The short version: Turn your global issue into a line of inquiry: one clear argument about HOW both works explore the issue, which every point in your ten minutes then develops.
The global issue is your topic; the line of inquiry is your ARGUMENT about it — and it's what stops the IO becoming a list.
🧭 Not ‘I will talk about surveillance in these two works’ (a topic), but ‘Both works show surveillance being internalised until people police themselves — but the novel mourns this while the adverts celebrate it’ (an argument). A line of inquiry gives your oral a spine you can develop for ten minutes.
Building the line of inquiry
State an argument, not a topic
Not ‘surveillance in X and Y’ but a CLAIM about how each explores it.
Cover both works
The line of inquiry must be about BOTH the literary and non-literary work.
Make it developable
It must be rich enough to sustain ten minutes of analysis, not answered in one.
Keep it focused
One clear line — everything you say develops it, nothing wanders.
The key move: Write a line of inquiry: one argument about HOW both works explore the global issue. Every point in the oral develops it — topic becomes argument.
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Why it matters in the exam: The line of inquiry drives Criterion C (focus and organisation): a clear argument keeps the whole oral on track. Without one, the IO drifts into a list of observations; with one, every point builds a case.
Turn this topic into a line of inquiry: ‘I'll discuss the global issue of beauty standards in a novel and a make-up advertising campaign.’
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Watch out: Don't confuse a TOPIC (‘surveillance in these works’) with a LINE OF INQUIRY (a claim about how each explores it). A topic produces a list; only an argument produces a focused, ten-minute oral.