Order
- Read the question
- Read the provenance - annotate
- Read the extract
- Find and highlight 2 key araguments
- Find and highlight a quote for each argument, in each extract
Provenance
Understanding the provenance of an extract is highly important. You need to factor in APPR:
APPR - author, publisher, purpose, relevance
Author?
Example questions:
What is the authors job?
Publisher?
Example questions:
Is the piece published by an academic journal? How is the publisher funded?
Purpose?
Example questions:
Is the piece providing information or trying to persuade you? Is the piece from a newspaper article or academic journal?
For example, Different newspapers lean differently politically, i.e., The Guardian is left-leaning.
BBC
The BBC acknowledges that there are different perspectives. In order for them to be impartial they try to provide balance.
They provide weight to perspectives and necessary context.
Relevance
Example questions:
How old is the article? What arguments does the article make?
Writing extract essays
Paragraph 1 - introduction
Evaluate the provenance (nature, origin, purpose) of both extracts.
Repeat for both extract 1 and 2:
- What is the argument in extract 1/2?
- Evaluate the provenance (NOP)
Paragraph 2 - argument A in both extracts
Analyse and compare argument A from extract 1, with opposing argument A form extract 2. Include quotes from both.
Use your own knowledge and case studies to support.
Paragraph 3 - argument A in both extracts
Analyse and compare argument B from extract 1, with opposing argument B form extract 2. Include quotes from both.
Use your own knowledge and case studies to support.
Paragraph 4 - conclusion
Evaluate the arguments in each extracts (as detailed in paragraphs 2+3). Analyse which extracts argument is more convincing.