ASSESSMENT AND SUPPORT
Explaining evidence
Assessment Criteria and What A Good One Looks Like
Below you will find the Skill Check assessment criteria for this skill, and underneath you will find an example of what a good one looks like, with a brief explanation of how it fits the criteria.
Assessment Criteria for Explaining evidence
minus
any of these things
Basic task instructions have not been followed
The evidence has not been explained in any detail at all.
The explanation does not relate to the point at all.
equals
all of these things
Follows the PEA structure
Identifies some meaning in the evidence beyond what is stated in the point, but does not really explain it
Some connections made to the point, though they made be more implicit than explicit
plus
all of these things
Follows the PEA structure and uses appropriate essay style
Explains some meaning in the evidence beyond what is stated in the point, with some explicit connections to the point
Does NOT unnecessarily repeat the evidence in the explanation
star
all of these things
Follows the PEA structure and uses appropriate essay style
Explains well the relevant meaning in the evidence, with any necessary reasoning explained and explicit connections made to the point
Does not unnecessarily repeat the evidence
What a good one looks like
Example task
Read the following Point and Evidence and complete the task underneath.
In chapter 3, Golding presents Simon as an unsociable but thoughtful and, even spiritual boy. When Ralph and Jack go looking for him they find he has disappeared and has, in fact, retreated to a little spot that is “screened off from the open space [of the island] by a few leaves“ and where the candle buds “glimmer … under the light that prick[s] down from the first stars.”
Complete this PEA paragraph by writing the Analysis section. You need to explain what the evidence means and why it proves the point. You need to make your argument, in other words; you need to explain the reasoning behind the point.
Example response
Here we see both sides of Simon’s personality. The fact he has retreated to this secluded spot, literally “screened off” from the rest of the island, suggests that he feels more comfortable alone; he is an introvert who prefers his own company to that of others. However, there is another side to Simon revealed here: his relationship to nature. The fact that he retreats to this place of natural beauty, where the plants and the stars “glimmer”, implies that he has a more thoughtful attitude to the island than the other boys, who seem more interested in destroying it than appreciating its beauty. He has an almost spiritual connection to nature, which Golding first suggests here.
Notes on this response
It follows the PEA structure by being just the analysis part of the paragraph, without unnecessarily repeating the evidence (it’s good to embed short quotations, though).
It explains the relevant meaning of the evidence (i.e. the meaning linked to the point), including the necessary reasoning behind the inference in the point
It makes explicit connections to the point using words like “introvert”, “thoughtful” and “spiritual”.
The inferences are drawn on two things: (1) a general understanding of human beings (why a person would retreat to the forest) and (2) content from earlier in the novel (the behaviour of the other boys).
It’s the right kind of length with the right kind of detail for explaining evidence