investigation:theysay:

keyquestion: Should British tax-payers’ money have been spent on staging an exhibition about religious belief in a public library?

Evidence sources available: Art work from the exhibition and the exhibition notes An organiser’s statement about the context of the project and its intended purpose Comments from the visitors’ book: There are 20 comments included taken from 219 that were written in 6 different languages. The majority were very positive but 16 were negative. A letter of complaint written to the library.

What ways could you present your findings? What extra questions do you need to ask yourselves to make a good investigation? Think about your audience - who might you be presenting your investigation to? Who might need to hear what you have to say? What recommendations would you make for the future?

Mr Harris’ letter sent to Bristol City Council In pairs: read the letter carefully and discuss what the central arguments are. What would you need to include in a well written response? How would you organise your arguments? What would be appropriate language to use? What information would you need to include? How will you set out your response and address Mr Harris (bearing in mind it is a formal e-mail from Bristol Central Library)?

Mr Jefferson’s response In what ways is your letter like the one sent by Mr Jefferson? In what ways is it different? How might you improve your letter if you were to write a similar one again? Do you think that Mr Jefferson’s reply could have been improved?