Guide to writing a successful essay

1. Stage 1 History Assessment Type 1: Folio Essay Vietnam War Guide to writing a successful essay Sally Mangan/Cardijn College

2. Step 1: Choose my Question • In this task, you have the choice of essay question you wish to respond to. It is of your benefit that you choose the essay you feel most comfortable with • In the following slides, the expectation of each essay question will be elaborated on… • CHOOSE WISELY Sally Mangan/Cardijn College

3. OPTION 1: • Discuss the Vietnam War in relation to the causes, nature and the consequences of the war on each of the societies it affected • In this option, the three body paragraphs would address the cause, nature and final consequence of the war. In each paragraph you would need to reflect on each society it affected; South Vietnamese/ North Vietnamese and US/Australia Sally Mangan/Cardijn College

4. OPTION 2: • ‘Major battles are not without their consequences.’ Discuss the consequences of a major battle of the Vietnam War. Argue your case in relation to the causes, nature and the consequences of the war on each of the societies it affected. • You have the option to choose your own battle here, but it would be HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you choose the Tet Offensive, or Long Tan, as we have studied in task. • Tet Offensive – reflect on North Vietnamese and the US • Long Tan – Vietcong/ NLF and Australian forces Sally Mangan/Cardijn College

5. OPTION 3 • ‘It is often the tactics that determine the nature of a conflict.’ To what extent to you agree. Argue your case in relation to the nature and consequences of the war on each of the societies it affected • In each paragraph you would be expected to explain a tactic that was specific to the Vietnam War: Operation Barrell Role, Agent Orange/ NAPALM, Search and Destroy, Guerilla tactics… and then argue to effect this had on each particular society. • This task requires a substantial amount of independent research and an ability to direct your own learning Sally Mangan/Cardijn College

6. Where to next? • Now, you need to begin to plan your essay. • Any successful essay is ACCURATELY structured. This is significant in your ability to achieve your performance standards… which I will explain later…  Sally Mangan/Cardijn College

7. Paragraph Structure Sally Mangan/Cardijn College

8. And now… • Now, I will demonstrate to you the accurate way to structure a paragraph • I will also highlight the performance standards reflected in the text, so you have a strong understanding of how this task will be marked • For examples sake, I will use question one… Sally Mangan/Cardijn College

9. Discuss the Vietnam War in relation to the causes, nature and the consequences of the war on each of the societies it affectedTOPIC SENTENCE This demonstrates your understanding of the key cause Also uses subject specific language • The ‘Domino Theory’ and spread of communism in South East Asia was the most significant cause for the Vietnam War. The use of key terms and subject specific language This makes direct reference to the question and tells the marker the point of the paragraph Sally Mangan/Cardijn College

10. R1- Role of individuals ELABORATION KU2 – identify and explain concepts • The ‘Domino Theory’ was the basis for the US and Australian occupation of Vietnam. The idea that if one national ‘fell’ to communism in Vietnam, that the rest of the region would fall, was thought to be a direct effect for Australia’s involvement, and the US anti-communist agenda. The Communist North, led by Ho Chi Minh, originally were looking for free elections to unite Vietnam after the Geneva Agreement in 1954, where Vietnam was split along the 17th parallel (Phillips, 2001). However, the US resisted this and argued that elections would not suffice to ensure fairness in government. So, the US, supported by Australia as an ally, sent army intelligence officers, and then troops to ‘protect’ democracy in South Vietnam (Classroom Video, 1990); KU2 –shaped by internal/ external forces R1 – Role of individuals Sally Mangan/Cardijn College

11. EVIDENCE • “To the US government the war was less about Vietnamese independence than it was a conflict between communism and the capitalist free world” (Phillips, 2001, pg 83). C1 – informed argument KU1 – shaping of internal/external factors C2- use of subject specific conventions… ALL IN TEXT REFERENCEING Sally Mangan/Cardijn College

12. Making a link to the question LINKING SENTENCE • Evidently, the cause of the Vietnam War was not to restore Vietnam to a unified state, but, more importantly from a pro-capitalist perspective, to ensure Vietnam would not be the would not be the first ‘Domino’ to fall in the South East Asian region . Key term as outlined in topic sentence Sally Mangan/Cardijn College

13. References • Phillips, S (2001) ‘The Vietnam War 1: Escalation 1945-1968’, in The Cold War, Heinemann Publications, Melbourne, pp78 – 222 • Australians in Vietnam, 1990, Film, Classroom Educational Video Sally Mangan/Cardijn College

14. The Performance Standards Sally Mangan/Cardijn College

15. The Learning Cycle Sally Mangan/Cardijn College

16. Effective Reading Strategies • The nature of subject like History is that there is a lot of reading. When you are reading text books, websites, newspaper articles etc, its important to remember these effective reading strategies. Whilst it takes time in the beginning, it saves you time later! Sally Mangan/Cardijn College

17. Effective Reading Strategies • THE FIVE POINT READING PLAN • Predict What do you already know about this subject? What do you expect the text to talk about? Go to the Index at the back. Pick out the key words or names you need to follow up. Look at the information about the authors of the text and the date when the book or article was first published. This may help you to understand the authors' point of view and where their work fits in with other publications in the same field. • Skim the contents page before you begin reading. It will give you an overview of what the book covers and what the authors thought was important. Move quickly through the first and last paragraphs to get a general idea of the content of the text. • Scan Look for specific information, including your keywords and their synonyms. • Analyse When you have found relevant paragraphs, read them more carefully. Be an active reader. Ask questions like, 'What is the author saying?' 'How can I use this information?' 'Does this agree or disagree with other readings?' 'How does this information relate to my experience?' • Note Take careful notes. Sally Mangan/Cardijn College

18. Using sentence starters… These add formality and structure to your writing, and link your ideas logically… • Connectives - build logical cohesion in your writing • Additional - Firstly, Next,, Also, Moreover, Furthermore • Comparative - In contrast to this, however, yet, on the contrary OR likewise, similarly, in the same way, equally • Causal - As a result, Due to, Therefore, Thus, Consequently • Concessional - In spite of this, Having considered one side, Despite… • Exemplary - For example, So, It is evident that • Summative - Overall, Having considered all arguments Sally Mangan/Cardijn College

19. Task: • Working in pairs/ threes, re-write the TEEL structured paragraph above • Using the Performance Standards, figure out how you could improve on this paragraph to increase the grade band… Sally Mangan/Cardijn College