraphrase critics simply because you think their words sound more authoritative than your own.

While you will often draw on other critics’ ideas, you need to distinguish their words and opinions clearly from your own.

Students should exercise caution and care in the use of paraphrase in particular.

It is imperative that the reader should always be able 7 to distinguish your voice and argument from that of the critics you cite.

So avoid simply ventriloquising critical arguments and conduct instead a critical engagement with them. For example, do not accept interpretations in critical works as matters of fact; demonstrate to the reader of your essay the ways in which you have produced a thoughtful response to the critics that you have employed.

If you do not ensure that there is no confusion in an essay about the origin of its arguments, you will find that your readers are unable to judge your arguments. You will also lay yourself open to a charge of plagiarism, which is a serious academic offence.

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University level essays should be written in a formal style and demonstrate your understanding of the codes of academic discourse as they relate to the study of English Literature.

While there are variations between different disciplines, there are three main characteristics that are common to all academic essays. These are:

• An overriding concern to interpret and make meaning through the presentation of arguments;
•  Careful attention to the marshalling of relevant and valid facts, examples and other kinds of evidence to substantiate or refute arguments and interpretations;
•  A structure or organisational framework which has not been chosen arbitrarily, but is instead designed to present arguments and evidence in a coherent and logically appropriate form

Clarity and expressiveness of language is obviously particularly important in essays on literature, and the development of an accurate and engaging writing style is one of the aims of a degree in this discipline.

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Pearson Edexcel IGCSE English Literature Past Papers

This section includes recent IGCSE English Literature past papers (9-1) from Pearson Edexcel (4ET1). You can download each of the Pearson International GCSE English Literature past papers and marking schemes by clicking the links below.

June 2022 Pearson IGCSE English Literature Past Exam Papers (4ET1)

June 2022 Paper 1: 4ET1/01  Poetry and Modern Prose Download Paper      –     Download Mark Scheme

June 2022 Paper 1: 4ET1/01R  Poetry and Modern Prose Download Paper      –     Download Mark Scheme

June 2022 Paper 2: 4ET1/02  Modern Drama & Literacy Heritage Texts Download Paper      –     Download Mark Scheme

June 2022 Paper 2: 4ET1/02R  Modern Drama & Literacy Heritage Texts Download Paper      –     Download Mark Scheme

June 2019 Pearson IGCSE English Literature Past Exam Papers (4ET1)

June 2019 Paper 1: 4ET1/01  Poetry and Modern Prose Download Paper      –     Download Mark Scheme

June 2019 Paper 1: 4ET1/01R  Poetry and Modern Prose Download Paper      –     Download Mark Scheme

June 2019 Paper 2: 4ET1/02  Modern Drama & Literacy Heritage Texts Download Paper      –     Download Mark Scheme

June 2019 Paper 2: 4ET1/02R  Modern Drama & Literacy Heritage Texts Download Paper      –     Download Mark Scheme

January 2019 Pearson IGCSE English Literature Past Exam Papers (4ET1)

January 2019 Paper 1: 4ET1/01  Poetry and Modern Prose Download Paper    –   Download Mark Scheme

January 2019 Paper 1: 4ET1/01R  Poetry and Modern Prose Download Paper    –   Download Mark Scheme

January 2019 Paper 2: 4ET1/02  Modern Drama & Literacy Heritage Texts Download Paper    –   Download Mark Scheme

January 2019 Paper 2: 4ET1/02R  Modern Drama & Literacy Heritage Texts Download Paper    –   Download Mark Scheme

June 2018 Pearson IGCSE English Literature Past Exam Papers (4ET1)

June 2018 Paper 1: 4ET1/01  Poetry and Modern Prose Download Paper    –   Download Mark Scheme

June 2018 Paper 1: 4ET1/01R  Poetry and Modern Prose Download Paper    –   Download Mark Scheme

June 2018 Paper 2: 4ET1/02  Modern Drama & Literacy Heritage Texts Download Paper    –   Download Mark Scheme

June 2018 Paper 2: 4ET1/02R  Modern Drama & Literacy Heritage Texts Download Paper    –   Download Mark Scheme

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GCSE English Literature

• Specification
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Assessment resources

• Answers and commentaries (2)
• Examiner reports (12)
• Grade descriptors (1)
• Mark schemes (12)
• Notes and guidance (2)
• Question papers (32)
• Paper 1 (14)
• Paper 1M (8)
• Paper 1N (8)
• Paper 1P (8)
• Paper 2 (18)
• June 2018 (1)
• June 2019 (1)
• June 2022 (20)
• November 2020 (10)
• November 2021 (20)
• Sample set 1 (5)

Showing 61 results

Exampro: interactive student examples [exampro.co.uk]

Published 12 Dec 2023

Question paper: Paper 1P Poetry anthology - June 2022

Published 14 Jul 2023 | PDF | 223 KB

Question paper (Modified A4 18pt): Paper 1P Poetry anthology - June 2022

Published 14 Jul 2023 | PDF | 154 KB

Question paper (Modified A3 36pt): Paper 1P Poetry anthology - June 2022

Published 14 Jul 2023 | PDF | 163 KB

Question paper: Paper 1M Modern prose and drama - June 2022

Published 14 Jul 2023 | PDF | 336 KB

Question paper (Modified A4 18pt): Paper 1M Modern prose and drama - June 2022

Published 14 Jul 2023 | PDF | 191 KB

Question paper (Modified A3 36pt): Paper 1M Modern prose and drama - June 2022

Published 14 Jul 2023 | PDF | 200 KB

Examiner report: Paper 1M Modern prose and drama - June 2022

Published 14 Jul 2023 | PDF | 148 KB

Examiner report: Paper 1P Poetry anthology - June 2022

Published 14 Jul 2023 | PDF | 159 KB

Question paper: Paper 2 Shakespeare and unseen poetry - June 2022

Published 14 Jul 2023 | PDF | 339 KB

Examiner report: Paper 1N The 19th-century novel - June 2022

Published 14 Jul 2023 | PDF | 178 KB

Question paper (Modified A3 36pt): Paper 2 Shakespeare and unseen poetry - June 2022

Published 14 Jul 2023 | PDF | 222 KB

Question paper (Modified A4 18pt): Paper 2 Shakespeare and unseen poetry - June 2022

Published 14 Jul 2023 | PDF | 204 KB

Mark scheme: Paper 1P Poetry anthology - June 2022

Published 14 Jul 2023 | PDF | 243 KB

Question paper: Paper 1N The 19th-century novel - June 2022

Published 14 Jul 2023 | PDF | 321 KB

Examiner report: Paper 2 Shakespeare and unseen poetry - June 2022

Published 14 Jul 2023 | PDF | 184 KB

Mark scheme: Paper 1N The 19th-century novel - June 2022

Published 14 Jul 2023 | PDF | 282 KB

Question paper (Modified A3 36pt): Paper 1N The 19th-century novel - June 2022

Published 14 Jul 2023 | PDF | 219 KB

Question paper (Modified A4 18pt): Paper 1N The 19th-century novel - June 2022

Published 14 Jul 2023 | PDF | 205 KB

Mark scheme: Paper 2 Shakespeare and unseen poetry - June 2022

Published 14 Jul 2023 | PDF | 319 KB

Programmes & Qualifications

Cambridge igcse literature in english (0475).

• Syllabus overview

The syllabus enables learners to read, interpret and evaluate texts through the study of literature in English. Learners develop an understanding of literal meaning, relevant contexts and of the deeper themes or attitudes that may be expressed. Through their studies, they learn to recognise and appreciate the ways in which writers use English to achieve a range of effects, and will be able to present an informed, personal response to the material they have studied.

The syllabus also encourages the exploration of wider and universal issues, promoting learners' better understanding of themselves and of the world around them.

This syllabus replaces Cambridge IGCSE Literature (English) (0486) from 2020 onwards. The only change is the title and the syllabus code. Past papers and other resources for are still largely applicable for teaching Cambridge IGCSE Literature in English (0475).

The last series for Cambridge IGCSE Literature (English) (0486) will be November 2019.

The syllabus year refers to the year in which the examination will be taken.

• -->2023-2025 Syllabus update (PDF, 128KB)
• -->2026 Syllabus (PDF, 820KB)

Syllabus support

• -->Support for Literature in English (PDF, 1MB)

Important notices

Please note that if you make an entry for the A*-G grading scale, it is not then possible to switch to the 9-1 grading scale once the entries deadline has passed. If you find that you have accidentally made an entry for the A*-G syllabus, you must withdraw and re-enter before the entries deadline.

Find out more about our range of English syllabuses to suit every level and ambition.

For some subjects, we publish grade descriptions to help understand the level of performance candidates’ grades represent.

We paused the publication of grade descriptions in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the temporary changes to the awarding standard in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

As the awarding standard has now returned to the pre-pandemic standard, we are working to produce up-to-date grade descriptions for most of our general qualifications. These will be based on the awarding standards in place from June 2023 onwards.

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GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE sample essay "Of Mice and Men" Geoge and Lennie

Subject: English

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Assessment and revision

Last updated

13 May 2024

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GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE

“Of Mice and Men” sample essay - GEORGE AND LENNIE

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