Lesson video

Hi there, I'm Mr. Buckingham, and it's so good to see you here for today's lesson.

Today we're going to take one more step towards writing our essay about the effects of climate change on the polar regions by really carefully preparing to write, ready to begin writing in the next lesson.

I think you're going to find this really useful, so let's make a start.

Today's lesson is called Preparing to Write an Essay, and it comes to my unit called Polar Regions Essay Writing.

By the end of today's lesson, you will have already rehearsed a logical argument and practised using a range of linguistic features and punctuation to connect ideas.

Now for this lesson you may want to have access to the example essay you can find in the additional materials for this lesson.

However, I will be showing it to you as well during this video.

Let's begin.

Here are our key words for today's lesson.

A logical argument is an argument that follows a series of steps that lead clearly towards a conclusion.

And a conclusion is the outcome of a series of ideas or the end-point of a piece of reasoning.

Linguistic features are language structures that are used within a text in order to connect ideas together.

And punctuation is the marks used in writing to connect ideas, demarcate parts of a sentence and clarify meaning.

Here's our lesson outline for today.

We're going to start off by orally rehearsing a logical argument, and then we'll move on to practising using linguistic features.

All of this building towards beginning to write our own essay in the following lesson.

Now as you know, we've completed lots of research in response to this essay question, "What makes the polar regions important and why should we do more to protect them?" Now before we start writing, we need to be really confident in answering that question with a logical argument based on the research that we've done.

And a logical argument is one where each point follows logically on from the last one, leading on towards a conclusion.

And that conclusion should link back to the essay question, addressing it directly.

So it should address everything that's mentioned in that essay question to make the reader in no doubt of the fact that we are right in our argument, because remember, we are arguing only one side of the argument and we are arguing that polar regions are important and we need to do more to protect them.

So to help us break down our essay question, we gathered our research, didn't we? Under four smaller questions that helped to us to address the essay question as a whole.

And they were, what are polar regions? How are they important? What do they need protecting from? And how are they currently being protected and what more could we do? And now our job is to fit our research together to make a clear, logical argument that passes through those four questions towards the conclusion.

So take some time now to review your research notes from the last two lessons under those four smaller questions that we've explored.

Based on your research notes, how would you very briefly answer each of those four questions? Pause the video and have a think.

Lots of good ideas.

So we have a lot of notes, don't we? So we're just trying to pick out one key point to answer each of these questions.

So first of all, what are the polar regions? Well, they're the Arctic and Antarctica, the coldest place of earth and they're around the poles.

How are they important? Well, they help regulate the climate in several different ways, and of course they're home to many unique species as well.

What do they need protecting from? Well, from climate change, because that's causing the ice to melt, which is leading to sea level rise, habitat loss and also to further temperature rises.

How are they being protected and what more could we do? Well, we know there are some government agreements in place, but we need to do more to tackle climate change.

So we've answered each of those four questions in brief now.

So we're now gonna have to build those answers into a logical argument supported by some evidence.

Now because our essay question has two parts to it, we need to think carefully about the conclusion of our essay.

So what conclusion are we trying to reach in our essay? Pause the video and have a chat to the person next to you, or have a think on your own.

Well done.

Good job.

So we could say this, "We want to conclude that polar regions are important for their role in helping prevent climate change and because of all the unique things about them." So that answers the first part of the question, doesn't it? What makes the polar regions important? So that's one conclusion.

But then Jacob says, "And we want to conclude that they're at risk from climate change, and we need to do more to tackle climate change because what's being done is not currently enough." There's a lot going on there in our conclusions, isn't there? Because our question has two parts.

What makes the polar regions important and why should we do more to protect them? So Jacob is saying, "Well, they're at risk from climate change.

We need to do more to tackle climate change because what's currently being done is not enough and that's why we need to do more to protect the polar regions because what's currently being done is not sufficient." So hopefully, you had a good think now about the conclusion.

Remember, everything we write leads towards that conclusion with each logical step building on the last towards that end point, that end conclusion.

So we can think of our essay following the following structure, building the logical argument across our smaller questions.

We'll have an introduction, a paragraph one, a paragraph two, and a conclusion.

Our introduction can answer what are the polar regions? Paragraph one can say how they're important? Paragraph two can say what they need protecting from? And maybe the most important paragraph for the conclusion, which will say how are they currently being protected and what more could we do and why should we do that? Why should we do more? So have a go now, put in these ideas in the order they would appear in our logical argument in our essay.

Pause the video and have a go.

Well done, good work.

So hopefully you spotted that.

First of all, we would say the polar regions are Antarctica and the Arctic.

Then we would say that these regions help to regulate the world's climate.

That's why they're important.

Then we'd say, they're threatened by climate change.

That's the threats they face.

And finally we'd say that more needs to be done to tackle climate change.

So together, those build towards our conclusion that we need to do more to protect the polar regions because of the problems they face, and because those problems in themselves cause lots of issues, like the problems caused by polar ice melting.

So we need to build those steps towards our conclusion.

So let's do our first task assessment.

We can have a go at orally rehearsing our logical argument.

So we know our essay question really well by now.

So what I want you to do is to look at your notes and the questions we've discussed, and practise saying the whole logical argument out loud to your partner.

I want you to make sure you answer the essay question and reach the conclusion.

And you may have to make connections that aren't obvious in your notes, particularly, why is it important that we need to protect these polar regions? That might be something you need to think really hard about as you say this argument out loud.

Now you don't have to include detailed evidence at this point.

I want to just focus on making the argument.

So going step-by-step through our questions, saying out loud the logical argument that you'd like to make.

So pause the video and have a go at using your research notes and those four questions we've discussed to guide you through saying out loud the logical argument in answer to our essay question.

Have a go.

Well done, really good job.

So here's what you might've said out loud to show the logical argument in response to our essay question.

First of all, we're saying what the polar regions are.

"The polar regions, Antarctica and the Arctic, are unique in many ways." Then I'm saying why they're important.

"They're important because they help keep the climate under control and they're home to many unique animals." Then I'm saying the threats they face.

"They're being threatened by climate change, which is causing polar ice caps to melt.

This melting threatens habitats, makes sea levels rise and will make climate change worse." Then I'm saying why should we do more.

"Although some steps are being taken, the problem of climate change needs more attention." So I'm saying we need to try and do more to solve the problem of climate change, in order to fix these problems that the polar ice cups melting are creating.

So hopefully, you've had a go at setting up that logical argument out loud in response to our essay question.

So you're now feeling much more confident going into writing this in future lessons.

Well done.

So we're now going to practise using some linguistic features that we might want to use when we come to write our essay.

So we've rehearsed our logical argument and we need to think now about how we can connect all our ideas together.

And the main way we can do this is to use a range of different linguistic features.

So you can see some of them here.

We have different types of fronted adverbial, different types of complex sentence, and also parenthesis within brackets.

I'd like you now to have a go and looking back over the example essay you can find in the additional materials for this lesson, and see if you can spot any of these linguistic features used there.

Alternatively, I'm going to show you a screenshot of the essay in a moment.

So pause the video there and see if you can spot any of these linguistic features.

Well done.

Hopefully you found lots and lots of examples of those linguistic features used in our example essay.

So now let's zoom in on one section of that essay.

Which linguistic features can you see in this part of the example essay? Pause the video and have a look.

Well done.

Good job.

So maybe you spotted here we've got a non-finite ING complex sentence.

We have the non-finite ING clause, "covering approximately 13% of its land area," starting with that verb covering in its ING form.

We've also got some parenthesis in brackets, "about 3.

2 million hectares," that could be removed from the sentence and the sentence would still make sense.

And we've also got "in addition," acting as a formal frontal adverbial, which allows us to add on another idea to the previous sentence.

Really well done if you spotted those.

Now we can also use a range of punctuation to connect ideas together as well.

So for instance, we could use a colon to introduce an explanation like this.

"As a consequence of this, Britain's woodlands are vital: if they were not present, Britain's animal and plant life would be gravely threatened." What comes after the colon explains what came before, and they're both complete sentences on their own.

We can also use a semicolon to connect sentences together if they're closely related.

For instance, "During the Mediaeval period, woodlands were essential for daily life; now, they are more frequently used for recreation." And of course we can also use commas for parenthesis like this.

"The new forest, an area of woodland in the south of England, was made of royal forest by William the Conqueror." We've put commas around the piece of parenthesis, we've dropped into that sentence which could be removed.

And of course there are many other pieces of punctuation we can use as well.

So where should the punctuation be added in each of these passages? Pause the video and have a look.

Well done.

Good job.

So A says, "Many of Britain's forests are ancient some woodlands in Scotland are over 8,000 years old." So we've got actually two complete sentences there which we could connect in different ways.

We could put a colon there for explaining the way in which they're ancient.

We could've also use a semicolon there to show the connection between those sentences.

But since it's an explanation, it makes sense to use a colon there.

For B it says, "The Woodland Trust a conservation charity says that half of the UK's ancient woodlands have already been lost." Here we've got some parenthesis, a conservation charity, telling us more about the known phrase, "The Woodland Trust." So we could put that in brackets or we could use commas around the parenthesis.

And then C says, "Britain has many ancient woodlands these include Sherwood Forest and the New Forest." Again, these are two separate sentences which we can connect using a semicolon to show the close relationship between them there.

Very well done thinking about that punctuation so carefully.

So we talked about different linguistic features and about different pieces of punctuation.

We can connect up our research notes into complete sentences using these linguistic features and these different pieces of punctuation.

So here are some notes that answer the first question, what are the polar regions? We've said Arctic = area north of Arctic Circle 4 million people, very cold, -70 degrees C, and long days or nights.

I can use different linguistic features and punctuation to connect those together like this.

"The Arctic, which is the area north of the Arctic Circle, is home to 4 million people; It can be extremely cold up to -70 degrees C and it can have very long days and nights." So I've taken the note, I've used linguistic features and punctuation to create a sentence that includes all that information connected together in appropriate ways.

So what linguistic features and punctuation did I use to connect those notes together into this passage? Pause the video and see what you can spot.

Well done.

Good job.

Hopefully you spotted that we've got a relative complex sentence there with the relative clause, which is the area north of the Arctic Circle, to describe more about the Arctic.

I've got a semicolon to connect to closely related sentences.

I've also got parenthesis and brackets, up to 70 degrees C, and I've actually got a compound sentence there using and as well.

Now of course, we could've connected these same ideas in different ways.

I'm just showing you that there are lots of different ways we can use linguistic features and punctuation to change our notes into complete sentences, where the ideas are connected appropriately.

So there are, usually, as I said, lots of different options for connecting our ideas.

So if we take this note, Antarctica is a continent surrounded by ocean, but the Arctic is an ocean surrounded by land.

We could connect that in several different ways.

For instance, we could say, "While Antarctica is a continent surrounded by ocean, the Arctic is an ocean surrounded by land." I've used an adverbial complex sentence to show the contrast between those two things.

But I could do it a different way as well.

I could write this, "Antarctica, a continent surrounded by several oceans, is very different from the Arctic, an ocean surrounded by land." Notice how there I've used two different types of parenthesis, both in commas and in brackets.

I could also do it like this.

"Antarctica is a landmass surrounded by ocean; However, the Arctic is an ocean surrounded by land." There I've shown the contrast again, but this time using a formal frontal adverbial, and two sentences connected with a semicolon, to show the close relationship between them.

So there's loads of different options there to show the difference between the Arctic and Antarctica.

So how could we connect these notes about the polar regions into complete sentences using linguistic features and punctuation? We've said sea ice is a habitat for walrus and polar bears, and it also reduces the number of storms. How could you connect that into a complete sentence using different linguistic features and punctuation? Maybe you can think of several different ideas.

Pause the video and have a go.

Well done.

Good job.

Here are some ideas.

Maybe you said this, "The polar sea ice is an important habitat for walruses and polar bears; In addition, it helps to reduce the number of storms." I've used another formal frontal adverbial, this time one that adds on to the last idea.

I could do a compound sentence.

"The polar sea ice is an important habitat for walruses and polar bears and it helps to reduce the number of storms." And finally, I could use a relative clause, "The sea ice, which is an important habitat for walruses and polar bears, serves an important purpose in reducing the number of storms." So loads of different ways for connecting ideas and showing our reader the relationship between them.

Really well done for your ideas there.

Now, which linguistic features we use to connect ideas will depend on where the ideas are placed within a paragraph.

If we're adding idea onto an existing one, we might use a formal frontal adverbial that shows and, like in addition or furthermore.

For example, "The Paris Agreement in 2015 made governments commit to reduce emissions; In addition, the Arctic Council allows the Arctic countries to work together." So we had one idea for what countries are doing to help, and we've added on another one.

So we're adding on and we've used a formal frontal adverbial for and to do that, in addition.

But we could also do that with a compound sentence using and.

So we could say, "As individuals, we can reduce our emissions by using public transport and we can try to eat less meat." We've got one idea, we've added on another using and.

So adding on is often done using formal frontal adverbials that show and, and using compound sentences in the way we've seen.

But what if we're trying to show a contrasting idea? Well, we might use a formal frontal adverbial that shows but.

For instance, "Governments have agreed to reduce emissions." Full stop.

"By contrast, some will argue they need to do this much more quickly.

We could also use however as another formal frontal adverbial that shows but.

But we could show this contrast as well using an adverbial complex sentence.

For instance, "Although governments have agreed to reduce emissions, there is much more to be done." And we could use but in a compound sentence to show the contrast as well.

"Governments have agreed to act, but there is much more to do." So we've got different ways there of showing contrast between sentences and within sentences.

Now we might also want to show cause and effect.

So if we're showing an effect of an idea, we might use a fronted adverbials of cause.

For example, "The Arctic permafrost is also melting." Full stop.

"As a result of this, carbon is being released into the atmosphere, increasing the strength of the greenhouse effect." We could also use, as a result, due to this, because of this, all of those fronted adverbials of cause.

And we could also use because or since in an adverbial complex sentence to show this cause and effect.

So for example, "Because the Arctic permafrost is melting, carbon is being released into the atmosphere, increasing the strength of the greenhouse effect." So we've seen that we can use different linguistic features to show adding on, to show contrast, and to show cause and effect between different ideas.

So do these passages show cause and effect contrast or adding on? Pause the video and see what the linguistic features are doing in these passages.

Have a go.

Well done.

Really good job.

So A says, "While the Arctic would normally be frozen all year, it could be ice-free in summer by 2020." That's a contrast, isn't it? In an adverbial complex sentence.

B says, "NASA say that 268 billion tonnes of Arctic ice has already been lost; In addition, the permafrost is melting." So this is adding on an idea.

So this is adding on.

And that is using a formal frontal adverbial, in addition.

C says, "The polar ice caps have been melting for many years; Due to this, sea levels have risen by 20 centimetres since 1900." So here we've got cause and effect, haven't we? We've got due to this as fronted adverbial of cause.

Really well done for spotting the effect that the linguistic features are having in each of these passages.

So for your final task for this lesson, I want you to practise using linguistic features and punctuation to connect each set of ideas into complete sentences.

So think carefully.

Are you being asked to add on, to show cause and effect, to show contrast or something else? And which linguistic features will help you to do that? And also maybe which punctuation will help you.

So take each note in each box and see if you can make it into a complete sentence using linguistic features and punctuation to help you.

And you might want to practise instead with pairs of ideas from your own research notes, if you have them, instead of the ones I've shown you here.

So pause the video and see if you can create four complete sentences showing the relationship between the ideas within each of these notes.

Have a go.

Well done.

Really good job.

So here are some ideas for how the ideas could be connected using different aggressive features and punctuation.

Now of course, you might have chosen different ideas.

I'm just going to show you some examples.

So for the first one I've said, "Antarctica, not part of any country, scientists from 29 countries at 70 bases." Now I think this is showing contrast.

We've got, it's not part of any country, but we've got the scientists from many countries.

So I did that like this with an adverbial complex sentence.

"Although Antarctica is not part of any country, it is home to scientists from 29 countries." And then they added parenthesis, "At 70 scientific bases." In brackets.

For the next one, the note is, "Polar regions help keep temperatures down, snow and ice reflects heat back." Now I think this has shown a cause and effect relationship.

It's because the snow and ice help reflect heat back that the polar regions help keep the temperatures down.

So I did that here using a colon to explain.

"The polar regions play an important role in keeping temperatures down; Their snow and ice reflect the suns heat back into space." Let's look at the third one, it says, "Sea ice, habitat for polar bears, 40% decline in population." So I've done this using a relative clause.

"The sea ice, which is a habitat for polar bears, is melting rapidly; As a result, their population has declined 40% in some areas." So I have shown cause and effect there using a frontal adverbial of cause.

And finally, the last one I've said, "Greenpeace campaign to stop oil drilling in Arctic, hunting polar bears banned in 1973." Thanks do that campaign by the WWF.

So I've done this.

"Greenpeace is campaigning to stop oil drilling in the Arctic;" So that's one thing.

And then in addition, I'm adding on, "Hunting for polar bears was banned in 1973 after a WWF campaign." So you can see what we're planning to do to connect the ideas determines which linguistic features and punctuation are going to help us to do that.

So we have to think carefully about the relationship between ideas, and then think how could we show that using different linguistic features and punctuation.

And we want to use a wide range of those in order to show off all our linguistic features that we know and all the punctuation we know how to use.

Really well done for you out there.

A summary of our learning in this lesson.

We've said that when we write an essay, we use a coherent, logical argument that leads to a conclusion.

And within the essay we have to connect ideas together in order to make the logical argument flow.

And we can connect those ideas using a range of linguistic features and punctuation.

And we can use different linguistic features to show cause and effect, adding on and contrast.

Really well done for your effort in this lesson.

It should make you really prepared in the next lesson to come, and have a go at writing the first part of your essay.

I'd love to see you there.

Goodbye.