How to develop your skills/revise for ‘fact and opinion’ questions

You will be assessed on your ability to distinguish between fact and opinion. You’ll also be expected to comment on how facts and opinions have been used. For example, facts might be use to persuade; to convince; to make a writer’s argument seem more believable; to make an article seem more reliable/trustworthy; to add weight to opinions given and to support points.

To help improve your skills of identifying fact and opinion, get hold of a non-fiction text (e.g. from the BBC news website). Highlight the facts and opinions used and discuss with somebody else why you think these have been used. You might want to write the facts up and give them to another student (out of context) and see if they agree that they are facts – ask them to explain why.

How to develop your skills/revise for ‘following an argument’ questions

Below are a couple of ideas for developing your skills/revising for ‘following an argument’ questions (Paper 1 Section A). It’s a tricky skill to master but at least you’ll know that when you’ve mastered it you will be able to show off – you will be tested on it. You will become better at this if you practice.

1. Cut out a newspaper article, magazine article or print off an article from the web. Work with a partner and label yourselves A and B. A should read the article, out loud, to student B. Student B should tell student A , in their own words, what key/main points are made in the article. Whilst Student B is doing this, student A should jot down the main points. Together you can look over the key points you’ve found and see if you can add any more. You could then have a go at writing this up and peer-assessing each other’s answers but revision doesn’t always have to be about writing – practicing, through talk, identifying key points is a good way to develop your skills of ‘following an argument’.

2. As Rory suggested today, you could go to the BBC news website (http://news.bbc.co.uk/), print off an article and answer the following question: Explain the key points made in the item (6 marks). As it’s worth 6 marks, spend 12 minutes on your answer. You could then use the general mark scheme below to either assess your own work or you could get a friend to peer-assess it. Alternatively, hand it in to me to have a look at.

General Mark Scheme

0 mark   nothing relevant written

1 mark   ‘some simple comment’

• some simple supported comment
• mainly narrative description
• refers to some appropriate detail
• some references to key points

2 marks   ‘some awareness’

• some extended supported comments
• unstructured response and tends to paraphrase
• some identification of main features
• some awareness of key points

3-4 marks   ‘clear attempt to select’

• clear attempt to engage with the task
• structure response
• selects and comments
• a range of key points, 3 at least   * to get a C, you should aim to select 3 or more key points *

5-6   ‘detailed/shaped & absorbed’

• a full understanding of what is being asked
• material fully absorbed and shaped for purpose
• references integrated into argument
• a detailed and conceptualised response

Full Mark Answer for ‘Following an Argument’

Below is Joe’s fantastic answer from today’s lesson. Use the mark scheme in your book to pick out why Joe got full marks for this – it’s a good example of ‘fully absorbing’ and ‘shaping for purpose’.

Paper 1 Section A from the 2007 series

1. Read item 1 the web page from BBC News online.

a) Explain the key points made in this item.

The article from the BBC explicitly states that smoking in your teens increases the chances of smoking in your later life and consequently death. So it is little wonder that the reporter believes the revolution of mobile phones could be the deterrant to smoking.

The fact that fewer teenagers are smoking and that the ownership of mobile phones is rising confirms the point made in this article stating that mobiles are replacing cigarettes as a form of rebellion.

The reporter feels that owning a mobile may serve as a stopper in another way – they believe that it’s unlikely for the teenagers to be able to fund both this addiction to cigarettes and modern technology.

However, the reporter does understand that not all teenage smokers will stop smoking merely due to new symbol of defiance and so makes a point of warning the public about the dangers of smoking and cancer.