Although there are a number of mnemonics around that help students structure extended answers in ways that allow them to cover and gain marks for each Assessment Objective (AO1, AO2 and AO3), I particularly like this mnemonic because it’s easy to remember and follows a logical structure for the construction of each paragraph in an extended answer.
I don’t know if this is something I dreamt up (probably not, but you never know) or whether it’s something I came across on my web travels, forgot about, rediscovered on my hard drive and convinced myself I thought it up (I’m leaning towards this interpretation but it would be nice to think it was the former).
Either way, you may find IDEAS helpful.
IDEAS |
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| Identify | the main or key point of the paragraph |
| Define | what you mean by the key point and how it applies to the question |
| Examples | of the key idea using evidence (such as sociological studies, theories, etc.) both for and against the key point |
| Apply | your examples, both for and against, to your key point |
| Summarise | your overall argument |