Drawing Conclusions

Learning Intentions By the end of this lesson, you should be able to: Evaluate and analyse a range of sources to draw conclusions about a key social, economic or political issue

The Conclusion Question There will be one of these, worth 8 marks in the final exam You will be given a mix of complex data and text sources about a socioeconomic or political issue – usually 3 in total You will be expected to draw conclusions about two topics relevant to the source information, given to you in bullet points You must then make an overall conclusion about the entire issue Look at the specimen question paper from the SQA to get a feel for the structure and layout of this type of question

What is a Conclusion? A conclusion makes a judgement about an issue It will be specific and evaluative in nature This means the types of words you should use in essay conclusions are also highly useful here Make a spider diagram of evaluative words/phrases in your jotter. Be ready to add to this with feedback from the class

Evaluative Words Increasing / Decreasing Significant / insignificant More than / less than Majority / Minority A faster rate / slower rate Evaluative Words Steady / sharp decline / rise As X happens, Y happens To a large extent / small extent

Example Question: Child Poverty This question asks us to draw conclusions on: The extent of child poverty in the UK The effect of recent government legislation on poverty in the UK With a partner, find and note down evidence from the sources that match up with each of the bullet points

Evidence Source A Source B Source C Not relevant to this conclusion 3.5m children in poverty 50-70% of children in poverty in specific wards 27% living in poverty Expected to increase to 4.7m 100,000 more children in Scotland in poverty by the end of the decade 20% in poverty after housing costs Children are at a greater risk of poverty than other groups Higher than Scandinavian countries e.g. Norway Not relevant to this conclusion

Structure of Answer Your Conclusion answer should be broken into 3 paragraphs: Conclusion: First Bullet Point Conclusion: Second Bullet Point Overall Conclusion

Structure of Answer Each conclusion paragraph should follow the same structure: Bullet point heading – this makes it clear to the marker which conclusion you are going to draw Introduction sentence – set the context of what your conclusion will deal with First piece of source evidence – evaluate this, and all other, evidence you use in your answer Second piece of evidence – link clearly to the previous evidence Third piece of evidence Overall conclusion – draw together all the evidence and make an evaluative, clear judgement using evaluative language

Model Conclusion The extent of child poverty in the UK There is a lot of evidence showing that child poverty is a huge issue in the UK. Source A shows that according to Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), 27% of children in the UK live in poverty – a significant proportion. Source A also explains the effects of this including hunger and missed opportunities and highlights that child poverty is more concentrated in certain parts of the UK. This links to Source B which gives the Scottish child poverty figure in 2011/12 as 200,000 children - 20% of all children in Scotland. This is a much higher rate compared to other European countries such as Denmark and Norway, which are around half of the Scottish rate according to source B. In conclusion, child poverty affects more than a quarter of children in the UK and is a significant problem.

Practice Now try the second conclusion in pairs

Class Model Paragraph The effect of recent government legislation on poverty in the UK There is evidence to suggest that poverty will rise as a result of government policies and legislation. Source A tells us that under government policies, child poverty is projected to rise by 600,000 by 2016 – this is a sharp increase. Source B supports this when it shows that more than 100,000 children in Scotland will be pushed into poverty by the end of the decade “thanks to tax and benefit policies imposed by the Coalition Government”, which again shows a significant increase. Source C also shows that 660,000 families will be negatively impacted by the Bedroom Tax, losing out on an average of £14 per week. This further cuts income for people already reliant on benefits, which will affect poverty levels. In conclusion, government policies have led to an increase in poverty which will rise further in the coming years.

Overall Conclusion The question also says, “you must give an overall conclusion about child poverty in the UK” This means you need to make a judgement about the wider trends regarding child poverty This involves drawing together the conclusions you’ve already made in order to make an overall conclusion: Overall judgement Evidence to support first part of judgement Evidence to support second part of judgement

Model Conclusion Overall Conclusion Overall, it is clear that child poverty is a huge problem in Scotland and the UK and is likely to worsen. Sources A-C show that child poverty is already at high levels compared to other countries with 27% of UK children under the poverty line. Furthermore, recent government legislation is likely to lead to an increase in child poverty with millions more children expected to be in poverty by 2020.

Activity Complete the second question independently, using what you have practiced during the lesson