KS3 Geography Resource

Developing your Geography skills

Extended answers in Geography

1
The basic skeleton

• An essay needs three things:

• An introduction
• A body
• A conclusion
• The introduction must tell the reader what the essay is
about.
• The body of the essay must include paragraphs, and give the
reader all the information.
• The conclusion must tell the reader what they have just
read.
Introduction

• Think about what you are going to write about.

• The introduction should be short.
• For example, 4 to 5 lines on what the reader can expect to
read in the essay.
Body
• W, W, W
• What, Where, Why
• What are you talking about?
• If your essay is on floods, don’t write about earthquakes.
Where is it?
• Where are you talking about? Try not to use examples that don’t
link to your topic area. For example, if you are talking about
floods in the UK don’t give examples from Mongolia.
• Why is it important to know this?
• This is the most important. You need to explain and describe all
the information you have spoken about before. Why is flooding
important and how does it affect people?
Body (contined)

• Paragraphs are your best friend!

• Make sure that you break your essay up into paragraphs
that focus on individual topics. Try to make sure that your
paragraphs are not too long or the reader will get bored.
• REMEMBER PEEL!
• P – Point
• E – Explain
• E – Evidence
• L – Link
Conclusion

• The conclusion needs to include two things!

• It needs to sum up what has been said in the essay body.
• It needs to CONCLUDE the points made.
• This means that the conclusion needs to make sure
that the reader understands what he/she has just
read.
• Make sure that the conclusion NEVER includes new
information!
Remember!

1. Make sure that your essay makes sense and follows a

coherent structure.
2. Your essay should never include ‘I’. Make sure that you
don’t use your own personal opinion. For example, don’t
say “I think being poor is horrible”.
3. Make sure that you are objective. Make sure that you only
give arguments that can be backed up. Don’t just say
“Burning fossil fuels is bad”. Say why it is bad, “Burning
fossil fuels is bad because…”.
With thanks to author MattMitch5. This presentation is an edited version of his original which can be found at
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/ks3-how-to-write-a-geography-essay-11211145.
This document is covered by Creative Commons ‘Sharealike’ licence. For more information, see
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