Retrieval: finding information
- Paper 1 Question 1 (4 marks) asks you to list four things from a named part of the fiction source. Paper 2 Question 1 (4 marks) asks you to choose four true statements from a list.
- Only use the lines named in the question. You can quote or use your own words, but don't analyse: just find the information.
- Spend about 5 minutes on it.
Inference: reading between the lines
- Inference means working out what is suggested but not stated. 'She slammed the door' suggests she is angry.
- Explicit information is stated directly; implicit information is only hinted at.
- Useful phrases: 'this suggests', 'this implies', 'we can infer'.
Summary: Paper 2 Question 2 (8 marks)
- Write about the differences (or similarities) between the two sources, such as two people's experiences of school.
- Make inferences from both sources, support each one with a short quotation, and link them with comparative words such as 'whereas', 'however' and 'similarly'.
- This question is about what you can work out, not how the writers use language.
Other boards
- Edexcel: the short questions at the start of each paper (Paper 1 Questions 1 and 2; Paper 2 Questions 1, 2, 4 and 5) test retrieval and inference. Paper 2 Question 7(a) asks what the two texts have in common, like AQA's summary question.
- OCR and Eduqas also open their reading sections with short retrieval and inference questions, and include a question that brings together information from two non-fiction texts.
Key terms
- Retrieval
- Finding and selecting information from a text.
- Inference
- Working out what is suggested but not directly stated.
- Explicit
- Stated clearly and directly.
- Implicit
- Suggested or hinted at, rather than stated.
- Summary
- A short account of the main points or differences.
- Synthesis
- Bringing together information from two texts.
- Evidence
- A quotation or detail from the text that supports a point.