 Hello and welcome back to another GCSE revision video. Now one of the most common issues that I've found GCSE English students face when it comes to language paper two of the GCSE exams is how to effectively compare the two sources okay so source A and source B in question number two as well as question number four. Students sometimes think that comparison for example is writing about one source in one paragraph then writing about another source in the same essay right in a different paragraph and then they say oh I've written about both sources I'm comparing which is not the case then they wonder okay what am I going wrong how can I compare source A and source B either talking about similarities or differences you know is other sources similar depending on the question are the sources different depending on the question okay thinking about question number two but also when it comes to question number four are the whitest viewpoints and perspectives similar in source A or source B or depending on the question are the whitest viewpoints and perspectives different how to do so how to compare both sources effectively so what I want to do is to offer you a really simple and very basic framework that you should use for any question two and question four response and this framework actually had gone over with my GCSE masterclass just a Sunday gone okay we're looking at the November 2023 research exam and I showed them how they can use this framework to answer literally any question two and any question four and so going into their final exams this is kind of a really really powerful framework to adopt so let's begin by going over the framework now you're going to see here that I've structured it into four separate sections starting off with the point evidence explanation link this is basically just following a pure paragraph structure okay pure paragraphs are my favorite forms of paragraphs they're super easy there's only four steps to remember but also you can include things like writers intent you can also compare of what the writers have to say the viewpoints and perspectives all of that within the same pure paragraph but also as you will see when I'm going over this structure you also need to ensure that you're writing about both sources in one paragraph that's how you compare not in two separate paragraphs you do the comparison in the same paragraph so you begin your perfect comparison paragraph either for question number two or number four of language paper two by starting off with your point look at the question is a question asking you to talk about a similarity or a difference between both sources and summarise it for example in question number two or is the question asking you to talk about differences okay in your opening point that's what you address okay and this is how you do it so you begin your opening point talking about both sources in this way begin by mentioning source a first okay so always talk about the leading source first then follow on by talking about is it similar or is it different depending on the question by linking it to what the writer has to say in source B and of course you mentioned keywords so you go back to the question either question two or four you mentioned the keywords that your examiner wants you to look for okay now before you dive into your you know before you dive into the quotations and stuff remember that this opening point is you're simply just saying this source is similar to source B or source A is different to source B you don't add any quotations at this stage however you want to add useful keywords okay so in addition to the question you want to use words that signpost to your teacher or examiner that I am talking about similarities or differences this is how you do so so if you're talking about similarities you say whilst source a shows blah blah blah similarly source B shows blah blah blah that's a perfect way to talk about similarities between source A and source B in your opening point however if you want to talk about differences you can begin by stating evidently source A illustrates blah blah blah nonetheless keyword show you're looking for differences source B illustrates blah blah blah that's step number one when you're comparing two sources either for question two or number four now of course you then follow on with evidence don't put evidence in the first step you put evidence in its own separate line okay so of course then to support whether they're similar or different you then firstly quote from source A okay so this is stated in source A when the writer states blah blah blah and then you follow on with source B again either saying similarly likewise or however on the other hand then you have your source B included okay that's step number two in your comparison paragraph then in step number three this is where you go into your explanation now the bulk of your mocks reside in this part of your peel paragraph because this is where you've got for question number two you're showing your understanding of this of the similarities or differences you're summarizing you're going to detail why are they similar or different and of course for question before the viewpoints and perspective question this is where you're including things like methods okay so language structure techniques that either or both writers include okay so explanation is super important this is where the bulk of your marks reside and this is how you explain why they're similar or why they're different you explain firstly the quote that you've included in source A okay so always go back to source A say okay so in source A this is how they're similar or this is how they're different if you're answering question before you then add and layer in language structure technique then when you're explaining what the quote in source A is showing connect it to the key words okay never lose out of the question say okay this is what the quotation is showing me especially when I think about the questions key words then link this to source B once more you then go back to the questions key words and then you say okay when I'm thinking about the key words similarities or differences writer viewpoints and perspectives this is what source B's quote shows me and of course you then talk about is it showing a similarity or a difference when you consider source A then the fourth and final step in writing your perfect comparison paragraph is simply finish off by linking back to the question the link is actually fairly similar to the point all you're doing is just wrapping it all up very nicely and this is how you link okay so of course as I said this is quite similar to your point the only difference is that you are linking back to the question using words of course again you sign posting words for your teacher examiner okay say words like hence as a result consequently thus therefore then you say you know source A is evidently similar or different to source B and literally that's how you write perfect comparison paragraph for question number two and number four of language paper two so I hope this clears up any challenges you might be facing when you're writing comparatively and you're comparing two sources okay thanks so much for listening