Higher Level (HL) Essay

HL English Literature students are required to write a formal essay of 1,200-1,500 words, which develops a particular line of inquiry of their own choice in connection with a literary text or work previously studied in class. The HL essay offers students an opportunity to develop as independent, critical and creative readers, thinkers and writers by exploring a literary topic over an extended period of time, refining their ideas by means of a process of planning, drafting and re-drafting. The essay requires students to construct a focused, analytical argument, examining the work from a broad literary perspective. It also requires them to adhere to the formal framework of the academic essay, using citations and references.

The essay is based on the exploration the student has carried out in the learner portfolio. During this exploration process, the student will have investigated a number of works from a variety of different perspectives. In the lead-up to the drafting of the essay, the student must decide which work to focus on for further investigation, and which topic to write about in connection with that work. In choosing the topic, the student can consult the course’s seven central concepts: identity, culture, creativity, communication, perspective, transformation, and representation. Any work previously studied in class may be selected, with the exception of the works used for the internal assessment and the works the student plans to use in paper 2.

Candidates must select the work and topic for their essay independently; however, consultation with the teacher is essential in this process. Care must be taken to make sure that the chosen literary texts or works are rich enough to support a developed, focused, and analytical argument. In the case of a collection of short stories, poems, song lyrics or any short literary text, candidates may choose to use just one literary text from the work as their focus. However, students and teachers should bear in mind that the assignment is a broad literary investigation rather than a more narrowly-focused stylistic commentary task. It may be necessary to use more than one literary text from the work chosen in order to achieve this.