Starter quiz
- Which of these features will we likely not use in an essay?
- serious, factual language
- contractions ✓
- casual, everyday language ✓
- addressing the reader directly ✓
- subject-specific language
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- Which sentence uses an appropriately formal tone for our essay?
- Antarctica's interior is a desert: it receives almost no rainfall. ✓
- The middle of Antarctica is a desert: it's super dry!
- There's basically no rain in the middle of Antarctica so it's sort of a desert.
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- Which paragraphs of our essay are likely to include evidence to support our arguments?
- the introduction
- the first main paragraph ✓
- the second main paragraph ✓
- the conclusion ✓
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- Which types of evidence are used in the following sentence? 'NASA say that 268 billion tons of Arctic sea ice have melted since 2022.'
- explanation
- statistic ✓
- expert opinion ✓
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- What linguistic features are included here? 'Furthermore, huge quantities of carbon are stored in the permafrost (frozen ground); as a result, it does not contribute to the greenhouse effect.'
- formal fronted adverbial ✓
- compound sentence
- fronted adverbial of cause ✓
- parenthesis in brackets ✓
- adverbial complex sentence
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- Which word could fill in the gap in the following sentence to create the most formal tone? 'Antarctica __________ six months of near-darkness each year.'
- enjoys
- has
- experiences ✓
- suffers from
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Exit quiz
- Which of the below are claims that we have made in our essay?
- Climate change is taking place. ✓
- Climate change is caused by oil drilling.
- Climate change is causing polar ice to melt. ✓
- Polar ice melting is a bad thing for the planet. ✓
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- Match each claim to the evidence that supports it.
- Climate change is taking place.⇔polar temperatures have increased by three degrees ✓
- It is causing polar ice to melt.⇔Arctic ice has decreased in thickness by 40% ✓
- Polar ice melting is a bad thing.⇔less heat is reflected back out to space, causing temperatures to rise ✓
- What linguistic features have been used here? 'As a consequence of this, the ice at the poles is melting: the Arctic Ocean, which would normally be frozen all year, could be ice-free relatively soon.'
- fronted adverbial of cause ✓
- formal fronted adverbial
- relative complex sentence ✓
- adverbial complex sentence
- colon to introduce an explanation ✓
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- Match each linguistic feature to its purpose.
- In addition to this,⇔'adding on' ✓
- Despite this,⇔showing contrast ✓
- Because of this,⇔showing cause & effect ✓
- Match each linguistic feature to its purpose.
- and⇔'adding on' ✓
- although⇔showing contrast ✓
- because⇔showing cause & effect ✓
- Which word could complete the following sentence? 'The Paris Agreement (signed in 2015) commits governments to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions; __________, more needs to be done.'
- although
- however ✓
- consequently
- in addition
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Worksheet
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Presentation
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Our essay gives a logical argument that builds towards a conclusion.
- Throughout the essay, we connect ideas using a range of linguistic features and we support ideas with evidence.
- We use a formal tone in an essay because we want to sound authoritative.
- Our conclusion should directly address the essay question, making the end-point of our logical argument clear.
- It is useful to orally rehearse our ideas before writing to reduce our cognitive load.
Common misconception
Pupils may only include the information in their research notes and not draw ideas together into a conclusion.
While shared writing this section, constantly refer back to the essay question to ensure the conclusion addresses it head-on.
Keywords
Logical argument - an argument that follows a series of steps that lead clearly towards a conclusion
Linguistic features - language structures that are used within a text in order to connect ideas together
Formal tone - the effect created by choosing serious, factual language
Evidence - information or facts to show something is true
Conclusion - the outcome of a series of ideas or the end-point of a piece of reasoning
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