how to write a case study in geography

How to approach Case Studies

There is no set way in which you should approach case studies, however using the rule of the ‘five Ws’ is always a good place to start.

The ‘five Ws’ are:

What happened?
When did it happen?
Where did it happen?
Why did it happen?
Who was affected by it happening?

When you revise a case study or meet new content for the first time you should be thinking about the five Ws:

What happened? – Can you recall some background on what actually happened, with some facts and figures?
When did it happen? – Have you some idea of the date that the case study happened and if possible the time of day?
Where did it happen? – The geographical setting is very important, so can you name the location, the country, could you draw a sketch map to show the location?
Why did it happen? – What causes the case study incident to occur? What natural systems were interacting with human activity?
Who was affected by it happening? – Which people were affected? How many were affected? Can you say something about the wealth of the people affected? Students aiming for the higher grades will also be able to discuss what the affected people did about the situation. They would be able to discuss the management strategies put in place to reduce the impacts of the case study incident while it was happening and should be able to discuss what could be done to reduce the impacts of any future incident.

A Level Geography: Case Studies and Exam Tips

A-Level Geography is a challenging and rewarding subject that explores the dynamic relationships between people and their environments. The curriculum often includes the study of case studies to illustrate key concepts and geographical theories. In this article, we'll delve into the importance of case studies in A-Level Geography and provide exam tips to help you excel in this subject.

The Significance of Case Studies in A-Level Geography

Case studies are essential in A-Level Geography for several reasons:

1. Illustrating Concepts:

Case studies provide real-world examples that illustrate the geographical concepts and theories covered in the curriculum. They make abstract ideas tangible and relatable.

2. Application of Knowledge:

Case studies offer opportunities for students to apply their geographical knowledge and analytical skills to specific situations. This application enhances understanding.

3. Contextual Learning:

Case studies allow students to explore the complex and dynamic interactions between people and their environments in specific contexts. This contextual understanding is at the heart of geography.

4. Exam Requirement:

In A-Level Geography exams, you are often required to use case studies to support your arguments and analysis. Having a repertoire of case studies at your disposal is crucial for success.

Selecting and Using Case Studies

Here's how to select and effectively use case studies in your A-Level Geography studies and exams:

1. Diverse Selection:

Choose a range of case studies that cover different geographical contexts, themes, and issues. This diversity will prepare you for various exam questions.

2. Local and Global:

Include both local and global case studies. Local examples may provide opportunities for fieldwork, while global case studies allow you to explore international perspectives.

3. Relevance to the Curriculum:

Ensure that your case studies align with the topics and themes covered in your A-Level Geography course. They should be relevant to your exam syllabus.

4. In-Depth Understanding:

Study your selected case studies in-depth. Familiarize yourself with the geographical context, key facts, statistics, and relevant theories and concepts.

5. Interdisciplinary Approach:

Recognize that geography often intersects with other subjects like environmental science, economics, and sociology. Explore how these interdisciplinary aspects come into play in your case studies.

6. Regular Review:

Periodically review and update your case studies to ensure you have the most recent data and information. Geography is a dynamic field, and changes can occur over time.

Exam Tips for A-Level Geography

Here are some tips to help you succeed in your A-Level Geography exams:

1. Practice Essay Writing:

Geography exams often require essay-style responses. Practice writing coherent and well-structured essays that incorporate case studies effectively.

2. Master Map Skills:

Geography exams may include map interpretation and analysis. Develop your map-reading skills to excel in this section.

3. Use Case Studies Wisely:

When using case studies in your exam, ensure they are relevant to the question and directly support your argument. Avoid including irrelevant details.

4. Time Management:

Manage your time wisely during the exam. Allocate specific time slots for each section or question and stick to the schedule.

5. Understand Command Terms:

Be familiar with the command terms used in geography questions, such as "explain," "discuss," and "evaluate." Tailor your responses accordingly.

6. Practice Past Papers:

Work through past exam papers to get a sense of the format and types of questions that may appear in your A-Level Geography exams.

7. Seek Feedback:

If possible, ask your teacher or a peer to review your practice essays and provide feedback. Constructive feedback can help you refine your writing and analysis skills.

8. Stay Informed:

Keep up with current geographical events and developments. This knowledge can be invaluable in your essays and discussions.

Conclusion

A-Level Geography is a subject that bridges the gap between the natural and social sciences, offering a comprehensive view of the world. Case studies are pivotal in this field, providing practical examples that support your learning and exam performance. By selecting diverse and relevant case studies, studying them thoroughly, and practicing effective essay writing and map skills, you can navigate A-Level Geography with confidence and success.

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Getting the best case studies for Geography

It can be a bit overwhelming when it comes to case studies and it’s all too easy to bury your head in the sand and go with the ones in the textbook. This guide will help you develop quality case studies in no time at all.

Step 1: Check the syllabus

“Which topics do I need case studies for?” “How many do I need?” “What kind of information do I need?” Don’t panic! The syllabus/specification answers all of these questions. Make a list of what you need and move on to the next step.

Step 2: Use Key Materials

Before you start wildly Googling Colombian micro-climates, take a step back. Go on to the exam board website and have a browse through practice exam papers, mark schemes, exemplar answers and examiners’ reports. Practice papers and mark schemes will show you which type of questions require case studies, and what type of information you should be looking for. They’ll also help you to identify those dreaded ‘curveball’ questions everyone talks about after the exam. The examiners’ reports for geography are brilliant. They explicitly tell you which case studies top students used and how they applied the information to answer each question.

Step 3: Brainstorm

This step will save you heaps of time in the long run. Although the syllabus lays out everything you need to know, it’s not all that detailed. For example, the AQA syllabus states: Two case studies of recent (ideally within the last 30 years) seismic events should be undertaken from contrasting areas of the world. In each case, the following should be examined:

the nature of the seismic hazard;
the impact of the event;
management of the hazard and responses to the event.

So what you’d do here is take those three bullet points and expand on them. Mark schemes will give you a rough idea of what the examiners are looking for. Break the bullet points down and create a mindmap (like the one below) or write a list. You now know, point by point, exactly what to search for.

Step 4: Use your Textbooks/Revision Guides

This is just a starting point. If you decide to go with a case study that’s in a textbook or revision guide, that’s ok. But be aware that even the 5-page-long case studies in textbooks won’t contain information on all those points you wrote down. Not only that, but pretty much every other student in the country is going to be using that exact case study. Boring! You need to make sure you can stand out from the crowd.

Step 5: Research

This is the big one. Where possible, find case studies so recent that they can’t be in the textbook. It takes the same amount of time to compile a recent and interesting case study as it does to copy one out of the textbook. It’s also a lot less boring and will get you a ton of marks!

Google is your best friend here. Try and get information from reputable sources (in other words, Wikipedia’s a no go). Find news articles and government websites for facts and figures, and take a look at Google Scholar for opinions; Google Scholar is exactly what you’d think it is – Google for Scholars. Search for ‘scholar’ on Google, then tap in some key words and you’ll find some golden material for your case studies: Quotes from experts.

Work through your mindmap or list in order. When you find information on one of the points, take some notes and tick it off.

Step 6: Go A Little Bit Further

Make sure you have a few smaller case studies in addition to your main ones. I’m not saying you’ll need 20 case studies per topic. Just have a few little facts and examples in your arsenal that you could use to compare and contrast with your main case studies in an essay question. It shows the examiner that you’ve gone the extra mile and have a deeper understanding of the subject.

When you’ve finished, you’ll have a set of totally unique case studies and enough information to ensure that no question catches you off guard.

Step 7: Memorise

Remember that mindmap from earlier? That’s your structure. Add the facts, figures and quotes as new branches and you’re half way there. Give it to one of your mates and talk them through it whilst drawing your mindmap on a whiteboard. You’ll have it memorised in no time.

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Case Studies in Geography Education as a Powerful Way of Teaching Geography

First Online: 20 October 2016

Cite this chapter

Eduard Hofmann 5 &
Hana Svobodová 5

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A case study presents an appropriate form and method of providing students with a solution of real situations from the surroundings in which they live. This is called “powerful teaching”, and it is designed to help pupils and students to be able to cope with the rigours of everyday life through geography education. This method is not so well known and used in Czechia as abroad, where it is known under the name “powerful knowledge” or “powerful teaching”. For this reason the introductory part of this chapter devotes enough space to understand “powerful learning” and noted how it differs from inquiry-based, project-based, problem-based, student-centred and constructivist approaches to learning. Knowledge from the Czech geography education is in our case used for solving a case study in a decisive process in which students solve options and consequences of the construction of a ski resort in Brno (in Czechia). They submit their conclusions to the municipal council for assessment.

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Learning About LERN (Land and EnviRonment Nexus): A Case Study of Effective Pedagogy for Out-Of-Classroom Teaching

A Freirean Approach to Epistemic Justice: Contributions of Action Learning to Capabilities for Epistemic Liberation

A Call to View Disciplinary Knowledge Through the Lens of Geography Teachers’ Professional Practice

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Connects all the thematic units referred to in the introduction to the table		Mathematics, physics, civics, history

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It is designed in the framework of group lessons. Groups are differentiated – boys together with girls – in the group of students with excellent academic performance, and poorer are represented


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Hofmann, E., Svobodová, H. (2017). Case Studies in Geography Education as a Powerful Way of Teaching Geography. In: Karvánková, P., Popjaková, D., Vančura, M., Mládek, J. (eds) Current Topics in Czech and Central European Geography Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43614-2_7

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LEARNING TOOL

Explorer mapping case study.

This tool provides Explorers and others who create maps a simple way to share their research in a clear, consistent format so that it can be understood by a wide variety of audiences. Scroll below the resources for guidance on using these resources in your education work.

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Explorer Mapping Case Study (Google Doc)

Why Use This Tool

Maps are powerful visualizations of data that can help analyze geographic data and communicate important ideas and relationships. This tool provides Explorers and others who create maps a simple way to share their research in a clear, consistent format so that it can be understood by a wide variety of audiences. Once completed, it can be shared as a written document or a presentation. When to Use This Tool

Stage(s) of Learning: Explore - This case study format can be an effective way to structure critical information about research you have conducted, conclusions you have drawn, and action you recommend.

Time: 15 - 30 minutes - Preparing your information in this format may take significantly longer, but once your information is presented in this format, it should provide material for a 15 - 30 minute presentation that can stimulate additional discussion, research, or action.

Audience: All Ages - The writing level and complexity of the map used in this organizing framework may need to be adjusted to meet the needs of very young learners. However, this organization of information around a small number of maps should help make information accessible to learners of all ages.

Ease of Use: Moderate - This tool requires significant preparation by the Explorer or other presenter, but once it is completed, it is easy to share in a variety of formats.

How to Use This Tool

Preparation: Use the guiding questions in the Explorer Mapping Case Study organizing framework to introduce yourself, your work, and the data that you would like to share. The most important preparation step is choosing a map or maps that provide a powerful visualization of the issues you are investigating.

The tool is designed to demonstrate how maps can be used as analysis tools as well as communication tools. You may wish to share 2 or 3 maps, including a complex or “messy” map that includes many of the complex data sets that you collected for analysis, and a “cleaner” map that simplifies that information so that others can understand it easily.

Directions:

Develop your case study by reviewing the headings and guiding questions on the Case Study Organizer. You can write in prose or collect your thoughts in bullets, but consider each section as a coherent whole. Do not simply try to answer each guiding question.
Create your presentation: This case study framework should be flexible enough for a variety of presentation types. You may wish to share it as a written overview for your work, present it as a digital presentation, or use it to guide your public speaking.
Share with learners: As you engage learners with your work, you may want to provide them with additional tools from the Education Tools for Explorers Collection so that they can take notes, make connections, and engage with the materials.

Provide a few questions for learners/participants to “listen for” and respond to throughout or after the engagement. Such questions could include:

What will we be able to do with the information we see on our maps?
How does this relate to issues in our community?

Modifications, Variations, and Extensions

What is the busiest place in your playground? Why?
What is the quietest part of your school/neighborhood? Why?
If you were going to add one more water fountain to your school/neighborhood, where would you put it? Why?
Introduce students to the Geographic Perspectives outlined in the Exploring Perspectives worksheet. Ask students to consider the data presented through a variety of the analytic perspectives. Students can identify which geographic data layers that would help analyze these perspectives on a map. For example, “which data sets could give us a ‘political’ perspective on this issue (political borders, national park borders, voting patterns)? What would we learn from adding an economic data set (income distribution, land use)?”
Citizen Science applications such as iNaturalist and Debris Tracker to collect geographic data about a topic in their community
Digital mapping tools such as Mapmaker to visualize existing data
Conduct an Affinity Protocol to identify key needs in their own communities related to the topic of your presentation
Conduct a Socratic Seminar responding to what they have heard and some key outstanding questions
Conduct a Tuning Protocol to identify the strengths and needs they see in proposed actions.

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Related Resources

How to revise geography case studies

Molly, one of my readers, wrote to me to ask:

I was just wondering if you had any tips for revising and remembering geography case studies?

When I've asked around some of the things that students find most difficult about revising geography case studies are:

Condensing all the information
Remembering all the statistics
Knowing what you need to know, and what you can afford to forget

Having been a bit of an ace at this kind of thing myself (I got an A* at GCSE, A at A-Level and a degree in the subject) I thought I'd share some of my top tips on how to revise geography case studies today.

1. Make sure you understand the case study

The first step in remembering anything is understanding it. You need to have a clear model in your mind of how the case study works. This includes how it's laid out in space (a mental map), who the people were who were involved and the context of the case study (historical, political, social, economic and environmental. These tips will help you with this:

Make sure you've seen a map of the place. In this day and age this is easy with google maps, google earth and google streetview. All of these things can help you understand both the 2-D and 3-D landscape of the case study.
Find newspaper articles and pictures to give you some background and also help you to visual the place
Watch videos if they exist. For some case studies there are amazing clips of films (Kibera, the Nairobi shanty town at the beginning of The Constant Gardner springs to mind). For others there will be great video clips on YouTube to help you.
If you can, visit the place. Nothing is as powerful as this in fully understanding a place.

2. Condense your notes

Once you've thoroughly understood the case study it's time to condense your notes. There are various ways you can do this.

Create an A3 annotated map of the area. Colour code things like causes and effects or social, economic, environmental and political factors. Have a key. You can even have flaps. Stick the map up on the wall and look at it frequently. The great thing about this is that the finite size of the page forces you to condense the information.
Create a table. You could put things like the social, economic, political and environmental factors along one side and background, causes and effects along the other. Inside The Extraordinaries Club I have some grids and guidelines for you to download and use. These are exclusively for members. Find out more about the club here .
Create index cards. This was one of my favourites as it was quite a kinaesthetic way of separating the information into bite-sized chunks. It was a great format to give other people to test me so that I could learn all those facts and figures. You can even have different coloured index cards for different topics.
Traditional revision notes . In my opinion this is a bit boring, and can also be a bit intimidating when you see reams of notes that you have to memorise. I'd go with one of the other options if I was you.

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3. Memorise

Now you've condensed your class notes you need to memorise them. Good memorisation, in my experience comes down to two things:

Using the information in different formats.

I'd advise you to do a combination of the following:

Read index cards out loud, cover and test yourself.
Get other people to test you.
Act it out.
Make up songs or rhymes
Whatever else works for you…

4. Teach someone else about the case study

Teaching someone else is one of the best ways there is to a) check your understanding (because they'll never understand it if you don't) and b) practice putting what you know into words so that someone else understands it.

5. Do Past Papers

The final step is to do past papers. I strongly recommend that you do this in the format of Revision Power Hours.

If you do power hours, and make a point of marking your work, you'll not only do lots of repetition of the case study you've been learning, you'll start to learn to think like an examiner and also get a brilliant insight into exactly what they expect you to know in terms of facts and statistics.

I will say this. I used to remember literally hundreds of stats for my case studies. When I became a teacher it surprised me how few students actually needed to know in order to get good marks. However, this comes with a word of warning. You need to have a good insight into what your exam board expects you to know.

Over to you

That's pretty much a masterclass in how to revise geography case studies. Now it's up to you to put it into practice

In the comments below I'd love to know:

What you're finding difficult about revising geography case studies
What other subjects you need revision help with

Need more help with your revision?

It works because you develop a personalised study system tailored to the way you work, what motivates you and your ambitions.

Exam success with way less stress.

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How to Answer a 7 Mark Question ( CIE IGCSE Geography )

Revision note.

Geography Lead

Extended Response Questions

7 mark questions.

Levelled response questions are the part of the final exams that many students find the most challenging
The mark you achieve is based on the quality of your response to the question rather than marks being awarded for specific points
Remember the examiners just want to see that you can apply your knowledge and understanding of a case study to a specific question
The following guide will help you to express your knowledge and understanding in ways which will enable you to achieve the highest marks
The 7 mark questions are in paper 1 at the end of each section
You are required to complete three 7 mark questions in total
There are 3 levels which can be awarded in a levelled response question. These are outlined below:

Level	Marks	Response
1	1-3	Answer gives limited detail
2	4-6	Answer includes a named example and includes developed statements (If no named example is given or the example given is inappropriate the highest mark which can be awarded is a 5)
3	7	Answer includes a named example. Comprehensive and accurate statements are included in the answer and it includes place specific details

Answering the 7 Mark Question

Regardless of the topic, the type of question that you will need to answer will be broadly the same. You will be asked to describe and/or explain

‘For a named country you have studied, explain why the natural population growth rate is low.’

‘For a named urban area you have studied, describe the problems which are caused by urban sprawl ’

Read the question carefully and underline the command word . Are you being asked to describe or explain or both?

‘For an area you have studied, describe how coastal erosion is being managed’

Describe - give details about, outline the characteristics
Explain - why something is the way it is or how it happens
Underline the key words.

‘For an area you have studied, describe how coastal erosion is being managed ’

In this example it is important that you focus on the management of coastal erosion rather than on coastal erosion itself
You can mention erosion rates in the context of why coastal management is needed but it should be no more than a sentence and should not detract from the main focus of the question
Plan the information you are going to include. This can be a short list of bullet points. For example;
Brief definition of erosion and management
Describe the area you are writing about e.g. the Holderness coast
Where is it?
What is the rate of erosion?
Why is the rate of erosion so rapid?
Describe how the coastal erosion is being managed
Hard engineering - sea wall at Bridlington, groynes at Hornsea
Soft engineering - beach replenishment at Withernsea
Write your answer
To achieve 7 marks you need to write at least 3 detailed statements with a named example and place specific detail
Do not make general statements
Be specific for example:

‘The sea wall at Bridlington is almost 5km long and extends along the town’s sea front. It is an example of hard engineering….’

Ensure that you include place specific details
Place specific detail is information which is specific to that particular area in this case writing about the defences in named places along the Holderness coast is place specific detail or accurate information about the rate of coastal erosion

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Author: Bridgette

After graduating with a degree in Geography, Bridgette completed a PGCE over 25 years ago. She later gained an MA Learning, Technology and Education from the University of Nottingham focussing on online learning. At a time when the study of geography has never been more important, Bridgette is passionate about creating content which supports students in achieving their potential in geography and builds their confidence.

Oxford Education Blog

The latest news and views on education from oxford university press., 5 ways to help students remember those case studies.

When I ask my students what they particularly struggle with when it comes to exam preparation I frequently hear the exasperated reply: “case studies!”

Some of the geographers I teach, especially in years 10 and 11, feel overwhelmed when they reach the end of a topic (or an entire course) with the realisation that they have detailed notes on a plethora of case studies.

The number of case studies pupils are expected to learn will vary from board to board and topic to topic but there is no denying that they form an integral part of geography courses. So how do we, as teachers, help them learn and remember not only the general information but the all-important detail? Below are five very simple, tried and tested ideas.

Choose case studies that are applicable to more than one theme in the specification

Before your students even embark on revision, you can help them remember case study information by carefully selecting those you teach. If a single case study can be used for at least two themes then that can make a real difference to pupil understanding, as well as making the overall number more manageable.

For example, the stretch of the Hampshire/Dorset coastline (from Portland Bill to Milford on Sea) can be used not only to exemplify landforms of erosion (Swanage Bay, Old Harry Rocks etc.) but also those of deposition (Hurst Castle Spit) as well as themes of ecology (salt marsh creation at Keyhaven Marshes) and coastal management (Christchurch Bay and Barton on Sea). Similarly for human geography, the Thai population policy can be used as an example of an anti-natalist approach to bring down birth rates (useful for population change themes) as well as a how the government is tackling the spread of HIV/AIDS (central to topics of health issues and development ).

A case study on one side

Condensing information onto one side of A4 or A3 is a really useful way of streamlining the case study and making it easier for a student to memorise. Writing out the notes forces the student to read (and hopefully process) the material which reinforces learning. Furthermore by writing out the case study they can see if there are any gaps in their notes or areas they don’t understand – both of which are vital when they are preparing for examinations.

Constructing mind maps on a sheet has the added advantage of encouraging students to see links between parts of the topic or indeed between topics (thereby identifying synoptic links which is particularly important at A2). Finally, a case study on one sheet is portable (ideal for revision on bus journeys) and is easily stuck on a bedroom wall.

Be realistic

Some people are lucky enough to have photographic memories but most of us, unfortunately, do not. Whilst we always encourage students to learn detail (this is crucial to access the higher mark tier for most specifications) it is important to keep things in perspective. A student who tries to cram in too many facts and figures runs the risk of having a meltdown come exam time. I would say to most of my students to choose three to five key dates or figures to memorise for each case study. Obviously this will depend on the topic and level they’re working towards but when faced with panicking pupils I say some is better than none.

Whether or not a particular student is a “visual learner” (a number of academics now think we should move on from the notion of learning styles ), there is a lot to be said for linking visual stimuli with case studies. Whether it’s a geological map of the Dorset coastline to help remember the theory of bay and headland formation or a propaganda poster to reinforce the mechanisms of the Chinese One Child Policy, images can prompt memory and therefore be a strong tool in learning case study material. Some students may find drawing out a story-board helpful, while others may want to write notes around a central photograph or sketch.

Mark up the specification

This is one of the most useful things I feel I can do as a teacher to help my students prepare for their exams and it is so simple. Take a copy of the specification and mark on exactly where each case study fits in. You can do this by hand or word process it as a table, but however you do it, your students will thank you for it: putting case studies into context is so helpful and their geographical knowledge will be enhanced by it.

You may want to give them a blank copy of the specification to do it for themselves but you should make sure that each student has a correct copy at the front of their notes when it comes to exam preparation. Choosing the right case study for the right question is absolutely crucial to success; if they don’t they can waste valuable time and marks by barking up the wrong (or less fruitful) tree.

Image: By Saffron Blaze (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Geographic Information Systems/Science

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Subject Librarian

Introduction

Case studies are specific examples of how GIS was used to solve a problem or made information sharing easier in a particular industry. The Library has a collection of books which illustrate a number of case studies. These case studies can also provide you with inspiration for your own GIS projects. This is not the complete list of case studies available, but those listed should help you with ideas.

Looking for statistics or data to actually map? Look here .

Finding library resources

GIS and case studies This is a keyword search in the online catalog.
geographic information systems case studies
geographic information systems

Selected case studies

In addition to the books listed below, ESRI has published a series of booklets online to show best practices in different fields using ArcGIS.

Internet resource(s)

Looking for GIS case studies on the Internet? Just do a search for "gis case studies." That will generate a long list. Then you need to decide what you want from the case study. That will help you narrow your search.

Case studies from ESRI GIS Education Community These case studies are rich, real-world stories of GIS in education – across several educational categories. These stories represent best practices of GIS planning, implementation or evaluation in education.
Case studies from Lake County, Florida

GIS Case Studies from the County of Los Angeles, CA
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Next: Archaeology & GIS >>
Last Updated: Mar 22, 2024 2:00 PM
URL: https://researchguides.dartmouth.edu/gis

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How do I remember case studies for Geography?

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Detailed resources for pre-university Geography students

How to write a good introduction

By Matt Burdett, 3 March 2019

This article is about how to write a good introduction to a Geography essay.

How useful is this introduction?

“The question of whether water consumption is increasing worldwide is an important one for humanity. Water consumption is defined as the amount of water used by people per year in cubic metres. Water consumption may be high or low depending on many factors which will be discussed in this essay.”

Answer: it’s not very useful. This article will suggest another way that gets your introduction done quickly and painlessly.

Weak introductions

Lots of students think the best thing to do in an introduction is to do the following:

Restate the question in your own words
Define each key term in the question
Ask a rhetorical question

Sure; your teacher might like that. But in the exam, when you have about 30 minutes to write a three side essay, it’s not a very effective way of introducing your essay.

But first – what’s the point of an introduction? Why bother? Introductions are the ultimate in signposting. Signposting is when you tell the reader where you’re going next. It helps them to understand how your ideas are organised. The introduction should inform the reader of the main points that you will discuss in your essay.

So, what’s wrong with that first type of introduction?

Restating the question is a waste of time – the examiner has probably already read fifty of these, so they don’t really need to know what the question is
Defining key terms often takes a long time, and doesn’t introduce what you’re writing about
Asking a rhetorical question is great for debate club, but it doesn’t add to your essay

Improving introductions

How can we switch these things to be more effective?

Instead of restating the question, interpret the question. For example, if the question states ‘development’, you could show that you are interpreting it as ‘economic development’ or ‘multidimensional human development’
Instead of defining key terms, only define debated or new key terms. For example, there’s no need to define ‘settlement hierarchy’ because it’s an accepted term with little ambiguity. But the term ‘sustainability’ could be defined because there are lots of types of sustainability – such as environmental sustainability, nexus thinking, social sustainability, economic sustainability and so on. What you mean by sustainability is up to you, and it’s worth defining because someone else might define it differently.
Instead of asking rhetorical questions, try to briefly include the thesis statement of each body paragraph. For example, ‘xxx may be justified through the long term improvements in infrastructure and healthcare , but these must be balanced against the environmental consequences’. Each of the words in italics is the thesis point of a body paragraph.

Even better: three points for a perfect introduction

Now that we’ve improved a bit, let’s think about what would make the examiner even happier. What should you include in an essay introduction? Remember these three points for a perfect introduction :

The focus of the essay (your interpretation of the question) plus any important definitions (remember – define only words that have some debate about them!)
Case studies
Signposting of your body paragraphs

Here’s an example of a good introduction:

‘Water consumption may be agricultural, domestic or industrial, all of which are likely to show increases in the future. The experiences of two countries at different levels of economic development – the USA and South Africa – show that consumption is increasing due to population growth and economic development, although conservation attempts may be made especially within agricultural consumption.”

What’s better about it?

It’s clear that the author interprets water consumption in all main sectors i.e. domestic, industrial and agricultural
The introduction indicates that consumption is increasing…
…but only says ‘likely to’ which shows that they aren’t attempting a conclusion yet
The case studies are really clear – it’s obvious there will be a comparison between the USA and South Africa
The main reasons are stated clearly i.e. population growth and economic development – these make good body paragraph points
There is a counter-argument included i.e. conservation attempts in agriculture
There was no definition. It’s not needed because it doesn’t show where the essay is going

This introduction gives the examiner a very clear idea about what to expect.

A final point: many people believe that an essay introduction should captivate the reader and make them want to read on. However, you also need to consider the audience for your essay. Your audience is an examiner. They have no choice: they have to read your work! An examiner is looking for clarity – which means they want to quickly read your work and easily find where to give the marks. Short, sharp introductions with focus, case studies and signposting will brighten your examiner’s day.