HOW TO: EVALUATE

                 

DIFFICULTY LEVEL - MEDIUM/HARD

 

This skill is one of the most important and difficult ones to master. Time and time again, students tend to write an extended writing piece of work and fail to evaluate properly. More often than not, they are told what to do but not shown. In my experience, there are certain connectives and sentence starters, that if applied in the right way, will allow a student to evaluate to a high standard. 

 

The key to evaluating itself is to provide your opinion regarding the extent to which an argument or a statement is accurate. You may also be asked to the demonstrate the extent to which you agree or disagree with a particular argument.

 

To master this skills effectively, it is crucial that you argue both sides of the debate using evidence to support your arguments. Then you need to make a judgement and answer your question directly by writing a conclusion. It is very important that you allow for time in the exam to get to this and spend time evaluating because there are a lot of marks awarded for this skill.  There are also ways for you to build in evaluation throughout your essay if you know how. 

 

 

Connectives/Sentence starters to use throughout an essay:

 

• However

• Even though

 

 

Connectives/Sentence starters to use when writing your conclusion:

 

• To conclude (then answer the question)

• My most important reason is 

• However, this depends on ..because...

• Even though xyz is a problem, it could be overcome by..

• In the short term..

• In the long term..

• Other stakeholders to be affected by this are...

 

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Conclusion example: Discuss the consequences for consumers and producers and the government of imposing a specific tax on cigarettes   (Economics)

    

To conclude, the burden of a specific tax on cigarettes is likely to be shared between consumers and producers. My most important reason is because cigarettes are not perfectly inelastic, therefore the tax will be split between the two, with consumers paying more tax.  However, there will also be a deadweight loss, which is a cost to society created by market inefficiency due to the inequality between consumer surplus and producer surplus.  In the short term, consumers are likely to keep buying cigarettes due to the fact they are addictive and they will need time to respond to the price changes. However, in the longterm, consumers might look to substitute products such as Vapers as a more affordable solution to smoking, therefore reducing the demand for cigarettes. b to be affected by this are specialized pharmaceutical companies that produce Varenicline, a medicine that helps people quit smoking with demand for this likely to increase over time to help more and more people quit smoking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Subject-specific examples

(These examples include the analysis as well as the evaluation just so you can see how you can structure your essay)

 

 

 

AQA GCSE History  -  Specimen Paper 1 Section A (1B Germany, 1890-1945)

 

Question: Which of the following was the more important reason why the Weimar Republic was in danger in the years 1919–1923:  Economic problems or Political unrest?   Explain your answer with reference to both reasons (12m)

 

One of the biggest economic problems the Weimar Republic suffered was Hyperinflation. This is because the £6.6 billion reparations of the Treaty of Versailles and the effects of the First World War meant that Germany suffered from Hyperinflation, where more money was printed to combat the severe poverty. At its height in 1923 hyperinflation meant a loaf of bread lost over 200 billion marks and left many starving and without shelter. As a result of this, many Germans started losing faith in the government who, in 1922 found itself unable to make reparation repayments. This resulted in the devaluation of the Mark which ended up being practically worthless making it impossible for Germany to buy foreign exchange or gold using paper marks. Instead, reparations were to be paid in goods such as coal. This then led to prominent economists and politicians to seek a means to stabilize German currency. In August 1923, an economist, Karl Helfferich, proposed a plan to issue a new currency, the "Roggenmark" ("rye mark"). However, this plan was rejected because of the greatly fluctuating price of rye in paper marks.

 

On the other hand, there was a lot of political unrest within the Weimar Republic. This is because, after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, the government started to face political opposition starting in 1919 such as the Spartacist uprising. This caused Economic hardship which affected the whole country. There were high levels of unemployment as the country made its transition from being a `land of war economy` to becoming a `land of peace economy. A lot of people felt strongly that the country received a very harsh deal when they signed the Treaty of Versailles, which resulted in the resentment of the government for signing it and agreeing to its conditions, particularly, the `War Guilt` clause which was article 231 where Germany had to accept all blame for the war. This led to the Weimar Republic having to deal with the violent uprising from various groups. With the country in chaos and people starving, the Kaiser had fled.  Bands of soldiers called Freikorps refused to disband and formed private armies. As a result of all this turmoil, there was a wave of continuous violence and unrest. For example, the Kapp Putsch rebellion, the assassination of 365 parliament politicians and eventually there was a call for Communism to be introduced by people who wanted a Russian style government.

 

To conclude, I think that political unrest was the biggest danger that the Weimar Republic had to face. My most important reason is because the country was in danger of falling apart politically. They had a brand new political system which struggled to cement and consolidate. The Kaiser had left and the country also found itself politically isolated.  In the short term, they had to deal with the implications of the Treaty of Versailles which politically extended outside of the country. They had to rebuild relations again with their surrounding neighbours such as France and the UK. Add this to the uprisings that happened within the country such as when the Freikorps murdered Rosa Luxemburg who had been part of the Spartacist uprising, it was very hard for the Republic to bring stability to the country. It could even be argued that there was such a degree of chaos, the country had its very own civil war to deal with.  In the long term, they then had to deal with the threat of communism which posed a grave threat to the existence of the German state itself. The movement had appealed to the working class of the Republic and would later go on to be a threat to the rise of the Nazis.

 

 

 

 

 

AQA GCSE Geography  - Specimen Paper 2 (First exams 2018) 

 

Question: ‘Transnational corporations (TNCs) only bring advantages to the host country.’ Do you agree with this statement? (9m)

 

 

A Transnational corporation can be defined as any corporation that is registered and operates in more than one country at a time. It can also be called a multinational corporation. They will have many offices and factories in many different developing countries while their headquarters will be located in developed countries. For example, Nike and Coca-Cola are examples of TNC.

 

One advantage of TNCs is that they increase the employment rate. This is because as a multinational enters into a developing country, it can provide job opportunities to local workers. For example, Nike entered low wage countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia in order to seek low-level cost. As a result of this strategy, there is an increase in the employment rate and more people are paying taxes which also benefits the government. Paying the locals more than local businesses leads to more employee loyalty, which results in better efficiency/output for that firm.

 

On the other hand, there are disadvantages that are associated with TNC. For example, they often get accused of exploiting cheap labour. This is because most of the TNC that decided to move production into low wage countries or developing countries intend to exploit cheap labour. In order to enter low wage countries, Nike makes an agreement with local producers like India and Vietnam to manufacture their products because of the low labour cost and low production cost. Nike has also been accused of using child labour. As a result of having a low paid workforce force, it can reduce overall production cost as well, therefore enabling the firm to generate high profit and have a large budget to promote their brand.

 

To conclude, I do not agree with the statement that TNCs can only bring advantages to a country. My most important reason is that even though they do have advantages to the host country, there are a lot of problems that they bring too. For example, on top of exploiting cheap labour,  a TNC can just as easily leave that host country which would stop the development of further technology and capital injections. In the short term, this could cause an economic recession as most of the local workers would have lost their source of income and therefore have no means to spend money. In the long term, developing countries have to deal with damage caused to the environment. As they are developing, they often become the dumping ground for waste materials from the TNC production lines. These materials have an adverse impact on the environment of host countries, affecting the health of its people as well. An example of this was when Coca-Cola got accused of polluting the local farmland and water bodies with toxins over in India. 

 

 

 

 

 

AQA GCSE History Paper 1 Section B Option A - Conflict and tension: The First World War, 1894-1918 (FIrst exams 2018)

 

Question: The war at sea was the main reason for Germany’s defeat in the First World War. How far do you agree with this statement? Explain your answer.

 

The war at sea during WW1 has often been overshadowed by the conflicts on the western front, however, the results of these various battles and campaigns would have a significant impact on the course of the war. For instance, due to the earlier naval arms race, by the outbreak of the war both Britain and Germany had substantial modern navies which both sides could use to attack each other`s supply lines and project their own military power more easily. For example, the Atlantic u-boat campaign by the German navy proved incredibly adept at pressurising not only the Royal Navy but also British society, as imports into Britain were severely disrupted by the German navy.

 

One reason why I agree that the war was lost at sea is because it enabled a trade blockade to happen to Germany. Britain was quick to capitalise on its enduring naval supremacy and geographical position by establishing a trade blockade of Germany and its allies as soon as the war began. The Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet patrolled the North Sea, laid mines and cut off access to the Channel, curtailing the movements of the German High Seas Fleet. As a result of this, it prevented merchant ships from supplying Germany with raw materials and food. Over time, this led to increasing food shortages for not only the army but also the wider German population. Therefore, this naval campaign had a critical influence on Germany's ability to keep fighting.

 

On the other hand, another reason why Germany lost is because of having to fight the war on two separate fronts. The Schlieffen Plan, which was the German army's plan to knock France out of the war before its armies had the chance to fully mobilise, therefore allowing the German army to turn its military might on Russia, ultimately failed.  As a result of this failure, it meant that Germany now had to fight on two fronts, against the Russians in the East and Britain and France in the West. The Russians mobilised within 10 days which was sooner than expected which put over 2 million soldiers into the field. This led to Germany having to spread its army resources more thinly against two large modern armies. Due to the industrialised nature of WW1, the war drew into a stalemate on both fronts, which without any major breakthroughs from late 1914 until almost 1918 gradually became a major drain on the military and economic resources of Germany, which unlike Britain could not rely on a large empire to support them. Therefore, as the war dragged on the Royal Navy blockade was making it increasingly difficult for Germany to keep a well-fed army in the field. Moreover, the blockade was having a terrible toll on the condition of the German population, which by 1917 was approaching critical food shortages, which led to increased political agitation domestically for an end to the war. However, the land war almost brought success for Germany in March 1918 with the launch of the `Spring offensive` which came very close to splitting the British and French lines and bringing about a German victory, as the German army could bring to bear many more soldiers who had been freed up due to the end of the war with Russia, and the use of new tactics, such as smaller mobile units of infantry that helped to punch through the allied lines at strategic points.

To conclude, even though the land war helped bring about Germany`s defeat I think it was lost because of what happened at sea. My most important reason is because Britain had its empire to rely on, who when they entered the war, supported the trade blockade to Germany. This is evident when the United States entered the war in 1917, bringing well over a million troops with her. In the short term, it was German unrestricted submarine warfare that was a catalyst for the U.S`s entry into the war, thus helping to tip the balance of men and materials into the allies` favour. In the long term, the naval blockade helped to gradually starve Germany of the necessary resources needed to keep them in the war. Therefore, I think that ultimately as the land war was mostly static for many years, it was the war at sea that slowly wore away Germany`s capacity to fight an effective war.

 

 

 

 

 

AQA GCSE Business Studies  - Specimen Paper 1 (First exams 2019)

 

Question: Recommend whether Krispy Kreme should invest in the development of an app for UK customers. Give reasons for your advice (9m)

 

One reason why Krispy Kreme should invest in the development of an app for the UK is due to the additional benefits it will offer their customers. This is because digital communication is changing the way businesses communicate with customers and seeing as other competition already have apps in place, the £30,000 - £40,000 investment could pay off in the long term. As a result of creating an app for Krispy Kreme, they could provide offers such as the loyalty scheme and personalized offers to reward their customers. This could lead to better customer satisfaction and retention, therefore generating more revenue and profits over time. However, this app will need to be user-friendly and promoted effectively in order for it to have a long-term impact on the business.

 

A reason why they should not invest in the app is because they only have 45 stores across the UK. This means that they could question the fact whether or not they have enough stores to justify the cost of creating the app in the first place. As a result of not creating this app, this could use the money saved on their marketing campaign so that they could generate more customers that way instead. This could lead to more revenue and customers for the business too. Therefore the business could be developed further by possibly opening new stores. However, for this approach to work, they need to make sure they create a proper marketing campaign that advertises Krispy Kreme’s to its target market.

 

To conclude, I think Krispy Kreme should go ahead and invest the money in their app. My most important reason is because advances in technology enable products such as apps to be used effectively to build more and more personalized information about their customers. This information can be very valuable to a business like Krispy Kreme as they can understand the buying habits of their customers more and personalize offers that will encourage them to spend more money buying doughnuts. However, the success of this depends on Krispy Kreme understanding the impact of the app that is being used over in the USA because all they know is that there is one but they do not know how good it is. In the short term, I suggest that they do exactly that and speak to customers in the UK about what they would like to have on the app. In the long term, they could then work closely with app creators based on the research they have gathered to make the app that will meet the needs of the UK customers.

 

 

 

 

AQA GCSE Design and Technology -  Specimen question paper Paper 1 (First exams 2019)

 

Designers sometimes choose materials according to their impact on society and the environment. Examples include the use of fair trade cotton, recycled components and biodegradable packaging.  Evaluate how the use of such materials might be seen as the ethical choice. (10m)

 

 

Cotton farmers in developing countries, including leading producers like India and China, live in hardship so buying from them is seen as ethical. This is because it ensures these types of farmers receive a fair price for their cotton. As a result of having this type of buying and selling deal, it allows for stability as it enables workers to receive a stable price for the production of cotton. This ethical recognition leads to global trading and opportunities for small farmers to access global markets because there is such a demand and appreciation of fair trade products. It also enhances the buyer’s reputation to be seen by customers who are environmentally aware.

 

Biodegradable packaging products refer to products that break down naturally into organic agents from exposure to heat, moisture and micro-organisms existing by nature. They are seen as ethical because Biodegradable products tend to dissolve and degrade in terms of months rather than decades. As a result of this quicker process of dissolving, less waste is left in a landfill. Therefore, not only does biodegradable packaging break down easier and doesn’t contribute to landfill waste, it takes a lot less energy to produce. Biodegradable plastics, for example, use half the energy to create than their non-biodegradable counterparts. This also adds to the reduced carbon footprint again helping to protect the environment.

 

To conclude, I think that using materials sourced from cotton farmers and by using biodegradable products will definitely help designers to be seen as ethical. My most important reason is that with an ever growing awareness of and recognition of environmental hazards, green living is becoming more and more of a common practice in society. In the short term, advertising your ethical approach to business may enhance your potential to increase sales and profit by attracting environmentally conscious consumers. In the long term, you will be one of many businesses who will be less reluctant on foreign oil. So by adapting to using resources that are biodegradable, it can lead to domestic solutions for a country as a significant amount of the oil used to produce plastics is obtained from foreign countries. Producing biodegradable products made from local biomass materials can save the country considerable amounts of energy, ultimately leading to a reduced dependency on foreign oil sources. 

 

 

 

 

 

AQA A Level Biology  - Specimen Paper 3  (First exams 2017) 

Question: Write an essay on `The importance of movement in living organisms`  (25m)

 

(Even though this is A Level and not GCSE, I just want to show you an example as to how it can be used in Biology)

 

Living organisms have a level of complexity and organisation not found in lifeless objects. They are composed of one or more cells. these cells can then be organised into tissues. Tissues, in turn, can then turn into organs. A number of organs can work together to form an organ system. A complex series of organs systems can then form an organism. Movement is a characteristic of all living organisms, it is more than just exercise, it enables the movement of substances in digestion, nerve responses, synaptic transmission, cell division through mitosis and evolution.

 

One reason why living organisms are important is because cell division is essential for growth and replacement of existing cells of existing cells, enabling organisms to become multicellular. During mitosis, the parent cell replicates its DNA and this results in two daughter cells. The daughter cells are genetically identical to the parent cell. This means that chromosomes within the parent cell need to move in order to replicate their DNA, line up on the equator during metaphase and move to the opposite end of the poles during anaphase. As a result, this leads to cell division and the formation of two new daughter cells. Mitosis is important in the growth of all living organisms, however, in some cases, uncontrolled cell division can lead to the formation of tumours which can be cancerous. 

 

 

Another reason why movement in organisms is important for the sodium-potassium pump. Animals have a higher concentration of potassium ions than their external environment. This is because cell maintains certain conditions by pumping potassium ions into the cell and pumping sodium ions out of the cell. A specific protein binds to the three intracellular sodium ions. As a result of the binding, this causes phosphorylation of ATP. This leads to one phosphate lost resulting in a compound forming called ADP. Phosphorylation therefore causes the protein to change shape, thus expelling sodium ions to the exterior. Two extracellular potassium ions bind to the different regions and this causes the release of the phosphate group. This means that the loss of the phosphate group restores the protein shape, thus causing the release of the potassium ions into the intracellular space. The sodium-potassium pump shows how important the active transport of substances is, it also shows the movement of the  ATP molecule and its crucial role in active transport.

 

To conclude, I think that movement in organisms is integral to the survival of all living organisms. My most important reasons are that organisms are able to transport substances, take up nutrients, excrete toxic compounds, create a movement of muscles and the skeletal system. This would also include transmission of neurotransmitters in neurons in animals and the mass flow of substances within plants, in particular, the phloem.  In the short term, this will mean survival. However, in the long term, this will mean that all organisms have the ability to adapt and evolve. Which could lead to more complex living organisms and systems, opening up the possibility of more mechanisms of movement that may not exist today. Similarly, organisms such as bacteria and archaea diverged from their common precursor very early on this time period. The two prokaryotes inhabit different environments and give rise to different species, one reason for their success is centred upon the movement of substances.