How long should a written commentary be

Writing Commentary You are going to need at least two sentences of commentary for every detail sentence. Here are a few different methods for writing commentary: 1 Opinion: this is where you write your belief, subjective judgment or way of thinking about a detail. Commentary is the Treasure Your commentary is the treasure that makes your paper shine. When To Use Commentary Types Depending on your assignment, choose the types of commentary that best fits your argument.

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Oxford Tutoring Join other followers. Sign me up. Already have a WordPress. Log in now. Loading Comments Email Required Name Required Website. Notice if the same word is used in a different context in the passage and highlight each mention of the word. Create an outline. Literary commentaries follow a very simple outline and unlike an essay, do not require a thesis statement. Instead, you should analyze the structure, content, and form of the provided text in detail.

The outline should look like: Introduction section: Identify the text Body section: Discuss the main features of the text Conclusion section: Summarize your thoughts on the text. Part 2. Identify the title, author, and genre in the introduction. Begin the literary commentary by noting the basic details of the text. State the title, author, date of publication, and genre of the text. This should appear in your introduction section. You can also mention at what point in a larger work the passage occurs, if relevant.

In the body paragraphs, think about what the text is about. Who or what is the text focusing on? What are the main ideas in the text? What is the overall purpose of the text? Who is the text written for? Look at the genre, form, and structure of the text. The genre of the text is tied to its form, or how it appears on the page.

Is the text a poem, a piece of prose, or an essay? Does the text fit in a specific genre, such as fiction, nonfiction, poetry, travel writing, or memoir? The genre and form of the text will also help you determine the structure of the text. It uses a familiar poetic structure, such as short lines of text and is broken into two stanzas. Analyze the voice in the text. Ask yourself, who is speaking in the text? Identify the speaker or narrator in the text.

Then, think about how the voice of the text is reflected in the word choice, the language, and the diction in the text. Study the tone and mood. The tone of the text is how the author expresses their attitude in the writing. The tone may shift or change throughout the text, such as moving from a light-hearted tone to a serious tone or from a friendly tone to a sinister tone. It is usually expressed through the diction, the point of view, and the word choice in the text.

The tone also reflects the mood of the text. The mood is the atmosphere of the text, or how the text makes you feel as you experience it. The tone then shifts in the second stanza to be more serious and dark. Identify the literary devices in the text. Literary devices like metaphor, simile, imagery, and alliteration are often used in writing to deepen the meaning of the text.

If you notice any literary devices in the text, discuss them in the literary commentary. Name the literary devices and use them to discuss key ideas or themes in the passage. Include quotes from the text. Support your discussion of the text by quoting lines or sentences in the passage.

Use quotation marks to note when you are quoting the text directly. Only include quotes that will support your discussion of the text. Wrap up the commentary with a summary of your thoughts. End the literary commentary with a brief conclusion that reinforces your main points about the text. Discuss the relevance of the passage within the larger work. Restate your main ideas about the text but do not add new information or new thoughts in the conclusion. Part 3. Read the commentary aloud to yourself.

Once you have completed a draft of the literary commentary, read it back to yourself aloud. Listen for any sentences that sound awkward or long winded. Revise any confusing or convoluted phrases. Make sure each sentence is clear and easy to understand. You can also read the commentary aloud to someone else to get their feedback. Ask a peer, a friend, or a family member to listen to you read the commentary and then ask for their feedback.

They include a few references, and one or two tables and figures. Some journals require abstracts for commentaries, while others do not. Use these simple guidelines:Do not summarize the focal article; just give the reference. Do not include general praise for the focal article. Use only essential citations. Use a short title that emphasizes your key message. Do not include an abstract. Make clear your take-home message. Commentaries are short, narrowly focused articles of contemporary interest and usually take one of two forms: This type of commentary discusses specific issues within a subject area rather than the whole field, explains the implications of the article and puts it in context.

Writing commentary means giving your opinion, interpretation, insight, analysis, explication, personal reaction, evaluation or reflection about a concrete detail in an essay. Writing commentary is higher level thinking.

End the literary commentary with a brief conclusion that reinforces your main points about the text. Discuss the relevance of the passage within the larger work. Restate your main ideas about the text but do not add new information or new thoughts in the conclusion. You are going to need at least two sentences of commentary for every detail sentence. A good rule of thumb is that your commentary should be twice as long as your details. Otherwise, your paper is just full of facts.

Examples of commentary in a Sentence The magazine includes humor and social commentary. The book is a commentary on her experiences abroad. I like listening to his social commentaries. He provided commentary during the game. Means of providing commentary on the language of the text include notes on textual criticism, syntax and semantics, and the analysis of rhetoric, literary tropes, and style. The aim is to remove, lessen or point out linguistic obstacles to reading and understanding the text.