How to write GL3 essays

You only have to write one this year and two next year!Scientific essays – pack them full of

relevant case study material and

answer the question set!

MARK BAND CRITERIA FOR AS 2013 ESSAYS

Essays are STANDARDISED by this across the choice

“know your stuff” Don’t leave much out Selecting relevant examples, to give

good contrast, factually correct and with detail

Diagrams used well Fluent, well expressed Logical Uses geological terminology Grammar, punctuation, spelling all

good.

“10 steps” 1. Research: Begin the essay writing process by researching your topic, making yourself an expert. Utilize the

internet, the academic databases, and the library. Take notes and immerse yourself in the words of great thinkers. 2. Analysis: Now that you have a good knowledge base, start analyzing the arguments of the essays you're

reading. Clearly define the claims, write out the reasons, the evidence. Look for weaknesses of logic, and also strengths. Learning how to write an essay begins by learning how to analyze essays written by others.

3. Brainstorming: Your essay will require insight of your own, genuine essay-writing brilliance. Ask yourself a dozen questions and answer them. Meditate with a pen in your hand. Take walks and think and think until you come up with original insights to write about.

4. Thesis: Pick your best idea and pin it down in a clear assertion that you can write your entire essay around. Your thesis is your main point, summed up in a concise sentence that lets the reader know where you're going, and why. It's practically impossible to write a good essay without a clear thesis.

5. Outline: Sketch out your essay before straightway writing it out. Use one-line sentences to describe paragraphs, and bullet points to describe what each paragraph will contain. Play with the essay's order. Map out the structure of your argument, and make sure each paragraph is unified.

6. Introduction: Now sit down and write the essay. The introduction should grab the reader's attention, set up the issue, and lead in to your thesis. Your intro is merely a buildup of the issue, a stage of bringing your reader into the essay's argument.

7. Paragraphs: Each individual paragraph should be focused on a single idea that supports your thesis. Begin paragraphs with topic sentences, support assertions with evidence, and expound your ideas in the clearest, most sensible way you can. Speak to your reader as if he or she were sitting in front of you. In other words, instead of writing the essay, try talking the essay.

8. Conclusion: Gracefully exit your essay by making a quick wrap-up sentence, and then end on some memorable thought, perhaps a quotation, or an interesting twist of logic, or some call to action. Is there something you want the reader to walk away and do? Let him or her know exactly what.

9. Modern Language Association Style: Format your essay according to the correct guidelines for citation. All borrowed ideas and quotations should be correctly cited in the body of your text, followed up with a Works Cited (references) page listing the details of your sources.

10. Language: You're not done writing your essay until you've polished your language by correcting the grammar, making sentences flow, incoporating rhythm, emphasis, adjusting the formality, giving it a level-headed tone, and making other intuitive edits. Proofread until it reads just how you want it to sound. Writing an essay can be tedious, but you don't want to bungle the hours of conceptual work you've put into writing your essay by leaving a few slippy misppallings and pourly wordedd phrazies..

http://www1.aucegypt.edu/academic/writers/

Not all of these are relevant

to writing an essay

in an exam!

“10 steps” 3. Brainstorming: what are the key words? Describe? Explain?

What is the essay about? 5. Outline: Sketch out your essay before straightway writing it

out. Use one-line sentences to describe paragraphs, and bullet points to describe what each paragraph will contain. Jot down points you want to make (PLAN). Jot down examples you could use? Play with the order (use arrows to link points)

7. Paragraphs: Each individual paragraph should be focused on a single idea. Begin paragraphs with topic sentences, support with evidence, and expound your ideas in the clearest, most sensible way you can.

8. Conclusion: Gracefully exit your essay by making a quick wrap-up sentence.

10. Language: You're not done writing your essay until you've polished your language by correcting the grammar, checking spelling etc. You don't want to bungle the work you've put into writing your essay by leaving a few slippy misppallings and pourly wordedd phrazies.

http://www1.aucegypt.edu/academic/writers/

KNOW YOUR STUFF! Well that’s revision! Try making mind maps of your

EXAMPLES / CASE STUDIES Use one A3 page per topic, and collate

all the examples onto one page.

VENEZUELA DEBRIS FLOODS

When: December 1999

Deaths: 30,000Made homeless: 400,000Homes destroyed: 90,000

Worst hit?Shanty towns on edge of city, Vargas

Plantations, roads, highways destroyed and airports closed for several days. What impact did this have? Aid slow to arrive

What happened to land in the 1980’s and 1990’s?Large areas cleared/deforested to make way for urban areasWhat knock on effect does this have?No interception of rainfall, no roots to bind soil

Triggers:December 1999 – heaviest rains in 100 yearsWhat happened to the soils? saturatedAnd water ponded on surfaceThen extreme rainfall 900mmFlash floods debris flowsWhere was the water funnelled to this area?Andes steep slopes directed water

Consequences:Need to plan urban developments carefullyNot place them in areas prone to landslides

What were the shanty towns like?No urban planning restrictionsFlimsyPrecariously perched shacksWhy did people build there?Can’t afford to live anywhere else

This is a case study done on a

powerpoint slide

Here’s a hand written one

Key words:

DESCRIBE Provide a word picture of a feature, pattern,

process or idea “tell us what it looks like”

EXPLAIN Account for / give reasons / how does it work? Provide the cause of a feature, process or pattern.

Explanation usually requires an understanding of a process. It is a higher level skill than description and this is reflected in its greater mark weighting in examination questions. Basically “WHY?”

DIAGRAMS Are often a really easy way to describe

something! WJEC AS/A2 Geology Examiners

encourage you to put diagrams in …. PLEASE!

AS tend to use “describe” and “explain”.A2 steps up a level …..

TO WHAT EXTENT? / ASSESS / EVALUATE / DISCUSS

These commands are evaluative. You need to consider the evidence connected to an issue or problem, and make reasoned judgements and present a viewpoint. This is the highest-level skill required at A2 level and is widely used in extended writing questions

PLAN FIRST! Read the three choices. Which do you think is best for YOU? Just jot down examples, anything relevant you can

think of for it 3 minutes BRAINSTORM / MIND MAP THEN ….. Try to link things. Is “X” really relevant? Is “Y” the

best case study? How much detail do you know about “Y”? 2 minutes

If at the end of that you don’t have much more than 2 things written down – perhaps you’ve picked the wrong essay!

Better to find out now than after 20 minutes of struggling to write it! Pick again! Repeat process!

DESCRIBE: What does it look like? What is it’s behaviour? What factors? Where is it? What is the scale / size? What properties does it have? These are EASY to answer questions ….

GL3 May 2003 Q4Q.4 (a) Describe the distribution of earthquake epicentres around the world.

Key word = DESCRIBE Tell the examiner where they are, what

they look like Do not tell the examiner why they are

there!

GL3 May 2003 Q4

Q.4 (a) Describe the distribution of earthquake epicentres around the world.

Definition of epicentre Narrow zones (few hundred kms wide, thousands of kms long) in

oceans (MAR) Wider zones on continents (Himalayas - Asia) Associated with belts of mountains, ocean ridges, volcanoes, rift

valleys, island arcs, trenches. (e.g. Himalayas/ Atlantic, Circum-Pacific)

Associated with plate boundaries - crustal tension / compression Divergent (constructive) - plates moving apart (MOR/rift valley),

shallow EQ (Mid Atlantic Ridge, East Pacific Rise) Convergent (destructive)- plates coming together (trenches, fold

mts) Benioff zone, 45°, subduction zone (Japan, Peru-Chile) Conservative - plates sliding past - friction (San Andreas) Mid plate (Hawaii)/volcanic origin – moving magma generates

EQ.

(b) Explain how two of the following monitoring methods might be used to predict earthquakes: (i) Groundwater levels and pressure   (ii) Tilting and ground elevation   (iii) Seismic activity [15]

Important to think which you can talk most about for 8 marks each! Choose wisely!

EXPLAIN is key word – must say how it works to predict an earthquake

GL3 May 2003 Q4

Sneaky! Not the easiest choices to

choose from!

(i) Groundwater levels and pressure – Water in pores migrates into cracks prior

to earthquake (dilation) water levels decrease.

Water levels increase as more water diffuses prior to earthquake. Pore pressure changes with water diffusion.

Earthquake following increase in well levels/pore pressure.

Credit actual examples

(ii) Tilting and ground elevation- expansion of ground (by opening of microcracks

formed by stress) prior to an earthquake. Recorded by changes in angles of slope and

elevation . Use of tiltmeters/laser beams to accurately

measure variation across faults. EDM (electronic distance measurements) from

known fixed points. Credit actual examples

(iii) Seismic activity – Variation in the seismic rate. Increase in the

background rate of minor earthquakes prior to a major quake.

Seismic gap. The Measurement of the velocities of P and S waves

passing through and area. Reduction indicates influx of water into rock as

micro-fractures open. On returning to normal, pore pressure rises = quake. Rate of return to normal = Prediction of timing

imminent. Duration of anomaly = predicted magnitude of

quake.

Which of the three would you choose? It’s personal choice! Depends on your revision!