Choosing NEA Texts and Developing a Task

The decisions you make at the start of the NEA process — which texts to study and what question to answer — will shape every paragraph you write. Poor choices can make the task almost impossible; strong choices make compelling comparison nearly inevitable. This lesson guides you through selecting texts that compare productively and developing a task title that meets AQA's requirements while giving you the analytical freedom to write a sophisticated essay.

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Selecting Texts That Compare Productively

The most important criterion is not whether you like the texts individually, but whether they compare productively. Two texts compare productively when:

1. They share enough common ground to sustain comparison (a shared theme, genre, or concern)
2. They differ enough to generate analytical contrast (different periods, forms, perspectives, or conclusions)
3. Both texts are rich enough to reward close analysis at A-Level

Good Pairings vs Poor Pairings