Undergraduate IR & Politics BSc Exam and Study Skills Building Toolkit TM

The Exam Success Formula TM

The Exam Success Formula TM must always be applied to all your topics and subjects, whether in lessons, homework, revision or exams

•             To build up your knowledge you will review your content and make it manageable, bitesize and accessible, so you can remember it for the exams, you will need to use the following tools which will be discussed more fully when we review your homework, next week.

1.            Key (terms) concept diary see exemplar

2.            Topic Map/Poster for each topic see exemplar

3.            Mind maps, summary sheets/bullet points/cue cards

4.            Assessing tables are particularly significant for your assess essay question, however can be used in all essays.  You can produce a assessing planning table where you will outline different theoretical perspective and also relate to the key studies for example Realism or Liberalism etc..  Then provide a briefly mini-conclusion/evaluation of the view.

5.            Topic Criticism Table.  Then provide a briefly mini-conclusion of the view.

6.            Evaluation/significance grid

7.            Pool all your information and research together in a bundle with an overview and summary list at the beginning and the end of each topic.

Writing introductions

Your introduction is the first impression your readers will have of your writing. A good introduction will show them that you know what you're talking about and that you're going to complete the task in question. It will also make them want to carry on reading and feel well disposed to what is to come. A bad introduction will have the opposite effect and might even prejudice the reader against the rest of the writing, even if it does improve.

The most common mistakes made by students are:

 not to include an introduction at all
 to include an introduction, but one which is unrecognizable as such
 to include too much background/historical information in the introduction
 to make the introduction too long

A good introduction will:

 show that you are going to answer the question or complete the task
 show that you understand the issues and their implications
 show how you are going to do this by indicating the structure of your answer and making clear the main areas that you are going to write about (your plan).
 show evidence that you have carried out some research by making a reference to one of your sources
 be totally relevant

You want the examiners, to say to themselves "Good! This student has understood the question, has done some research and is going to answer the question set, not another one. Let's read on!"

It might be useful for you to think of your introduction as a film trailer, not everything in the movie but the best bits to wet the reader’s appetite.

So more specifically, how do you do this?

 include a "topic sentence" which indicates the main thrust of your answer. Some would suggest that an introduction should begin as follows for example:

This essay deals with the economic and political decline in Britain's world role.

This assignment will examine Britain's peculiar unwritten constitution.

However, I would argue that the examiner knows they are reading an essay so it might be more useful to start by focusing on the question, the key factors you are going to explore.  Then suggest which factor is the most significant and why (thus make your judgement).

      use the same, or very similar, wording as in the question. If part of the question is "Discuss recent developments in communication technology" then in your introduction say something like "This essay will consider recent developments in the field of communication technology and will ... ". Don't leave any room for doubt.

      Or The main reason why Stalin was able to rise to power after the death of Lenin, was because he was the best politician for the job. Additionally…

      Highlight the main themes to be discussed and briefly refer to them then make your judgement.

      The importance of introductions (and conclusions) cannot be stressed too much.

Here are some examples of good (and bad!) introductions.

Example introductions 

Imagine you are studying the mass media as part of your course and you have been set the following essay title:

Examine the sociological evidence of stereotypes of social groups in the mass media. What are the causes of stereotyping in the mass media and to what extent do they influence social attitudes?

Word limit: 2000 words
Read the following examples and decide which meet the criteria for a good introduction.

Example 1
As we all know, Britain is a multicultural society. In the 1960s many thousands of immigrants came to the country, mostly setting up home in the major cities. The majority of these immigrants came from the West Indies, India and Pakistan and Hong Kong. Racism has always been a problem, with the various groups of immigrants seen as stereotypes, although over the years there has been increasing integration into British society, particularly by the children of immigrant families. This is reflected in the mass media. Twenty years ago black people were rarely seen on television and very few held jobs in the press. However, nowadays, more and more black people work as journalists and are thus able to look at events from a different perspective.
Your comments: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

Example 2
Stereotypes are everywhere: the reserved British, the disorganised Italians, the shopping-obsessed Japanese. This essay will talk about these stereotypes and ask if they are true. It is going to look at the different types of stereotypes and their representation in the media. The following areas will be covered: television; radio; the press, and the cinema. I will particularly look at television and ask the question "Does television reinforce these stereotypes?"
Your comments: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

Example 3Stereotypes abound in today's society. People seem to have an innate compulsion to categorise others into various groups and then to apply rigid and limited descriptions to these groups. There are therefore, amongst others, stereotypical nationalities and races; stereotypical sexes and sexual orientations and stereotypical classes. And one place where these stereotypes often thrive is in the mass media, particularly in the tabloid press and popular television, such as in situation comedy. Some, for example Hick (1996), claim that this is a harmless phenomenon, whereas commentators such as Ealham (1998) point to the possible dangers of obsessive stereotyping in the media. This essay will examine what sociological evidence there is for the process of stereotyping in the mass media, and will then go on to analyse the reasons for its occurrence. The final part of the essay will ask how far society's attitudes are in fact shaped by this portrayal of the various kinds of stereotypes.
Your comments: _______________________________________________________________________




Introduction 1
Your tutor would read an introduction like this with a great sense of foreboding. There's no real problem with the actual English, but the writer shows no indication whatsoever of answering the question. The word 'stereotype' has been picked up on, and narrowly interpreted as meaning racial stereotype. But even then there is no attempt to focus on the actual question, and most of what is said is irrelevant. Probably a fail.

Introduction 2
Too short for a start, and not very well written (inconsistency of tenses: will/going to) No attempt to put the question into some sort of context, to get the reader interested in what's to come. At first, it looks as if stereotypes are being interpreted simply as national stereotypes and also the writer goes off on the wrong tack: the question does not ask for a simple description nor asks about the validity of these stereotypes. The last part of the introduction, however, does indicate that the last part of the question will be addressed. If the writer manages to focus more on the actual question, the essay might just scrape a pass.

Introduction 3
This is a very good introduction. It's about the right length (c8%); gives a little relevant background and context, indicating that the writer has thought about what a stereotype is in its broadest interpretation; makes some initial references to sources; and finally focuses precisely on the question, showing the reader that it has been fully understood and that it will be answered. Note that the wording of the final part of the introduction is very close to that of the question. If the essay follows in the same vein, it should get an excellent mark.

ESSAY SANDWICH: ESSAY PLANNING STARTER TASK

Exercise 1

1.       Using the information from the essay sandwich handout, plan the following essay question, including an introduction, main body and conclusion.  Also including all the relevant AO skills

2.       Using the Argument A and Argument B Essays handout now write a brief introduction, choose one paragraph to write out in full and then write your conclusion.

Introduction

Main Body One Paragraph

Conclusion

3.       Use the writing an introductions handout to review and improve your introduction to this question

4.       Use the A02 Evaluation practice handout to evaluate the exam question filling in the boxes.

5.       Next week once we have gone through some content for the law and cognition unit, we will return to this essay question and more study skills.

Essay Planning – Essay Sandwich

A good essay is like a good sandwich or burger analogy

Top slice of bread represents your introduction, brief, succinct and briefly focused on how you will answer the question.

The middle of the sandwich e.g. the meat or salad represents the main body of the essay (which is also the bulk of the essay). – AO1 KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

The special sauce (as I like to call it) or the dressing or ketchup represents the evaluation, analysis and assessment of the question at hand (this should be embedded throughout the essay, however will take development throughout the length of the course). A02 – EVALUATION AND ANALYSIS & A03 –RESEARCH METHODS- ISSUES OF VALIDITY ETC… (ONLY FOR PSYCHOLOGY)/sociology

The bottom slice of bread represents the conclusion, again brief, succinct and you pull together all the key themes you have discussed and draw to a close your answer to the question at hand.

It essential that your plan all your essays before your complete them, as if you fail to plan, you then plan to fail (excuse the pun).

Argument A and Argument B Essays/ Initial argument and counter-argument essays

(Football game)

Introduction

Argument A/ Initial argument Evaluation – Criticisms/strengths

Argument B/Counter argument Evaluation – criticism /strengths

Conclusion

PEELing Essays History

http://scotttutorialservices.com/
Economic policies of the Tsars and communists

Point made (P)	Point explained (E)	Point Evidence (E)	Point Linked (L)
It could be argued that the attraction of foreign investment and exports demonstrates the success of some leaders, particularly the Tsars in improving the Russian economy.	This investment lead to railway construction and the Trans-Siberian line. Witte resurrected Reutern’s ideas, of encouraging foreign experts to come to Russia. Witte boosted available capital in industry, via the taking out of foreign loans, raising taxes and interest rates.	Reutern’s reforms was intrinsic in the construction of railways and there was a 7 fold increase in the amount of railway tracks from 3532 km in 1862 to 22,498 in 1878.  Witte’s reforms lead to the Great Spurts between 1893 and 1903.	The expansion of the railways further illustrate the importance of attracting foreign investment capital.  Additionally the expansion gave a significant boost to the industrial section. Moreover, Witte’s attraction of foreign investment saw Russia begin to catch up with other industrialised nations by 1900, for example France was ousted into fourth place in word iron production.

Evaluation skills in A2 Psychology AQA A

One of the issues with the change from AS Psychology with AQA where you can obtain an A grade from a good knowledge & understanding of the psychology is that the exam questions at A2 are heavily concentrated on the ability to  write long essays where the AO2/3 is 2/3rds weighted unlike at AS.

It is important to concentrate on the development of these evaluation skills from the start of the A2 year, using PEEL, mini-conclusion, answering the question or special sauce evaluation technique.  Additionally, modelling good answers: developing fully evaluation with clear explanation of the Point being made, using relevant research/theory/etc… to support, clearly elaborating how & why this is relevant to the point/essay title and linking clearly to the essay/point.

There are good examples of PEEL on the resourcd website which should help. In addition, Students should be encouraged to highlight PEEL in each paragraph of their essay/ self-assess & peer assess these skills in addition to using teacher feedback and mark schemes. 

At A2 students will get very basic marks if they just list strengths and weaknesses in their essays (like they tend to do at AS).  At A2, each essay is one third A01 and two thirds A02/3.  I advise my students to do an essay plan always to ensure their essay has structure.  This is a must for top mark bands.  A02 marks are awarded for evaluation, analysis and application, so I always encourage my students to give examples.  An essay should be made up of lots of little paragraphs. Each paragraph is a single point, relating to the question being discussed.  An each paragraph must follow PEEL - state the point being discussed, then cite evidence to back it up and finally explain how the evidence relates to the point i.e. conclude each paragraph(Link).  This final sentence in every paragraph is what turns A01 material into A02 material.  e.g. 'One of the main issues when trying to diagnose schizophrenia is poor reliability (point).  Whaley (2001) analysed clinical diagnoses of schizophrenia among psychiatrists and found inter-rater reliability as low as 0.11 (evidence).  These findings highlight just how unreliable clinical diagnoses can be, as psychiatrists can’t seem to agree on who has schizophrenia and who doesn’t (explain and linking back to original point which was about poor reliability).'