9781107560819 Towsey: Cambridge International AS and A Level Global Perspectives and Research Coursebook Cover.

C M Y K

Cambridge International AS & A Level

Global Perspectives & Research
Coursebook

Cambridge International AS & A Level Global Perspectives & Research

David Towsey
Explore the Critical Path with the only resource endorsed by
Cambridge Assessment International Education for Cambridge
International AS & A Level Global Perspectives & Research (9239), for
examination from 2016.
This coursebook helps students develop deconstruction,

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reconstruction, reflection, communication and collaboration skills.
A range of international topics, such as climate change, the impact
of the internet and gender issues, encourages students to consider
David Towsey
alternative viewpoints and think critically about important world
issues. This book supports students as they navigate this skills-
based syllabus and develop life skills for further study and the world
of work.

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Features:
• Discussion and reflection points help students review their
Cambridge International AS & A Level

Global Perspectives
progress and consider multiple perspectives on a given topic
• Exam-style questions help learners familiarise themselves with the
requirements of this modern course
• Signposts to the Critical Path on every page help teachers and
students apply critical thinking, problem solving, research and

& Research
communication skills to internationally important topics

Also available:
Teacher’s Resource 978-1-108-43776-9

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Coursebook
Completely Cambridge
Cambridge University Press works with Cambridge Assessment
International Education and experienced authors to produce
high-quality endorsed textbooks and digital resources that support
Cambridge Teachers and encourage Cambridge
Learners worldwide.

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To find out more about Cambridge University Press visit
cambridge.org/cambridgeinternational

This resource is endorsed by

Cambridge Assessment International Education

✓ Supports the full syllabus for examination

from 2016

✓ Has passed Cambridge International’s

rigorous quality-assurance process

✓ Developed by subject experts

Original material © Cambridge University Press 2017
✓ For Cambridge schools worldwide
 David Towsey

E
Cambridge International AS & A Level

Global Perspectives
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& Research
Coursebook
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SA

Original material © Cambridge University Press 2017

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All exam-style questions and answers were written by the author.

Original material © Cambridge University Press 2017

Contents
Introductioniv Summary97
Acknowledgementsviii Practising essay writing 98

1 Getting started with the Critical Path 1 6 Collaboration: introducing the team project 101
Introduction2 Introduction102
6.01 Working with other people 102
1.01 Skills and knowledge 2
6.02 Introducing the team project 108
1.02 Global issues 3

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6.03 Selecting suitable problems and identifying
1.03 Following the Critical Path 8
solutions110
Summary12
6.04 The team project and the Critical Path 114
2 Introducing deconstruction: analysing Summary115
and evaluating arguments and evidence 13 Practising collaboration for the team project 116
Introduction14

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7 Communication: team project presentations 118
2.01 Advanced reading skills 14
Introduction119
2.02 What is an argument? 15
7.01 Audience and purpose 120
2.03 Evaluating arguments 19
7.02 Preparing for your presentation 121
2.04 Evaluating the structure of arguments 20
7.03 Structuring your presentation 123
2.05 Evaluating the evidence supporting an
7.04 Expressing your points in the main body 125
argument23
7.05 Supporting your presentation with visuals 127
2.06 Evaluating the context of arguments 29
7.06 Developing an effective personal performance 131
Summary35
Summary134
Practising deconstruction 36
Practising presentation for your team project 135
3 D
 econstruction with reconstruction: ­
8 Reflection: reflecting on your team project 136
organising sources and perspectives 38
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Introduction137
Introduction39
8.01 The process of reflection 137
3.01 What are perspectives? 39
8.02 Reflecting on collaboration 142
3.02 Locating sources of perspectives 46
8.03 Reflecting on learning 145
Summary55
Summary148
Practising deconstruction and reconstruction 56
Practising reflection for your team project 149
4 D
 econstruction, reconstruction
9 The research report 150
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and reflection: planning the essay 61

Introduction151
Introduction62
9.01 What is the research report? 151
4.01 Why essays? 62 9.02 Choosing and developing your topic 154
4.02 Choosing and building essays for Global 9.03 The research process and log 159
Perspectives & Research 64 9.04 The research process and research
4.03 Effective essay questions 69 methodologies161
4.04 Writing questions and clarifying terms 73 9.05 Writing and referencing your report 167
Summary77 9.06 What happens next? 171
Practising question planning 78 Summary172
5 Communication: writing the essay 80
Glossary173
Introduction81 Index176
5.01 Structuring your essay 81
5.02 Effective introductions 84
5.03 The main body of the essay 86
5.04 Effective conclusions 92
5.05 Citation and referencing 94
Original material © Cambridge University Press 2017
iii
Introduction
Who is this book for?
This book is designed to support students and teachers with the Cambridge International AS
& A Level Global Perspectives & Research syllabus (9239). Global Perspectives & Research is an
unusual course in that it has several distinctive purposes:
• It is designed to be global in scope, introducing you to issues which affect a range of different
people across the world, and are of sharp contemporary relevance for our planet in the 21st

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century.
• It encourages you to explore different perspectives – alternative ways of seeing particular
situations – and to appreciate that there is usually more than one perspective on any issue we
encounter.
• Although intended to be a valuable experience in itself, it is also intended to support the

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development of academic skills which you can apply to other subjects you are doing, and that
will also support you with the next stage of education or work.
By completing this course, you will acquire specific ways of working and attitudes to study that will
change the way you approach all of your academic studies, not just this AS or A Level.

The nature of Cambridge Global Perspectives®

Global Perspectives & Research is unlike most AS & A Level courses in that it is cumulative and
integrated. It is cumulative in that each stage builds on the previous one, and your success in each
of the assessments depends in a very direct way on the ones you have previously completed,
and the work you have done before. It is integrated in that the course as a whole fits very closely
together, and the skills and attitudes you learn will depend on everything that you have done,
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and not individual units or assessments taken separately.
The ideas that each stage of the course builds on the one before, and that the whole of the
course can be seen together, are brought together in a metaphor called the Critical Path. This is
introduced in detail in Chapter 1, but the book will continue to use it as a representation of the
skills you are developing and how they fit together. It is a metaphor because it uses the idea of a
path as a representation of a route towards a destination, but one which connects that end point
with where we started from, and shows how each step along the route builds on the one that
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went before. It is a ‘critical’ path because the linked skills you will be building up will encourage
you to be critical, or to question what you find around you.

How to use this book

Because of the nature of the course, this is not the sort of book that you can just dip into in order
to find out how to accomplish a specific task, or to retrieve a particular piece of information
you need. The first chapter is an essential starting point, because it explains the idea of the
Critical Path and models how it works in bringing together a set of linked skills and activities to
interrogate and explore questions of global relevance. Chapter 1 then needs to be read together
with Chapters 2 and 3: these contain teaching on core skills from the Critical Path which are most
immediately useful for tackling the texts and questions you will find in the written examination
paper. However, they are equally essential for all of the other components, and the later chapters
will make less sense if you are not familiar with what is contained within the first three.

Original material © Cambridge University Press 2017

iv
 Cambridge International AS & A Level Global Perspectives & Research
Introduction

Introduction
Communication and Collaboration

Chapters 4 and 5 are focused on researching for and writing the essay. Chapters 6, 7 and 8 each
focus on an aspect of the team Weproject.
live in a Once
complex youand
are ever-changing
familiar with theworld. The amount
approach of information in existence, and
of the Critical
our access to it on a daily basis, would have baffled previous generations. This information is
Path and its core skills, it will then be possible to read either of these sets of chapters as a unit in
global both in its scale across the planet, and in its local variety in many different places.
order to prepare for the other components. By working through to the end of Chapter 8 you will
have covered everything requiredWhen forwetherefer
AStoif something as aim
your learning ‘global’,
is towe are notthat
complete onlyonly.
concerned with things that relate
to the whole globe, or world, at once. Global insights also come from comparing the
In order to also undertake the A Level, you will also need to complete the research report, which is
situation in different global locations so that we understand the world through its diversity.
covered in Chapter 9. It is important to realise, however, that the Global Perspectives & Research
Understanding global diversity, however, also means having a sharp sense of the local.
A Level is also staged: this means that the requirements of the research report assume that you
When we study the local, we are looking at a specific place, not the world as a whole. This
have previously experienced all three of the AS components. The report requires you to bring

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might be our own locality (our town, region or country), or concerns which are local to
together all of the skills and approaches from the AS components and apply them in one piece of
other places or cultures but not our own.
work. As the final stretch of the Critical Path, you can embark on the report with confidence once
All of this else
you have worked through everything variety
thealso means
course has that we will encounter a number of different, and frequently
to offer.

Chapter 1
Key features of this book
conflicting, points of view. Deciding who might be correct, and what we think ourselves, is
not an easy task. We need some techniques which will enable us to discover what people

Getting started with the Critical Path

think, why they believe what they do, and how we might develop, justify and present our own

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points offeatures,
Each chapter contains the following view. designed to help you get the most from your study.
Reflec tion

KEY TERMS 1.01 Skills and knowledge

Learning aims
global: pertaining to A Level Global Perspectives & Research differs from most other subjects which you might
the world as a whole,
By the end of this chapter, you study. Thisbeisable
should to: it helps students to develop skills rather than testing the recall of
because
either looked at
understand
■overall,
spec ific knowledge. It is designed to help you with some tools and approaches to engage
the relationship between skills and knowledge
or compared
■in ask
its diversity with the complexity of the modern world, to understand the views of others and to help you
questions about a number of different global issues
put forward your own.
■local: relating
explain to
the Critical Path
■specifi
make c places
use of in
the Critical PathBeing skilled means
to understand issues having the ability to do something effectively. It is any mental or physical
the world looked at
ability
■ relate the Critical Path to the in whichskills
core academic you ofcan become
analysis andexpert through practice or learning.
evaluation
Learning aims: Each
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individually. These chapter begins with a short
■ reflect on how the Critical Path can be used to develop skills and make decisions about issues and debates.
Reconstruction

might be villages, Knowledge is often seen as another word for the information or facts we possess about theof learning
list of the areas
towns, regions or world, as distinct from being skilled. However, knowledge and skills could be said to be closely
This chapter will support you with all of the assessed components of Global Perspectives & Research: written exam
aims for you to achieve.
countries.
related
answers, essays, team projects andin a number
your ofreport.
research ways. Knowledge in the sense in which we are interested is (according
For example, these are the
skills: any mental or
Activities: Activities
physical abilities
to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary) ‘understanding of or information about
you are designed so that you can work
a subject
learning that
aims for Chapter 1.
independently, in pairs or in you
can improve through smallgetgroups.
by experience
There mayor study’.
also beBeing skilled could be said to be having developed the ability
occasions them a teacher wants to use one or more of the practice. In this sense, skills are the tools we need to use
practisingwhen to understand a subject through
The Critical Path consists of three linked steps
knowledge efforwhich build
ectively. Weforon one
can another
improve ourasskills
typesby
of using
thinking,
themandrepeatedly
two closelyand
associated
reflecting on
activities
knowledge:withour
students at the same time, as a task you
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skills of expression which support

how them:
we have used them in order to handle knowledge purposefully.
to understanding
complete alone of facts
or together outside the classroom.
or other information

Deconstruction Reconstruction Reflec tion

ACTIVITY 1.01

1 Make a list of some of the knowledge you have acquired from your studies so far. This
Deconstruction

Communication
might include and Collaboration
scientific knowledge, such as the boiling point of water, knowledge about
different countries and cultures, or knowledge of specific information which is useful in the
study of a subject.
2 Now make a list of some skills 1 you think you already have as a student. These might be
skills of writing, note-taking or organising your study notes and revision, or skills you have
in speaking or interacting with others.

9781107560819c01_p001-012.indd 2 8/1/2017 5:51:17 PM

Original material © Cambridge University Press 2017

v
 appropriately and effectively in this form.
• Secondly, you will also develop your skills of individual, oral communication by giving
Cambridge International
a formal presentation AS &ofAthe
as part Level
teamGlobal
project.Perspectives
This will be your & Research
opportunity to

Deconstruction
Comm
effectively communicate your ideas to an audience for up to eight minutes, using
appropriate techniques and resources to make your message as compelling as possible.
This is an important skill for life, both in many university courses and in employment,
Practising presentations for your team project
where you will often be expected to formally present to your peers, those you manage or
people who are more senior than you.
This section of the chapter is divided into three: firstly, establishing the effectiveness of
Chapter 5 specifically focusesyour on the skills of written
presentation, communication
secondly, developingyou need for writing
the effectiveness of your presentation and finally,
Cambridge
a formal, academicInternational
essay. Chapter AS7&givesA Levellots ofGlobal
detailedPerspectives
advice and & Research
activities to help you
enhancing the effectiveness of your presentation. Each section is designed to build on the
learn and practise the skills you onewill needYou
before. to deliver
can eitheran effective
work throughoral presentation.
each section in turn or choose the section that you
feel is at the most appropriate level
Collaboration is a specialised form of interpersonal communication and working. It is a for you.
Differentiated
general term for the skills andYou attitudes
Some
should ofrequired
the see by
alsoquestions people when
we might
a progression they
ofask work
here
difficulty togetherthe
include:
through tothree levels, but they are also
Communication and Collaboration

practice: Chapters
achieve a shared aim, or use the work of others in their team to improve their
aligned in this chapter to the distinctive skills we have established. own individual

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learning
2–8 and performance.
also have fully • Who would agree or disagree with this view and why?

Reconstruction
differentiated practice These sections
• Where elseuse a variety
would we fiof
ndtopics from evidence
additional the Cambridge International
in support AS & A Level Global
of this view?
Human beings are social animals, and we would
Perspectives & achieve
Research very little if we worked entirely
syllabus.
sections at the end of
on our own, without the help or•contributionWhy does of more thanThis
others. oneisperson or organisation
especially the case in an subscribe to this view?
each chapter on green
educational setting: think about• theWhat leadsways,
different individuals or organisations
every day, in which youto support one
collaborate withview more than another?
pages. These sections
the teacher and other students in
Establishing effective presentations
are differentiated at • every
Whichclass you are part
approaches of, whether
to issues Global Perspectives
seem stronger &
or more convincing, and why?
Basedwill on what you have reador in the
thisworkplace,
chapter, take anthis
inventory
courseof your presentational skills.

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Research or other subjects. This continue in university and
three KEY
levels: developing,
TERMS Chapter 3 will combine reconstruction with deconstruction to show how these questions
is designed to help with developing
establishing and • What those
can skills.
you do well already, and what evidence do you have for this from your previous
can be answered. It will also introduce the idea of perspectives: as the title of this course
perspective: a experience with giving presentations?
enhancing.
You are These
also, allow asked to collaborate
however, suggests, these in a are
more specific
central wayskills
to the whenwe youareundertake the
trying to develop. The organisation of points
coherent worldview in
you to practise
team response the
project. to skills
Although • What do you still need to work on with your presentational
reflecting skills
areand how willinyou dodetail
that? in
an issue your final ofpresentation
view into shared will be
andanopposing
individual performance
groups is key. (Perspectives discussed more
you have acquired and
your own views and approach, itChapter will rely3.) in part on the common issue and collaborative
developed throughout
have undertakenDeveloping
research you as a team with effective presentations
other students. Effective collaboration here
the chapter.
is something which will make Plan this task lessstructure
challenging. When you write your reflective
Reflout the
ection of your presentation and make notes on what you will say. Do not
paper as part of the team project, you will not only be required to
try to produce a script, but instead use a mind-map orreflect on your individual
bullet points to produce a detailed
learning, you will also be asked ection has
Reflconsider
to how several different, but equally important, meanings on the Critical Path:
youeffectively
can then you workedontowith
cue your
cardsother

Reflection
summary which transfer to support your presentation.
team members. Knowing something 1 Refl about
ection effective
is firstlycollaboration
about considering in a professional
what you think, and why. Which view is strongest?
Reflec tion

setting and how to measure this willWhich therefore

approach is better? Which evidenceto
be very useful when you come is write
more thatconvincing? Being able to look carefully
Enhancing effective presentations
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reflective paper. at what you have found out, consider it, and make a judgement is one of the most
Choose a type of visual aid or aspect of personal performance from this chapter which you
Chapter 6 is devoted to the question important outcomes of this course, and doing it well depends on its close relationship
have notoftriedcollaboration. This
before. Alternatively,is mainly
selectfocused
a method on the
you have used and take advantage of the
collaboration that will be expected with
of youthewhile
stages of deconstruction
undertaking the way.
team and reconstruction.
project, how toRefl
and develop ection is not the same as just
ideas about where to use it in a new How can you this to creatively present the
make effective judgements onexplanations having
the quality of an opinion,
that and it
collaboration. needs to be supported by the views and evidence you have
and arguments in yourHowever,
presentation?it also has lessons
already broken down and grouped
you can apply to any collaborative activity, both in your learning for other parts of the together.
2 Refl
course, and in your education and ectionbroadly.
life more also has a second sense as part of your studies on this course. You are

Communication and Collaboration

Discussion point
encouraged, all the time, to reflect on what you are doing and how Discussion points:
you are working. This
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includes your own learning, but also your experiences of workingThe together with others,
purpose of discussion
Talk to a group of other students (who may or may not be following the Global Perspectives &
especially in team projects. This type of reflection identifies and pointsweighsisupto what
enableyou
youhave
to
Research course) about your experiences of working together with people.
achieved so you can measure the learning you have already achieved discussand perform
your better
own thoughts
Considering your past experiences inand sharing
similar your feelings
situations in theisfuture.
an important first step and ideas with someone
Reconstruction

towards the work you will do to develop your collaborative skills on this course. else, so that you not only
Chapter 4 explores the first type of reflection, focusing on the kind of thinking and
get different opinions but
judgements you will need to make when writing essays, and how this relies on what you have
can also clarify your own
already deconstructed and reconstructed. Chapter 8 is concerned with the second type of
thinking by saying things
reflection, both in your general development as a learner and for theout assessed reflective
Reflection points: loud.
paper you are asked to write on the work you have done for the team project.
Reflection points are
included throughout the
book so that you have the
11
chance to think about how
your skills are developing Reflection: Have there been occasions in your life, in any context, where you have had to combine
9781107560819c01_p001-012.indd 11 8/1/2017 5:51:39 PM
and how they can be information from a number of different places in order to get something done or find something out?
applied.
construction

Communication and collaboration

Original material © Cambridge University Press 2017
We will now finally deal with communication and collaboration,
135 not because they come at the
vi
end of the process, but because they inform every stage, whether they are assessed there as
9781107560819c07_p118-135.indd 135
 n
Introduction

pers, magazines,
Learning aims
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
■
understand the different kinds of reading you need to be doing as a student
KEY TERM
■ use the advanced reading skills of deconstruction to analyse and evaluate texts
y require analysis.

Reconstruction
eaking apart’ ■ recognise arguments, and show the difference between arguments and other kinds of writing
analysis: the
Key terms: Key terms are included throughout the text and provide clear and
have. We are ■ make judgements about sources based on where they have come from and who has written them
breakdown of
. By doing this we something into
■ analyse and evaluate the structure of argument used in sources
straightforward explanations of the most important terms in each chapter.
smaller parts in order
■ deconstruct the evidence used by sources to support their arguments.
to understand it more
s well as breaking clearly
This chapter will support you with the written examination paper, but also contains core skills which are needed for
bout how useful or
the essay, team project and your research report.

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Cambridge
As International
you will remember, AS & A Level
deconstruction is theGlobal Perspectives
first stage & Research
of the Critical Path, described in Chapter 1:
Critical Path links: Each chapter also contains a
nts it? diagram that indicates which part of the Critical Path
is highlighted within the chapter. This example shows
that Deconstruction will be covered in the chapter.
KEY TERMS
Communication and Collaboration

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will be engaging
on its value. evaluation: an A note on the research report and the Critical Path
Reflec tion

decision on how Deconstruction

identification of Reconstruction Reflection
the strengths and The work you will do on the written paper, essay and team project do not only lead to an
n will be broken AS in Global Perspectives & Research. They are an essential preparation for your research
weaknesses of
report. This will be dealt with in detail in Chapter 9, the final chapter of this book. At this
something in order
stage, however, it is worth noting
Communication
to make a judgement andthat this also means that the various stages of the Critical
Collaboration
Path come together to reach the path’s destination: the extended report on the thinking
about it
synthesis: the and research you will have done for the topic you have selected. As such, it will be your
had to analyse or combining of more opportunity to demonstrate how well you can combine deconstruction, reconstruction,
Summary: thanThere is a summaryrefl
one thing at ection,
the endcommunication
of each chapterand 13
to help
evenyou review what
collaboration inyou
undertaking an academic project you
have learnt.together in order to have chosen for yourself.
understand them
Communication and Collaboration

M
more effectively
by exploring their
ey are closely relatedSummary differences and
hing up individual similarities
other term for debate:
In this chapter, wethe
have: develop particular skills and prepare for specific examined
he Greek verb confrontation of assessments.
Reflec tion

• identified why skills are important, and considered the focus

opposing views on an
ting back together of the Global Perspectives & Research course on developing
issue, where each tries The skills contained in the Critical Path and discussed in this
ust looking at one skills chapter will form the basis of your learning throughout your
to show they are more
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be challenged, • considered whatthan

convincing issues
theare in a global context, and practised Global Perspectives & Research course. When you did Activity
ng together views, usingothers
those skills to explore, discuss and make decisions on 1.03 you covered all the areas of this process. Becoming a more
n. a number of example issues together in groups, as well as effective student of Global Perspectives & Research will now
reflecting upon and communicating those decisions involve repeating and developing those skills in more detail and
• formally identified this process as something called the in a range of different contexts. It will be through a process of
Critical Path, and showed how this path relates to each repetition – practising, getting feedback, identifying strengths
stage and type of learning you will undertake for Global and weaknesses, then testing yourself again in new contexts
8/1/2017 5:51:39 PM
Perspectives & Research – that you will become a fully competent student of Global
Perspectives & Research. It is the aim of this book to help you
• used the Critical Path to provide a roadmap for the whole
achieve that goal.
of this book and to show how each chapter will help you to
Reconstruction

Original material © Cambridge University Press 2017

vii
Acknowledgements
The authors and publishers acknowledge the following sources of copyright material and are
grateful for the permissions granted. While every effort has been made, it has not always been
possible to identify the sources of all the material used, or to trace all copyright holders. If any
omissions are brought to our notice, we will be happy to include the appropriate acknowledgements
on reprinting.

Chapter 2 Activity 2.02 entry for ‘Internet’ from Encyclopaedia Britannica; Activity 2.06 from

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‘Graffiti is young, cool, creative – let it happen, by Lady Pink in the New York Times,July 2014;
Activity 2.07 from ‘Graffiti is a public good, even as it challenges the law’ by Lu Olivero in the New
York Times, July 2014; article extract ‘Why the UK should embrace fracking’ by Chris Faulkner in
the Guardian, copyright Guardian News & Media Ltd 2017; from ‘Fracking’, Greenpeace
www.greenpeace.org; Activity 2.12 source 1 from ‘Floody Obvious’ (The Sun Says, 2016),
The Sun, © News Syndication; Activity 2.12 source 2 from ‘The Guardian view on the heatwave:

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still hope on climate change’, The Guardian, Copyright Guardian News & Media Ltd 2017;
Activity 2.12 source 3 from ‘Changing the climate debate’ by Bjorn Lomborg, Prospect Magazine,
November 2007; Deconstruction document 1 from ‘Here are the three biggest threats to the world
right now’ by Mehreen Khan, January 2016 © The Telegraph 2016; Deconstruction deocumner 2
from ‘Migration is now a fact of life…deal with it – The City View’ from City A.M. October 2015;
Chapter 3 Activity 3.02 extract 1 from ‘Achieving Gender Equality: When Everyone Wins’ by
Charlotta Sparre for Daily News Egypt, October 2015; Activity 3.02 extract 2 from ‘Gender
equality’ from UNESCAP; Activity 3.03 extract 1 from ‘Let’s just be honest and allow drugs in
sport’ by James Kirkup, June 2015 © The Telegraph 2016; Activity 3.03 extract 2 from ‘Why it’s
time to legalise doping in athletics’ by Julian Savulescu (August 2015) with permission from The
Conversation; extract from ‘How Costa Rica runs on renewable energy - and why it’s so hard to
replicate’ by Aimee Meade, September 2017, The Independent; Deconstruction document 1 & 2
M
letters by Claire Robinson and Mark Lynas in the Independent, March 2015; Deconstruction
document 1 from ‘Fear about GM crops is not backed up by facts’, by William Reville, July 2015
in The Irish Times, with permission from the author William Reville; Deconstruction document 2
from ‘Approach GM foods with caution, not total rejection’ by Fr Dr John M M Kamweri, June 2015
in The Observer (Kampala)

Thanks to the following for permission to reproduce images:

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Cover Bee Smith/Getty Images; Inside (in order of appearance) oversnap/Getty Images;
Hans-Peter Merten/Getty Images; Anatoliy Babiy/Getty Images; Peter Cade/Getty Images;
Han Lans/Getty Images; Roy Scott/Getty Images; Thomas Imo/Photothek via Getty Images;
DanielAzocar/Getty Images; Andreas Guskos/Getty Images; John Wildgoose/Getty Images; Tom
Merton/Getty Images; arabianEye arabianEye/Getty Images; Roy Mehta/Getty Images; Robert
Daly/Getty Images; David Crunelle/EyeEm/Getty Images; vgajic/Getty Images; Jack Taylor/Getty
Images; Colin Anderson/Getty Images; OJO Images/Tom Merton/Getty Images; asiseeit/Getty
Images; Echo/Getty Images; endopack/Getty Images; Cultura RM Exclusive/Frank and Helena/
Getty Images; Robert Daly/Getty Images; filadendron/Getty Images; FatCamera/Getty Images;
Rob Atkins/Getty Images; HaizhanZheng/Getty Images; Dmitry Goygel-sokol/Getty Images;
FatCamera/Getty Images; Nisian Hughes/Getty Images; David Schaffer/Getty Images; Adrianko/
Getty Images; Paul Taylor/Getty Images; Kentaroo Tryman/Getty Images; Peter Muller/Getty
Images; Dave and Les Jacobs/Getty Images; PeopleImages/Getty Images

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 E
Chapter 1
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Getting started with the Critical Path

Learning aims
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By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
■ understand the relationship between skills and knowledge
■ ask questions about a number of different global issues
■ explain the Critical Path
■ make use of the Critical Path to understand issues
■ relate the Critical Path to the core academic skills of analysis and evaluation
SA

■ reflect on how the Critical Path can be used to develop skills and make decisions about issues and debates.

This chapter will support you with all of the assessed components of Global Perspectives & Research: written exam
answers, essays, team projects and your research report.

The Critical Path consists of three linked steps which build on one another as types of thinking, and two closely associated
skills of expression which support them:

Deconstruction Reconstruction Reflec tion

Communication and Collaboration

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1
 Cambridge International AS & A Level Global Perspectives & Research

Introduction
We live in a complex and ever-changing world. The amount of information in existence, and
our access to it on a daily basis, would have baffled previous generations. This information is
Deconstruction

global both in its scale across the planet, and in its local variety in many different places.
When we refer to something as ‘global’, we are not only concerned with things that relate
to the whole globe, or world, at once. Global insights also come from comparing the
situation in different global locations so that we understand the world through its diversity.
Understanding global diversity, however, also means having a sharp sense of the local.

E
When we study the local, we are looking at a specific place, not the world as a whole. This
might be our own locality (our town, region or country), or concerns which are local to
other places or cultures but not our own.
All of this variety also means that we will encounter a number of different, and frequently
conflicting, points of view. Deciding who might be correct, and what we think ourselves, is

PL
not an easy task. We need some techniques which will enable us to discover what people
think, why they believe what they do, and how we might develop, justify and present our own
Reconstruction

points of view.

KEy TERMS 1.01 Skills and knowledge

global: pertaining to A Level Global Perspectives & Research differs from most other subjects which you might
the world as a whole, study. This is because it helps students to develop skills rather than testing the recall of
either looked at
spec ific knowledge. It is designed to help you with some tools and approaches to engage
overall, or compared
in its diversity with the complexity of the modern world, to understand the views of others and to help you
put forward your own.
M
local: relating to
specific places in Being skilled means having the ability to do something effectively. It is any mental or physical
the world looked at
ability in which you can become expert through practice or learning.
individually. These
might be villages, Knowledge is often seen as another word for the information or facts we possess about the
Reflec tion

towns, regions or world, as distinct from being skilled. However, knowledge and skills could be said to be closely
countries.
related in a number of ways. Knowledge in the sense in which we are interested is (according
skills: any mental or
to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary) ‘understanding of or information about a subject that
physical abilities you
SA

can improve through

you get by experience or study’. Being skilled could be said to be having developed the ability
practising them to understand a subject through practice. In this sense, skills are the tools we need to use
knowledge: our knowledge effectively. We can improve our skills by using them repeatedly and reflecting on
understanding of facts how we have used them in order to handle knowledge purposefully.
or other information
Communication and Collaboration

ACTIvITy 1.01

1 Make a list of some of the knowledge you have acquired from your studies so far. This
might include scientific knowledge, such as the boiling point of water, knowledge about
different countries and cultures, or knowledge of specific information which is useful in the
study of a subject.
2 Now make a list of some skills you think you already have as a student. These might be
skills of writing, note-taking or organising your study notes and revision, or skills you have
in speaking or interacting with others.

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 1 Getting started with the Critical Path

Reflection: What do you think the main differences are between skills and knowledge? Which is
more important, and do we need both?

Deconstruction
1.02 Global issues KEy TERM

Global Perspectives & Research starts with noticing issues in the world around us. Let’s issue: a topic or idea of

E
begin by exploring one of these. importance locally or
globally
What can we use to power our lives? For most of the world, the answer is fossil fuels such as oil,
gas or coal. For motor transport, heat and light, and electronic devices of all kinds, there is no clear
alternative that would keep everyone and everything running. Yet these sources of energy have
some clear limitations. Firstly, they are finite: laid down in the earth over millions of years, at our
current rates of usage we will have used all of them up in a century or two at best, and possibly

PL
much more quickly than that. Secondly, many argue that they are changing our climate: their
emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is warming the planet at rates which far exceed

Reconstruction
previous periods of natural climate change and risk catastrophic consequences of flooding and
drought in different parts of the world. Yet many of the proposed solutions of renewable energy
have their own problems: would wind, wave or solar power produce enough to fill the gap, and
does the other alternative – nuclear power – carry too many risks of its own? Perhaps the best
solution is for communities to change their ways of life so they use less energy in the first place.
M
Reflec tion
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ACTIvITy 1.02

1 The issue here is where we should get our energy from. What is your view? Write down your
ideas or discuss them with someone else. Communication and Collaboration
2 From the alternatives listed, which do you think is the best source of energy? Perhaps you
have another alternative you would like to suggest, or think we should continue to use
fossil fuels for as long as we can.
Another response might be to ask whether we should be using as much energy in the first
place, or even to question who ‘we’ is here. Industrialised countries, located mostly in the
northern hemisphere, use by far the most energy, although some rapidly industrialising
countries, such as Brazil and China, are catching up fast. On the other hand, many
countries in the developing world use far less.
Consider these options and use them to develop your responses to (1) in more detail.

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 Cambridge International AS & A Level Global Perspectives & Research

Reflection: We now have a range of possible responses to this issue. Are they all mutually
contradictory, or could some be reconciled so that they support one another? For example, is it
possible that the world could switch to several different forms of alternative energy, depending
Deconstruction

on local circumstances? On the other hand, the views of those who see fossil fuels as the only
realistic source of energy for the industrialised world at least may always be in conflict with those
who argue that they are too polluting.

E
How can we decide between these alternatives, or can we do so at all? Are there additional
details we could find out to resolve the disagreements, or at least better justify each view,
and where would that information come from?

ACTIvITy 1.03

PL
Read through the following four issues. If you are working in groups, you might want to take
one each and present your findings to the whole class. For each issue, consider the following
Reconstruction

points:
• What is your own opinion about this issue?
• Are there other possible opinions, or if you are working in a group, can you make a list of
the opinions of each member of the group?
• Where different opinions demonstrate disagreements, can you resolve these by reaching a
compromise?
• What more could you find out about this issue in order to reach a more considered
opinion?
M
Issue 1: Online communities
Reflec tion

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Communication and Collaboration

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 1  Getting started with the Critical Path

The growth of the internet has transformed social, cultural and economic life in ways that
would have been inconceivable even a few decades ago. Online communities such as
Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have allowed people to present themselves, find and remain
connected to others in ways which would have previously been difficult or impossible.

Deconstruction
Information and learning are now available on a near-ubiquitous level, simply by typing a
term into a search engine, signing up for a discussion list or enrolling in an online educational
course. The ability to publish and consume knowledge has also become highly democratic,
crossing social groups and international boundaries in a way that is almost entirely outside
the control of the authorities.

E
This power to construct and share your identity, however, has also brought about the
ability to conceal it. Is the fellow 16-year-old girl you are messaging actually a
25-year-old woman – or a 50-year-old man? The definition of ‘community’ has also
shifted in less appealing ways. The student community, or game-playing community, or
YouTube-watching community can helpfully extend our notion of the term in ways not

PL
limited by geography. However, other ‘communities’ have used the anonymity of the
internet to share and spread offensive or illegal material. The internet has also become the

Reconstruction
favoured medium for radical political groups, often advocating intolerance or violence, to
disseminate their ideas.
Discussion point
• Does it matter if people present themselves online differently to how they are in person?
• How comfortable are you with these definitions of ‘community’?

Issue 2: Quality of life

M
Reflection
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Communication and Collaboration

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 Cambridge International AS & A Level Global Perspectives & Research

What makes people happiest? One answer might be money, but evidence from countries
in the developed world suggests that this might not always be the case. In recent years,
many countries in Europe and America have suffered from an increased threat of terrorism,
which has produced a sense of personal insecurity. Despite similar levels of wealth, different
Deconstruction

countries can also vary in the availability of social and healthcare services, meaning that the
position of individual citizens can be much more precarious, especially if they experience
unemployment, or have not insured themselves against risks.
Work–life balance can also play a role: the advanced industrialised economies might be

E
able to generate much more money, but in order to do so many individuals are encouraged
to make themselves available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, receiving messages on their
smartphones. Even climate can also be a factor, as the dark winter nights in some parts of
the world can cause psychological disorders related to the level of available light, especially if
people have to get up early or come back late in order to travel to work.
Discussion point

PL
• What is your view of the most significant factors influencing personal happiness?
• Does money matter most in the end, or does the individual’s level of personal security, or
Reconstruction

freedom, play a greater role?

• To be happy, is it necessary to be able to balance work with family, or does it all come
down to geographical location?
• What does happiness mean?

Issue 3: Global trade

World trade currents
M
$
$ $
$
$
$
Reflec tion

$
$
$
$
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$
Communication and Collaboration

Many of the manufactured goods purchased in Europe or North America are made in China
or the Indian subcontinent. Sometimes this means that an item of clothing might cost more
to repair, or even to dry clean, than it was to buy in the first place. For many electronic items,
such as laptop computers or smartphones, the price of the individual product may be many
times more than the monthly wage of the worker who assembled it.
Yet, especially for electronic devices purchased on contract, it can often make more
financial sense for the consumer to throw it away after a couple of years in favour of a slightly

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 1  Getting started with the Critical Path

upgraded model. Those discarded phones often end up back in the developing world, in vast
waste dumps, where the metals and chemicals used in their manufacture slowly pollute the
environment and make people sick.
Discussion point

Deconstruction
• Do you consider these sorts of relationships to be an inevitable part of global trade?
• Should factors such as the environment, human health, or the gap between rich and poor
play a greater role in international relations, whatever the cost?

E
Issue 4: Healthcare

PL
Reconstruction
M
In some countries, such as the United Kingdom, most aspects of healthcare are publicly
funded, and made free at the point of use through a government-backed health service. This
is an enormous benefit to many people: medical treatment is related to need, rather than

Reflection
the ability to pay. However, getting treatment under such systems can mean a wait of many
months, particularly for hospital appointments and surgical procedures. Some more recent
(and expensive) drugs are also not available, even though they have been shown to help
some people. Others have expressed their concern about the conditions (especially in terms
SA

of hygiene) of hospital wards, and the general standards of care available.

Some other countries, for example the United States of America, have a healthcare system
based on private health insurance. There are no limits on the range of treatments available,
no compromises on the standard of care and no significant waiting lists – provided you have
the ability to pay. If your financial resources are more limited, you will receive considerably
Communication and Collaboration
less, or perhaps no medical treatment at all, however ill you are. Yet when former President
Obama introduced a system in the US with more publicly controlled elements and the
requirement for everyone to have the option of reasonably priced health insurance, he met
fierce political opposition.
Discussion point
• What is the fairest system of healthcare, and is this the same as the most effective one?
• Does government healthcare place unacceptable limits on our ability to choose our own
medical treatments?
• What about countries where little or no modern healthcare is available – public or private?

Original material © Cambridge University Press 2017

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 Cambridge International AS & A Level Global Perspectives & Research

Reflection: What do you think you learnt from Activity 1.03? What process did you follow to reach
conclusions, and were there any barriers you needed to overcome?
Deconstruction

1.03 Following the Critical Path

The Critical Path process
If you did Activity 1.03 yourself, or discussed it in groups with other students, you may find

E
that you had to do something like this:
1 Identify the issue and your own opinion about it.
2 Explore alternative viewpoints, especially those which came from other members of your
group.
3 Consider the strengths and weaknesses of each point of view in order to make your own

PL
judgements.
4 Communicate the results of this process to others, either by making personal notes or
Reconstruction

explaining it to other people in your group or class.

Each of these activities needs to be undertaken in order, and each one builds on the next.
Before being able to say anything about the issue, we need to identify it first. This allows us to
decide what we are responding to, what we want to say and what that might mean.
When we know what we have identified, then we can explore alternative points of view,
measuring how they differ from our own responses. These might include information and
ideas we find from elsewhere.
All this then allows us to consider the extent to which those other viewpoints might make us
M
change or develop our own.
We can communicate the results of this process at the end to others, by speaking or by
writing, in a report, essay or piece of reflective writing.
Our audience is important, as any communication involves a relationship, or collaboration,
Reflec tion

with other people – whether we have ever met them or not. In truth, both the
communication and the collaboration do not occur only at the end of the process. Just
as, when discussing the issues in the activity, you may have been working with others
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from the start, you will also have been undertaking many separate and individual acts of
communication along the way.
Discussion point
• Of these four steps, which did you find easiest, and which did you find most challenging
to complete?
Communication and Collaboration

• What do you think the effect is of combining the steps so that they build on each other?
Discuss your answers to these questions with your teacher and other members of your class.
In embarking on this path and following this course of linked tasks to complete Activity 1.03,
you have in fact demonstrated all the skills required of you by A Level Global Perspectives
& Research. As with any skill, repeated practice will improve the precision and detail of your
performance of it. You will also need to be able to explore how you can follow the path in a
variety of different contexts: answering formal questions in an examination, researching and
writing essays, working with groups of other people, giving oral presentations to an audience
and putting together an extended research report. However, the path itself, and its skills, will
remain the same.
Original material © Cambridge University Press 2017
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 1 Getting started with the Critical Path

In Global Perspectives & Research, we call this path the Critical Path. The course develops
and tests your ability to perform the skills associated with each stage of the path and to
combine them together in order to carry out typical academic or professional tasks. In this
sense, mastering the Critical Path will give you a core set of competencies for the other

Deconstruction
International A Levels, or equivalent courses, you are also following.

Deconstruction
Deconstruction is what you do first, and involves answering some questions about what you
are looking at:

E
• What is the issue you are investigating?
• Are there different points of view about this issue?
• Who is saying what? Where are they saying it? This might be in newspapers, magazines,
books or other kinds of source.
• Where is the evidence that will enable you to reach your own answers?

PL
You may notice that all of these questions have something in common: they require analysis.
KEy TERM

Reconstruction
Analysis literally means ‘breaking down’ (from the Greek term analusis: ‘breaking apart’ or analysis: the
‘loosening’). It is one of the most important skills A Level students need to have. We are breakdown of
breaking down what we are doing into issues, views, sources and evidence. By doing this we something into
smaller parts in order
can see its inner workings more clearly and precisely.
to understand it more
Even when you have answered these questions, you will not be finished. As well as breaking clearly
down views, sources and evidence, we need to make some judgements about how useful or
convincing they are:
• How persuasive is that point of view?
•
M
How convincing is the person, organisation or publication which presents it?
• How effectively is it supported by evidence?
KEy TERMS
In doing so, you will not only be analysing issues, views and evidence, you will be engaging
in evaluation. When we evaluate something, we are making judgements on its value. evaluation: an

Reflec tion
This involves measuring its strengths and weaknesses in order to make a decision on how identification of
the strengths and
convincing or useful it is for the task in hand. These questions of evaluation will be broken
weaknesses of
down further and discussed in more detail in Chapter 2. something in order
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to make a judgement
about it
synthesis: the
Reflection: Are there examples from your previous experience where you have had to analyse or combining of more
evaluate? How did you find this? than one thing
together in order to
understand them Communication and Collaboration
more effectively
Reconstruction by exploring their
Reconstruction follows from deconstruction as the next stage on the path. They are closely related differences and
to one another, but while deconstruction works inwards, measuring and weighing up individual similarities
views, sources and evidence, reconstruction faces outwards. Interestingly, another term for debate: the
reconstruction is synthesis. This is the opposite of analysis and comes from the Greek verb confrontation of
opposing views on an
syntithenai, ‘to put together’ or ‘to combine’. When we reconstruct, we are putting back together issue, where each tries
on a larger scale what has been broken apart by deconstruction. Rather than just looking at one to show they are more
point of view, reconstruction is concerned with debates: how might that view be challenged, convincing than the
and what are the alternatives? Finally, reconstruction is also interested in putting together views, others
sources and evidence into larger groupings which share something in common.
Original material © Cambridge University Press 2017
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 Cambridge International AS & A Level Global Perspectives & Research

Some of the questions we might ask here include:

• Who would agree or disagree with this view and why?
• Where else would we find additional evidence in support of this view?
Deconstruction

• Why does more than one person or organisation subscribe to this view?
• What leads individuals or organisations to support one view more than another?
• Which approaches to issues seem stronger or more convincing, and why?
KEy TERM Chapter 3 will combine reconstruction with deconstruction to show how these questions

E
can be answered. It will also introduce the idea of perspectives: as the title of this course
perspective: a
coherent worldview in suggests, these are central to the skills we are trying to develop. The organisation of points
response to an issue of view into shared and opposing groups is key. (Perspectives are discussed in more detail in
Chapter 3.)

PL
Reflection: Have there been occasions in your life, in any context, where you have had to combine
Reconstruction

information from a number of different places in order to get something done or find something out?

Refl ection
Reflection has several different, but equally important, meanings on the Critical Path:
1 Reflection is firstly about considering what you think, and why. Which view is strongest?
Which approach is better? Which evidence is more convincing? Being able to look carefully
at what you have found out, consider it, and make a judgement is one of the most
M
important outcomes of this course, and doing it well depends on its close relationship
with the stages of deconstruction and reconstruction. Reflection is not the same as just
having an opinion, and it needs to be supported by the views and evidence you have
already broken down and grouped together.
2 Reflection also has a second sense as part of your studies on this course. You are
Reflec tion

encouraged, all the time, to reflect on what you are doing and how you are working. This
includes your own learning, but also your experiences of working together with others,
especially in team projects. This type of reflection identifies and weighs up what you have
SA

achieved so you can measure the learning you have already achieved and perform better
in similar situations in the future.
Chapter 4 explores the first type of reflection, focusing on the kind of thinking and
judgements you will need to make when writing essays, and how this relies on what you have
already deconstructed and reconstructed. Chapter 8 is concerned with the second type of
Communication and Collaboration

reflection, both in your general development as a learner and for the assessed reflective
paper you are asked to write on the work you have done for the team project.

Communication and collaboration

We will now finally deal with communication and collaboration, not because they come at the
end of the process, but because they inform every stage, whether they are assessed there as
part of the A Level or not.
Communication has a number of different forms, depending on how and where you are doing it:
• Firstly, by following this course, you will become more effective at communicating
in writing using formal, academic formats. One key format you will need to produce
Original material © Cambridge University Press 2017
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 1  Getting started with the Critical Path

successfully is the essay, and in doing so you will need to be able to communicate
appropriately and effectively in this form.
• Secondly, you will also develop your skills of individual, oral communication by giving
a formal presentation as part of the team project. This will be your opportunity to

Deconstruction
effectively communicate your ideas to an audience for up to eight minutes, using
appropriate techniques and resources to make your message as compelling as possible.
This is an important skill for life, both in many university courses and in employment,
where you will often be expected to formally present to your peers, those you manage or
people who are more senior than you.

E
Chapter 5 specifically focuses on the skills of written communication you need for writing
a formal, academic essay. Chapter 7 gives lots of detailed advice and activities to help you
learn and practise the skills you will need to deliver an effective oral presentation.
Collaboration is a specialised form of interpersonal communication and working. It is a
general term for the skills and attitudes required by people when they work together to

PL
achieve a shared aim, or use the work of others in their team to improve their own individual
learning and performance.

Reconstruction
Human beings are social animals, and we would achieve very little if we worked entirely
on our own, without the help or contribution of others. This is especially the case in an
educational setting: think about the different ways, every day, in which you collaborate with
the teacher and other students in every class you are part of, whether Global Perspectives &
Research or other subjects. This will continue in university or the workplace, and this course
is designed to help with developing those skills.
You are also, however, asked to collaborate in a more specific way when you undertake the
team project. Although your final presentation will be an individual performance reflecting
M
your own views and approach, it will rely in part on the common issue and collaborative
research you have undertaken as a team with other students. Effective collaboration here
is something which will make this task less challenging. When you write your reflective
paper as part of the team project, you will not only be required to reflect on your individual
learning, you will also be asked to consider how effectively you worked with your other

Reflection
team members. Knowing something about effective collaboration in a professional
setting and how to measure this will therefore be very useful when you come to write that
reflective paper.
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Chapter 6 is devoted to the question of collaboration. This is mainly focused on the

collaboration that will be expected of you while undertaking the team project, and how to
make effective judgements on the quality of that collaboration. However, it also has lessons
you can apply to any collaborative activity, both in your learning for other parts of the
course, and in your education and life more broadly.
Communication and Collaboration
Discussion point
Talk to a group of other students (who may or may not be following the Global Perspectives &
Research course) about your experiences of working together with people.
Considering your past experiences and sharing your feelings is an important first step
towards the work you will do to develop your collaborative skills on this course.

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 Cambridge International AS & A Level Global Perspectives & Research

A note on the research report and the Critical Path

The work you will do on the written paper, essay and team project do not only lead to an
Deconstruction

AS in Global Perspectives & Research. They are an essential preparation for your research
report. This will be dealt with in detail in Chapter 9, the final chapter of this book. At this
stage, however, it is worth noting that this also means that the various stages of the Critical
Path come together to reach the path’s destination: the extended report on the thinking
and research you will have done for the topic you have selected. As such, it will be your

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opportunity to demonstrate how well you can combine deconstruction, reconstruction,
reflection, communication and even collaboration in undertaking an academic project you
have chosen for yourself.

Summary
In this chapter, we have:

PL develop particular skills and prepare for specific examined

Reconstruction

• identified why skills are important, and considered the focus assessments.
of the Global Perspectives & Research course on developing The skills contained in the Critical Path and discussed in this
skills chapter will form the basis of your learning throughout your
• considered what issues are in a global context, and practised Global Perspectives & Research course. When you did Activity
using those skills to explore, discuss and make decisions on 1.03 you covered all the areas of this process. Becoming a more
a number of example issues together in groups, as well as effective student of Global Perspectives & Research will now
reflecting upon and communicating those decisions involve repeating and developing those skills in more detail and
• formally identified this process as something called the in a range of different contexts. It will be through a process of
Critical Path, and showed how this path relates to each repetition – practising, getting feedback, identifying strengths
and weaknesses, then testing yourself again in new contexts
M
stage and type of learning you will undertake for Global
Perspectives & Research – that you will become a fully competent student of Global
Perspectives & Research. It is the aim of this book to help you
• used the Critical Path to provide a roadmap for the whole
achieve that goal.
of this book and to show how each chapter will help you to
Reflec tion

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Communication and Collaboration

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12
 E
Chapter 2

evaluating arguments and evidence

Learning aims
PL
Introducing deconstruction: analysing and
M
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
■ understand the different kinds of reading you need to be doing as a student
■ use the advanced reading skills of deconstruction to analyse and evaluate texts
■ recognise arguments, and show the difference between arguments and other kinds of writing
■ make judgements about sources based on where they have come from and who has written them
■ analyse and evaluate the structure of argument used in sources
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■ deconstruct the evidence used by sources to support their arguments.

This chapter will support you with the written examination paper, but also contains core skills which are needed for
the essay, team project and your research report.

As you will remember, deconstruction is the first stage of the Critical Path, described in Chapter 1:

Deconstruction Reconstruction Reflec tion

Communication and Collaboration

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 Cambridge International AS & A Level Global Perspectives & Research

Introduction
This chapter is really about reading. As a student of Global Perspectives & Research, and of
A Levels in general, you will need to develop some advanced reading skills. You may well think
Deconstruction

that you already know how to read effectively, and in fact in order to have reached this level
of education you will not only have had to learn how to read, you will have had to establish
and develop a good level of reading competence. In this chapter, you will be discovering that
you still have plenty of opportunities to develop as a reader, and that it is possible to read in
a number of different ways, for a variety of different purposes. Once you have done that, you

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will be able to practise in detail the reading skills required for effective deconstruction.

2.01 Advanced reading skills

When you were first taught to read, you had to master the skill of decoding. Just as when
KEy TERM

PL
you learnt to speak your native language, and had to connect the sounds you heard and
decoding: reading made to specific meanings, when you learnt to read you had to link marks on the page
texts by mapping the to the specific word they represented, and the meaning of that word. Reading sentences,
marks on the page paragraphs and then longer texts was a matter of linking together those marks on the page
to specific meanings.
with longer and more substantial chains of meaning. As the texts become longer and the
Revealing the meaning
is like breaking a code.
range and type of vocabulary more challenging, this is a more demanding process, one all of
us are still engaged with for the whole of our lives. The texts you are reading now, especially
for your A Level subjects, require significantly more of you than those you read when you
were younger. A lot of the reading you do for pleasure, like magazines or social media
updates, or encounter in your everyday life, such as street signs or bus timetables, makes
fewer demands, but the process of decoding is still the same.
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ACTIvITy 2.01

Make a list in a journal of everything you read over the course of one day. This would include
everything from street signs, printed instructions and web pages to writing in a textbook or on
a whiteboard.
Look back at what you have written, and conclude your journal entry with a short paragraph
reflecting on your reading for the day. Were you surprised by its amount or variety?
SA

ACTIvITy 2.02

Decode this text so that you are clear about what each word and sentence means. When you
have done this you should be able to answer the two questions which follow.
Internet, a system architecture that has revolutionized communications and methods
of commerce by allowing various computer networks around the world to interconnect.
Sometimes referred to as a “network of networks,” the internet emerged in the United States
in the 1970s but did not become visible to the general public until the early 1990s. . . .
From the entry for ‘internet’ in the Encyclopædia Britannica
1 Why is the internet sometimes known as a ‘network of networks’?
2 When were the general public first aware of the internet?

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 2 Introducing deconstruction

Discussion point
Discuss with at least one other student how you went about doing this activity. How did
decoding the text help you, and were there things that just decoding prevented you from doing?

Deconstruction
Active reading
One of the most important lessons you need to learn as a student is that you are an active
participant in your own reading. The texts you read are not just units of knowledge to be
passively absorbed. Instead, you have a role to play as a reader in not only decoding the text,

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but taking it apart more thoroughly. This means asking questions and making judgements
about what you are reading.

ACTIvITy 2.03

Read the following short text:

PL
Even though the internet is now an established part of the modern world, there remains much
debate about its benefits and drawbacks. On the one hand, the internet connects people and
organisations, and makes the flow of ideas and information much more efficient than it has
been in the past. On the other hand, that ease of communication can be a drawback, as it is
more difficult to maintain personal privacy as a result.
1 What are the advantages and disadvantages of the internet according to this text?
2 Do you think the internet’s benefits outweigh its drawbacks or not? Explain your answer.

Reflection:
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• How did your approach to the text differ when answering the questions in
Activity 2.02 and 2.03?
• What does this tell us about what is involved in active reading?

In order to actively engage with the text in Activity 2.03, you would have had to identify the
debate, and separately group the advantages and disadvantages. In order to answer the final
question in the activity, you would also have had to make judgements about how convincing
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each side was, and compare your own views with those in the text. Because of this, your reading
did not simply involve decoding but also required analysis and evaluation: actively breaking
down the text into smaller parts, and using that to make judgements about what it said.

2.02 What is an argument?

We have already seen in this chapter that there are different ways of reading. There are also
different kinds of text. We can see this if we return to the topic of the impact of the internet.

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ACTIvITy 2.04

Compare these three sentences:

A: The internet is a series of interconnecting computer networks.
Deconstruction

B: The internet connects people, therefore it is a good thing.

C: The internet is a bad thing because when we use it we are forced to share information
about ourselves with others.
List the ways in which these sentences are the same, and the ways in which they differ from
one another.

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Reflection: Sentence A is a purely descriptive statement: it tells us what the internet is.
KEy TERMS Sentences B and C, however, begin with claims, statements which express a view about the

PL
internet with which people might agree or disagree. In fact, these two sentences illustrate this
claim: a statement perfectly, as the two claims directly contradict each other:
which may or may not
be true The internet is a good thing.

reason: a claim The internet is a bad thing.

used to support a
conclusion
assertion: an
unsupported claim Because of this, when we present claims, we also need to provide reasons to go with our claims
conclusion: a claim
to justify why other people should accept them. Otherwise, our claims are just assertions:
about the world which statements about things which only repeat our own opinions without any justification. Once a
we are asked to accept claim has at least one reason to go with it, then it is a conclusion, as it provides a justification for
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based on reasons us to accept something with which others might disagree. Both B and C do this, as follows:
argument: one or
Conclusion B: the internet is a good thing
more reasons leading
to a conclusion Reason B: it connects people
argument indicator: Conclusion C: the internet is a bad thing
a term used specifically Reason C: it forces us to share information about ourselves with others
to signpost the reasons
or conclusions in an In both cases, the combination of a conclusion with at least one reason makes it an argument.
argument Both use processes of rational thought to ask us to accept something. Sometimes arguments
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use specific words to connect their reasons to their conclusion. We can see this as example B
in the original sentence uses the word therefore. This indicates that what comes after the word
is the conclusion, and what comes before are the reasons. The word because in example A has
a similar purpose, except here the word indicates that what comes before is the conclusion,
and what comes afterwards are the reasons. Both therefore and because are examples of
argument indicators, as they are terms which indicate, or point out, the different parts of
an argument. As we have also seen, however, these are not required to make something an
argument: all this needs is at least one reason and one conclusion which are linked to one
another. Using indicators as signposts just makes it clearer.

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 2 Introducing deconstruction

Arguments and disputes

There are also other meanings for the word ‘argument’, however. This is an argument too:
Person 1: I love the internet.

Deconstruction
Person 2: I hate it. It’s the worst thing ever.
This meaning of argument, as a dispute between people, is probably more familiar to you.
Again, we have a difference of opinion, but each side relies on assertion, and emotions
probably also have a big part to play.

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When we follow the Critical Path, we will certainly be interested in exploring and making
decisions about variations of opinion between opposing groups of people. However, the
crucial difference is that we will want each side to justify itself using arguments in the other
sense, with reasons leading to conclusions.
Discussion point
• Discuss with other students what you understand by the term ‘argument’.
•

PL
Which type of argument do you find more useful: a dispute, or reasons leading to
conclusions? Does it depend on the circumstances in which you find yourself?

Recognising arguments
One important skill you will need when finding arguments to support your research is to
be able to recognise them when you come across them, and also to know the difference
between arguments and other kinds of writing.
As we have just seen, arguments in our sense can only be reasons that lead to a conclusion. As we
have seen, the conclusion is often signposted by an argument indicator, like the word ‘therefore’.
However, other words, such as ‘because’, might be used to indicate conclusions or – most often –
KEy TERM

therefore test: a
technique which
inserts the word
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there is no argument indicator at all, but the conclusion is still present. This still means, however, therefore into a text to
that we can use a helpful technique called the therefore test when looking for arguments to test whether or not it
work out whether we have found one. is an argument

The therefore test works by inserting the word therefore immediately to the left of what you
think is the conclusion to the argument. If it really is an argument, you should then be able
to insert reasons from the argument before the word therefore in a way that makes sense, so
you can see that the reasons lead to the conclusion.
SA

Take the following example:

It is important to use content fi ltering to restrict access to the internet. A lot of material
which is available online is inappropriate for children.

We might identify the first sentence of this argument as the conclusion. We can confirm this
using the therefore test:

A lot of material which is available online is inappropriate for children, therefore it is

important to use content fi ltering to restrict access to the internet.

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ACTIvITy 2.05

Try using the therefore test with these extracts to work out which of them are arguments and
which are not.
Deconstruction

1 During my lifetime I have dedicated my life to

this struggle of the African people. I have fought
against white domination, and I have fought
against black domination. I have cherished the
ideal of a democratic and free society in which

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all persons will live together in harmony and
with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which
I hope to live for and to see realised. But, My
Lord, if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am
prepared to die.
From Nelson Mandela’s statement from the dock at
the opening of the defence case in the Rivonia trial, 20 April 1964

PL
2 Nelson Mandela was one of the most significant world figures of the 20th century. This is
because he served as the first black President of South Africa. He was also highly influential
as a global symbol of opposition to the system of Apartheid (racial segregation) in that
country. Finally, he is also famous for supporting non-violent opposition to Apartheid despite
spending many years in prison.
3 Nelson Mandela was President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was born in 1918 and
worked as a lawyer before joining the African National Congress and campaigning against
the system of Apartheid in South Africa. He was held in prison for 27 years until 1990.
You may find the following commentary helpful in checking and discussing your answers:
Extract 1 seems very convincing in its insistence on the importance and fairness of the struggle
in which Nelson Mandela was involved when he was on trial in 1964. However, wherever we
insert the word therefore, we cannot highlight a clear conclusion supported by reasons. In fact,
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it repeats the words ‘domination’ and ‘ideal’ and uses two contrasting pairs of words – ‘white’
and ‘black’ and ‘live’ and ‘die’ to make what it is asserting about that struggle emotionally
KEy TERM convincing. This is, in fact, an example of rhetoric, language designed to be persuasive,
rather than argument, which is language structured to rationally support its conclusions with
rhetoric: language reasons. We can certainly admire it, and even analyse and evaluate how it achieves its effects,
which is primarily but it is not part of the Critical Path.
designed to persuade
its reader or listener, Extract 2 is an argument about Nelson Mandela. You may even have spotted the alternative
argument indicator, because. We can also, however, demonstrate it is an argument by using the
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rather than using

rational techniques therefore test:
of argument to • he served as the first black President of South Africa
demonstrate the • he was highly influential as a global symbol of opposition to the system of Apartheid
strength of the case it
• he is famous for supporting non-violent opposition to Apartheid despite spending many
wishes to make
years in prison
• therefore Nelson Mandela was one of the most significant world figures of the 20th
century
You may not agree that Mandela was one of the most significant world figures of the 20th
century, and you do not have to. However, it is demonstrable that this is an argument which
tries to make the case that he was.
Extract 3 is not an argument: it is simply a series of descriptive statements about Mandela,
and inserting the word therefore anywhere does not allow us to distinguish any reasons or
conclusions.

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 2 Introducing deconstruction

Reflection: Are arguments always the most useful way of approaching an issue? When
might it be more appropriate to use rhetoric or description, and what might the benefits
of these be?

Deconstruction
Discussion point
Use what you have learnt in this section to share with other students or your teacher
examples of arguments, rhetoric or descriptions you have come across in your other subjects

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or more generally.

2.03 Evaluating arguments

Once we have identified a range of arguments responding to an issue, we need to evaluate
them. As we saw in Chapter 1 when introducing this term, evaluation measures the strengths

PL
and weaknesses of something in order to make a judgement about its value.
Identification and evaluation work together as essential stages in the active reading
of sources. Recognising this and putting it into practice is an important stage of your
development as a student of Global Perspectives.
Up until this point in this chapter, we have focused on recognising arguments, and KEy TERMS
identifying where the parts of the argument (the conclusion and reasons) can be found in a
identify: to establish
source. This might also involve explaining how the reasons are linked to the conclusion, and what or where
why the conclusion is what it is. something is in a text
Evaluation relies on identification and explanation – we need to know what we are assessing explain: to show
and pick out its strengths and weaknesses before we can make that judgement about its understanding of
something in a text
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value or acceptability. This is why terms like ‘assess’ or questions like ‘to what extent’ or ‘how
by describing it in
convincing’ are often used as equivalents to ‘evaluate’: they refer to the same process of additional detail
weighing up and making judgements about parts of an argument.
Your ability to apply these skills when you read a text are directly tested in the written paper,
but they are also skills you will need when reading any text throughout the course, so it is
important to establish them at the start.
Deconstruction, as the first stage of the Critical Path, is concerned with identifying parts of
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arguments and explaining how they work in order to make decisions about which arguments KEy TERMS
are stronger and which are weaker. Knowing this will help in reflecting on the larger
structure: the
judgements required by the later stages of the path. organisation of a
There are several separate, specific ways in which arguments we find as sources can be text, and how each
measured: element within it is
placed together
1 the structure of the argument: how closely reasons relate to conclusions and how evidence: facts or
effectively different lines of argument support one another other data supporting
reasons or claims
2 the evidence supporting the argument: the quantity, type and quality of pieces of
evidence used to back up individual reasons context: factors that
are outside the source
3 the context of the argument: who wrote it, where it was published, when it was written and its argument,
such as its author
The following sections of this chapter focus on each of these in turn, showing how they
or where it was
represent different ways of reading arguments. We will then see how they can be combined published, that affect
in order to fully evaluate, or deconstruct, sources, including weighing them up against one its meaning
another.

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2.04 Evaluating the structure of arguments

When exploring art in an international context, one popular area of debate concerns the
status of graffiti, images or text placed on walls in public areas which, usually, do not have
Deconstruction

the permission of the property owner. This short extract from an argument by Heather
MacDonald, published in The New York Times, is an example of an argument which is
frequently made against graffiti:

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Graffiti is always vandalism. By definition it is committed without permission on another
person’s property, in an adolescent display of entitlement. Whether particular viewers
find any given piece of graffiti artistically compelling is irrelevant. Graffiti’s most salient
characteristic is that it is a crime.

MacDonald, H. (2014) ‘Graffitti is always vandalism’, The New York Times (11 July 2014).

PL
This argument consists of a conclusion and three reasons. We could place them in list form as
follows:
• Conclusion: Graffiti is always vandalism
• Reason 1: The definition of graffiti is that it is placed on someone else’s property without
permission
• Reason 2: It is not relevant if specific individuals see graffiti as art
KEy TERMS • Reason 3: The most important characteristic of graffiti is that it is a crime
strength: a feature
of an argument which
makes it more likely it When evaluating this argument in terms of its structure, we need to take note of its
will be accepted strengths and weaknesses. One strength here is that it has more than one line of
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weakness: a feature argument. This means that the three reasons each independently support the conclusion
of an argument which from different directions. Reason 1 claims that graffiti shares part of its definition with the
makes it less likely it
definition of vandalism: both involve doing something to someone else’s property without
will be accepted
permission. Reason 2 claims that just because some people say that graffiti is art does
line of argument:
a separate direction not mean that it is not actually vandalism. Finally, Reason 3 says that even if it has other
or type of argument characteristics, the most important characteristic of graffiti is that it is a crime. Each of these
which leads to the lines of argument takes a different potential counter-argument, or argument against the
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conclusion conclusion, and challenges it.

counter-argument:
an argument which
Another area for evaluation, however, is how closely connected each reason is to the
could be made to conclusion. We call this the inferential gap, and it can be represented visually with Reason 2:
challenge another
argument
inferential gap:
It is not relevant if specific
the gap of reasoning individuals see graffiti as art graffiti is always vandalism
between a reason
and the conclusion it
supports
assumption: an In order to accept the conclusion on the basis of this reason, we would need to insert some
unstated reason other claims into the gap. The first is that the majority of people see graffiti as vandalism. The
which needs to be second might be that, in this case, the opinion of the majority is always more important than
included in order for that of the minority.
an argument to work
successfully We can call these unstated claims assumptions: reasons which are not explicitly included in
the argument but which must be placed there in order to accept that the conclusion follows

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 2 Introducing deconstruction

from the reasons which are stated. The more assumptions which need to be made in order to
accept the conclusion, however, the weaker the argument can be said to be.

Deconstruction
ACTIvITy 2.06

Read the following article, from the same edition of The New York Times as that by Heather
MacDonald. It is by Lady Pink, a graffiti artist.
Can you:

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• identify the conclusion and reasons?
• evaluate the argument by weighing up strengths and weaknesses by locating lines of
argument, counter-arguments, inferential gaps and assumptions?

PL
Graffiti Is Young, Cool, Creative – Let It Happen
If graffiti is inspiring, it’s because it’s fun, cool and does not take formal training. Young
kids who paint on the walls are screaming to be heard and, yes, we all started that way. My
husband and I have to clean graffiti off of my property from time to time, but I see it as the
price we all pay for urban living. A bit of rebellion is something we should champion as a
society. Somebody has to question the status quo – or we’ll grow stagnant.
I, for one, would also rather see the creative outpouring of our youth on the walls instead
of the billboards and advertising inflicted upon us around every corner. The art world has
already acknowledged the value of it. Street art has become wildly marketable.
By encouraging kids to create art in this medium – and not just tag their names across
walls – we could empower generations. Who knows? They might even be able to make a
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living doing what they love.

Pink, L. (2014) ‘Graffiti Is Young, Cool, Creative – Let It Happen’, The New York Times
(11 July 2014).
SA

Reflection: The conclusion of this article is contained in the headline: we are being asked to ‘let
it happen’. Applying the therefore test, the three reasons leading directly to this conclusion are
firstly that it is ‘young’, secondly that it is ‘cool’ and thirdly that it is ‘creative’. Each of these in turn
is supported by separate lines of argument in the body of the article.
As we weigh up strengths and weaknesses, we could note that it is strengthened in its support by
three distinct lines of reasoning. It also acknowledges a counter-argument, that people have to clear
graffiti off their property, but responds to it as the price we pay for urban living.
The most significant potential weakness in this argument is the number of substantial inferential
gaps. For example, the claim that graffiti is creative is supported by the further claim that its
creativity is preferable to billboard advertising. Between the two steps is an inferential gap which
would need to be filled with the assumption that graffiti is more creative than advertising. Why
this should be is not clear: is it because youthfulness is assumed to be equivalent to creativity, or
is there another argument which says that art produced by corporations cannot be creative? Part
of the problem is that the word ‘creative’ itself is not clearly defined, nor is the word ‘cool’. The
importance of defining terms as part of making arguments is addressed in Chapter 3.

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Comparing strengths and weaknesses and making evaluative

judgements
Evaluating the structure of arguments, like the other aspects of arguments, requires using the
Deconstruction

strengths and weaknesses we have identified to make a judgement on how acceptable they
are overall. In the case of each of these arguments about graffiti, this judgement is likely to
depend on whether one accepts the assumptions it requires. MacDonald’s reasoning against
graffiti requires us to accept that the majority view on the issue will be correct because most
people hold it. Pink, on the other hand, requires us to prioritise youth and change above the

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majority status quo. Which of the two you decide to support is dependent, in this case, on
which set of assumptions you prefer.
To summarise, when we are evaluating arguments based on their structure, we are judging
how well constructed they are, as if we were trying to decide if a house was built well or not.
This is based on two factors:

PL
• how extensive the foundations are: is there a range of lines of argument, how well do they
support each other, and how effectively do they address each aspect of the conclusion?
• how large the gaps in the fabric of the building are: are there excessively large inferential
gaps between stages of reasoning which require the insertion of assumptions as missing
reasons, or perhaps as an overall claim to make the argument work?
Just because there are gaps to fill does not necessarily mean that we will make an evaluative
judgement that the argument overall is less convincing. What may matter most is whether
we agree with the assumptions which would need to be used to fill those gaps: if we cannot,
then the argument as a whole is more likely to be rejected; if we can, then that may make it
more likely we will accept it.
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More complex structures of argument
Before moving on from argument structure, we can read one more argument about graffiti,
this time by Lu Olivero, director of the Aerosol Carioca, a group based in Rio de Janeiro which
focuses on the academic study of graffiti. It appeared in the same special feature in The New
York Times as the previous two arguments:

Graffiti straddles the line between pure art and pure

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vandalism.
Banksy’s work has unintentionally reignited the “art or vandalism” debate: though the
British government has been vigilant in removing his trademark stencil art, labeling it
“vandalism,” his original works and knockoffs have skyrocketed in price over the last
decade. His work is often highly satirical of establishment rules and politics. Why is it that
Banksy’s work is gobbled up by the same people he is critical of – yet his contemporaries
are looked at as “criminals”? Why are they judged so differently?
Thirty years ago hip-hop music was labeled “noise,” and graffiti will follow the same
trajectory. Perceptions about street art have already drastically changed.
For example, in Brazil, during late 1990s, it was common for graffiti artists to be harassed
or shot at by the police. Today, many of the same officers support graffiti initiatives for
city beautification, and as a crime deterrent. They understand that graffiti can be a career
opportunity for youth in low-income neighborhoods. The growth of graffiti in Brazil, and
its role in challenging the status quo, demonstrates the power of art, and its ability to create
dialogue.

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 2 Introducing deconstruction

The truth is that despite the acceptance of graffiti, it needs the law so that it can function
outside of it. This is where innovation is born, and this is what pushes the art to evolve. Had
graffiti artists in Brazil painted inside the lines of the law, many internationally acclaimed

Deconstruction
artists would never have existed.

Olivero, L. (2014) ‘Graffiti Is a Public Good, Even As It Challenges the Law’, The New York
Times (11 July 2014).

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ACTIvITy 2.07

Can you come up with a key for labelling each of the coloured sections of this argument (red,
blue, green and orange)? Each relates to the structure of the argument.

PL
Reflection: The text in red is perhaps the easiest to label. It is the conclusion of Olivero’s
argument. We can confirm this by using the therefore test, as the claims made in the rest of the
argument all support this as a conclusion: graffiti lies between art and vandalism. Yet the rest of
the argument is longer than the previous examples we have looked at, and not all of it has been
reproduced here. Not only this, it seems to fall into several dissimilar sections. The text in blue is
concerned with the British street artist Banksy; the section in green is about how perceptions of
street art have changed, especially in Brazil; the orange section is about the relationship between
graffiti in general and the law.
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We can use what we have learnt already to call these lines of argument: each is a separate
pillar supporting the final conclusion from a different direction. But these lines of argument
are much more substantial than the ones we have previously looked at. Each works as
an argument in itself. We can tell this because the sentence in italics within each section
works as a conclusion just for that section, and the therefore test can be used to show that.
For example, the fact that Banksy’s art has been removed consistently by the authorities,
combined with the reason that it has massively increased in value in the art market, leads
to the conclusion that his work has reignited the debate about the status of graffiti between
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vandalism and art.

We can call this sort of conclusion an intermediate conclusion, as it is not the final KEy TERMS
conclusion of the argument. That is called the main conclusion. Instead it works as
intermediate
a reason which supports the main conclusion, but also clearly organises each line of
conclusion: a
argument. Out in the real world, as an active reader, you are more likely to encounter longer conclusion which
and more complex arguments such as this. Therefore, a key skill of reading is to be able to also functions as a
break these arguments down into the smaller arguments which make them up. This type of reason leading to
navigation will help you to extract the precise sections of argument you need in order to be the main conclusion.
able to reconstruct and reflect on debates effectively yourself. It is supported by
reasons within a
specific section of an
2.05 Evaluating the evidence supporting an argument argument.
main conclusion: the
The structure of the argument itself is not the only aspect we need to consider when final conclusion of an
evaluating its effectiveness. The evidence supporting each reason or line of argument is argument
equally important. By ‘evidence’ we mean the facts or other kinds of information which back

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up claims or reasons. As well as evaluating the argument itself, we can also weigh up each
piece of evidence when coming to an overall judgement.

KEy TERMS Types of evidence

Deconstruction

Evidence can come in a number of different types. One of the main distinctions is between
primary evidence:
first-hand information, primary evidence and secondary evidence.
directly about Primary evidence can be thought of as the raw material from which we can know about
something
something. It can be a first-hand account, produced by someone who has witnessed an

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secondary evidence:
event, or it might be measurements taken directly of the thing being described.
evidence combined
or summarised from Secondary evidence, on the other hand, consists of books or articles which have been
primary evidence, but based on the primary evidence. They might summarise the primary evidence for us, or draw
not directly from the
together different sources of evidence for something, but the ability to do this means that the
situation itself
secondary evidence will always be placed between us and the primary evidence for an event
quantitative

PL
evidence: evidence
or situation.
which measures the Other types of evidence are quantitative evidence which describes things numerically, and
amount of something,
qualitative evidence which instead describes things subjectively, or in other ways which
usually numerically
cannot be reduced to numerical data.
qualitative
evidence: evidence Evidence can also consist of facts or opinions. Facts can be checked against other sources
which measures the of evidence, and remain the same: someone’s height, for example, or the volume of carbon
quality of something monoxide generated by the traffic in a city. Opinions depend on individuals’ judgement of
as attributes
which cannot be
the value of something, and are based solely on their own point of view. An opinion cannot
summarised as be questioned on its own terms, but can only be challenged by another, different opinion on
numerical quantities the same matter. For example, one opinion, or value judgement, about motor vehicles is that
facts: measurements they imprison us in congested cities. Another is that they free people to move around and
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of things which are between geographical areas in ways that would not have previously been possible.
accepted to actually
exist, and which
can be proved or Questions about evidence
disproved As we have seen, the variety of different kinds of evidence means that we cannot make
opinion: an straightforward judgements about a piece of evidence simply based on its type. Primary
individual’s judgement evidence is not always better than secondary evidence, and opinions can sometimes – but
of the value of not always – be more effective than facts. Instead it is more important to ask questions about
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something. These
the evidence we encounter in arguments to help us make decisions about its reliability:
cannot be proved or
disproved, but can be whether we accept that it provides sufficient support for the claim in the argument to which it
challenged by other is being attached.
opinions.
Asking questions is one of the most important dispositions, or kinds of behaviour, we can
have when following the Critical Path, and applies particularly to the active reading which is
required by deconstruction.

KEy TERM
Is it relevant?
reliability: the extent The first key question to ask about any piece of evidence is whether it is relevant to the
to which a piece of
claim it is being used to support. This is illustrated in the following article, published in The
evidence provides
acceptable support for Guardian newspaper in the UK in 2013, by Chris Faulkner, CEO of Breitling Energy Corporation,
a claim or reason which specialises in ‘fracking’, the injection of high-pressure liquid into underground rock to
release deposits of gas.

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 2 Introducing deconstruction

Why the UK should embrace fracking

The United Kingdom is braced for the worst winter in 60 years, with heavy snows and

Deconstruction
record cold forecast. For many, survival will take a huge toll on the handbag: last year, the
average fuel bill soared to a record £1,353, and the Office for Budget Responsibility says it will
increase by £100 on average this year.
If that does not make you shiver, consider this: at one point last winter, the UK’s gas supply
was a mere six hours from empty.

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It does not have to be that way. The future will be a lot warmer if the UK can muster the
political will to look to a promising new alternative in energy production – hydraulic
fracturing, or “fracking”, a drilling technique that releases natural gas stuck in shale
formations, opening access to enormous underground reserves.
So far, the UK has refrained from taking advantage of this extraordinary ability to tap
previously inaccessible reserves, citing environmental concerns. A close look at the

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fracking experience across the Atlantic, however, demonstrates how unfounded the
concerns are and how beneficial fracking can be, both environmentally and economically.
As the United States has become more adept at tapping its existing energy resources,
largely through fracking, the yields have been astronomical: this year, the US became the
biggest natural gas producer in the world.
...

Faulkner, C. (2013) ‘Why the UK should embrace fracking’, The Guardian.

As the article’s headline suggests, it concludes that the UK should embrace fracking. The
evidence it uses to support this could be set out as follows:
M
1 The UK is forecast to have the worst winter in 60 years
2 The average UK fuel bill went up to £1353 last year
3 This year it will increase by £100
4 Last winter, at one point, the UK was six hours away from running out of gas
5 The US has become the biggest global natural gas producer in the world using fracking
SA

ACTIvITy 2.08

Take the opportunity to ask some questions, as an individual or in groups, about the relevance
of the evidence used by Chris Faulkner in his argument. How relevant is each piece of evidence
to his conclusion, that the UK should embrace fracking?
Once you have written out your ideas about each piece of evidence, read the reflection below
which discusses some ideas about how the relevance of this evidence can be evaluated.

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Reflection: The first piece of evidence is about the weather in the UK, and is of a forecast, a
piece of secondary evidence, as it is an analysis of data about the weather. It does not seem to be
directly relevant to fracking. The next two pieces of evidence relate to domestic energy costs in
Deconstruction

the UK: their level and rate of increase. Again, this does not seem directly relevant to fracking as a
method of energy generation.
The fourth piece of evidence is more relevant, as it is at least evidence of levels of gas reserves
in the UK, and the source tells us that fracking is a method of gas extraction. It is not the only
method, however, so this piece of evidence would not exclusively support fracking.

E
The final piece of evidence is not from the UK at all, but from the USA, and is evidence of the
economic success enjoyed by the US through fracking as the biggest natural gas producer
in the world. It is the most relevant piece of evidence, as it is the only one that describes the
benefits of fracking directly. It comes from a different country, however, and requires us to

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draw the conclusion: in this case adding an intermediate conclusion, which is not supplied in
the argument, that the UK will enjoy economic success from fracking. This in turn becomes a
reason supporting the conclusion that the UK should embrace fracking.
M
SA

As can be seen from this reflection, evidence can have differing degrees of relevance to the
conclusion being drawn. When evaluating the relevance of evidence as part of an overall
argument, we therefore need to ask some important questions:
1 Where is this evidence relevant to the claim being made, and the overall conclusion of the
argument? Where is it irrelevant?
2 What further assumptions, evidence or claims would be required to make the evidence
relevant to the conclusion?
3 Overall, can we accept the conclusion on the basis of the relevance of the evidence which
supports it?

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 2 Introducing deconstruction

Is it signifi cant or selective?

The final set of questions we should be able to ask about evidence is whether it is selective
or significant. Like relevance, these are concerned with which evidence the writer of the
argument has chosen to use, and how well it supports their conclusion.

Deconstruction
If evidence is selective then the argument includes some evidence but leaves other evidence
out in order to more strongly support its own conclusion. Although the evidence which is
included can be said to be therefore more sharply focused, it is also a negative strategy in
that the evidence which is excluded has the potential to challenge the conclusion which has

E
been reached.
The signifi cance of evidence, on the other hand, is a measure of whether the writer of the
argument has chosen the best possible evidence that provides the fullest support for their
argument. Is the evidence that has been used significant, or meaningful, in supporting the
argument?

PL
As with our previous reading questions, the best means of understanding them is to see
them used in evaluating an actual argument. This is an article on the website of Greenpeace
USA, a campaigning environmental charity:

The Dangers of Fracking

Since 2005, more than 100,000 oil and gas wells have been drilled and fracked in the United
States.
Fracking has been pursued by countries like Canada, India, the U.K., and China, and in
numerous U.S. states.
M
...
Fracking is a water-intensive process. In water-scarce Western states like Texas and
Colorado, more than 3.6 million gallons of water are used every time a well is fracked,
which can happen multiple times throughout the life of a well.
The process involves injecting a huge quantity of fresh water mixed with toxic chemicals—
called fracking fluids—deep into the ground. Fossil fuels companies routinely claim that
these fracking fluids are harmless because they’re roughly 2 percent chemical and 98
percent water. But 2 percent of the billions of gallons of fracking fluid created by drillers
SA

every year equals hundreds of tons of toxic chemicals, many of which are kept secret by the
industry.
...
While the fossil fuel industry denies it, the EPA has acknowledged the connection between
fracking and increased earthquakes since 1990.
Scientists have made firm links between earthquakes in Colorado, Oklahoma, Ohio and
Arkansas in the past few years.
Oklahoma, for example, averaged 21 earthquakes per year above a 3.0 magnitude between
1967 and 2000. Since 2010 and the beginning of the fracking boom, the state has averaged
more than 300 earthquakes above 3.0 magnitude every year.
...
Fracking is diverting money and attention from the real long-term solutions we need for
a sustainable energy system, while adding to greenhouse gas pollution and environmental
degradation.
➔

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Join us in telling government and big business to stop pursuing this false solution and start
focusing on the energy future we want, one based on clean and renewable energy.

Greenpeace USA, ‘Fracking’. Available from: http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/global-warming/

Deconstruction

issues/fracking/, n.d.

ACTIvITy 2.09

E
This article concludes that governments and corporations should stop fracking and turn to
alternative sources of energy.
1 List the pieces of evidence used in the Greenpeace USA article.
2 For each piece of evidence you list, identify the claim in the article it is being used to
support, and consider how well it supports the main conclusion.

PL
3 Reflect on what you have found:
a What is the most significant evidence that supports the conclusion? Is any of the
evidence less significant?
b Is the evidence used here at all selective? Why?

Reflection: The article uses a number of different items of evidence. For example:
• the 100,000 oil wells drilled and fracked in the United States
• the 3.6 million gallons of water used each time a well is fracked
M
• the increased earthquakes in Oklahoma since 2010

Some of the evidence is both relevant to the conclusion and significant in supporting it.
The water used by fracking, especially as this is located in states which are susceptible
to drought, supports the conclusion that fracking should be stopped because of its
environmental impact.
SA

Some pieces of evidence are less firmly significant, however. The number of wells drilled and
the list of countries involved are not linked to claims at all. This might support the conclusion
that fracking is now a widespread activity, but not in itself that it should be stopped.
The shift in Oklahoma’s average number of earthquakes from 21 per year to over 300 since
2010, when fracking started to be increasingly employed, seems convincing. Yet this is
selective: we do not have information about earthquake frequencies in other areas at the
same time, or any other factors apart from fracking which might have led to the earthquakes.
We would need more evidence from other sources in order to be able to accept the link. This is
called corroboration: evidence used from one source to confirm the acceptability of another.
Comparative evaluation of evidence
Both of these sources, Chris Faulkner’s case for fracking, and Greenpeace USA’s argument
against, use a range of evidence to support their claims. This means that although we have
identified some weaknesses in evaluating them individually, neither is obviously weaker
than the other overall, although they are quite different in the way that they support
their conclusions.
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 2  Introducing deconstruction

When locating and reading sources in order to explore debates around Global Perspectives
& Research issues, it is not useful to seek out obviously weak evidence and demonstrate
its shortcomings. This does not tell us very much about the merits of each side. Instead,
analysing the different kinds of evidence each source offers will better enable us to make a

Deconstruction
decision between them.

Activity 2.10

Compare the examples of evidence from Faulkner and Greenpeace USA in the table below:

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Faulker Greenpeace USA
UK fuel bill £1353 3.6 million gallons water used
US will be biggest natural gas producer earthquakes increased to over 300 per
annum

PL
Table 2.01: The fracking debate: evidence presented by Faulkner and by Greenpeace USA

1 What other items of evidence could you add from the sources to each column of the table?
2 Look at the type of evidence from each article. What differences do you notice and does
this help you to make a decision?

Discussion point
M
You may have noticed in Activity 2.10 that the evidence from Chris Faulkner of Breitling
Energy tended to be financial: about the economic benefits of fracking, or the economic
disadvantages associated with not fracking. Greenpeace USA, on the other hand, uses
evidence of the environmental impact of fracking to argue against it: the amount of water
used, and earthquakes generated.
If you had to choose a side in the fracking debate based on the evidence presented, which
one would it be and how would you decide? When you discuss this with others, you may find
SA

that some people identify that the case for fracking here comes from an economic point
of view, because that is the nature of the evidence it presents, whereas the case against
tends to be environmental. Therefore, it is no longer really a matter of which side presents
the stronger or weaker evidence. Rather, it is a matter of whether we judge the strengths of
economic evidence to be more or less significant than those of the environmental. Which do
you value more, the economic or the environmental, and does this lead you towards judging
on one side of the debate or the other?

2.06 Evaluating the context of arguments

When considering the context of arguments, we are not looking at the structure of the
argument itself or its evidence, but at where it comes from. The word ‘context’ comes from
the Latin verb texere, to ‘weave together’. The prefix ‘con’ often means ‘with’ something else,
so when we speak of context we mean what is woven together with the text: the people,
organisations or environments outside the text of the argument itself which influence,
control or organise its meanings. We often do not see these directly or obviously within the

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 Cambridge International AS & A Level Global Perspectives & Research

argument itself, but they can have a significant impact on the conclusions it reaches, the
evidence it selects and the assumptions it makes.
There are two main ways in which an active reading, following the Critical Path, can make
use of context. The first is to exclude arguments we may not want to use on either side of
Deconstruction

the debate when we are looking for suitable sources. We do this by evaluating a source’s
KEy TERM credibility: the factors in its context which might make its arguments more or less
believable. By excluding less credible sources on both sides of the debate, we can ensure that
credibility: the
we are comparing the strongest possible arguments when making a final judgement.
believability of the

E
claims made by a The second use of context is to help in locating arguments. Once we have ruled out weaker
source related to its arguments and analysed the conclusions, lines of reasoning, assumptions and evidence of
context
those which remain, the context of the source can help us to understand differences between
them. Here, the purpose is not to be able to say which arguments are weaker and must be
rejected, but instead to be able to choose which ones most convincingly line up with the
position we want to choose for ourselves in our final judgement. Chapter 3, which combines

PL
the reconstruction, or comparison, of texts with deconstruction, and Chapter 4, which
adds in reflection in a guide to planning and writing essays, explore these skills of selection,
comparison and choice in much more detail. However, the skill of reading the context of texts
will help with all of these.

ACTIvITy 2.11

Make a list of the factors in the context of a source which might affect the credibility of its
arguments or how we would respond to the judgements made by its conclusion. Examples of
these might be the background of its writer or the date of publication.
M
Discussion point
You can extend the activity by reflecting individually or discussing with others what are the
most useful or important contextual factors.

Assessing credibility
When a source is measured in terms of its credibility there are standard criteria, or standards
of measurement, we can apply to do this. These are commonly listed as:
SA

Reputation

Ability to observe
Neutrality

Credibility
criteria

Expertise Vested interest

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 2 Introducing deconstruction

These criteria are most useful in helping us to prioritise the sources we might find most
useful while undertaking research. Just as emergency personnel often undertake an initial
assessment to identify the most urgent or serious cases before sending patients to hospital,
credibility criteria are useful in performing an initial sorting of sources in order to identify

Deconstruction
which will provide the best support for each side of the debate. KEy TERMS

The reputation of the writer or publication is the evidence we have that their claims, in reputation: the
general, are believable or reasonable. Reputations are built up over time, so a good way to past actions or
evaluate the reputation of a source is to look at what else the writer has written and how arguments made by
a source which have

E
it has been received by others, or how that publication has been written about previously.
an influence on their
There are specific categories of publication summarised later in this section that can help us current credibility
in making decisions about reputation. ability to observe:
Ability to observe is linked to the distinction we have already looked at between primary how far a source has
first-hand knowledge
and secondary evidence. Sometimes a source may make claims about the situation itself,
of the things it argues
which is part of primary evidence, and we need to make a decision whether they were in a

PL
about
position to have observed that directly. For example, a newspaper reporter filing their report
vested interest: the
from London might make claims about a refugee camp in Iraq. If we know that they were not direct benefit a source
able to observe those conditions directly, then any eyewitness account might produce very would gain from
large inferential gaps because of the assumptions involved. However, if their information having its conclusions
is assembled from other, reliable sources of primary evidence, then the ability to observe accepted by others
becomes less important.
Sometimes a source might have a vested interest in the claims they are making. This
means they would benefit directly from others’ accepting the argument they are making.
A multinational corporation might, for instance, argue for barriers to trade in a specific
country to be lowered when they would then profit from that decision. Or, to use an example
from earlier in the chapter, Breitling Energy Corporation has a vested interest in the UK’s
M
embracing fracking, as their business is based on gas extraction. However, just because they
have a vested interest does not necessarily mean that fracking is a bad idea. It just means we
have to be particularly careful in assessing their claims. KEy TERMS
The expertise of a source is about knowledge they have which informs the case they make.
expertise: the
This may enable them to select evidence and employ a level of detail which strengthens their specific knowledge
arguments. For example, an environmental biologist would be able to draw on knowledge or learning a source
of ecological processes to closely argue about the consequences of pollution. However, this has about the area in
SA

does not mean that university academics or professionals should always be believed just which it is arguing
because of their background. The evidence they use and the arguments they make should be neutrality: the degree
assessed on their own merits, especially if the context of the debate is different to their area to which a source
either shows balance
of expertise. Experts are not experts about everything.
or deliberately
The degree of neutrality of a source refers to whether they have reason to select evidence selects argument and
in order to present a particular case. The argument from Greenpeace USA against fracking in evidence in order to
support a particular
Section 2.05 lacks neutrality because of its selection of exclusively environmental evidence in
case
support of its case. Sometimes sources which are not neutral or balanced in their arguments
bias: a view of
are described as being biased, which is often seen as a weakness in itself. However, all
something which
arguments could be said to be biased because they select reasons and evidence in order to deliberately favours
support their own conclusion and exclude counter-arguments which challenge them. This one particular aspect
is why once a source has been selected, criticising it for bias in itself is a less helpful way of or opinion
evaluating it.

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ACTIvITy 2.12

The credibility criteria can be very helpful in categorising different kinds of source, and making
judgements about whether the arguments they contain would be suitable for selection as the
Deconstruction

strongest representatives of each side of a debate.

Read the following three sources and comment on them using the five credibility criteria. How
effective are they under each of these? Once you have done this, reflect on or discuss how this
is related to the strengths and weaknesses of argument and evidence they show.

E
Source 1
Floody obvious
THE only certainty with Britain’s weather is that, no matter what it does, it will be deemed

PL
proof of global warming.
A mild, rainy December with disastrous floods suits the climate change lobby. So would
dry, bone-chilling cold.
But here’s something more provably connected: our increasingly regular floods – and our
rivers increasingly being too clogged with gravel and silt to drain water out to the sea.
That’s because regular dredging is made almost impossible by a crazy EU law to keep rivers
“natural” and protect the ecosystem. The result? Cities submerged. Lives and businesses
ruined.
Dredging is not the only answer. But it would certainly provide more immediate protection
than the puny efforts of climate change conferences to somehow turn down Earth’s
thermostat.
...
M
‘The Sun Says’ (2016), Floody obvious, The Sun (1 January 2016).

Source 2
SA

Still hope on climate change

...
As most of the UK enjoys a brief August heatwave, Nasa has confirmed that July was the
hottest month the world has experienced since records began. Even in Britain, where
most of the month was wet and cool and felt not very summery at all, it was by a narrow
margin the warmest month in the past 130 years of record-keeping – and it was the 10th
month in a row that a new high was set. Siberian permafrost is melting, releasing lethal
anthrax bacteria from thawing reindeer carcasses into the environment. There are floods
in southern Louisiana which have killed 11 people and in California thousands are fleeing
from forest fires. The link between short-term weather events and long-term changes in the
climate may be tenuous, but it’s just what the scientists warned about.
Ever since the general election . . . the political climate has seemed as bleak as the weather
has been warm; subsidies for renewables have been cut and incentives intended to
encourage landowners to give permission for fracking expanded. . . . Yet there are
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 2 Introducing deconstruction

glimmers of optimism, too. . . . The Paris climate summit commitment to cut carbon
emissions far enough and fast enough to hold the rise in global temperatures below a
maximum of 2C is helping to expand the market in renewables, not least by collapsing the

Deconstruction
appetite for investment in fossil fuels. . . .

The Guardian (2016), ‘The Guardian view on the heatwave: still hope on climate change’
(17 August 2016).

E
Source 3
Changing the climate debate
Discussion about climate change seems stuck in an unproductive dichotomy. One side
argues vehemently that global warming is nothing but a grand hoax. The other side

PL
maintains that the planet is headed for catastrophe. In my book, Cool It: The Skeptical
Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming, I point out how neither side is right, and
propose that we stake out a more sensible middle ground.
However, many people in this debate appear to identify almost tribally with one set of
arguments. Kevin Watkins’s review of my book is a case in point. He claims that while I
don’t deny that climate change is real, I understate the problems it causes.
...
Watkins is bothered by my reporting that the IPCC’s estimates show that oceans will rise
between 18–59cm, and that the most likely scenario is around 30cm. That’s similar to what
the planet experienced in the last 150 years and it (rather obviously) coped. Watkins also
accuses me of being fi xated on low estimates, yet I also consider the IPCC’s projections of
M
what would happen if Greenland were to melt much faster: sea levels would rise about 7cm
and—at most—about 20cm.
Another complaint is that I encourage readers to “look on the bright side” of global
warming. I submit that looking at both the negative and positive impacts of climate change
is reasonable. Rising temperatures will mean more heat waves, but the cold is a much bigger
killer than the heat. By 2050, global warming will cause almost 400,000 more heat-related
deaths each year. Yet at the same time, 1.8m fewer people will die from cold. In this respect,
global warming will save lives. Cooling our fears of global warming is important, because
SA

our panic often seems to affect our abilities to tackle the challenges of the 21st century. Yes,
we need to fi x global warming in the long run. But we are blindly focusing on policies that
will not achieve this.
...

From Lomborg, B. (2007) ‘Changing the Climate Debate’, Prospect magazine

(25 November 2007).

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Reflection: Undertaking this activity would first require some research on each of these
publications. The Sun is a UK tabloid newspaper, with a reputation for courting popularity and
Deconstruction

focusing on entertainment alongside the reporting of news. The Guardian, on the other hand, is
a broadsheet newspaper and seeks to maintain a reputation for accurate reporting of the news
and well-informed argument, although it is still written and published for a mass audience.
Prospect’s website describes itself as ‘the leading magazine of ideas’ and has a reputation for
more intellectually demanding and specialised arguments in the field of politics, culture and
economics.

E
Prospect’s article is the only one with a named author: the others are issued under the
authorship of the publication, so rely on their reputation in general. Bjorn Lomborg is
described as adjunct professor at the Copenhagen Business School, part of the University
of Copenhagen, and the author of The Skeptical Environmentalist, a book published by

PL
Cambridge University Press, giving this source the highest level of expertise. None of the
sources have the ability to observe directly, but this seems less relevant in this case, as they
are also making arguments using secondary evidence.
The vested interest of The Guardian and Prospect seems to be in maintaining their
reputation, although in the case of The Sun this is less clear. Research into other editorial
pieces from this publication would reveal other arguments which are hostile to the European
Union, so there seems to be an interest in maintaining this position. None of the sources are
neutral: Lomborg argues for a ‘middle ground’ on how worried we should be about global
warming caused by humans. The Guardian argues firmly that climate change is a problem
and we need to do something about it, while weighing up evidence for and against the case
that effective action is taking place. The Sun shows least neutrality, and is tightly focused on
M
its case that controlling carbon dioxide emissions is less effective than river dredging as a
response to climate change.
These findings are also reflected in the arguments and evidence of the sources themselves.
The Sun relies on assertions to support its conclusion and provides no evidence, whereas
both The Guardian and Lomborg in Prospect support their arguments with evidence,
although they reach opposing conclusions. From this it is these two sources which are most
useful, and applying the criteria enables us to select them as the strongest representatives
SA

of different sides of this debate. But just because The Sun is a less credible source on this
topic does not mean that scepticism about climate change caused by humans is necessarily
a weaker argument: Lomborg’s case demonstrates this. Instead, we need to locate and
make sense of the differences and similarities between the strongest arguments we can find,
organising them into perspectives. Doing this is the focus of Chapter 3.

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 2  Introducing deconstruction

Summary
In this chapter we have: • explored the implications of the context of arguments,

Deconstruction
• reviewed the different kinds of reading that it is necessary especially their authorship
to do as a student, and made a distinction between • evaluated the context of a range of sources containing
reading as decoding and active reading where we analyse arguments, applying credibility criteria.
and evaluate texts
It is important to recognise that we have been largely focusing
• identified the skill of active reading as part of the first stage on single sources in this chapter, learning to apply the tools

E
of the Critical Path, which is deconstruction of active reading, or deconstruction, to evaluate the structure
• defined arguments as conclusions supported by reasons of their arguments, their use of evidence and their context as
and explored the differences between arguments and other sources. This is a useful starting point for the skills you need to
types of text develop as a Global Perspectives & Research student, and the
• learnt how to evaluate the structure of arguments, including longer question has given you the opportunity to practise them
making judgements about how the conclusion is supported further.

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by lines of argument and the presence of assumptions and The next stage will be to compare and group arguments more
inferential gaps precisely into perspectives so that you can evaluate debates
• explored longer and more complex arguments where more broadly and reach conclusions. You will still be using the
intermediate conclusions are present skills of deconstruction to weigh up arguments we have learnt in
• identified the different kinds of evidence used to support this chapter, but you will be aiming to make larger judgements
arguments about debates. This will be done individually, but also in
collaboration with other students, and you will also learn how to
• developed a list of questions to ask about evidence in
communicate your findings in essays and presentations, rather
arguments in order to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses
than just in response to shorter questions.
M
SA

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Practising deconstruction
This section of the chapter is divided into three: firstly, developing deconstruction, secondly,
establishing deconstruction and finally, enhancing deconstruction. Each section focuses on
Deconstruction

the active reading skill of deconstruction, but is also designed to build on the one before.
You can either work through each section in turn or choose the section that you feel is at the
most appropriate level for you. You should see a progression of difficulty through the three
levels, but they are also linked in this chapter to the skills we have established at this stage of
the Critical Path.

E
These sections use the topic of Migration and Work, one of the topics listed in the
Cambridge International AS & A Level Global Perspectives & Research syllabus. However, you
should be able to employ the principles of your learning here to a wide variety of other topics
in the research you do and examination questions you answer.

PL
Developing deconstruction
Read this source and answer the questions that follow.

Document 1
Here are the three biggest threats to the world right now
This article was published in The Telegraph, a UK newspaper, on 14 January 2016. Mehreen
Khan is a business reporter. She writes on economics, the eurozone and global finance.

Ahead of its annual meeting at Davos next week, the World Economic Forum has released
its yearly assessment of the biggest dangers facing the world over the next decade.
M
Large-scale migration is the global threat most likely to materialise over the next 18
months.
More than 50pc of respondents said the involuntary mass movement of people seen over the
last year would continue to be the chief source of instability in the world, over and above
natural disasters and state conflict.
Over 60 million refugees – equivalent to the population of the UK – were displaced from
their homes last year alone, compared to just 40 million in the aftermath of the Second
World War.
SA

...

1 Identify the conclusion of this argument.

2 Explain the two main reasons supporting this conclusion.
3 Identify the evidence that is used to support the conclusion.
4 Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence in supporting the conclusion.
5 Assess the credibility of the writer.
6 Overall, how convincing do you find this argument?

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 2 Introducing deconstruction

Establishing deconstruction
Read this source and answer the questions that follow.

Document 2

Deconstruction
The world is undergoing a major population shift that will reshape economic development
for decades.
That’s the view of the World Bank and the IMF. . . .

E
“With the right set of policies, this era of demographic change can be an engine of
economic growth,” said World Bank group president, Jim Yong Kim. This presents
an understandable challenge to politicians who tend not to think much further ahead
than the next election, but the facts are stark. More than 90 per cent of global poverty is
concentrated in low-income countries with a young population, while more than three-
quarters of global growth is generated in richer nations with rising life expectancies.
Against this backdrop, the movement of people becomes not just understandable, but

PL
predictable. In Sub-Saharan Africa, now suffering from a withdrawal of Chinese investment
and fragile economies, the median age is just 18. Europe’s focus might be on refugees, but
the conditions facilitating a surge in economic migration are undeniable. Many identify
Germany’s openness to refugees as a response to its looming demographic pressures. By
2030, in EU countries, there will be around 2.5 people of working age for every pensioner.
Faced with this reality, European nations would do well to heed the World Bank’s
advice that “freer cross-border flows of trade, investment, and people can help manage
demographic imbalances”. . . .
Migration is now a fact of life . . . deal with it.
This article was published in City A.M., a UK newspaper, on 9 October 2015.
M
This document argues that there is a population shift from areas of global poverty which
have low incomes and young populations to areas of global growth which are richer and have
rising life expectancies.
1 Identify the reasons used to support this conclusion.
2 Identify the evidence used to support this conclusion.
3 Explain any assumptions which are required to accept the conclusion.
SA

4 Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of this argument.

Enhancing deconstruction
Write your own argument giving your view of migration. You should make sure you include:
• a conclusion
• reasons, with at least one line of argument
• evidence.
When you have finished, exchange your argument with someone else in your class, and
evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your arguments and evidence. You could also list
the assumptions each of you has made.

Original material © Cambridge University Press 2017

37
9781107560819 Towsey: Cambridge International AS and A Level Global Perspectives and Research Coursebook Cover. C M Y K

Cambridge International AS & A Level

Global Perspectives & Research
Coursebook

Cambridge International AS & A Level Global Perspectives & Research

David Towsey
Explore the Critical Path with the only resource endorsed by
Cambridge Assessment International Education for Cambridge
International AS & A Level Global Perspectives & Research (9239), for
examination from 2016.
This coursebook helps students develop deconstruction,

E
reconstruction, reflection, communication and collaboration skills.
A range of international topics, such as climate change, the impact
of the internet and gender issues, encourages students to consider
David Towsey
alternative viewpoints and think critically about important world
issues. This book supports students as they navigate this skills-
based syllabus and develop life skills for further study and the world
of work.
Features:

PL
• Discussion and reflection points help students review their
progress and consider multiple perspectives on a given topic
• Exam-style questions help learners familiarise themselves with the
requirements of this modern course
• Signposts to the Critical Path on every page help teachers and
students apply critical thinking, problem solving, research and
communication skills to internationally important topics

Also available:
Teacher’s Resource 978-1-108-43776-9
Cambridge International AS & A Level

Global Perspectives
& Research
M
Coursebook
Completely Cambridge
Cambridge University Press works with Cambridge Assessment
International Education and experienced authors to produce
high-quality endorsed textbooks and digital resources that support
Cambridge Teachers and encourage Cambridge
Learners worldwide.
SA

To find out more about Cambridge University Press visit

cambridge.org/cambridgeinternational

This resource is endorsed by

Cambridge Assessment International Education

✓ Supports the full syllabus for examination

from 2016

✓ Has passed Cambridge International’s

rigorous quality-assurance process

✓ Developed by subject experts

Original material © Cambridge University Press 2017
✓ For Cambridge schools worldwide