IB Paper 2 preparation (A DOLL'S HOUSE+ALL MY SONS HANDMADE NOTES)

Hey Guys

So I made this 3k word document with everything I learned in P2. The link is in the description and enjoy!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6YU7FEucslrRnpqUW1FZGZ4bUE/view?usp=sharing

GOOD LUCK!

TOK Essay 8/10 SAMPLE. (You are welcomed to use ALL the ideas) (I did this quite a while ago, so I think 7/10 should be a reasonable mark instead of 8)

TOK Essay 1-There are only two ways on which humankind can produce knowledge: Through passive observation or through active experiment.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?

Knowledge is something that helps us to make sense of the world around us. In other words, knowledge enables us to interpret and understand the phenomena we encounter, which explains why it acts as one of the fundamental requirements of civilization. In fact, most of the prominent leaps in civilization in the past were accompanied by prominent leaps in knowledge. For example, the invention of the steam engine kick-started The First Industrial Revolution while the discovery of electrical power led to The Second Industrial Revolution. Therefore in order to sustain the current rate of development, we have to generate knowledge based on the unknown phenomena we observed.

There are multiple ways to generate the knowledge, but the statement above classifies the construction of knowledge under two categories, which are passive observation and active experiment. Passive observation means that the observer doesn't interact with or deliberately influence the event when it is taking place, which permits the event to develop naturally. However, the nature of observation allows the observers to interpret the event based on their senses or tastes, As a way of knowing, sensory perception is not always reliable, which means that “passive observation” is still a subjective way to generate knowledge. On the other hand, active experiment is based on the scientific method, where experiments, data and variable controls play a big part during the investigation. The experiments are designed to target on specific areas of the research, and the observers might even interact with the reactions to optimize the outcomes of the investigation. Therefore, unlike the passive observation approach, this method allows the observer to manipulate the events, which enables the researchers to look at one specific field in depth. Moreover, the active experiment approach relies more on logical evidence such as data and graphs, which means that it is a more objective way to generate knowledge. However, before the society accepted the more neutral approach (which requires the existence of firm evidences) to generate the knowledge, our ancestors relied more on other WOKs (ways of knowing) such as imagination and sense perception to explain the phenomena and hence generate the knowledge. Therefore the given statement is the condensed view of knowledge generation in modern day society, but there are more ways to generate knowledge other than the two mentioned approaches.

Imagination plays a big role in Indigenous Knowledge System to explain the phenomena that cannot be explained using the existing knowledge, but the one may ask: How does imagination produce knowledge in this specific field of Areas of Knowledge? To what extent is imagination irreplaceable as a tool to generate knowledge for our ancestors? Nowadays Imagination is relatively undervalued in producing knowledge because of its irrationality; on the other hand, our ancestors exploited its irrationality to interpret the events creatively in different ways. For example, Australian Aboriginal groups created their own astronomical calendars through interpreting the sky. Advanced observation technology was not available at that time for the indigenous groups, and hence imagination became their most reliable tool to draw the meanings out of the randomly distributed stars. One popular idea among the Guringai people was the “Emu in the sky”, in which they connected a group of the stars as the representation of an Emu, a common bird that shared the territory with the Guringai people. Historians have discovered that Emu had some mythical implications in Guringai culture, it also appeared in many Guringai legends such as the story of Daramulan. Therefore in the context of Guringai culture, Emu escalated from an animal to a worshiping symbol that represented the mighty force of nature. Hence when they observed some natural phenomena that they couldn't explain, including the special arrangement of the stars in this case, they would use their imagination to establish a link between the events and the mythical objects. Imagination allowed the indigenous groups to overcome the shortage in knowledge and meant they could interpret the nature based on the shared knowledge within the group. In fact, increasingly, indigenous knowledge is being recognized as understanding the processes and relationships of the nature. Recently it has been given the term “traditional ecological knowledge” with the acknowledgement of the observation and reasoning. Usually reasoning is viewed separately from imagination due to its rational nature as a way of knowing. In this case, however, imagination provides key evidences for the reasoning process due to the limitation in logical approach; without imagination, the reasoning procedure cannot be carried out. To a certain extent, I think that imagination is the primary and original way of producing knowledge.

On the other hand, the major limitation of imagination as the way of generating knowledge is that it can sometimes become too personalized, and it is influenced by the dominant worldview the one subscribes to. Similarly to the Guringai people, the Wardaman people also gave the same junction of stars a graphic representation. However, since there was no implication of Emu in Wardaman culture, they perceived the same region of the sky as the head of the lawman. The Guringai people and the Wardaman people, in this example, possess different bodies of knowledge, specific to their surrounding environments. Therefore their interpretations of the sky are predominantly influenced by their different beliefs and experiences, which reveals imagination’s subjective and biased nature as a way of producing knowledge. Moreover, imagination does not require firm evidences or logical explanations, which means knowledge generated in this way cannot be tested, and therefore does not explicitly explain the reasons behind the phenomena, most of the time.

Passive observation is an improved version of imaginative observation because it limits the influence of irrational thinking. However, in modern days, passive observation is only the beginning of an investigation process. Active observation is required to test or improve the conclusions drawn fro the passive observation stage. Active observation requires the researchers to influence, or even manipulate the ongoing event to create different scenarios that they are targeted to investigate. However, unlike active experiment, it allows irrational behaviors from the tested samples. This is evidenced in the Area of Knowledge of Human Sciences. Most research in psychological is based on this method and the investigation of Stockholm Syndrome is an example that illustrates its application in real life. Stockholm syndrome is named after the Norrmalmstorg robbery of Kreditbanken in Stockholm. During the robbery, the victims who were held as hostages became emotionally attached to their captors and even gave them assistance later on. This abnormal behavior was broadcasted live on TV and quickly engaged the attentions of the researchers. However, the actual footage and information from the crime scene was limited, which caused some differences in the researcher’s hypotheses. To test these hypotheses, the researching team decided to run a simulation which was based on the actual event. However, they had full control of the situation this time, which allowed them to take an insightful look at every individual’s behavior throughout the different stages of the incident. Some of the stages are repeated more than one time to give the researchers a more detailed look of the participants. If only the passive observation approach was applied, the researches wouldn't be able to see the situation in depth, and the occurrence of random errors would affect the conclusion of the study. Active observation gives researchers more freedom to interact, or even change the neutral situation, which helps them to investigate on the areas they intend to look at. The major drawback of the active observation is approach is that it is hard to maintain the neutrality of the event once the foreign intervention is introduced. If the isolation of the event is interrupted, the conclusion obtained from the observations can’t be applied to the actual situation. Therefore the degree of intervention in active observations is a problematic issue that prevents us from obtaining the real reasons behind a phenomenon, which directly influences the degree of accuracy of the knowledge generated from them.

Generating knowledge is a broad process that involves different fields of study. Passive observation and active experiment are the two most recognized ones due to their prominent advantages. However, other methods such as imaginative observation can also be applied to produce knowledge, and they can be more effective than the mentioned two approaches in specific areas. Hence to choose what method to apply to optimize the process really depends on the nature of knowledge we intend to generate.

New Textual Analysis... Coffee by Richard Brautigan Analysis 16/20

Link to the poem: https://allpoetry.com/poem/8508973-Coffee-by-Richard-Brautigan

Coffee By Richard Brautigan-Textual analysis

The poem Coffee by Richard Brautigan is his reflection towards love and relationship. In the poem, the author utilises literal devices such as symbolism, double entendre and diction to create layered senses, provoking emotional responses from the target audience. As one of the themes is to reveal the cruel truth of love, Brautigan employs a story-telling tone to lead the target audience to explore different circumstances when the love is gone, making them feel more relatable to the content. Therefore, the target audience of the text might be the one who has felt the same way before. Moreover, this unique style is blended in the structure of the poem, which enhances the messages delivered by the author and allures the interest from the target audience. 

One feature of the poem that read stands out is its uses of symbolism. The central image “coffee” is used repetitively in the poem, which develops the flow of the storyline at different stages. The meaning of the “coffee”, however, may possess some ambiguity through the text. Therefore, the target audience may have different understandings towards “coffee” at different stages of the text. At the start of the poem, the author uses a rare diction “intimacy” to express what a cup of coffee offers, striking the target audience with this unusual expression. The adjective “intimacy” is normally used in the context of the relationship, and therefore, the author may imply that “coffee” symbolises feelings relating to love. Moreover, this use of diction provokes speculations from the target audience, which helps to gain their attention instantaneously. When the plot develops to the next stage, “a cup of coffee” becomes a bond to maintain the interactions between the protagonist and his love interest, which is a rather bizarre setting. To make the situation even more absurd, the author plays with the meaning of “a cup of coffee”. In slang, this phrase is an indirect expression of sex. However, both of the protagonist and the girl take the literal meaning of it, which may add some humour elements to the text. Alternatively, it may suggest the bitter ending of their love affair, as neither of them has the incentive to save their relationship. Following this point, “coffee”’s bitterness may reflect the devastating effects caused by love, which explains the reason why the protagonist describes coffee as “the last thing I ever wanted.” The symbol of “instant coffee” offered by the lady suggests her strong contempt towards the protagonist, which enhances the tension between them. Compare to ground coffee, “instant coffee” is a fairly cheap treatment to give to the guests, and therefore, her decision to offer him “instant coffee” may reflect her indifferent attitude. Also, “instant” coffee takes the lady less time and effort to make, which corresponds to her line “I don’t want to talk”, showing that she has no intention to sort things out with the protagonist through conversation. Instead, she wants him to leave now. Nonetheless, the audience will regard the symbol “coffee” as a representation of failed relationship at this stage of the plot. 

The meaning of “a cup of coffee” continues to develop when the protagonist meets the second lady. However, at this time, their different perspectives towards the phrase causes some dramatic tension. The lady takes the implied meaning of “a cup of coffee”, and is disgusted by this rude request she interpreted. The phrase “What do you want?” uses a question mark to enhance its impact, which gives the audience an impression that the protagonist is not welcomed. Moreover, the adverb “slightly” highlights the level of awkwardness, as the lady is not willing to invite him into the property because she is not willing to have sex with him at the first place. On the other hand, the protagonist’s intended meaning behind ‘a cup of coffee” is to start a conversation with her, but he knows that it will never work, and his words and actions indicate his depression. The phrase “why don’t you talk to me?” uses a foregrounded structure to highlight the word “don’t”, which suggests that the protagonist desperately wants to start a conversation with the lady. Moreover, his attempt of using the first personal pronouns “you” and “me” highlights his effort in removing the barrier between them, which contrasts with her cold response. The question mark at the end of this phrase raises his emotion to the climax, making this request sounds like an act of begging, underlining the protagonist’s gloomy and despairing mental state. After being offered with another treatment of “instant coffee”, the protagonist has completely lost his hope, and it is reflected on the repetition of the phrase “I didn’t feel like to…”. The repetition intensifies the protagonist’s animosity towards the symbol “instant coffee”, and the negative tone embodied in the phrase may also suggest that he realises that his last attempt is destined to fail. This powerful delivery may help the target audience to realise the cruel aftermath of the relationship, which is one of the purposes of the text. 

Other than the vivid uses of symbolism, the unique structure of the text also facilitates the author to deliver his messages. First, the text is written in the form of fragments, which interrupts the flow of the lines. However, since the whole text is written in past tense, this feature may be a visual representation of the protagonist’s disordered brain when he tries to reminisce. Moreover, the abrupt fragments make the text extremely hard to read, and therefore the target audience may feel the same level of frustration as the protagonist, facilitating them to have a more profound understanding of the text. Unlike poems that have rigid structures, this poem is in an absolute form of free flow: the majority of content is based on conversations, and the links between point to point are significantly weaker than other poems. This structure resonates with the story-telling tone, which shortens the distance between the author and the audience and makes the text sound interesting. 

Conclusively, the text is the author’s personal reflection towards the topic of love and relationship. Though the theme is quite common, the author uses the rare symbol of “coffee” to centre the development of the plot and raise the response from the target audience. Also, he employs a poem like structure to visualise the frustration and desperation when love fails to work. Both of the unique stylistic devices facilitate the author’s attempt in revealing the cruelty of love. 

Upcoming: TOK Essay title thoughts (Nov 2016)

The November 2016 session's TOK essay title was released a couple of weeks ago but I didn't really have a chance to discuss it. I will be posting my thoughts on them in the next few days. Stay tuned!

Chemistry IA IDEA 2016

Since the IA days are coming, I have few thoughts of how to design a good chemistry IA...

Personally I think you should centre the investigation around the topic of rate of reaction. It is fairly easy to do and you can investigate a number of variables that affect the rate like temperature, concentration, catalyst... etc.(but just do one as the independent variable)

To visualize the rate of reaction, I think you should focus on the reactions that involve colour change and precipitation... You can find the equations of the colour change of transition metal compounds (e.g. KMnO4 turns from purple to colourless, etc.) first and then design then experiment based on the particular reaction. Techniques to change temperature such as water bath can be applied if you are doing the reaction with the independent variable of temperature. 

Reaction based on precipitation is easy to carry out too. There are two ways to find the experiment. First, try to recall the experiment we did in IGCSE that involves precipitation (e.g. CO2+Ca(OH)2 produces solid CaCO3, etc.) and then design the experiment based on this. Second, you can use data booklet to find insoluble salts and then search for the reactions that produce these salts. You can compare the rate of reaction in different conditions based on the time for the precipitate to appear.

Preliminary experiments are VERY important for the rate of change IAs, so if you have time please carry out a few... 

Anyway good luck to y'all!! Go get a 7!!

Cheers

Charles

Site update-Chemistry IA idea coming soon!

Chemistry IA idea coming soon.
I've got few good ones.. Now I'm checking the reliabilities of these experiments.

English A SL Textual analysis LEVEL 7 20/20

Textual analysis-4

High school students demand wars in easier to find countries.

This text is an online satirical article that was originally published on a satire news website. As one of the most unique, yet controversial text types, satire has it own strength in mocking, criticising and even ridiculing a trending phenomenon through its comedic tone. In this text, the author focuses on the fact that there’s an increasing number of American high-schoolers who are in lack of basic understandings of the world. Therefore one of his major purposes is to introduce this social phenomenon to the audiences and thus let them realise this prevailing problem. Moreover, the author does not only point out the problem but he also uses a satirical tone to mock the high schooler's ignorance and self-centered attitude.He also calls up the rest of the society to reflect on the causes of this undesired phenomenon.  As the bottom of the text suggests, the article was created around the early twenty-first century, where one of the hottest topics was American deployment’s military action in the foreign countries. Therefore to a certain extent, this article could be interpreted as the author’s dissentient response to the “invasion” in “obscure countries”, which he tries to convey the audiences that the war will have a negative impact on the teenagers. The potential audiences of the text are majority American internet users who seek for entertainment, and as it suggests, the other notable purpose of the text is to amuse and entertain the readers. 

The author applies a range of stylistic devices to enhance the text’s comedic feature. One of the most prominent techniques in the text is the use of contrast and juxtaposition. From the first look, the layout of this text is similar to common news report format. If the audiences don't know the nature of the publication media, they might treat this text as the normal journalist report from standard news agencies. The author achieves to establish this deceptive look by imitating the minor details of the articles on broadsheets and tabloids. For instance, the author gives a brief introduction of the interviewer’s background right after their words to enhance their occupations and ages, which is also a common feature on the standard news reports. The effect of using the parodic structure is targeted to deceive the audience’s sense temporarily, which misleads them to think that they are reading an actual news report rather than a satire from the first glance. Consequently, they will feel more amused and entertained when they read the absurd content due to the ironic contrast. The purpose of entertaining the audiences is delivered through the vivid use of the parodic structure. 

Juxtaposition is another key technique that is widely applied in the text. The title, for example, parallels the irrelevant term “high school students” and “demand the war” to provoke a sense of irony. This arrangement challenges the audience’s common sense as “demand the war” is a complicated and crucial process that only the leaders of the nation can decide. Moreover, in audience’s stereotype, “high school students” do not show particular interest in politics. Therefore using this title provokes their curiosity and engages their attention, and hence they will show interest in reading the rest of the article. Juxtaposition also delivers a strong sense of devastating humour by joining contradictory objects together, for instance, the phrase “invade Tallahassee (FL)” serves to show the absurdity of the teacher’s solution to the phenomenon. The verb “invade” means to take military actions in foreign land, which is inappropriate to use in front of a domestic city. Moreover, invade has negative connotations and it is commonly used to depict enemy group. The author uses this phrase to show the teacher’s ridiculous perspective to mock the existing education system. Moreover, “teachers” are supposed to be the one who corrects the student’s mistake and misunderstandings, however, in this case, they become the group who supports the student’s preposterous suggestions. The contrary really highlights the comedic effect of the article, and it also leads the audiences to reflect on the possible causes of this ludicrous phenomenon. 

The use of humorous language is also a key feature in the text. The author uses a range of homonyms or geographic terms with similar spellings to show that high schoolers are in lack of basic understandings of the world. One example of this use is in the first paragraph, where the author states that the high school students are not able to distinguish “Australia” and “Austria”. These two countries has similar sound and spelling, but geographically they are totally different. The youngster’s misinterpretation highlights their ignorance of basic knowledge, which allows the author to mock and criticise them. Moreover, the author choose not to specify the high school students in purpose. He addresses them using the term “a delegation” to show the generality, which implies that the phenomenon is a national problem that occurs all across the country. The author intends to use this phrase to reveal the inevitable failure in education, especially in subjects like geography. Apart from underlining the student’s ignorance in basic understandings of the world, the author suggests that they have absurd perspectives. He gives an example of one high schooler mixes up the reality and computer games to show that the upcoming generation fails to interpret and understand the world they are living. It is also ironic that he is able to memorise such a long, tedious and complicated name of a fictional character but not able to know the real countries in the world. The author persuades the audience to recognise the problem caused by advancement in technology among the teenagers, and hence leads them to reflect and come up with practical solutions. 

The author establishes the high school students as self-centred individuals to address their attitude problems. While responding to the person who corrects his misunderstanding, one high schooler uses the phrase “yeah right” to suggest his carefree impatient and even a bit of anger, which in author’s perspective, are common among the high school students all over the country. The author uses the figure he established to represent and exaggerate the bad habits on an average high school student to mock the youngster’s problematic attitude, while exaggeration also adds on comedic elements to the text. Similarly, the line underneath the picture highlights and mocks their self-centred attitude from an alternate perspective. The use of the question mark delivers a strong sense of confrontation to the audiences, which highlights the high school student’s strong desire in deciding where the war are. However, their appeal seems to be contradictory to the audience’s common sense as waging the war is a pivotal decision that can only be done by supreme officials. This irony highlights the student’s misinterpretation of freedom, which also reminds the readers that the existing education system do not perform well on shaping the upcoming generation. 

Overall, the text uses an informal, comical tone to discuss a social phenomenon over that period of time. The tone of the manner creates a relatively casual atmosphere, which facilitates the authors to persuade the readers to recognise and reflect on this undesired trend among the youngsters.

Link to the original article: http://www.satirewire.com/news/jan02/geography.shtml

Site update

http://masseychem.weebly.com/ib-review-answer-keys.html
Chemistry topic exams with answer keys.

Useful Links... I mean really useful

IB chemistry topical PPQs (SL and HL)
https://sites.google.com/a/nisbah.com/chemistry/IBDP-Chemistry/dp-chemistry

IB physics topical PPQs and past papers (SL and HL)
http://nothingnerdy.wikispaces.com/IB+PHYSICS+REVISION

IB physics topical PPQs
https://thisisphysics.wikispaces.com/IB+PHYSICS+REVISION

IB economics sample essays and examiner comments
http://xmltwo.ibo.org/publications/DP/Group3/d_3_econo_tsm_1102_1/html/67.207.142.65/exist/rest/app/tsm.xql@doc=d_3_econo_tsm_1102_1_e&part=1&chapter=1.html

IB English poetry and play analysis (made by my senior Matthew)
http://matthewspoetryanalysis.blogspot.sg

I used to look for IB maths HL past papers on Diamond Bar High School's website, unfortunately they removed it due to copyright issues. :( If you know where to find please comment below. Thanks.

IB English A textual analysis sample 2 LEVEL 7

English textual analysis 3-Obama ISIS

This text is the script of president Obama’s national speech on the ISIL group, which he addresses as “a terrorist threat” in the text. The speech was made and broadcasted live on the tenth of September, 2014, which is one day before the thirteenth anniversary of September 11 attack, and therefore the main motive of the text resonates with the anti-terrorism theme of the memorials and tributes. In particular, it condemns the militants brutal acts and shows the government’s dedication in eliminating terrorism. President Obama states the widespread fear the extreme Islamic group has stirred recently to imply the potential threats the United States might be facing in the future, which is targeted to alert the audiences the presence of terrorism and prepare them for the potential danger. Furthermore, the text was written on the period when president Obama struggled to carry out his healthcare reformation and his plans to revive U.S. economy, and therefore identifying a common enemy would be helpful to regain the trust from the citizens and unite them together around the government. The primary target audiences of this speech are the domestic citizens of America and America’s allies. The speech also seeks for international attention from other foreign sectors because of its universal topic. Obama achieves these purposes by using a range of devices that are discussed on the following content. 

As a propaganda, one of the most prominent feature of the text is the use of pronouns, which creates a sense a separation and even provokes the confrontation between the good and the evil. President Obama uses “we” and “us” to address America and American citizens, which enhances that the government and the citizens are facing the same situation. This could help to overcome the burdens between the authority and the citizens to regain their trust, especially during a difficult time. Furthermore, using “we” and “us” could be regarded as the example of Plain Folks technique, which uses a folksy approach to inform the audiences their responsibilities in the fight against terrorism. Hence they will pay more attention to their surroundings and report the potential threats to the officials, which prevents the occurrences of deadly attacks in the future. The purpose of alerting the citizens is achieved by referring them as “we” and “us”. For ISIL, the president uses the pronoun “they” to signify that the group stands at the opposite side of “us”, which brings out a sense of confrontation to convince the audiences the necessity in fighting the war against terrorism. “They” also shows that the group is isolated from the mainstream, which uses the bandwagon effect to gain the audiences’ support to eliminate terrorism. The pronoun “they” develops further in the text to “it” to dehumanise the group due to its brutality. The effect of using “it” suggests that the nature of ISIL is cruel, primitive and savage , which gives the audiences the impression of a group of barbarians who aim to destroy other cultures. As the result, the audiences will unite together around the government to protect the achievements of civilisation by supporting the counterterrorism war. 

The text also exploits the public’s fear of terrorism to achieve its purposes. It uses name-calling technique to attach negative labels to the ISIL group, for example, addressing it as a “radical group” and “terrorist organization”. These hateful labels help to provoke the terror among the audiences, which further explains to the public why does the government insist on carrying out the air strikes against ISIL even though it promised to withdraw most of the troops from the Middle East. Considering the speech was made one day before the thirteenth anniversary of the 911 attack, these sensitive labels will lead the audiences to recall their devastating memories of that day, which enhances the great consequences circumstances if the nation fails to eliminate terrorism. Moreover, president Obama uses repetitive structure and triplets in the text to intensify the horror ISIL has done so far. The sentence “they execute capture…genocide” condemns their brutal acts, and the repeating “they…they…” structure serves to impact the audiences. And therefore these disturbing facts will leave a permanent mark in audiences brain, which facilitates the author to call up them to join the movement of antiterrorism. The triplet “enslave…rape….enforce” shows ISIL’s abuses towards the women, which again reveals the evilness of the group. To a certain extent, president Obama might address this line to the issue that a number of girls decide to join ISIL voluntarily to be fighters’ wives. He intends to use the cruel facts to scare, and hence persuade the girls who have the similar thoughts. The order of the verbs represents the three phases of being subjugated. “Enslave” means there is no physical freedom while “rape” shows that the ISIL group has no regards of dignity or morality. “Enforce into marriage” escalates the group’s ridiculousness to a higher level as they simply disobey their victims’ wills and treat them as feelingless objects. These three verbs help to sketch a horrible picture of the lifestyle in ISIL territories, which would raise the audiences’ sympathy towards the victims and firm their belief in fighting against terrorism. 

Rather than focusing on the international impact of the group, president Obama changes his focus to reveal how does this group threaten the life of the American citizens to provoke more fear among the audiences. He states that “thousands of foreigners” have “joined them in Syria and Iraq” and could try to “carry out deadly attacks”. The number “thousands” signifies the large amount of the potential terrorists, which attracts the audiences’ attention and alerts them to be prepared for the possible attacks. However, it is a vague and ambiguous statement as it is only an estimation from the intelligence community. The real number of the foreign fighters, especially the American ones is unidentified, and hence “thousands” could be regarded as a hyperbole to exaggerate the circumstances of the potential harm, which is targeted to show the importance and necessity of taking counterterrorism acts outside of America. The adverb “deadly” suggests the massive scale and casualty of the potential attacks, which promotes fear among the audiences and hence prepare them to be ready to respond to the events. Focusing on the domestic impact would make the audiences feel more relatable and see their roles in fighting against terrorism. Consequently, they will take the responsibility of observing and reporting the potential threats. 

President Obama promotes patriotism and heroism to placate the terrified crowd, which also balances the tone of the text. The use of the adjectives “strength and resolve” is an example of glittering generalities, which means it uses fancy words that have little or no real meaning. The phrase “strength and resolve” doesn't signify anything in practical in fighting against terrorism, but it effectively promotes the audiences’ pride and patriotism and hence makes them feel that they are responsible in eliminating terrorism. When briefing the outcomes of the air strikes, president Obama uses the perfect present tense “have…protected” to show the attacks’ long lasting positive effect, both regionally and internationally, which pacifies the audiences’ growing terror by showing them the achievements on the frontline. This also firms the audiences’ confidence in winning the fight against terrorism, which ultimately helps to government to rebuild its image and regain trust from the audiences. The alteration “decisive difference” shows the global leading role America plays in counterterrorism, which effectively provokes the reader’s national pride and patriotism. The “d” sounds primitive and powerful, which symbolises America’s great military power and its pivotal position in eliminating terrorism, showing the audiences that the troops are reliable enough to eliminate terrorism. The examples of heroism and patriotism contrast with the fear president Obama provokes in pervious, praising the contribution of the troops in stabilising the word while placating the public’s growing fears. 

Overall, considering the political background of the text, president Obama applies a range of propagandistic techniques to deliver his purposes and manipulate the public’s attitude towards counterterrorism. The implication of patriotism and heroism effectively arises the audiences’ interests towards the text and makes them feel more relatable, facilitating the author to convey his ideas to them. 

18/20, level 7

IB English A textual analysis sample 1 LEVEL 7

Textual Analysis 1       theonion.com 

The text I’m going to talk about is originally published on The Onion, which is a satirical website known for its effort in deriding and ridiculing the trending social phenomena, and hence the text type of the article is a journalist online report. However, the text disguises as the journalist news report, which juxtaposes with its absurd information to deliver a strong sense of mockery, the choice of format also resonates with the theme of comedy of the text. The major purpose of the text is to encourage people to start conserving natural resources by exaggerating the consequences of not to do so, which resonates with the context of global warming, population growth and resource depletion. The text also implies how critical the situation is, which urges people to give more attention to the environments. The targeted audiences of the text are mostly online readers who seek for entertainment rather than the actual news, and hence the satire format and the comedic tone will help to attract their attention and provoke their reading interest, which helps to convey the messages of the text. 

From the first look, the layout of this text is similar to common news report format. If the audiences doesn't know the nature of The Onion, they might treat this text as the normal journalist report from standard news agencies. The text has all the details of a journalist news report, for instance, the publishing time and place. These elements are visually deceptive, which blur the nature of the text and manipulate the audiences’ first impression towards the text. However, the author fills in the structure with absurd content to remind the readers that the text is not for informative uses. Moreover, this extreme contrary provokes a strong sense of humour, which resonates with the comedic tone of the text and conveys the purposes in an amusing way. The author uses a preposterous oxymoron “die” and “civilisation” to point out that the major discussion of the text is based on how to kill people to make our civilisation sustainable, which shocks the audiences and attracts their attention. On the hand, the title resonates with the contexts such as environment destruction and global warming, which implies that the article has the intention of discussing these serious issues apart from bringing the audiences laughter. To enhance the comedic theme of “how to die”, the author uses death related words such as “die” and “killing off” throughout the passage. The repetition also provokes a sense of emergency, which underlines the author’s firm belief of carrying out the liquidation in order to achieve the sustainability. The phrase “how they want to die themselves” delivers a strong sense of irony through the contrasting terms “want” and “die”. Perhaps the author uses this phrase to warn the audiences that death is better than living in the future if we don't start thinking of environmental issues now, and hence the purposes of encouraging the audiences to conserve the resources and protect the nature are conveyed. The line “die slowly, quickly, painfully, or peacefully” uses adverbs to state the options for the audiences to end their lives, which is really absurd as no one wants to die willingly. The author uses this phrase to imply that the destruction in environment equals to the destruction in mankind, which resonates with the theme of resource conversation. The caesura between each adverb slows down the pace of the sentence, which offers the audiences time to reflect on what they’ve done wrong and what they can do to alleviate the environmental issues. These absurd, bizarre and ridiculous contents use exaggerations to show the consequences of ignoring the environmental destructions, which will have a strong impact on the audiences and persuade them to protect the nature. This message is delivered in a humour tone through the uses of oxymoron and juxtaposition, which suits the text’s satirical format and attracts its targeted audiences who seek for a source of entertainment. 

Since the article is based on the research outcomes of a group of scientists, the author shows some scientific applications in text. However, the main purpose of the scientific content is to accentuate the comedic feature of the text, since most of them are ridiculous and impractical. The line “2 billion dead…fossil fuels” suggests a way of renewing resources on earth, which sounds really professional and believable. However, it is impractical in real life as the formation of the fossil fuels requires really long time and extreme weather conditions. The faulty scientific reasons behind the massacre plot implies that the outcomes of the research are fake, which serves as a plot twist to calm the audiences down after reading the title. Moreover, it adds on comedic elements to the text, which emphasises its humorous tone. In other cases, the author states the real scientific information but gives it a wrong interpretation or solution. For example, he discusses the issue of the “destruction of global environmental systems in heavily populated regions”, which is an universal problem facing by most of the governments. However, the author addresses the “scientific solution” to this issue as “half the world’s progeny will have to be sterilised”, which is a ridiculous method that contrasts with the nature of science. The first part of the statement serves to introduce the issue to the readers, which conveys the purpose of showing the critical environmental situation and hence persuades the audiences to participate in the conservation activities. The second part, which is apparently the scientists’ interpretation to the issue, actually serves to add comedic elements to the text, moreover, it provokes the humorous responses from the audiences, and hence they will more likely to accept the messages delivered. To highlight the implication of science, the author introduces the fictional scientists in a formal way, which includes their names, institutions and researching fields. On the other hand, these titles accentuate the ridicule and derision theme of the text, which highlights the author’s joking manner. 

The other prominent feature of the text is the use of graphology. The author uses a relatively big space to display the photo to attract the audience’s immediate attention, and hence the majority of them will choose to look at the picture first before read the actual article, which means that the picture will manipulate the audience’s first impression towards the text. The event depicted in the photo is some sort of important news events, and the large number of microphones on the table suggest the event is highly recognised by the media.The spokesman in the white coat suggests that the text is related to science. After receiving these information, the audiences might use their imagination to interpret the purpose of the text. Moreover, the spokesman and the accompanied ladies’ facial expressions are serious and worried, which imply that the text is written based on serious issues. Therefore by the time the audiences start to read the passage, their pre knowledge and interpretations to the text will mislead them to think that the text is an actual news report, which accentuates the effect of contrary and resonates with the comedic theme of the text. The use of the quick poll at the back offers the audiences a chance to interact with the author, which makes their reading experience more personal and amusing. On the other hand, the absurd options really enhances the humorous tone of the text, which helps the author to deliver the message more effectively as it has some permanent impact on the audiences.

Overall, the text conveys the message of conserving the resources and protecting the earth in a satirical manner through the uses of irony, exaggeration and juxtaposition.Moreover, the text provides the audiences an amusing reading experience through the vivid uses of humour and comedy, the audiences will more likely to accept this profound message beneath the ridiculous and absurd outlook of the text. 

Link to the original article: http://www.theonion.com/article/scientists-look-one-third-of-the-human-race-has-to-27166

Final mark: 19/20 Level 7

Macbeth IOC script-ACT 1 SCENE 5 (commentary style)

Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5 IOC script

Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play follows the life of a fictional Scottish Thane Macbeth to show the themes of treason, vengeance, super nature and witchcraft. Furthermore, this play is considered as a propaganda player to please King James the first who was originally born in Scotland.

Before Act 1 Scene 5, Macbeth defeated the traitors and invaders who threaten King Duncan’s Kingship. After the battle he meets three witches along with his best friend Banquo, the witches gives Macbeth the prophecies that he will be the Thane of Cawdor and eventually the king. King Duncan decides to reward Macbeth’s service by entitle him as the Thane of Cawdor, which makes Macbeth start to believe these prophecies. He thereafter writes a letter to lady Macbeth to explain what has happened, which leads her actions in Act 1, Scene 5.

At the start of the scene, lady Macbeth confesses her ambition to overtake the Kingship but fears that Macbeth’s loyalty will stop the plan.The line “yet do I fear thy nature” confirms that she’s worried of Macbeth’s kindness will stop him from the murder. “Yet” and the caesura at the front also help to reveal the change of lady Macbeth’s mind. Considering this is the first time Lady Macbeth appears on the stage, her uncommon features which contradicts to the typical image of an ideal woman serve as a shocking factor to the audiences, and hence they will start suspecting lady Macbeth’s behaviour, which increases their overall interest to the play in an direct way. Moreover, her contradictory characteristics add dramatic elements to the play. The imagery (?) “milk of human kindness” visualises the inheritance of humanity through the generations, moreover, it shows the audiences Macbeth’s other personalities such as kind and loyal apart from being a brave warrior. One of the main conflict of the play “Macbeth’s guilty conscience battles against his faulty ambition” is implied and settled. The metaphor “catch the nearest way” brings out the idea of “murder the king” to the audiences. We know that during Shakespearean’s era, Great Chain of Being is one of the fundamental principles of society and murdering the king is regarded as the sin against God, however, lady Macbeth tries to fulfil her ambition by breaking the Great Chain of Being, which shows the ruthlessness and burning ambition within the character. Her in lack of human nature even makes the audience to suspect whether she's the fourth witch or not. The metaphor “golden round” might refer to the crown in lady Macbeth’s speech, she actually makes the direct reference to what she wants to do, foreshadowing what might happen in the future, which brings up the murder scene naturally.

Shakespeare uses conditions “wouldst” a lot in the first part of lady Macbeth’s speech. “Wouldst” is a second condition which suggests what is going to happen in the future. The repetition of “s” sounds in this word makes it hard to say, which brings up a sense of uncomfortableness to the audience. This unnatural flow of sounds could probably refer to some supernatural characteristics within lady Macbeth, which is signified by the line “pour my spirits in thine ear.” This is a very strong imagery which links to supernatural power and even witchcraft. Lady Macbeth wants to manipulate Macbeth to accomplish her mission, her dominance in their relationship serves as a shocking factor to audiences’ stereotype, which helps to shape her unique personality in the play. The “spirit” imagery links to lady Macbeth’s “conjuring up the spirits” act later in this scene. 

By the time lady Macbeth realises that King Duncan is coming tonight, she immediately calls it “great news” in front of the messenger because it is their honour to host the king and the nobles. However, she might refer to the great opportunity to carry out the murder in their own castle. The ambiguity with the words helps to add more tense and dramatic effects to the play. On the following speech, lady Macbeth emphasises the feature of supernatural elements in the play with the help of dark imageries. “Raven” symbolises death, gloom and grief, which might foreshadow King Duncan’s death. “Raven” links to witchcraft sometimes so we can argue that lady Macbeth is actually seeking for three witch’s help to accomplish the mission. The powerful imagery of raven reflects to the dark side of her personality. She also asks the ‘spirits” to “unsex’ her, which means taking the feminine nature away from her. This line shows that lady Macbeth is really determined to get what she desires and would pay any price to do it. She prays that she could be strong like a warrior persuade Macbeth to do the “deed”. Her conjuring becomes even more powerful when she wants the spirits to “make thick of my blood” and “take my milk for gall’. The first imagery suggests that she wants to transfer from a human to a strong creature that can’t be controlled by the “kindness of human nature”. She prays that she could plug up any feelings of conscience and remorse because these are the major obstacles to prevent Macbeth and her “done the deed”. The second request seems to be darker. “Gall” is a type of poison which kills people instantly and lady Macbeth wants it to replace the milk in her breast. The use of juxtaposition brings out two contradictory objects “milk” and “gall” to emphasise Lady Macbeth’s relentlessness and her in lack of human nature. Moreover, the imagery of milk can be linked to the quote “milk of human kindness” which Lady Macbeth suggests in previous, which shows that she completely disregards the inherited “human kindness’, she is driven by her faulty ambitions. Lady Macbeth’s characteristics can be read as a tragedy in morality and Shakespeare uses her as an example to warn the audiences how does the false desire transfer a person. The alliteration “murdering ministers” shows that she wants the most evil things to help her get the job done, which shows how relentless she is. The “m” sound within the words brings up a sense of conjuring and cursing to the audiences, which builds up a gloomy, dark but intense atmosphere.

The major purpose of this scene in the play is to establish Lady Macbeth’s figure and to bring out the idea of “the murder”. The scene acts a bridge to link the previous story and the future events in the play, the audiences will have a more clear understanding of the characters and the story itself.

Macbeth IOC script-ACT 1 SCENE 7 (commentary style)

Macbeth IOC 

Act 1, Scene 7

Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play follows the life of a fictional Scottish Thane Macbeth to show the themes of treason, supernatural and witchcraft. Furthermore, this play is considered as a propaganda player to please King James the first who was originally born in Scotland. 

In previous scenes, Macbeth defeated the enemies who threatened King Duncan’s kingship. Shortly after the battle, he met three witches who gave him prophecies alongside with his close friend Banquo. Macbeth wrote a letter to lady Macbeth to explain what has happened to him, which ignited her faulty ambition of overthrowing King Duncan. She persuaded Macbeth to murder King Duncan but Macbeth was unsure whether he had to commit this sin or not. Therefore in Act 1 Scene 7, the main conflict is based on Macbeth’s mental confusion. This scene serves as a turning point to the plot and signifies Macbeth’s indecisive mindset before committing the murder, which highlights his complicated personality, and therefore the readers will have a better understanding of the character. 

 Shakespeare starts off the scene using an example of second conditionals “were…were”, which highlights that Macbeth is debating the murder over in his head. This quote emphasises Macbeth’s indecisiveness and confusion at this stage of the play, which reminds the audiences his complicity of the character. This inner conflict within Macbeth’s head also adds on dramatic elements to the play, which engages the audiences’ attention. The adverb “quickly” implies Macbeth’s fear towards the murder as he doesn't want this bloody memory to stay permanently in his mind. However, this line is quite ironic as the murder has a huge impact on Macbeth and completely changes his character. Considering the context of this play, Shakespeare might try to remind the people who scheme to threaten the King’s reign the harm evil does to the criminals themselves. The metaphor “trammel up” provokes an image of capturing fish into the net, which implies that Macbeth wants to capture and take control of all the possible consequences. On the other hand, this line reflects that Macbeth is actually worried about the potential consequences of committing the murder, which links to the idea of the Great Chain Of Beings that has strong influence at that point of time. In people’s common belief, everyone has a fixed position, or order on earth that can’t be changed. King is the representation of God on earth, and hence committing sins to the King equals to violate God’s will. Once the chain is broken, nightmares will be falling and the earth will be in chaos. Macbeth addresses “consequences” to these undesired problems, which shows his fear of committing the murder, highlighting his confusion on hesitation. The notable sibilance “surcease success” makes the phrase hard to say, which delivers a sense of uncomfortableness to the audiences, signifying Macbeth’s mental conflict over the murder. His fear arises even more as the phrase “teach bloody instructions…even handed justice” suggests. The literal meaning of this line is if Macbeth commits the murder, the same tragedy will happen on him, which reflects on his fear and terror. Furthermore, it emphasises how difficult it is for him to make the decision when taking account in these “consequences”. The first section of the soliloquy dedicates to show Macbeth’s indecisiveness when it comes to murder the King caused by his fears over potential consequences, the audiences will hence have a more comprehensive view of the character. 

The turning point of the soliloquy comes after the phrase “To our own lips”, and on the following part of the soliloquy, Macbeth states why it would be the right move to end King Duncan’s life tonight. As his “Kinsman”, “subject” and “host”, Macbeth’s main responsibility is to protect the King himself, which contrasts to his scheme of murdering the King, arising dramatic effects to the play, engaging audience’s interest. Moreover, it illustrates how does the evilness and faulty ambition corrupt the character’s mind, warning the audiences don’t lured by the supernatural power. The fact that King Duncan “hath borne his faculties so meek” shows King Duncan trusts Macbeth deeply, and hence it makes Macbeth’s betrayal more vicious and unforgivable. Furthermore, this phrase helps to establish a positive imagery of King Duncan indirectly, highlighting his virtues such as humble and loving. The audiences will really feel that there’s no reason to kill such a reputable king, which makes Macbeth a completely evil figure whom should be condemned. Even Macbeth himself agrees that Duncan is a virtuous man who deserves all the best from the heaven. The phrase “his virtues…angels” brings out the religious connotation of after life, which resonates with the theme of “the Great Chain Of Beings”. Perhaps Shakespeare also implies that Macbeth’s biggest fear is his afterlife if he murders the king. The simile “like a naked new born baby” compares the King to the babies, which highlights the purity within his character. The audiences, hence, will have more pity towards the King and more condemnation towards Macbeth for planning to kill such an innocent figure. 

Lady Macbeth’s appearance later in this scene contributes to persuade Macbeth to commit the murder. Shakespeare uses a rhetorical question “why have you left the chamber” to highlight her determination of overthrowing the King, the phrase also enhances her domination in their relationship, which helps to establish her independent, manipulative character. When Macbeth confesses to her that he doesn't want to discuss this topic any further, lady Macbeth attacks him for the sake of changing his mind. Shakespeare uses rhetorical questions repetitively to show how badly she wants to get the murder done, which contrasts to Macbeth’s indecisiveness, arising tensions and adding dramatic elements to the play. Lady Macbeth uses the colour imagery “green and pale” refers to Macbeth as a coward in order to provoke the anger within him. She knows that once Macbeth unleashes his anger and follows his ambition, he could be the relentless warrior on the field and commit the murder. Her persuasion of power and domination in relationship really make her an unique character, or an exception of the stereotypes during Shakespearean time. The audiences might regard her as the main villain who causes the series of tragedy at this stage of the play. 

The major purpose of this scene is to highlight Macbeth’s confusion while emphasising lady Macbeth;s role in the murdering incident. The audiences might get a deeper understanding of the characters and the plot. Overall, it serves as the bridge to link up the “scheme” and the “action”.