How to Develop an Answer
Most students know the answer. What they lose marks for is stopping after the first sentence of it. This page is about the four sentences that follow.
The problem, exactly
A student is asked how a writer presents a character. They write: The writer shows that he is proud. That is correct. It earns very little.
The marks are not for knowing that he is proud. They are for showing where the text says so, how the writing conveys it, and what difference it makes. Those are three separate things, and each has to be written down.
The five parts of a developed answer
Point
Answer the question in one sentence. Not an introduction — the actual answer. The writer presents him as a man whose pride is stronger than his judgement.
Evidence
Give the proof: a short quotation, or a precise reference to a moment. Keep quotations short — a few words is usually enough, and long quotations waste examination time.
Explanation
Explain how the evidence supports the point. Look at the actual words: a particular verb, an image, a repetition, a silence.
Effect
Say what it does to the reader or the audience. This is the sentence weak answers never contain, and it is where the higher marks live.
Link
Connect it to the question, or to the wider text. One sentence: how this contributes to the theme, the character's development, or the writer's purpose.
The same answer, developed four times
The example is invented for illustration, so that the method can be shown without quoting a copyrighted text. Watch the answer grow.
Question: How does the writer present the father in this extract?
The writer presents the father as a proud man.
Why this answer works
- Correct, and almost worthless. There is no evidence and no explanation. An examiner cannot tell whether the student has read the text or guessed.
Question: How does the writer present the father in this extract?
The writer presents the father as a proud man. When his son offers him money, he says, "I have managed thirty years without it."
Why this answer works
- Better. There is now proof. But the quotation has been left to speak for itself, and it does not — the student has not said what in it shows pride.
Question: How does the writer present the father in this extract?
The writer presents the father as a proud man. When his son offers him money, he says, "I have managed thirty years without it." The reply does not refuse the money directly; instead it turns the offer into a comment on his own endurance, and the precise figure of "thirty years" suggests a man who has been counting.
Why this answer works
- Now the words themselves are being examined — the indirect refusal, and the exactness of thirty years. This is the level most students can reach with practice, and it earns solid marks.
Question: How does the writer present the father in this extract?
The writer presents the father as a proud man whose pride has become a way of keeping his son at a distance. When the son offers him money, he says, "I have managed thirty years without it." The reply does not refuse the money directly; instead it turns the offer into a comment on his own endurance, and the precise figure of "thirty years" suggests a man who has been counting, and who has waited for the chance to say so. The effect on the reader is uncomfortable rather than admiring: we recognise the dignity, but we also see that the son has been refused something more than money. This prepares us for the silence between them in the final scene, which the writer never explains and never needs to.
Why this answer works
- Point — the opening sentence answers the question, and answers it with an argument (pride has become a way of keeping his son at a distance), not merely a label.
- Evidence — one short quotation. Nine words.
- Explanation — the actual language is examined: the indirectness, the precision of the number.
- Effect — uncomfortable rather than admiring tells the examiner what the writing does to a reader. This sentence is the difference between a good answer and a very good one.
- Link — the final sentence connects the moment to the rest of the text.
- The whole paragraph is five sentences. It is not long. Length is not what is being rewarded — development is.
Sentence starters for each part
Use these while you are learning the structure. Stop using them once the structure has become a habit — an answer built entirely of formulas reads mechanically.
Point
- The writer presents…
- The poet suggests that…
- At this moment the play shows…
Evidence
- This is shown when…
- The phrase "…" indicates…
- When she refuses to…
Explanation
- The word "…" implies…
- By choosing to… rather than…, the writer…
- The repetition of "…" emphasises…
Effect
- The effect on the reader is…
- This makes the audience feel…
- We are therefore led to…
Link
- This prepares us for…
- The same idea returns when…
- This contributes to the theme of…
A practice exercise that works
Take any one-sentence answer you have written before and rewrite it as five sentences, one for each part. Do this three times a week for a fortnight.
It is dull, and it is the single most reliable way to raise a Literature mark, because the failure to develop is almost always the reason the mark was low.