30 mark sociology essay example

A Level Sociology for dummies

How to write a decent conclusion to an A Level sociology essay.

For many students, writing a conclusion is one of the hardest parts of an A Level sociology essay. This is because unlike other essay writing subjects, your view isn’t as valued in sociology. As my teacher used to say ‘You haven’t written any books on the topic’, ‘You need to demonstrate that you know what the perspectives and respective sociologists have to say on the matter’.

As for AQA, they expect you to reach an appropriate conclusion. This essentially means that what you write at the end of the essay should coincide with the arguments made throughout the essay. For instance, if you’re writing an essay about the contributions of feminist theories to our understanding of society today, you can’t argue that feminist theories are ethnocentric and ideologically biased but then in your conclusion, completely switch it up and say that feminist theory is the ‘best’ macro approach to studying society. Do you see the contradiction? If not, not to worry, you have time to learn. And if you’re nearly finishing A levels and you don’t know what the words in bold mean then learn them! These key terms can be an absolute life saver in an exam.

Moving on, when it actually comes down to the writing of a conclusion, I would say that your conclusion depends on the type of essay question.

For example,

for this essay, I would conclude by arguing that gender differences in subject choice and in achievement are a result of both the influence of wider society and the influence of factors within the school because internal and external factors remain inseparable as demonstrated throughout. (Obviously, you can only say this if you have actually done it in your essay). Therefore, it would simply be an oversimplification to argue that the relationship between gender, subject choice, and achievement can be explained by one influence alone; especially because gender is cross cut by other methods of stratification such as ethnicity and class.

However, if the essay was on a specific perspective, like this one:

So, therefore (conclusion indicators) the contribution of functionalists theories to our understanding of society today cannot be understated as it has influenced other theorists and provided useful insights into working class crime. However, postmodernists take issue with the functionalist theory because, in postmodern society, social life is fragmented and there is no one single dominant set of values. This means that there is no agreement about what constitutes deviance in postmodern society. However, whether we are in such society is itself subject to debate.

The way I wrote conclusions may sound over the top and too wordy but it is good to leave a good impression on the examiner and the best way to do that is with a bomb ass conclusion.

Thank you for reading.

Happy writing!

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Essay Questions

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You will find a 20 mark question on all three papers of the A-Level exam, however, Methods in context question will be dealt with separately.

20 mark questions are essay style questions and should be answered in continuous prose and paragraphs. You should take around 25 – 30 minutes to answer these questions and contain between 3 and 4 paragraphs as well as an introduction and conclusion.

30 Mark Questions only appear on paper 1 and 3 for both Education and Crime and Deviance. 30 Mark questions are to be approached in the same way as the 20 markers, however, you ware expected to show a deeper level of knowledge and understanding (4-5 points), analysis and evaluation.

Command Words 

All essay questions use the same command words: 

Applying material from = Use the item explicitly in your answer. The examiner needs to see "the item" to show you have taken material from the item. 

Evaluate = Look at multiple arguments and come to a reasoned and definitive conclusion

Evaluation Stems

There are two types of essay that you can be asked, Argument or relative importance. You will need to identify which type it is by looking at the question and identifying the evaluation stem. There are four stems for argument essays and two for relative importance: 

ARGUMENT ESSAY STEMS

• The view 
• The contribution of 
• The usefulness of 

RELATIVE IMPORTANCE ESSAY STEMS

• Sociological explanations of 
• The reasons / causes / factors of

Planning your answers is an important step in practicing essay questions. There is no point writing out a full essay answer if you have no idea or are unsure on what it is you are being asked to do or what to include. 

The for and against sides of the content section are essentially two different essays. They do not have to correspond. You then choose which you one you are going to turn into your essay [answer].

Introduction

The introduction should give an overview to the examiner of what it is you are going to write about in the essay. It is also there to show the examiner that you understand the question and what it is asking you to do.

The introduction should contain three elements:

Context: 

This is the background information on the question and can come in three forms:

• Definition of key sociological terms.
• Trends in statistical subjects.
• Background of the theory or topic.

Content: 

In this part of the introduction you show the examiner that you have interpreted the question correctly by explaining the key points that you are going to cover in the essay.

For an   argument   essay this will be both the arguments for and against the view in the question. Whereas for a   relative importance   question this will be the reasons, factors or explanations you are going to discuss.

This a a single sentence which either states that you are going to argue for or against the view in the question, or which reason, factor or explanation is the most important.

The main body of the essay should be around 3 or 4 paragraphs for a 20 marker and 4 or 5 paragraphs in length for a 30 marker, meaning that there should be 4 or 5 points that come from both the item that you have been given as well as your own knowledge.

A nswer the Question

The first sentence of your paragraph should directly answer the question. Use the terms of the question to help make sure you are answering the question set. 

Argument Essay - Why have you come to your overall answer. Give a reason not a concept. 

Relative Importance - Identify the explanation, reason, cause or factor. 

R easons / Explanation 

Use your sociological knowledge to explain how and why this answers the question. This should be around 3-4 sentences where you teach the reader and convince them that your answer is the correct one. 

E valuation 

The evaluation section of the paragraph is where you show your understanding of the opposing argument to your answer. The evaluation should directly link to the point that you are making at the start of your paragraph. It must be shorter than your explanation. 

A pplication  

The application elements of your paragraph are floating and go where they fit. Application comes in a range of formats:

• Integrated use of the item [Paraphrase don't quote]
• Appropriately named sociologists
• Appropriately used sociological studies
• Contemporary real life examples
• Illustrative Examples 

L ink  

This is where you reiterate your answer. 

Argument Essay - What is your overall argument again. Not necessary for Assessment objectives but good literacy. 

Relative Importance - Why is this factor the most important / not the most important. This is ESSENTIAL to show you are answering the question and not just describing the topic. 

The conclusion should be about 2 or 3 sentences long and needs to answer the question directly, and explain why you have come to that answer. 

Do not evaluate or add anything you have not mentioned already. 

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AQA Sociology Revision - 30 Mark Questions technique planner

Subject: Sociology

Age range: 16+

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Last updated

22 August 2019

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Described by one student as a ‘game changer’, this resource has been designed to support students who struggle to access all of the AO marks available when writing a 30 mark essay. The resource includes a powerpoint with tasks, information, teacher notes and solutions, an optional heads and tails starter task, and an interactive workbook. The powerpoint includes an explanation of the meaning behind each of the AO descriptors. Working as an AQA examiner has helped me to understand what students need to write to access these marks. It is based on the Crime and Deviance part of the specification. The lesson contains a 30 mark exam question with an item, on the topic of Globalisation and Green Crime. The main purpose is to encourage the students to start including key phrases/statements/connectives that will ensure they meet all 3 of the AO descriptors. The workbook includes a phased activity (which could also be adapted for differentiation purposes) which provides a framework for the students to select the appropriate statements in order to achieve all of the criteria. There is an annotated solution for both of the interactive activities (and also a solution for the heads and tails activity) which means this resource is also suitable for non-specialists. The powerpoint has clear lesson instructions so that it will be easy to follow and deliver. The amount of time required to deliver this lesson can vary. If you wanted it to be over a double lesson you could make full use of the engaging starter task and heads and tails activity, and utilise all of the feedback on the powerpoint. It could be shortened by cutting that out and just focusing on the essay task. The plenary task of feeding back on the annotated essay is optional. A homework task could be to complete the essay. Beyond this, they could use the AO grid to support them in writing additional essays at home.

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A bundle is a package of resources grouped together to teach a particular topic, or a series of lessons, in one place.

AQA Sociology A-Level Revision Bundle

The focus of all of these resources is on improving examination technique. All of the resources do this through the delivery of content (on a range of Crime & Deviance/Theory related topics). There are a lot of examination style questions across all of these resources, with engaging activities aimed at helping them to gain marks across all AO descriptors. A lot of work has gone into preparing all of these resources and I am confident (hopeful!) that they will make a significant difference to outcomes. For non-specialists a range of teacher solutions and lesson notes are provided.

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Sociology Review

AQA ‘Education’ 30-mark essay

Children and food poverty in breadline Britain

Digital coercive control and relationships.

QUESTION AND ANSWER

Continuing our series on AQA question formats, this issue focuses on a longer, Item-based essay

• Volume 31, 2021/ 2022
• Exam skills and revision
• Education (AQA/OCR)

On AQA paper 1, there is a 30-mark essay on ‘Education’. This should take you approximately 45 minutes and should be written in paragraphs with a brief introduction and a clear conclusion. There are no specific rules about how many paragraphs to include, but in general, you are looking for a range of views, arguments and evidence to be discussed within your essay. There is an Item that comes with the question, which will give you ideas about what sort of debates you are expected to include, although your answer should go well beyond the Item. A good 30-mark essay will contain at least one contemporary example that is relevant to the question and lots of concepts that are used well or explained As a final point, the essay should flow and not read like a ‘shopping list’. In other words, the essay should not simply be a list of studies or theories that have been learnt and remembered and repeated.

There are three skills to demonstrate for this question.

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Education Topic Essays for AQA A-Level Sociology

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A set of 10 exemplar Topic Essays for Education.

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This set of 10 essays demonstrates how to write a top mark band response to a range of questions for the Education topic, covering the entire specification.

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Methods in Context Questions: A Full Mark Answer from the AQA

Table of Contents

Last Updated on September 14, 2021 by Karl Thompson

Below I provide an example full mark answer to a methods in context question taken from the AQA’s 2016 Specimen A-level sociology paper 7192 (1) and provide some running commentary on this model answer.

NB – I also outline why the AQA has (IMO) miss-marked this exemplar… I don’t think it should get full marks, because IT DOES NOT do what the mark scheme says it should do to get 20/20. However… it’s still a good answer…!

The question I’m focussing on is as follows:

About Methods in Context Questions:

Methods in Context questions will ask students to evaluate the strengths and limitations of any of the six main research methods for researching a particular topic within the sociology of education , applying material from the item.

Students often struggle with these questions and so it is useful to have exemplars which demonstrate how to answer them.

The Specific Question with Item:

Applying material from Item C and your knowledge of research methods, evaluate the strengths and limitations of using structured interviews to investigate the influence of the family on pupils’ education (20).

Mark Scheme (top band only: 17-20)

Answers in this band will show accurate, conceptually detailed knowledge and sound understanding of a range of relevant material on structured interviews.

Evaluation of the usefulness of structured interviews will be explicit and relevant. Analysis will show clear explanation. Appropriate conclusions will be drawn.

Student Answer

KT’s comments in bold and red beneath each paragraph…

This is a good example of a paragraph where the candidate may think they’ve said something at level 4 or 5, but really it’s down at level 3!

Another problem with unstructured interviews is they are inflexible. Closed questions with limited responses will only give the options chosen by the researcher and so may miss vital aspects of home life that could have an impact on a child’s achievement such as temporary housing or domestic abuse. This is likely if the parents are working class and the sociologist is middle class and does not have experience of working class life or know the concerns or worries facing working-class families.

Seems like a solid level 5 paragraph again.

A problem with structured interviews with pupils is that most of them will be under 18. This means that they are unable to give their consent and this will cause some ethical concerns. Parents will be unlikely to give their consent because they will feel a sense of shame or they just may not want their child to be part of the research which asked them to give personal details about the parent-child relationship.

A clear level 5 response… teachers not knowing about home background… one of the clearest level 5 responses in the whole essay.

20/20 marks awarded

There’s another example of a methods in context essay here ! And for more examples of model answers to exam questions, please see the links on my main page on exam advice !

Theory and Methods A Level Sociology Revision Bundle 

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