Home

Modern World

Homework help

What factors were important in the discovery and development of the smallpox vaccination? (8 marks)

This is a causation question. It is basically asking you why the smallpox vaccination developed. To get a high grade you need to identify the main reasons and produce a brief paragraph on each. There are three main reasons: Scientific investigation, government action and improved communications.
The structure of your answer should be :
1) very brief introduction
2) your most important reason
3) second most important reason
4) Third most important reason
5) very brief conclusion - summarising the main arguments

Introduction
The job of an introduction is to summarise the question and the main argument.
In this example introduction the sentences that explain the question is written in black.
The sentences that set out the areas of the argument are in red.

Example Introduction:

Edward Jenner discovered the smallpox vaccination and this was used effectively in the battle against smallpox. The three factors which contributed to its discovery and development were scientific investigation, government action and improved communication.

Paragraphs
Three short paragraphs. Start with the most important reason. Remember to use signpost sentences at the start of each paragraph. They link the paragraph to the question and show what that paragraph is about. They also help prioritise your answer.

Signpost sentences

The most important factor in the discovery and development of the smallpox vaccination was ...
A further key factor in the discovery and development of the smallpox vaccination was ...

Using evidence
After the signpost sentences use evidence provided in the spider diagram.
Use connectives to introduce the evidence:

For example, furthermore, moreover, for instance, as can be see, however

Conclusion:
Brief summary of the argument.
In conclusion the main reasons why the smallpox vaccination was discovered and developed were..