����tv

There are a number of different ways to structure your assignment. Different teachers will recommend different ways. Whichever way you choose your assignment must be written in a report style not an essay style.

This means you should use headings, subheadings, bullet points and numbered sections.

One of the most common ways is below:

Title and Introduction

This is where you should be "framing the issue" giving detailed background knowledge explaining the title you have chosen.

Explain in detail what the issue is and give background knowledge setting out the problem you are researching. Your three options should be explained in detail, but not with the arguments for and against, with you making it clear which option you are going to support.

Options

This is where you should pick up most of your analysing and synthesising marks. You should use your sources to compare and contrast the arguments for and against each of your options.

Option 1:

• arguments in favour of option 1
• arguments against option 1

Option 2:

• arguments in favour of option 2
• arguments against option 2

Option 3:

• arguments in favour of option 3
• arguments against option 3

The arguments for/against do not have to be written separately. You can talk about them at the same time which would be synthesising and allow you to pick up more marks, such as:

Many people argue that FPTP is a good system because it avoids coalitions but in recent years with the growth of third parties 2010 created a coalition and 2017 created a Conservative government that needed the support of the DUP.

Conclusion/decision

Your conclusion should include the reasons why you chose your option but also the reasons why you rejected the other options.

While doing this it is helpful to identify the argument that you found the most convincing or the piece of evidence you thought was the strongest. You might also accept the weaknesses in your argument or decision and what this might mean.

Source evaluation

The key here is to refer specifically to your sources. Don’t say simply that the internet was useful because it gave you lots of information. For example you need to refer specifically to the newspaper or the survey that you used explain the advantages and disadvantages. Some questions you might consider are:

• was the source up to date?
• is the newspaper biased? In which way?
• did the survey have enough respondents?
• did the survey represent the population or were they all a similar age, gender etc
• were interviews of a variety of people or similar people?

Remember: whichever model you choose, if you have time, you can have a section called "Rebuttal" where you can answer the criticisms of your decision or argument.

Once you have written your assignment there are still two things to do. The first is to produce a research sheet to help you with the write-up and then there is the write-up itself.