PEDAL Your Way to Better Grades

1
Essay Writing Skills

• PEDAL Your Way to Better Grades

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P-E-D-A-L Paragraphs

• P-E-D-A-L

• Point what is the point you are exploring?
• Example show an example that illustrates the
  point
• Decipher what does it mean?
• Analyse the effect on the reader (Writer-Reader
  Relationship)
• Link how does this point help to answer the
  essay question?

3
Make your Point

• The Point is the main idea you are expressing
• Eg. In And Did Those Feet an important idea is
  that time heals all wounds.
• Sandy is an important character because he
  reveals how mourning the loss of a loved one can
  be extremely difficult and it takes time to move
  on.

4
Prove it! Use Examples

• You need to support your points with examples
  from the text in order to prove that what you
  have said is true.
• Eg. Sandy struggles in the wake of his mothers
  death. The most extreme example of this is when
  Sandy attacks another student at school and
  completely loses control. He uses the metaphor of
  an out-of-control train when he describes himself
  as a raging engine of death and destruction.

5
Decipher it What does it mean?

• The next step is to try and work out what this
  tells the reader... What can the reader work
  out about the authors message and what do we
  read between the lines?
• Eg. This reaction shows the reader how much of an
  impact his mothers death has had on Sandy. He is
  in a position where he is no longer in charge of
  his emotions and he is spiralling out of control.

6
Analyse Beyond the Text

• Explain and Expand the point to Analyse what is
  being suggested beyond the text? How does it
  relate to the real world? How does it tie in
  with the authors message?
• Eg. From Sandys experience we see that the death
  of a loved one is very difficult to move on from.
  At times grief can be disguised as anger or other
  negative, self destructive emotions. The reader
  can relate to Sandy as we have all experienced
  irrational anger at one time or another.

7
Link your response back to show how it answers
the question and achieves the authors purpose

• How does the point, example, deciphering and
  analysis actually answer the essay question that
  you set out to explore? How does it alter the
  overall tone, mood, and atmosphere of the text?
  What emotions does it raise and how should the
  reader respond?
• Eg. This event in the novel leads to Sandy being
  sent to stay in the country with relatives and it
  is only through the support he receives there and
  the time that passes that the reader begins to
  see a change in Sandy. In this way Sandys
  character highlights that you must go to a very
  dark place before you can move on from a death
  and the path to recovery is long and difficult.

8
Completed P-E-D-A-L Paragraph

• Sandy is an important character because he
  reveals how mourning the loss of a loved one can
  be extremely difficult and it takes time to move
  on. Sandy struggles in the wake of his mothers
  death. The most extreme example of this is when
  Sandy attacks another student at school and
  completely loses control. He uses the metaphor of
  an out-of-control train when he describes himself
  as a raging engine of death and destruction.
  This reaction shows the reader how much of an
  impact his mothers death has had on Sandy. He is
  in a position where he is no longer in charge of
  his emotions and he is spiralling out of control.
  From Sandys experience we see that the death of
  a loved one is very difficult to move on from. At
  times grief can be disguised as anger or other
  negative, self destructive emotions. The reader
  can relate to Sandy as we have all experienced
  irrational anger at one time or another. This
  event in the novel leads to Sandy being sent to
  stay in the country with relatives and it is only
  through the support he receives there and the
  time that passes that the reader begins to see a
  change in Sandy. In this way Sandys character
  highlights that you must go to a very dark place
  before you can move on from a death and the path
  to recovery is long and difficult.