The HL essay is one of four major assessment components of the subject Language A: Literature (HL). The focus of the essay is determined by your line of inquiry, therefore it is important to choose and structure it suitably. To help you out, here is a quick guide and some extra tips on formulating your own line of inquiry.
Assessment Overview
The HL essay is a 1,200 to 1,500 word essay students write based on one work studied in their course. It makes up 20% of the final grade for students taking IB Language A: Literature (at Higher Level only). You may choose any literary text studied in your course, however note that you cannot then use your chosen text for your Paper 2 or Internal Oral (IO).
What is the line of inquiry?
To help guide you, students are asked to come up with a line of inquiry which essentially serves as a research question. As a template to structure your line of inquiry you may want to use this prompt:
“How/To what extent does [author] utilise [literary/linguistic aspect] in their [genre] [text] to convey [theme based on the 7 Key Concepts for your course]?”
When deconstructing this template, you may be wondering what exactly is meant by ‘literary/linguistic aspects’? A literary or linguistic aspect refers to a technique or feature the author utilises in order to shape meaning, in relation to the theme. Examples include symbolism, characterization, irony, or narrative perspective.
Moving on, your line of inquiry must be related to a main idea from the text, explored through the 7 Key Concepts. These include perspective, culture, transformation, identity, presentation, communication, and creativity. For example, you may want to explore how the author uses tone to challenge gender roles, characterisation to illustrate systemic racism, or irony to represent the manipulation of truth in authoritarian regimes.
Based on the template above, here are some exemplary lines of inquiry:
- How does Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie utilize the characterization of the protagonist Kambili in her literary novel Purple Hibiscus to convey the struggle for identity in an oppressive environment?
- To what extent does Tenesee Williams employ auditory stage directions in his drama A Streetcar Named Desire to illustrate the deterioration of the protagonist, Blanche’s, mental state?
- How does Albert Camus use imagery of light and heat in his literary novel The Stranger to represent the meaninglessness of life and death?
How do I integrate the line of inquiry into my essay?
As your line of inquiry is the main focus of your essay, each body paragraph should analyse how the author utilises a literary or linguistic feature, and implications or effects this has on readers. A common mistake students make is solely describing rather than exploring deeper meaning and analysing. Therefore, to help you avoid this mistake, you can follow these steps:
Step 1: Plan your paragraph structure
- Find relevant evidence in the text which includes the relevant linguistic or literary feature and is connected to your chosen overarching theme. Importantly, consider the effect it has on the reader or what it reveals in the context of the literature.
- You may want to plan your paragraphs utilising a table where the columns represent the quote, literary/linguistic feature, and effect, respectively.
Step 2: Structure your body paragraphs using the PEEL method.
- P stands for Point: Make a statement explaining how the author utilises a linguistic/literary device to convey the theme.
- E stands for Evidence: Provide relevant evidence from the text.
- E stands for explain: Analyse how the used devices contribute to the meaning of the text, and the implication this has on readers.
- L stands for link back to your point: Shortly summarize how your evidence and analysis align with your point.
As an example, take a look at this sample body paragraph written by the IB English Guys, based on the line of inquiry, “How does Athol Fugard utilize the conventions of avant-garde theater in his drama Sizwe Bansi is Dead to convey the struggle for identity for Black South Africans during Apartheid?”. Although the line of inquiry is written for English A: Language and Literature, the paragraph structure and approach to analysis is also applicable to English A: Literature.
Notice how each quote (blue highlight), is followed by analysing how the literary feature (yellow highlight) impacts the author or audience (orange highlight), then links to either the line of inquiry or paragraph topic sentence (green highlight). For instance, with the last quote, “starts to tear off his clothes”, the literary device (a metaphor) is identified, and connected to how it contributes to both the overarching literary/linguistic aspect (conventions of avant-garde theater) and theme (struggle for identity).
Final Tips
From my personal experience of writing the HL essay, my main advice is to start off on the right foot. What I mean is, having a clear line of inquiry will truly help you narrow down your work, and clarify exactly which literary aspect and overarching theme you want to focus on.
For further resources, I would advise having a look at the following:
- IB English Guys Youtube Channel and Website for structure help and examples
- Sparknotes, LitCharts, or SaveMyExams for summaries, key themes, and key literary devices of your text.