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State Library resources

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writing area of study: <br> discovery resources advanced and extension english - hsc  research guides

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Area of Study: Discovery resources - Advanced and Extension English - HSC - Research guides at State Library of New South Wales

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From Woonona HS

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Woonona High School | HSC ENGLISH - Discovery

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Created by Scots, Albury

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year 12 english - discovery welcome libguides

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Year 12 English - Discovery - Welcome - LibGuides at The Scots School Albury

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LibGuides. Welcome. Year 12 English - Discovery.

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From Newington College

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Library Home: 12 - Discovery (Area of Study): Introduction

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Library Home: 12 - Discovery (Area of Study): Introduction

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From MacKillop College

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LibGuides: Discovery HSC English: Discovery

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LibGuides: Discovery HSC English: Discovery

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from MacKillop College

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This guide is a collection of links and suggestions for related texts to support this area of study.

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From St Benedicts

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Over 50 related texts.Highly recommend!

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Five stars for these tips!

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It's that time of year again.

The first set of exams rolls around and you realise you've got three days to pick a related text, BS some evidence and chuck together a readable essay so you don't get absolutely destroyed by your first real experience of year 12 English.

But before you get to the point where you're awake at 2 am, doing the old right-click synonym on every third word in your essay (even though you know it makes no sense) you actually have to pick a related text.

Now, if you've read our previous blog post: How to choose a killer related text you know all the rules but sometimes it's hard actually finding one that fits the criteria.

Luckily, we have plenty of English guru's here at Atomi who have put together a list of their 5 best related texts that'll help you in your hour of need.

This is a bit of a long one but well worth the read.

So let's see what all the fuss is about...

1. No Country for Old Men (Coen Brothers, 2007)

This movie is the kind that you watch for 'study' but really you're watching it for the tenth time because it's just THAT good.

Don't get me wrong, it's a solid enough discovery text: a guy called Llewellyn stumbles across the remains of an old Mexican drug standoff and finds a suitcase bursting with cash. Sounds all well and good... until possibly the most brutal, evil and emotionless killer ever seen in movie history, Anton Chigurh, starts chasing him.

For a movie with such a simple premise, there is just an unreal amount of depth to it that goes so far beyond the physical discovery of cash; you'll notice all these themes about the unknown and the fine balance between destiny and individual choice.

With this absolute weapon of a text in your arsenal, you can sit there and waffle on for hours about discovery, and the forced internal changes we all experience as a result of a discovery.
Difficulty: Medium
There's a lot of obvious discovery and a lot of really powerful scenes but the real brilliance of this film is in the depth with which it deals with discovery. There's virtually no music, and extremely drab dialogue. So although the idea of discovery and its implications are there for the taking, you'll have to work a bit to squeeze the most juice out of this movie.

2. Challenger Disaster Speech (Ronald Reagan, 1986)

Some of you might have seen the word speech and started freaking out immediately. But I want to set the record straight here: this is probably the easiest text of the lot.

Speeches are pretty much novels in disguise but with a major ace in the hole. They're normally a billion times shorter (give or take) than a story, and usually are a lot more technique-heavy. This Challenger Disaster Speech is one of the most emotionally charged pieces of work ever delivered by a sitting American President.

This makes it an ideal related for those of you reading this at 4:32 am with an exam in like 4 hours.

The speech by Ronald Reagan is only 4 minutes long and was said just hours after the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up shortly after takeoff, killing all 7 astronauts on board. He sits there, lamenting the great quest the astronauts undertook and talks about how it is a human instinct to discover and push the boundaries of what we know.

It's a pretty powerful concept, which is essentially what makes it bang on point for a Discovery related.
Difficulty: Easy
The speech is stacked full of words like pioneer and explore, and is bursting at the seams with themes about bravery in face of the unknown. Most importantly though, this speech addresses discovery as being part of the human condition, which opens up many doors of discussion.

3. Your Paris (Ted Hughes, 1998)

Look, I know what you're thinking when you think of the idea of analysing another poem!

But if there was a list of poets you should be spending your time squeezing the life out of, Ted Hughes would be right near the top.

Hughes is the kind of guy who talks about the stuff that no one wants to hear. For example: how Paris is a hole and reminds him of a broken country and his broken relationship with his wife.

Your Paris is a brutal poem where he essentially roasts his wife (Sylvia Plath for you English buffs out there) for being a little bit of an odd character who can't quite grasp reality. But throughout the poem, he eventually comes to a tiny compromise where he recognises how much of a damaged soul Plath was.

Eventually, he is able to exonerate himself, ever so slightly, from feeling guilt over her suicide (deep, right?).
Difficulty: Hard
Look, poetry is never meant to be the easiest thing, especially when it's designed to be vague and excuse Hughes from his wife's suicide.

But there are loads of patterns throughout the poem that will give you some great ideas of what the poem means and how you can link it back into to Discovery. A great place to start is the immediate contrast in the imagery Hughes associates himself with as opposed to that of his wife.

4. The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway, 1952)

If you haven't noticed by now the theme we're peddling is that length doesn't matter. The Old Man and the Sea is no different.

It's less than 150 pages, is written in some of the simplest English you'll ever have the pleasure of reading and yet, when analysed well is guaranteed to boost your marks up a notch.

A simple Cuban fisherman by the equally simple name of Santiago sails further into the deep blue than most other fisherman ever have and comes across the biggest fish he's ever seen. His ultimately doomed fight to protect his prize is one of the most powerful ever told.

So why is it good for an English essay if it's so simple and so short?

It would essentially work well as a related text as Hemingway shows just how much discoveries can change people and how deeply we value them.
Difficulty: Medium
The writing is simple... devilishly so. Some people see the writing and see Hemingway's hatred of simile and start losing it. But if you have more than a few hours to prep this essay, then you've got enough time to break this novel down into useable bits. Each sentence might not seem like it's a brilliant quote but he uses exceptionally simple techniques with consistent effort making him a great writer.

So keep your technical analysis simple and you'll go places.

5. Faith of our Fathers (Philip K. Dick, 1967)

I hate being the bearer of bad news but this story is so brutally sad, like it doesn't have a single shred of positive spin to be placed on it. If having a crack at a story that ranks a solid 9.3/10 on the devo-meter is your thing, then Faith of our Fathers is the related for you.

Set in a time where Communism and hallucinogenic drugs are the norm, the main character is sold an illegal anti-hallucinogenic drug and sees the Party's Leader for what he really is: an evil and morbid alien. Not going to lie, it's a bit of a trippy story but that doesn't change the fact that unwanted discoveries are sometimes better left undiscovered.

By the end of the story, our main character lies, dying slowly as he wishes above all hope to hallucinate again and forget the terrible things that have happened to him.
Difficulty: Hard
Seriously though, Faith of our Fathers is bursting at the seams with plenty of techniques and some pretty gruesome imagery, meaning you're guaranteed to get your discovery essay juices flowing. Unlike most other related material it peddles a line that some discoveries are better left undiscovered. This means it's not the worst text to pick up and squeeze some evidence from, but it is difficult to integrate into an essay. So if you're up for a challenge, then this one is for you!

Conclusion

Look, I'm not saying you have to use these texts and if you choose not to then hopefully it's at least helping you think about how to analyse your own related texts and how to cheekily chuck them into any Discovery essay.

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It's that time of year again. The first set of exams rolls around and you realise you've got three days to pick a related text, BS some evidence and chuck together a readable essay so you don't get absolutely destroyed by your first real experience of year 12 English.

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Plus articles related to prescribed texts

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Madame Tutli Putli, directors Chris Lavis & Maciek Szczerbowski [short claymation, 2007]

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From Sutherland Shire Library

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Each entry opens a list of suggested texts in the library catalogue. It is recommended that students check with their teachers to see if these suggestions are appropriate.

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Good advice...

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130 Likes

Discover Discovery - a guide from a 99+ student

Hi Everyone,
For those who don't know me, just a short intro to myself: My name is Mei, I am a 2013 HSC graduate who got the HSC All Rounders award, having attained band 6s and E4s in all 12 units I did for my HSC, gotten an ATAR of 99.20 and a mark of 93 in English. With the new introduction of a new area of study, I want to deconstruct the discovery rubric and give current HSC students some guidance and new understandings of just the infinite possibilities the rubric provides, hopefully to stimulate their own thinking about how the discovery rubric can be related to your own prescribed and related texts and in creating your own discovery creative. As such, I have selected a significant part of the rubric, where I highlighted the selected parts in bold, and under each section, I wrote some personal analysis extending that particular section on discovery. I welcome any comments and questions on how I can further improve this guide and hopefully you will find it helpful in your HSC English journey.

"Discovery can encompass the experience of discovering something for the first time or rediscovering something that has been lost, forgotten or concealed."

-It is important to remember that the discovery of something does not need to be tangible items such as a forgotten toy, a lost card, a past birthday present, it can include intangible items such as familial love, happiness, grief, or lost/suppressed memories. The low modality of 'can' entails the infinite possibilities presented by a discovery, where it becomes defined by both the process and the outcome, further affirming the continuing impact discoveries can have on individuals. Both discovering something for the first time and rediscovering another thing can bring surprise, discomfort or joy to the individual, and it offers a significant opportunity for them to reassess their previous perspectives and in turn adopt new transformations.

Particularly in the domain of rediscovering a forgotten family heritage/lineage or cultural identity, the impact of the discovery can permanently reshape an individual's outlook or leave them severely disappointed, such as the experience of many in the Stolen Generations who were unable to retrace their family members or who became devastated when they discover their family members have all died.

The sense of curiosity and intrigue that accompanies the discovery of something for the first time can become the catalyst for continual discoveries. It is also important to keep in mind that discoveries can be made on an individual or collective basis, and this differentiation can have yield significantly different results. Often the rediscovery of something requires new courage, and particularly in the domain of suppressed memories as a result of a traumatic event, the rediscovery of concealed memories can be therapeutic for individuals to rationalise what had occurred and gain a sense of reconciliation through acceptance of such memories.

"Discoveries can be sudden and unexpected, or they can emerge from a process of deliberate and careful planning evoked by curiosity, necessity or wonder."

The notion of an unexpected, sudden discovery can emerge from recollecting back to the movie "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" by Andrew Adamson where the main characters was bored on one rainy day, and discovered a magical wardrobe that opened the doors to a new world. Discoveries can be sudden and unexpected because they may not be voluntary, other individuals in our lives may want to guide us to discoveries without our conscious awareness of it. Sometimes sudden and unexpected discoveries can be as simple as being surprised at a birthday party, which often invokes unexpected joy. Unexpected discoveries also occurs frequently in the process of experimentation, whether it be creative, technological or scientific, where one may find unexpected marine species on a scuba diving trip or a new cure for a disease.

Both the nature of discoveries and the impact of these discoveries can be unexpected. For example, individuals may start investigating into a particular religion by a chance encounter or through the encouragement of others which may give them a renewed sense of spirituality. It might also be worthwhile to consider the various sudden and unexpected discoveries that individuals make about their personality and their capacities when they are left on an island and are forced to survive a hunter-gatherer lifestyle or just going on a camping experience.

Some of the most unexpected discoveries lies in natural disasters which although can be minimised with advanced scientific instruments predicting the probability of its occurrence, can never be quite obliterated. The outcome of any discoveries is not necessarily the outcome that was being planned, and the same discovery can have different emotional and intellectual impacts on different individuals.

The process of deliberate and careful planning often can restrict the nature of discoveries, often suitable for people who always desire to have a sense of control over their destiny. Careful planning often is associated with that of a travel itinerary, where one may plan the places where discoveries may be made, but often the exact nature of the discovery can never be fully appreciated unless the individual is undergoing that particular experience. Curiosity, necessity and wonder represents different motivators for individuals to embark on discoveries. Curiosity can be of geographical landscapes, personalities, or just of gaining more knowledge and often is an innate desire of humanity. Necessity may represent things of personal significance, for example, one may wish to take a break from academic pressures and go on a travelling trip around the world to discover and explore about their desires and broaden their understanding of the world before they consider how they wish to live the next stage of their lives.

Discoveries motivated by wonder may entail a sense of aspiration or inspiration, perhaps of an idol, this may catalysed, for example, a visit into places such idols have lived or researching and extending the work of their idols. It is important to keep in mind that humanity are complex creatures, and real life discoveries may often be motivated by more than one factor, for example, a carefully planned discovery may be the result of necessity and wonder at the same time. One might argue an example of such a discovery was the Space Race in the Cold War period, where there was both the wonder of the new frontier of space exploration as well as the necessity for countries such as America and Russia to display their scientific advancement as an accompaniment to the Cold War rhetoric and geopolitical landscape of the time. Sometimes sudden discoveries can be lifesaving.

With all these discoveries, it is important to keep in mind the possibility of disappointment, the process of careful planning may increase the opportunity of a successful discovery, but it does not guarantee one in anyone. A prime example is to consider rare astronomical events such as lunar eclipses where even if you planned the right spot at the right time, there might be unexpected clouds that inhibits you from viewing the sight. Hence often, whether a discovery is successful or not is both a product of careful planning as well as a bit of fortuitous luck.

Discoveries can be fresh and intensely meaningful in ways that may be emotional, creative, intellectual, physical and spiritual. They can also be confronting and provocative.

Discoveries are fresh in that they can be unexpected or sudden. This part of the rubric places a heavy focus on inner journeys and discovery. Emotional discoveries often arises from reconnecting with important people or at the achievement of an arduous journey or goal, for example, the conclusion of a marathon, or the renewal of a friendship. Creative discoveries arises from experimentation and is often distinguished by an individual's proactive desires to challenge existing boundaries and create new things. Intellectual discoveries are often the process of careful planning, consider the scientific discoveries that have won Nobel Prizes in the past century, often these research are built on the existing work of other scientists, hence discoveries can be an accumulative and continuous process, which does not necessarily be completed by one person, but by multiple people. Physical discoveries often arises from the exploration of physical landscapes, whether they may be familiar or unfamiliar or even imagined ones. Spiritual discoveries often have a strong long lasting emotional impact on the discoverer, these can include a journey to achieve a sort of religious fulfilment, such as going on a pilgrimage or the decision to become a missionary. Discoveries can be confronting because they often results in the reassessment of previous prejudices, assumptions and social stereotypes and provocative as it may inspire the discoverer to undertake new discoveries and even become a different person, i.e. changing their current occupation as a result having a new idea of what they want to do with the rest of their lives.

"They can lead us to new worlds and values, stimulate new ideas, and enable us to speculate about future possibilities."

New worlds and new values may have both positive and negative impacts on the individual, for example, some discoveries can lead us to adopt cynical or sceptical values about the world, for example, the discovery that we were betrayed or lied to by an individual that we previously have trusted heavily. The stimulation of new ideas can be the catalyst for creative discoveries. The importance of discoveries in igniting our imagination is very important, because often discoveries are limited by the restraints of our own imagination, rather than any physical restraints. The potential for discoveries to enable us to speculate upon future possibilities allows us to adopt a new positive outlook on the future and hence provides a mechanism for us to deal with disappointing or traumatic discoveries. For example, the discovery that a particular animal species have gone extinct may be disappointing, but the speculation of possibilities such as cloning any remaining DNA we may have of that species may leave us with new motivations to preserve not only that particular extinct species, but become more active in our wildness preservation efforts of other species. It is important to emphasise the use of the collective pronoun 'us' in this rubric, because this emphasises that discoveries can be made on a collective scale, such as part of a group of friends, family or simply like minded individuals and the stimulation of new ideas, as a result, can arise from discussions or challenging of our perspectives by other individuals. The word 'enable' also deserves special mention, as it entails that discoveries can be empowering individuals, particularly from the new knowledge they gained to make own choices and achieve greater autonomy in their lives.

"Discoveries and discovering can offer new understandings and renewed perceptions of ourselves and others."

Sometimes scientific discoveries can deconstruct previous myths. Discovering, for example, that there are raw minerals in space that are not available on Earth and their enormous potential for economic gain as led to renewed perceptions on whether space exploration are really economically feasible or beneficial for society. Sometimes discoveries made outside comfort zones leads to renewed perceptions, consider what new insights and perspectives we have gained when we may have been forced to play truth or dare with our friends and backed out because we realised the particular dare was not something that aligned with our personal values.

The emergent use of social media in recent decade has both proliferate new discoveries around the world, yet has also inhibited a genuine understanding because of the ease to share so much differing opinions where it is often hard to achieve a succinct, truthful understanding accumulated amongst so many different biases. Discoveries and discovering represents a continual, lifelong process, much like the notion that learning is a life long process, which can be reshaped to be understood as the discovery and continual discovering of new knowledge. This part of the rubric also emphasises the impact of time, the evolution of time allows us to accumulate new experiences and new interactions which can forces us to reassess previous perspectives.

Renewed perceptions may not necessarily be beneficial, because perhaps the discovery that someone betrayed us can alienate us from such relationships and individuals. It is also important to note that we often discover ourselves through interactions with others, through the process of communication, other people can accumulate an external understanding of ourselves that we cannot achieve through introspection, for example, often we know more about our personality through being told by our friends what they think of us. These renewed perceptions can be the catalyst for self improvement or they may have little impact if we don't gain a sincere appreciation of the potential significance and benefits of acceptance of these renewed perceptions. In a way, one may say that discovering encompasses continual discoveries, it is very hard in real life to draw a definitive line marking the start of one discovery and the conclusion of another, rather, they are much like the electromagnetic spectrum, where different types of waves are differentiated by arbitrary divisions of wavelength ranges and frequencies, but their essential character remains the same despite the different classifications of say X-rays and infra red. (both are still self-propagating waves composed of electric and magnetic fields).

"An individual's discoveries and their process of discovering can vary according to personal, cultural, historical and social contexts and values. The impact of these discoveries can be far-reaching and transformative for the individual and for broader society."

An individual's values can impact on their reaction to discoveries and where or how they may choose to make new discoveries or prevent themselves from making certain discoveries. For example, if one was raised up in an extremely conservative culture which advocates that women should stay at home to care for kids and take care of the husband, it is unlikely that these women would make discoveries of working in external domain or challenge social norms or expectations for fear of severe repercussions. Hence, one's values may serves as the parameters for which they make their discoveries in, or they may serve as the fundamental foundations for one to challenge and make new discoveries. It is important to maintain a strong awareness that cultural, historical values may not be monochromatic, but is often complicated by multiple influence, as may arise when one individual migrate from one country to another, or where an individual are raised up in a household of mixed cultures. Social, cultural and arguably, even familial contexts (personal) have a significant impact on how individuals react to discoveries, because they serve as significant influences on developing an individual's perspectives and values. There is often a strong tendency for individuals to conform rather than pursue individuality for fear of a lack of support towards their goals or simply the desire for social affirmation.

The transformative impact of discoveries is most prominent in the scientific domain, consider the work of Einstein, particularly the equation E=mc^2 which encapsulates the new idea of energy can be converted to mass when accelerated to a high enough speed and vice versa, this discovery both reinforced Einstein's pacifist views of the need to use science for morally sound purposes, rather than for the purposes of annihilation, but arguably this can be complicated by political pressures, such as Einstein writing a letter to President Roosevelt for him to develop a nuclear bomb in fear that Germany was going to develop one first and destroy the world. The discovery of such a relationship had far reaching impact not just on the progression of world war II, as evidenced by Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and the subsequent surrender of japan, but also on nuclear developments in nuclear energy plants. Also consider Malala Yousafzai who was the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate of 2014, the discoveries she made on the limitations imposed on women in terms of pursuing educational opportunities made her an activist for empowering women through education, and her story has made significant international resonance and inspired many to join the dissent of voices that inhibits women from pursuing such opportunities which have the potential to significantly and permanently change their lives. The notion that with enough belief, one can change the world resonates strongly in this segment of the rubric.

"Discoveries may be questioned or challenged when viewed from different perspectives and their worth may be reassessed over time. The ramifications of particular discoveries may differ for individuals and their worlds."

The validity of discoveries may be challenged, as often occurs in the scientific domain, where in psychology experimentations, often results may be vulnerable to being manipulated for the pressures of getting published, otherwise it is hard to maintain a reputable career. Discoveries are challenged when viewed from different perspectives because of the different experiences one may have. For example, the discovery of shells on the beach may leave a child elated, but from an adult who may have had a near drowning experience near the beach, it may be a traumatic rediscovery of an unfavourable memory. The ability to reassess the value of discoveries through the progression of time is very important, because it gives us potential for change, potential for the same discovery to have a differing impact on us. For example, at the time, the discovery of an antique coin may not be worth much, but perhaps if we know if the coin has some special significance to a country's history or is worth a lot financially, we may reassess the worth of such past discoveries, perhaps made by our grandparents long before we were born.

The ramifications of particular discoveries differing for individuals have been emphasised through this deconstruction. It is important to emphasise on the use of the low modality word 'may' as it also entails the possibility that discoveries and the impact of discoveries are not necessarily different, they can be very similar, for example, miscarriages are often traumatising for mothers in different stages of their pregnancy. It is also to be aware that often discoveries don't just have an impact on individuals, but it may have an impact on our dependants, namely our close family and friends, for they may come to share similar grief, or transform their perspectives through our experiences, this conforms to the notion of vicarious learning/modelling in psychology, where we often may not need to physically experience something but we can observe and learn consequences just through looking at what others go through.

I have merely scratched the surface of the discovery rubric, the main discoveries will lie in how closely you come to engage with your prescribed and related texts and how you in time will accumulate your own personal understanding of what discovery entails, how the different parts of the discovery rubric interlinks together in unexpected ways and how best you can utilise these infinite possibilities both in your preparation of exams and writing of creative but also more importantly, in enhancing your own overall enjoyment of this area of study. Hopefully you will come to enjoy and appreciate the vast array of possibilities and freedom provided by the discovery rubric and make new discoveries☺. If you have any questions related to this area of study, please feel free to ask on this thread and I will try my best to reply.

Last edited by strawberrye; 5 Oct 2015 at 7:47 PM.

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Discover Discovery - a guide from a 99+ student

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130 Likes Hi Everyone, For those who don't know me, just a short intro to myself: My name is Mei, I am a 2013 HSC graduate who got the HSC All Rounders award, having attained band 6s and E4s in all 12 units I did for my HSC, gotten an ATAR of 99.20 and a mark of 93 in English.

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A list from imdb

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IMDb: HSC Discovery related text films - a list by gepileco

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A list of possible titles to use for the HSC discovery course

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Good for teachers too.

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HSC AOS Discovery Related Material Teacher's Pick

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Suggested related material/ texts for HSC AOS: Discovery

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Subject guides: Children's and Young Adult Literature (Education): HSC English Area of Study: Discovery - EDSE4027

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Subject guides: Children's and Young Adult Literature (Education): HSC English Area of Study: Discovery - EDSE4027