SEQ - Featuring PEEL
Friday, January 29, 2010
Dear sec 2I and 2B,
Pay attention to this even though you may have done the SEQ already. Here are some points to take note of while doing the SEQ:
a) "To what extent was Singapore's good geographical location the reason for the British decision to start a trading settlement in Singapore?'' [7]
1. Follow the PEEL structure!
Many of you can reiterate this without much thinking, "Point, Evidence, Elaboration and Link." But without working your brains, I doubt many of you can craft your answer according to the PEEL structure. What I am looking for in this assignment is the strict adherence to the structure, rather than vomiting out facts from your textbook (as what i have observed in the few scripts collected). PEEL determines if you get an "A" or a "F".
2. Answer the question!
A common problem that many students face is that, they don't answer the question during the exam. This means that no matter how much or how extravagant you write, your ink smudges on the script avails to nothing.
Hence, step 1 is to identify the issue (my favourite quote). In this case, the 'issue' stares right at your face: 'reasons why the British decision to start a trading settlement in Singapore'. Straight-forward right? Your job is two identify 2 points pertaining to the issue.
Then, by using the PEEL structure, give appropriate evidence, elaboration to answer the question. Surely, 2 reasons isn't that hard for a [7] mark essay?
Look, the first reason is already given to you! "Singapore's good geographical location". From the mindmap which we did together, we can choose from two other points: "To break the dutch monopoly" or the fact that "It is a good harbour". Another viable point is that "The India-China trade was important to the EIC". After identifying the other point that you are going to talk about, you are ready to start the essay.
3. Point
Under point, you just need to recycle the topic sentence as so:
e.g. "Singapore's good geographical location was a reason for the British decision to start a trading settlement in there."
Clear?
4. Evidence
Quoting from the sec 2 history blog, "Evidence is something tangible, a name, a place, a date, a time, a statistic, an event, something that tells the examiner that you know something tangible about what happened during that period of time." To put it simply, the evidence is there to show the examiner that you studied!
e.g. "Situated just along the India–China trade route, Singapore’s location was superior to that of Penang and Bencoolen, the other two trade settlements of the East India Company."
The ways to construct your evidence is not exhaustive.
5. Elaboration
The purpose of elaboration? To show the examiner that you are able to explain how the facts that you have given in the evidence help to answer the question.
e.g. "Due to the favourable location, securing Singapore as a trade settlement will help to protect the EIC trading ships between China and India. Hence, securing the lucrative India-China trade which was important to the profiteering East India Company."
The elaboration portion cannot be 'smoked' if you don't study, don't try your luck.
6. Link
As 'link' implies, link back to the question.
e.g. "Therefore, Singapore's good geographical location is a reason for the British's decision to start a trading settlement there."
In its totality, the first paragraph of the essay should look something like this:
Singapore's good geographical location was a reason for the Bristish decision to start a trading settlement in there. Situated just along the India–China trade route, Singapore’s location was superior to that of Penang and Bencoolen, the other two trade settlements of the East India Company. Due to the favourable location, securing Singapore as a trade settlement will help to protect the EIC trading ships between China and India. Hence, securing the lucrative India-China trade which was important to the profiteering East India Company. Therefore, Singapore's good geographical location is a reason for the British's decision to start a trading settlement there.
