Key Idea: This topic is how to write your analysis up so it scores. Spotting a technique isn't analysis yet. Six moves turn a feature-spot into top-band writing: link the effect to the so what (meaning, purpose or audience), show techniques working together, use precise critical words, build every paragraph as PEAL, evaluate how well a choice works, and copy the top-band model. Master these and you climb the mark bands on every Paper 1 answer.
🗝️ The moves to know
| Move | What it means | Quick example |
|---|---|---|
| Technique → effect → so what | Link the effect to meaning, purpose or audience | ‘urgency… which serves the advert's aim to make you buy’ |
| Multiple techniques together | Show two choices building ONE effect | ‘the metaphor, reinforced by the short sentence, builds dread’ |
| Precise critical vocabulary | Swap ‘makes it interesting’ for exact verbs | ‘evokes’, ‘conveys’, ‘emphasises’, ‘juxtaposes’, ‘undercuts’ |
| PEAL paragraph | Point → Evidence → Analysis → Link | One point, a short quote, deep analysis, link to the question |
| Evaluating effects | Judge how well it works, why, and how far | ‘a particularly effective choice, because…’ |
| The mark ladder | Feature-spot → technique+effect → evaluated PEAL | Always aim your writing at the top rung |
🔍 The one move that scores
The single skill every criterion rewards: after technique → effect, add the so what — what the choice means, what it's for (purpose), or who it targets (audience). Then lift it further: show two choices working together, name the effect with a precise verb, and judge how well it works. A label on its own scores nothing; the ‘so what’ is where the marks live.
✍️ IB-style worked examples
IB-style question — technique → meaning, purpose, audience
Link this choice through the three lenses: “A road-safety advert reads ‘You'll be home in five minutes. Or you won't.’”
Step by step:
Base: the reassuring ‘home in five minutes’ is broken by the abrupt ‘Or you won't.’ — a jolt of menace.
Meaning: the choice makes an ordinary drive suddenly deadly — safe and not arriving at all are one careless second apart.
Purpose: it serves the advert's job of warning drivers off speeding, replacing comfort with dread.
Audience: the direct ‘you’ targets everyday drivers who feel safe, making the danger personal.
One technique, one effect, then the effect linked to what it means, what it's for and who it targets — that linking is the whole skill that turns spotting into analysis.
IB-style question — two techniques working together
Show how TWO techniques work together: “The house waited. Dark. Patient. Hungry.”
Step by step:
Technique one — personification: ‘The house waited… Hungry’ gives the building a living, predatory intent.
Technique two — short fragments: ‘Dark. Patient. Hungry.’ have a slow, one-word-at-a-time rhythm like a threatening drumbeat.
Join them: ‘the sense of a living menace, reinforced by the ominous pacing, together build…’
Combined, the living menace and the ominous pacing produce a single, stronger effect than either alone — the reader feels the house is a patient predator, and dread builds. Joining the two choices to one effect is what reaches the top band.
IB-style question — a full PEAL paragraph
Write one PEAL paragraph on: “The city never sleeps; it only pretends to, one eye always open.”
Step by step:
P — Point: state your claim: the writer presents the city as a restless, watchful presence rather than a place.
E — Evidence: a short embedded quote — the personification ‘it only pretends to, one eye always open’.
A — Analysis (the heart): the human wakefulness makes the city feel alive; ‘pretends’ adds menace; combined with the single open eye it evokes something predatory and watchful.
L — Link: tie it back — this builds the unsettling, sleepless atmosphere the question asks about.
The writer presents the city as a restless, watchful presence rather than a place. This is captured in the personification ‘it only pretends to, one eye always open’. Giving the city human wakefulness makes it feel alive and alert, while the verb ‘pretends’ adds a note of menace — the city is not merely awake but deceptive, and combined with the image of a single open eye this evokes something predatory and surveillant. This establishes exactly the unsettling, sleepless atmosphere the question asks about, preparing the reader for a city that watches its inhabitants. Notice the shape: a point, a short quote, deep analysis, then a link — most of the paragraph on Analysis, where the marks are.
Important: Technique + effect alone is only mid-band. To reach the top you must add the so what (meaning / purpose / audience), show choices working together, use precise critical words (‘evokes’, ‘juxtaposes’ — never ‘makes it interesting’), and evaluate (say how well it works and why, not just that it does). Keep meaning and purpose distinct: meaning = what it signifies; purpose = what the text is trying to do.
Tap each card to check yourself.
What's the ‘so what’? After technique → effect, link it to meaning (what it signifies), purpose (what it's for), or audience (who it targets).
How do you show two techniques together? Join them — ‘combined with’, ‘reinforced by’, ‘together they…’ — then name the one stronger effect they build.
How do you upgrade ‘makes it interesting’? Use a precise verb + an exact effect: ‘evokes nostalgia’, ‘emphasises the isolation’, ‘undercuts the cheerful tone’.
What is PEAL? Point → Evidence → Analysis → Link. One point per paragraph, a short quote, most of it on Analysis.
What lifts analysis to evaluation? A judgement plus a reason: ‘a particularly effective choice, because…’ — say how well it works and how far.
Exam Tips
- Always add the SO WHAT after technique → effect — use ‘which suggests…’, ‘which serves the purpose of…’, ‘which targets…’.
- Join two techniques to one effect with ‘combined with’ or ‘reinforced by’ — that reaches the top band.
- Replace ‘makes’ and ‘shows’ with a precise verb; name the exact effect, never ‘interesting’.
- Shape every paragraph as PEAL — one point, a short embedded quote, most of it on Analysis, then Link.
- Evaluate, don't just describe: add a judgement (‘effectively’, ‘particularly’) + why it works + how far.