HIGHER MODERN STUDIES ASSIGNMENT
Your assignment is worth 30 marks out of a total of 90 for the course – 33% of
grade.
You need to:
• Identify an issue (should be an issue on which there are alternative views)
• Research chosen topic using various sources
• Analyse and synthesise information from a range of sources
• Evaluate the usefulness and reliability of sources
• Reach a decision
• Show detailed knowledge and understanding of the issue to support
decision
• Show an awareness of alternatives to decision (different views)
• Communicate information in a report format
There are two stages to your assignment:
1. Research stage
You will research and write up your assignment at home, some class time will
be given but you must take responsibility to research and write up your
assignment if you want the best mark possible.
Your teacher will set hand in dates for your assignment to regularly check
your progress and give feedback. You must meet deadlines! It is your
responsibility to redraft to include feedback.
2. Production of evidence stage (Write- up) – 1.5 hours (Exam
Conditions)
You will write up (reproduce your assignment under timed exam conditions. So
you MUST be prepared and learn/revise/memorise your assignment)
MARKS – Total 30 marks
KU - Showing knowledge and understanding of chosen issue and awareness of
alternative views – up to 10 marks
Analysis -Analysing and synthesising information from various sources including
use of research evidence – up to 10 marks
Evaluation - Evaluating the usefulness and reliability of sources of information –
up to 2 marks
Decision - Reaching a decision, supported by evidence – up to 4 marks
Structure - Communicating evidence in a report format – up to 4 marks
Assignment Headings - Structure
Memo: Here put overall Issue you have chosen – e.g. Obesity in Scotland
To: Government Minister related to your issue - e.g. Shona Robison (Scottish
Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Sport)
From: Your name
Date:
My Decision: (state your decision clearly at the start) I have decided that the
following course of action should be taken________________ however, the
following report will explore the arguments and evidence that led me to this
decision.
Introduction
In this section you would outline the issue you have chosen by describing it and
explaining its importance in society today.
Introduce the possible policy ideas/courses of action you plan to investigate.
You could refer to the possible social, economic and political impact each of
these actions would have (Must be a MODERN STUDIES topic)
Your introduction should be detailed. It should not have any information that is
on your resource sheet.
Suggest that you plan to make a decision based on your findings.
(You can get up to 5 marks for your introduction! A very good introduction can
get you 5 out of 10 KU marks already!)
This should be where you show off your background knowledge about your issue
to help you get KU marks!
Analysis of Courses of Action
In this section use sub headings to separate each proposed policy as you will
get marks for structure. E.g.

Option 1-Tax fatty foods/ drinks

Option 2-Free healthy school meals for all in Scotland

Option 3-More spending on Government health campaigns
Here you should give arguments for and against each proposed policy you have
chosen under the sub heading. You should evaluate the impact each action would
have (socially, economically, politically, internationally etc.).
You should use the sources from your research sheet and background knowledge
which is not on your research sheet. You must synthesise between sources and
where possible use evaluative language.
This section will be lengthy and is where you will pick up most of your marks.
You should not simply copy information from your evidence sheet.
You must ‘do something’ with it.
This is how you analyse information, what is it showing you/ what
is the impact/consequence/prediction, etc
My Decision
In this section you will come to an overall conclusion about which action/policy is
the best to tackle the issue you have chosen. You should back this up with
evidence from the sources and your background knowledge. You must also
discuss any actions you disregarded and explain why these would not work
(rebuttal).
Methodologies
In this section you will outline the usefulness of at least two sources. You must
also come to a decision about which source was most useful when making your
decision and why. Good practice should involve picking the least useful source
and comparing with the most useful source.
Sign off
Signature and printed name required here.
HIGHER MODERN STUDIES
THE ASSIGNMENT
PLANNING SHEET
PROBLEM/ISSUE
The problem/issue I have chosen to research is
___________________________________________________________
The solutions/ options/ approaches / courses of action are
1.
______________________________________________________________
2.
______________________________________________________________
3.
______________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
Your introduction should do the following:
background information. Why have
you chosen this issue?
courses of action.
alcohol? Why do some people support this approach to solve alcohol related
problems?
e of the report:
“My report will look at these three courses of action and it will make a
judgement on which one, if any, should be pursued.”
BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE/EVIDENCE FROM SOURCE MATERIALS
These will form the basis of your report. Your background knowledge should
SYNTHESISE and LINK to your research and overall final decision.
Attached is a NOTES sheet. Use this to gather relevant information, statistics and
report evidence from your class notes. You will not be allowed to include this in your
Research Sheet for the final write up, but you will need to include the relevant
background knowledge in your final report – it is worth 10 marks! This means that
you will need to MEMORISE this information.
KEY ASPECTS
Each option that you have chosen to investigate will have consequences which will
impact upon your issue. These should be discussed and commented upon by
identifying the following:
- decisions that governments can make/ political party support
-budgets/ government expenditure
- Health, education, housing, crime, social exclusion
- comparisons with other countries/ organisations- UN,
EU etc.
RESEARCH
You need to find relevant sources. You can use as many sources as you want. The
sources that you use should contain both SUPPORTING and OPPOSING evidence.
The sources must link to your approaches. To get the best marks, use at least 5
different sources of information:
- create a FACTFILE of the main points
- produce results in a graph
- create a FACTFILE of the main points
- create a FACTFILE of the main points
- keep a copy of all correspondence.
KEEP A NOTE OF ALL YOUR SOURCES- USE SHEET PROVIDED
When you are gathering your sources you must take a note of the following:
- who said it and when?
EVALUATION OF RESEARCH
You must be able to evaluate the usefulness of your sources and research methods.
EXAMPLE – This source (name the source) did not help me because (reason(s)).
However, this source (name the source) was much more helpful because (reason(s)).
COME TO A DECISION
NOTES
NOTES
APPROACH 1 ______________________________________________
SUPPORTING EVIDENCE
OPPOSING EVIDENCE
APPROACH 2 ______________________________________________
SUPPORTING EVIDENCE
OPPOSING EVIDENCE
APPROACH 3 ______________________________________________
SUPPORTING EVIDENCE
OPPOSING EVIDENCE
RECORD OF SOURCES