Evaluations in Essays 13 History 3.5 and 3.6

3.5 Causes and Consequences In order to obtain a Merit Grade or higher the standard requires you to; Merit: “…an argument has been made in which one cause is established as having primacy over another.” Excellence: “an argument has been constructed recognising the complexity of causal relationships, with a range of supporting evidence”

3.6 Trend and Forces In order to receive a Merit or higher the standard requires you to; Merit: “…Changes that result from these forces are assessed as to their relative significance in establishing patterns of change and continuity that impact on people’s lives.” Excellence: “…Changes that result from these forces are evaluated as to their relative significance in establishing complex patterns of change and continuities that impact on people’s lives.”

What does this mean? At a basic level, this means that in order to achieve at a Merit level or above, you must do more than EXPLAIN in your essays. Your essay must contain an overarching ARGUMENT, regarding the importance or significance of certain causes/consequences/forces. You should be aiming to rank your causes/consequences/forces in some way. You should also attempt to justify your evaluation logically, and in detail.

Planning Your Evaluation When you are planning your essay, you should be thinking about how you will evaluate your points. You should be thinking about how significant or influential each of your points are. Some good ways to think about this; 3.5: Which cause had the most impact on the event? Which consequence impacted the most people? Which consequence had the most longevity? 3.6: Which force caused the most change to the trend? Which force had the most impact on the lives of people? Which force impacted the MOST people?

What should you be aiming to say? You need to be sure that in your essay you state clearly how you are evaluating each cause/consequence/force. You can use words like “major” “moderate” and “minor”, or you can discuss whether things are “more…less…most” significant/influential. You must also explain WHY you are making this particular argument. “because…”. When explaining, you need to link to the questions from the previous slide.

Where does this fit in your essay? It is a good idea to weave your evaluative argument throughout your essay. You should discuss the significance of each of your cause/consequence/force(s) in each paragraph. It is also advisable to return to your argument in your conclusion; summarising your evaluation.

Paragraph Structures Statement- it is a good idea to introduce your evaluation here by using words like major, moderate, minor, significant, influential etc. Explanation Evidence Link- this is a good place to expand on your evaluation. At the end of your paragraph you should be linking you evidence back to your event or trend. Here you can explain WHY, you have evaluated your cause/consequence/force in a particular way.

Some Sentence Starters… (cause/consequence) is a [major/moderate/minor] cause of (event) (cause/consequence/force) had a [major/moderate/minor] influence of (the lives of people/event) because… The significant influence of this (cause/consequence/force) can be seen in…. This…was less influential than…because… The impact of…..on people was significant because…

Activity! Go back to your 3.5 essay plan. Decide how you are going to evaluate your causes and consequences and make a note. Either on your plan, or on another piece of paper, write a range of sentences justifying your evaluation of each. Write a clearly structured cause or consequence paragraph, including your evaluative comment.