Written Task 1: Creative Task
- You will end up submitting one WT1 and one WT2 to the IB
- 20% of final mark (in other words, this one will be 10%)
- Each task must be between 800-1000 words in length
- This task must be accompanied by a rationale of 200-300 words (not included in Task word count)
- Written Task 1: Creative Task
Guidance Notes
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Rubric
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Tips:
- In most cases, you MUST have a provenance, or a publication source. For example, if you are writing an editorial, you must have an actual newspaper for which you are writing. If you are writing a movie review, you must identify a website or magazine where your review will be featured.
- Form and structure are just as important as content. Make sure that your writing LOOKS like its source.
- Do research on your text type. If you don't know the structural features of an editorial, research them and incorporate them into your task.
Written Task Proposal: To be completed in detail before drafting or reworking an existing task.
Click HERE for the proposal form. Proposals are due Monday, 5 October.
Click HERE for the proposal form. Proposals are due Monday, 5 October.
How to write an effective rationale: The key to any rationale is to be specific and concise. Include examples from your own writing and analyze your work. What choices did you make? Why did you make those choices? I recommend outlining your ideas in the following format:
Paragraph 1: Task and Content What was your task? (text type, provenance) How does it connect to language and culture/media or literature? Who is your target audience? What are you critiquing? Paragraph 2: Structure How did you structure your task and why? Discuss structural techniques of your text type and pull examples from your task for support. Paragraph 3: Language What language features did you incorporate and why? How did they help achieve your goal? |
Sample Rationale
This written task is a film review for the movie ‘Wag the Dog’ directed by Barry Levinson. Produced in 1998, the issues regarding media bias and sensationalism in the film are still applicable to present day. [another sentence about connection to Part 2 needed.] Therefore, this review has been written for a general modern English speaking audience based on the online film review website, empireonline.com. Through this task, I aimed to persuade others to watch the movie. I structured this task as seen through preliminary research of existing film reviews on rogerebert.com and empireonline.com to ensure my objective was communicated in an entertaining and informative way. My review begins with an introduction pursuing the reader’s attention using real presidential sex scandals, alluding to the themes within the review, and introducing the movie itself. I decided to integrate the plot summary, descriptions and analyses, inserting my critique between descriptions of scenes where themes of bias and sensationalism apply. The conclusion summarizes both my critique of media bias and sensationalism, as well as my opinion of the movie as a reviewer. In terms of language features, first person pronouns were used, directly addressing and include the reader to create a sense of camaraderie so they feel engaged and therefore more likely to take my advice and go see the movie. To reinforce my critique, I aimed to convey exasperation toward the media and praise the movie’s plot for revealing its injustice, creating a casual and informative tone. Thus, adjectives such as “bogus” and “ruthless”, rhetorical questions to prompt and engage the audience such as “how do you convince an entire nation that they are currently at war with a legitimate country?” and metaphors such as silicone breast implants to describe how disingenuous presented information may be, were used to create this tone. Rationale word count: 293 |
Sample Rationale for a PASTICHE (scored 2/2)
Rationale
This pastiche was written in relation to Part IV ‘Critical Study of Literature’, and inspired by both The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Writing a pastiche of The Great Gatsby in the literary style of The Waste Land combines two of modernism’s most famous pieces of literature, hoping to strengthen the overarching themes of the downfall of society, the rise in extravagance, overindulgence and materialism, and the eventual loss of culture if society continues its behaviour that the two pieces both consistently convey. Like the two original texts, this piece is also intended to act as a social critique of the society of the 1920s.
Following the structure of The Waste Land as a modernist poem, this pastiche has two vignettes with each stanza emulating the style and structure of the original poem. For example, the first stanza includes enjambment of the first lines with a gerund, imitating the style of the first stanza of The Waste Land. Another example is the style of the second vignette which mirrors the original poem by juxtaposing Daisy Buchanan who represents high class society with Catherine who represents low class.
The language and style of pastiche emulates The Waste Land by using a parallax narrative voice as Eliot did, with each stanza having a different narrative voice. The narrative perspectives shift between the characters of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, Owl Eyes, Jay Gatsby, Dan Cody, Meyer Wolfshiem, Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, and Catherine. The contrasting register and diction is also inspired by the original poem, with the sophisticated diction representing higher society as it does in the last stanza of the first vignette, with the last stanza using lower class diction in the form of 1920s slang to represent the lower class narrative voice.
Word count: 300 words
Rationale
This pastiche was written in relation to Part IV ‘Critical Study of Literature’, and inspired by both The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Writing a pastiche of The Great Gatsby in the literary style of The Waste Land combines two of modernism’s most famous pieces of literature, hoping to strengthen the overarching themes of the downfall of society, the rise in extravagance, overindulgence and materialism, and the eventual loss of culture if society continues its behaviour that the two pieces both consistently convey. Like the two original texts, this piece is also intended to act as a social critique of the society of the 1920s.
Following the structure of The Waste Land as a modernist poem, this pastiche has two vignettes with each stanza emulating the style and structure of the original poem. For example, the first stanza includes enjambment of the first lines with a gerund, imitating the style of the first stanza of The Waste Land. Another example is the style of the second vignette which mirrors the original poem by juxtaposing Daisy Buchanan who represents high class society with Catherine who represents low class.
The language and style of pastiche emulates The Waste Land by using a parallax narrative voice as Eliot did, with each stanza having a different narrative voice. The narrative perspectives shift between the characters of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, Owl Eyes, Jay Gatsby, Dan Cody, Meyer Wolfshiem, Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, and Catherine. The contrasting register and diction is also inspired by the original poem, with the sophisticated diction representing higher society as it does in the last stanza of the first vignette, with the last stanza using lower class diction in the form of 1920s slang to represent the lower class narrative voice.
Word count: 300 words
Example Written Tasks
- Pastiche: A form of homage by imitating the style of the author; a conscious decision to integrate elements of literary style (theme, characters, concepts, symbols) from previously published work. Often it is used to show a different take on the story or to demonstrate universality of themes. Example: Wicked is a pastiche of The Wizard of Oz
- Prose pastiche (the impossible narrator): Write from the perspective of an inanimate object. Ex. Write about Gatsby's party from the perspective of a garden gnome.
- An editorial which would have been published in a 1920s NY magazine condemning those who smuggle alcohol during the prohibition
- Write the letter that Gatsby wrote to Daisy on page 61.
- Write a film review for Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of The Great Gatsby that would be published on Moviefone.com or another movie review website
- Below are director's notes for an adaptation of The Great Gatsby. It was not done well but could have been if more time and detail had gone into it. Other film suggestions could be to write a screenplay for a very specific scene in the poem or novel.
directors_notes_for_scene_5_-_gatsby.docx | |
File Size: | 133 kb |
File Type: | docx |