1. Drawing Conclusions

2. 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

3. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

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

11. 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

12. 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.

13. Practice
Now try the second conclusion in pairs

14. 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.

15. 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

16. 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.

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