The following unit of inquiry helps you prepare for Paper 1. This workbook should take about 10-12 lessons of 50 minutes to complete. It is useful for both SL and HL students

Unit: Paper 1 (Comics and columns)

Lines of Inquiry
  1. Factual: What structural and stylistic features characterize opinion columns and sequential art/comic strips?
  2. Factual: How do creators use stylistic choices to manipulate audience perspective and evoke emotional or intellectual responses?
  3. Conceptual: In what ways does the historical, cultural, or medium-specific context shape an author's message and choices?
  4. Conceptual How does structural organization in an analytical essay mirror or clarify the logical progression of an argument?
  5. Debatable: To what extent can visual media (like comic strips) communicate complex socio-political critiques as effectively as written prose (like opinion columns)?

Learning outcomes
  1. Identify & Define: Recognise and define key stylistic, visual, and persuasive devices specific to Opinion Columns (e.g., rhetoric, ethos/pathos/logos, tone, structural shifts) and Comic Strips / Sequential Art (e.g., layout, framing, gutter, visual symbolism, irony).
  2. Deconstruct & Annotate: Unpack unseen non-literary texts efficiently under exam conditions by identifying target audience, purpose, context, and guiding question constraints through active annotation.
  3. Compare & Evaluate: Analyze contrasting model student responses using IB Criteria (A–D) to distinguish between superficial "feature-spotting" and deep, contextual analysis.
  4. Select & Evidence: Select the most impactful, high-yielding textual and visual evidence to support a focused thesis rather than summarizing content.
  5. Organize & Structure: Construct a coherent, logically sequenced comparative argument using effective structural frameworks (such as the PEEL method) with deliberate topic sentences and seamless transitions.
  6. Draft & Synthesize: Write a complete, timed Paper 1 analysis that balances technical vocabulary with insight into the reader's response and the author's overarching purpose.
  7. Refine & Critique: Critically evaluate and revise own writing using targeted feedback loops, examiner guidelines ("Pet Peeves"), and responsible AI-assisted prompt tools to polish essay mechanics and academic style
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Last modified: Friday, 2 October 2026, 11:46 AM