Examples of good essays on social studies exam. How to write an essay on social studies for the exam? Variant essay on sociology

Secondary general education

Social science. Line UMK ed. G.A. Bordovsky (VENTANA-GRAF)

Line UMK G. A. Bordovsky. Social studies (6-9)

Social science

Preparing for the Unified State Examination: an essay in social studies

This year, the criteria for assessing the Unified State Examination in social studies have changed. Olga Soboleva, one of our authors, Deputy Chairman of the Subject Committee of the Unified State Examination on Social Studies of St. Petersburg, talks about how the essay will now be evaluated, as well as about common mistakes made by students.

Changed evaluation criteria

This is not the first time that the Russian Textbook corporation has invited specialists to talk about assignment No. 29 from the Unified State Examination in social science. Relevant information is constantly being transformed and supplemented. For example, this year the wording of the task has changed. The word "problem" was replaced by the concept of "idea", and the student can work out not all the ideas of the statement, but one of them. The evaluation criteria have changed significantly:

29.1 Previously, the child could show his understanding of the topic in the general context of the essay. In 2018, for this it will be necessary to highlight and formulate the ideas of the statement. If the requirement is not met, 0 points are given for the entire essay.
29.2 A perfect score will not be obtained if the theoretical reasoning is unrelated. Since all statements are different, it is impossible to say exactly how many concepts should be disclosed. But for a good mark, of course, you need to highlight all the theses.
29.3 Previously, the point was deducted for the presence of errors, now it is awarded as a bonus for their absence.
29.4 It is still necessary to give two factual arguments from different sources, but now these examples need to be presented in detail and indicate how they relate to the statement.

Thus, the criteria became more. Maximum points for an essay in 2018: 6.

Let's take into account one more important change. Previously, a serious requirement was the correspondence of the content to one science. But since the boundaries of the sciences are arbitrary, now students can consider topics in different contexts, and this will not be a mistake. Let's take, for example, a statement from law: "Complete obedience to the law of kindness will eliminate the need for government and the state (O. Frontingham)" - it can also be attributed to politics, sociology, and philosophy.

Common Mistakes

Let's highlight the main difficulties that students face in task number 29.

Topic selection

The student is offered 5 essay topics. How to make the right choice:

Understand that the main criterion is the ability to fulfill all the requirements.
Determine in advance for yourself the basic science. Be prepared for a change of choice: in the exam, a topic in this science may not be acceptable. When preparing, use the lists of topics presented on the Internet.
Ceteris paribus, do not choose figurative themes. Every year there are formulations that even excellent students cannot cope with. For example: "The family is the crystal of society (V. Hugo)".
Focus on your abilities and characteristics, and not on the recommendations of the teacher. The teacher may have a biased attitude towards certain topics. The opinions of experts about the “convenience” and “inconvenience” of topics differ.

Focus on other items

Often students try to comply with the requirements for essays in other subjects in an essay on social science. This not only does not help, but also increases the likelihood of an error. In reality, the following are not taken into account:

volume (the ability to express thoughts concisely is a plus),
grammatical errors (but not in cases where they affect the meaning),
structure,
style (no longer an essay),
correct problem statement
knowledge about the author of the statement (can be entered, but this is not evaluated),
moral / ideological position (however, one cannot violate the laws of the Russian Federation and it is not recommended to express sharp positions on any topic).

Rewriting the theme

Unfortunately, even excellent students sometimes incorrectly rewrite the topic due to excitement. An error can be the omission of a word, the omission or addition of the “not” particle, the omission or replacement of a letter, the omission or addition of a return particle, the change of punctuation marks. All this changes the meaning of the topic and leads to 0 for the essay.

Template phrases

Some of the wording often looks silly and irritates experts. For example, "a problem that is relevant at all times", "the topic opens up a huge scope for reflection" and others. This does not mean that they should definitely be avoided. The main thing is that everything in the text should be appropriate and logical.

Wrong Examples

What doesn't count:

Speculation (“what would have been”).
Invented examples.
Facts that are not facts.
Examples are not specific.
Examples that are more like theories.
An example with actual errors.
Examples outside the scope of the theory presented.
Examples that refute the student's own theoretical positions.
Model examples (but there may be exceptions).
Examples from one kind of source.

Homemade preparations

In many works there are redundant provisions. For example, the definition of society, the inappropriate use of the definition of science - in most cases, this spoils the work and causes dissatisfaction among experts.

Frequently asked Questions

Consider also common questions about the content of the text.

Do I need to agree with the author? Not necessary. Of course, there are statements about the relativity of phenomena, with which it is impossible not to agree, for example: "Society does not necessarily correspond to political boundaries (S. Turner)". But there are also provocative phrases that are very difficult to agree with. In any case, the attitude of the examinee to the topic should be traced in the argumentation.

How to formulate the meaning of the statement and how many ideas are better to reveal? It all depends on the specific statement. It is better to narrow the study of the aspect to one science.

Is it possible to isolate only part of the statement? Experts believe that it is impossible, since the statement carries a certain meaning. The student must show that he understood the whole statement, even if he wants to focus on one part of it.

How to learn theoretical positions? When you can’t understand and assimilate, you can use a simple trick: “Write correctly.” The student must in a short time find and write off theoretical justifications on a specific topic from the textbook - this will help to remember the provisions.

Preparation Methods

In the publications of the corporation "Russian Textbook" the system of preparation for writing an essay on social science is fully implemented. The authors present memos, examples, lists of topics, as well as algorithms for the phased formation of the necessary skills.

Specialists are often asked how many essays should be written in preparation. Answer: as many as possible to "fill your hand", and up to 5 pieces for the highest score. In addition to training, it is useful for the student to keep a hoard of information on selected topics, view essay samples on thematic sites and check the work with the teacher according to trial criteria.

The manual is designed for independent or under the guidance of a teacher preparing schoolchildren and applicants for the exam. It fully includes the material of the course of social science, which is checked at the exam. The theoretical part of the manual is presented in a concise and accessible form. A large number of diagrams and tables makes it easy and quick to navigate the topic and find the information you need. Training tasks correspond to the modern format of the Unified State Examination, all changes in the content of the examination work made in recent years are taken into account.

We continue to analyze the results of the last exam in social science in 2016, and in this section we will turn to one of the social science essays written by graduates. We have the opportunity to study how it was assessed by experts and discuss it together.

An essay on the Unified State Exam in social studies is THREE criteria and 5 points!

A little about the essay on the exam

As always, the issues raised in these quotes look classic:

character and valuation
social significance ways to improve its effectiveness;
and its stages
participation in
correlation and role of laws in life

And questions related to such a complex concept as we completely understood

According to the compilers of the texts of the USE assignments in social science, from our favorite graduate can spend approximately 45 minutes:

We hope that this is without the time that the graduate will spend rewriting the answer in the answer sheet number 2.

Essay on the exam 2016

Now let's look at the real essay completed at the USE 2016 by a graduate and his expert assessment. Here is the score of tasks that a graduate who turned to us for help in preparing an appeal for the assessment of the written part of the exam received:

Extended answer part: (0(2)2(2)0(3)2(3)1(3)2(3)2(3)0(3)1(1)0(2)1(2))

We, in this case, are interested in the last three estimates - for three criteria. Recall them:

That is, 1 point was received for the first key criterion, which made it possible to qualify for points for the other two criteria. Recall that if for the first criterion set 0, no further points can be earned. For theory, 0 was received, and for practical examples, 1 point out of two possible.

Now let's turn to this real essay, written by a graduate of the Unified State Examination in social studies:

Let's analyze this essay:

Your essay, in my subjective opinion, is adequately verified.

Behind Criterion 2(theoretical argumentation) indeed, there is nothing to put. A quote from the field of "Economics", and you do not indicate a word about either the factors affecting the level of his qualifications, or the usefulness of such an employee (skilled), which is referred to in the quote.

Behind Criterion 3(actual examples) I wouldn't put anything at all. You write that Chatsky is an example of importance and skills, and you don’t argue this statement at all? He further applies them to you, where the importance is not at all visible ... What you call an example from life is not at all. It sounds very vague that the highest (what?) will allow you to receive causal benefits. There are a million examples of the opposite in the world, and a million when people with absolutely no education became millionaires. But the quote is not about this, but about the quality of the employee, about why he needs to improve his skills ...

Unfortunately, none of this is available to you. You do not indicate, and do not even see the problem of the citation, and this, of course, first of all, will not be a reason for increasing your score on the appeal!

And now a look at your essay through the FIPI recommendations for experts:

Reasons for a higher score:

When revealing the meaning of the statement, several interrelated aspects are highlighted (No).
2. Theoretical provisions are expanded into a justification system (No).
3. The examples given are taken from various areas of public life. (No).
4. Appropriately and correctly used examples from personal social experience (No).
5. Examples are used from other training courses - history, geography, literature (Yes).

Reasons for a lower score:

Among the above theoretical provisions, there are erroneous judgments and inaccuracies (no).
2. There is a lot of "information noise" - provisions that are not directly related to the topic, repetitions of the same thought given in another verbal expression (Yes).
3. The examples used are weakly related to the theoretical justification (Yes).

Indeed, the essay did not receive an increase in points on appeal, 2 out of 5 possible so they were left!

And for your homework, once again this quote, train on real examples from the exam in social studies: “The more knowledge and skills the staff has, the wider and deeper the range of these skills, the more opportunities for action the staff will have, the better the improvements and customer service will be.”(R. Hannam).

Try to write an essay on it in the comments to this analysis or in the topic of our group

An essay is a literary genre of small volume and free composition. This written form was introduced into the USE as a means of assessing and evaluating students. In a prose essay, the examinee should express his own thoughts and impressions on the formulated problem. In order to understand how to write an essay on social science, you need to properly organize your educational activities and train on this task systematically.

In the process of preparation, one should learn to analyze the content of the text; check the style, consistency and consistency of the material presented; work with the final version and make important corrections to it. The study proceeds in five blocks (man and society; sociology, economics, politics and law), each of which will be reflected in the control and measuring material.

How to write an essay on social studies - features of preparing for the Unified State Examination 2018

Every year, the Federal Institute of Pedagogical Measurements (FIPI) introduces innovations in the demonstration version of the Unified State Examination in social science. In 2018, the requirements and the assessment system for a social science essay (tasks 29) changed slightly.

Consider the amendments on specific examples:

The form remained the same - a mini-essay.
The term “problem”, which the author of the statement highlights, has been replaced by the word “idea”. This does not seem to make any fundamental difference. We will also talk about the considerations that arise when understanding the quote of the thinker.
The requirement to highlight several ideas, if they are embedded in the author's statement, is more unambiguously formulated. In the 2017 demo, this was described by the expression "if necessary ...".
Two examples from a variety of sources are still being evaluated.
A more rigorous claim is made for a detailed argument and its explicit connection with the idea of a designated quotation.

It follows from this that the volume of an essay claiming a high score will undergo an increase (examples will need to be expanded in more detail, several ideas need to be highlighted). The composition begins to gradually move away from the genre of light and transparent composition, when it is not necessary to thoroughly reveal the example, it is enough to voice the idea.

Plus, the criteria for evaluating the material written by the examinee have changed. A provision appeared on the correctness of the use of concepts, theoretical positions, reasoning and conclusions.

For example, if a student writes that the reproductive function of the family is the upbringing of children, that stratification is the movement of an individual in a social structure, then he will receive 0 points on this basis, since his theoretical arguments are incorrect.

In all other respects, the KIMs of 2017 and 2018 are similar.

Structure and content of the essay

The form of a mini-essay provides scope for creative thought, subjectivity and artistic depiction.

However, in the practice of assessing task No. 29, a special rigor, accuracy and balance have formed, which follows from the structure and content of the written material.

The final version of the essay for a high score should include the following components:

Quote. One of the five proposed statements by the author, according to which the examinee preferred to express his position. To do this, it is necessary to identify with which sections of the course of social science the problematics considered by the thinker is connected and to evaluate one's own knowledge on it.
Quotes and statements of thinkers can be used in the work
The problem (topic) raised by the thinker, its relevance. It is a subjective author's position. The student must identify the problem and express their personal written response to the question posed.
List of Philosophy Topics
Suggested list of topics in economics and sociology
The meaning of the author's statement represents his subjective opinion on the designated problem. The examinee can support the proposed idea completely or partially or completely refute it. In any case, this point should be explicitly reflected in the prose essay, since a clearly defined evaluation criterion is established for it. Material written by a student without a correctly understood meaning will be evaluated at 0 points.
The meaning of the statement is the subjective opinion of the author on the designated topic
own point of view. This is the personal opinion of the examinee regarding the issue raised. The stated judgment must meet the signs of logic and certainty. It flows through the entire text and cannot have contradictory statements.
Your own point of view should be logical and definite
theoretical reasoning. Social science knowledge (concepts, terms, contradictions, directions of scientific thought, interconnections, as well as opinions of scientists, thinkers). They must correspond to the topic of the block on which the student is writing an essay.
Theoretical argumentation must necessarily correspond to the topic of the essay
factual reasoning. Two options are allowed here: the use of examples from history, literature and events in society; appeal to empirical experience.
With factual argumentation, you can use examples from history or refer to empirical experience.
The conclusion is the logical conclusion of the reasoning. It should not coincide verbatim with the judgment given for justification. With correct spelling, one or two sentences should highlight the main ideas of the arguments and come to the final conclusion, which the student adhered to throughout the essay.
The essay should have a logical conclusion

Thus, to write an essay on social science for a high score, you should read all the quotes in task No. 29 and determine their problems. In each statement, you will need to find the answer to the question "What did the author want to say?" and choose the most appropriate topic.

You can evaluate your strength mentally by answering the questions:

What basic social science theoretical provisions does the proposed statement correspond to?
What do I need to know to unlock it?

After that, make sure that you own the fundamental concepts of the block to which the statement refers and understand its meaning.

Make a proposed writing plan, but keep in mind the time limit for the exam.

Subject to all the above conditions and regular training on task No. 29, the examinee is guaranteed to cope with the essay.

How to issue

It must be borne in mind that an essay is a small essay, distinguished by semantic unity.

Additional benefits in assessing assignment No. 29 by the experts will be the inclusion in it:

basic information about the author of the statement (for example, "outstanding German economist", "famous Russian thinker of the Golden Age", "famous existentialist philosopher", "founder of the rational trend in philosophy", etc.);
indications of alternative ways of solving the stated issue;
descriptions of different points of view on the problem or different approaches to its solution.

These grounds are not directly noted in the assessment criteria, but they will demonstrate the erudition of the examinee and his deep preparation.

It is also worth remembering that your work will be evaluated by an expert. A plus would be to write the text in the USE form in neat handwriting, systematized and without careless blots.

cliché phrases

Cliche phrases are understood as standard patterns of word usage, typical schemes of phrases and syntactic constructions. With the help of these speech formulas, the process of writing an essay on social studies undergoes a significant simplification.

For the first part of a prose essay, when formulating an understanding of the statement, its problems and relevance, the following phrases are perfect:

“In his saying, the author meant that ...”;
“The thinker tried to convey to us the idea that ...”;
“The meaning of the proposed statement is that ...”;
“The urgency of the problem raised is manifested in the fact that…”;
"This issue is relevant in the conditions of ...".

In the following paragraph, a number of standard clichés are used to substantiate one's own position regarding the statement:

"I fully agree with the author of the quote that...";
“It is impossible not to agree with the thinker of the indicated statement...”;
“The agent was absolutely right in asserting that...”;
“In my opinion, (the writer, philosopher, economist) extremely accurately reflected in his statement the picture of modern reality by the fact that ...”;
“Let me disagree with the author’s opinion that ...”
"In part, I share the thinker's point of view about ..., but with ... I can not agree."

In theoretical argumentation, expressions are used:

“Let's analyze the idea proposed by the author from the point of view of (economic, legal, sociological) theory…”;
“Let's turn to the theoretical understanding of the statement ...”;
“In (sociological, political, philosophical) science, this statement has its grounds ...”;
“The proposed quotation has a deep social science justification ...”;
“To substantiate this statement from a theoretical standpoint…”;
“In the social studies course (law, political science, etc.)…”;

In terms of selecting facts, examples from public life and empirical social experience, the following phrases are used:

“Let's give a justification from public life, confirming my idea ...”;
“Based on personal experience, (according to the stories of my parents, classmates ...) circumstances indicate the opposite ...”;
“The position that sympathizes with me is confirmed by examples from life ...”;
“Let's turn to similar situations in (history, literature, cinema)…”;
“Confirmation of the quote of the thinker we meet at every step…”;

In conclusion, the following speech clichés are used:

“Based on the foregoing, it should be concluded that…”;
“Summing up a general line, I would like to note that…”;
“Finishing the work, it can be argued that ...”;
"Thus …";

Some experts are of the opinion that the abuse of such hackneyed phrases should be avoided. Although when writing an essay, they help to formulate thoughts and clearly delimit the text. It will be better if you do not take a large number of ready-made clichés, but change them, keeping the meaning.

Criteria for evaluating an essay in social studies

In general, for a mini-essay, one could get 6 primary points, which are evaluated according to the following criteria:

Revealing the meaning of the statement. In this case, one or more ideas contained in the author's statement must be correctly highlighted. For this, the examinee is entitled to 1 primary point. For non-disclosure, you will receive 0 not only for this criterion, but for the entire essay.
Theoretical content of the mini-essay. It is estimated at 2 points maximum if a connected chain of theoretical reasoning and constructions can be traced. Separate positions that are not connected in a single picture, but related to the topic, are evaluated only by 1 point. Off topic 0 points.
The correctness of the use of concepts, theoretical positions, reasoning and conclusions. This criterion gives the student 1 point for the absence of errors in theoretical constructions and terms. Not scored if there are theoretical inaccuracies.
The quality of the facts and examples given. Two examples should be clearly related to the selected provisions and theses, as well as deployed. Then the examinee will receive the maximum score for this criterion - 2. With one painted example, only 1 point. Complete absence of examples - 0 points.

In the Unified State Exam in Social Studies, an essay is the most valuable task in terms of points. This creative essay should be given increased attention and practiced frequently over it.

Reading additional literature on law, philosophy, sociology, economics and political science will greatly help you choose the right argument and most fully reveal the proposed problem. Understanding the evaluation criteria will help indicate the required points in the essay and get the maximum score.

Philosophy,
Economy,
Political science,
Jurisprudence.

historical facts;
personal experience and observations;

3. Theoretical part

4. Actual part

5. Conclusion

remember, that

remember the terminology

write straight away

If you "swim" in the subject

Essay similar to an essay, usually has a free composition and a small size. Although the task should seem easy, for some reason it frightens the students and takes them by surprise.

You will need

- educational literature;
- a computer.

Instruction

Think of a rough work plan. As a rule, an essay consists of a short introduction, which reveals the essence of the topic; the main part, which sets out the opinions of scientists on the subject of the story; the attitude of the author of the work to these opinions, as well as the conclusion, which gives brief conclusions about the study. The last page of the essay indicates the sources used for it.

Select the required material. Write down the different points of view of scientists on the chosen topic on paper and note the order in which statements are used in the work.

What is a task

Mini-essay on the exam in social studies - an alternative task. This means that the exam participant can choose from several proposed options the one that is closer and more interesting to him.

Essay topics are short quotes - aphorisms related to the five blocks of the curriculum, one for each. The thematic directions of statements are as follows:

Philosophy,
Economy,
Sociology, social psychology,
Political science,
Jurisprudence.

Of the five statements, you need to choose only one (the closest or most understandable) and write a mini-essay that reveals the meaning of the chosen aphorism and contains illustration examples.

The “weight” of an essay on social studies in the final scores is quite small: about 8% of the total scores. A perfectly written paper can bring only 5 primary points out of 62 possible, about 8%. Therefore, you should not approach the work as fundamentally as when writing an essay on the Russian language or essays on literature.

The compilers of the exam themselves suggest taking 36-45 minutes to write an essay on social studies (this is the time period indicated in the specification). For comparison: 110 minutes are “laid” for an essay on the Russian language, 115 minutes for a full-length essay on literature.

All this suggests that the approach to social science should be different: there is no need to create a “masterpiece”, there are no mandatory requirements for the style of presentation (and even literacy), and even the amount of work is not regulated. It is not necessary to write 150-350 words of text here: after all, the task is positioned as a “mini-essay” and if you manage to describe the idea briefly and succinctly, this will only be welcome.

It is enough to simply demonstrate knowledge of the subject and the ability to find suitable examples that support your point of view - and coherently and convincingly state your thoughts on the examination form.

Criteria for evaluating an essay in social science at the Unified State Examination

The essay is evaluated by only three according to three criteria. To earn the maximum five points, the following "required minimum" must be met:

Reveal the meaning of the original statement, or at least demonstrate that you correctly understood what its author meant (1 point). This is a key point: if you did not understand the quote and received 0 points for the first criterion, the work will not be evaluated further.

Demonstrate knowledge of theory(2 points). Here, in order to get a high mark, it is necessary to analyze the meaning of the statement, using the knowledge gained during the study of the school course of social science, remember the main points of the theory, and use terminology correctly. Incomplete compliance with the requirements, deviation from the original topic or semantic errors will lead to the loss of one point.

Ability to find appropriate examples(2 points). To obtain the highest mark on this criterion, it is necessary to illustrate the problem with two (at least) examples - facts that confirm the main idea of the essay. Moreover, they must be from sources of different types. Sources can be

examples from fiction, feature films and documentaries;
examples from popular science literature, history of different branches of science;
historical facts;
facts learned while studying other school subjects;
personal experience and observations;
media messages.

If only personal experience is used as examples or examples of the same type are given (for example, both are from fiction), the score is reduced by a point. Zero for this criterion is set if the examples do not correspond to the topic or if there is no information at all.

Plan for writing an essay on social studies

There are no strict requirements for the structure of the essay - the main thing is to reveal the meaning of the statement, demonstrate knowledge of the theory and back it up with facts. However, despite the fact that there is not much time for reflection, you can stick to a standard essay plan that includes all the necessary elements.

1. The optional part is the introduction. General statement of the problem (one or two sentences). In an essay on social science, this point of the plan can be omitted and immediately proceed to the interpretation of the proposed aphorism, however, it is often difficult for schoolchildren to deviate from the usual compositional scheme when the “core of the matter” is preceded by general reasoning. Therefore, if you are used to starting with an introduction - write it, if this is not important for you - you can omit this item, points for this do not decrease.

2. Revealing the meaning of the original statement- 2-3 sentences. It is not necessary to quote in full, it is enough to refer to its author and state the meaning of the phrase in your own words. It must be remembered that, unlike an essay in Russian, where it is necessary to isolate the problem, an essay on social science can be devoted to a phenomenon, a process, and simply a statement of fact. To reveal the meaning of the statement, you can use templates like “In the proposed statement N.N (famous philosopher, economist, famous writer) considers (describes, talks about ...) such a phenomenon (process, problem) as ..., interpreting it as ...” or “The meaning of the statement ( expressions, aphorisms) N. N is that ... "

3. Theoretical part(3-4 sentences). Here it is necessary to confirm or refute the author's point of view, based on the knowledge gained in the lessons and using special terminology. If you agree with the author’s point of view, then by and large this part is a detailed translation of the original phrase into the “textbook language”. For example, if the author called children's games in the yard a "school of life" - you will write about what socialization institutions are and the role they play in the process of assimilation of social norms by an individual. Here you can also quote other philosophers, economists, etc., confirming the main idea of the text - however, this is not a mandatory requirement.

4. Actual part(4-6 sentences). Here it is necessary to give at least two examples confirming the theses put forward in the previous paragraph. In this part, it is better to avoid "general words" and talk about specifics. And do not forget to indicate the sources of information. For example, “experiments devoted to” have been repeatedly described in the popular science literature; “as we know from the school physics course…”, “writer N,N. in his novel “Untitled” describes the situation…”, “on the supermarket shelves in front of my school you can see…”.

5. Conclusion(1-2 sentences). Since an essay on social science at the Unified State Examination, by and large, is proof of a certain theoretical position, you can complete the essay by summing up what has been said. For example: “Thus, both real-life examples and reader experience allow us to assert that ...”, followed by a reformulated main thesis.

remember, that the main thing is to correctly reveal the meaning of the statement. Therefore, choosing from the proposed options, take a quote, the interpretation of which does not cause you any doubts.

Before you start writing, remember the terminology on this topic. Write them down on a draft form so that you can use them later in your work.

Choose the most suitable examples on this topic. Remember that examples from literature may not be limited to the works of the school curriculum - in the social studies exam, you can use any literary works as arguments. Do not forget that relying on the reader's experience in the case of social science is not a priority: remember cases from life; news heard on the radio; topics discussed in society and so on. Selected examples also write down on the draft form.

Since literacy, style and composition of the text are not evaluated - if you are confident enough to express your thoughts in writing, it is better not to waste time writing a full draft text. Limit yourself to drawing up a thesis plan and write straight away- this will save time.

Proceed to the essay after you have answered all the other questions– otherwise, you may “not fit in” in time and lose more points than you gain. For example, the first four tasks with detailed answers (based on the text read) can give a total of 10 primary points (twice as much as an essay), and formulating answers to them usually takes much less time than writing a mini-essay.

If you "swim" in the subject and you feel that you can’t write an essay for the maximum points - do this task anyway. Every score is important - and even if you only manage to correctly formulate the topic and give at least one example “from life” - you will receive two primary points for an essay on social science at the Unified State Examination, which is much better than zero.

Are you still wondering how to write a social studies essay? My answer is regularly. And if you still have not dared to write a mini-essay, start immediately after reading the recommendations.

What is an essay? This is a literary genre, a short essay in prose, expressing the personal position of the author on a specific occasion. In the essay, the author makes an attempt to comprehend any idea or problem and expresses his attitude towards it in a relaxed manner. The unique author's view of social processes and phenomena, the style of thinking and the culture of speech make the essay especially valuable. The author is free to choose the logic of presenting his reasoning, but a good essay is distinguished by its multidimensionality and paradox, internal unity and consistency, it does not contain formulaic formulations and clichés. And finally, the essay is one of the possible opinions, so it does not claim to be the final disclosure of the problem.
Task 29 of the Unified State Examination in social studies begins with the choice one problem statement (sometimes aphorism) out of five. Which statement to choose? The context of the topics offered to the graduate is taken from various basic sciences of the integrated course of social science. Revealing the idea of the statement, you must apply social science knowledge, use concepts, theoretical positions. Of course, it is impossible to do this well in an unfamiliar context. Therefore, the first factor that you should consider when choosing an essay topic is the scientific context (philosophical, economic, sociological, socio-psychological, political science, jurisprudence). The second factor is the understanding of the essence of the statement. Analyze each statement carefully. Think about what the author of the statement wants to say, what main idea (idea) he wants to convey to us. The expression of the idea of the statement is the starting point in writing an essay, so its misunderstanding or inadequate understanding will not allow you to implement the basic requirements of task 29 of the Unified State Examination in social science. The third factor is the ability to create a logically connected reasoning. If this seems impossible to do, then you need to change the subject. So, when choosing a topic, three circumstances must be taken into account: the scientific context, understanding the essence of the statement, and the possibility of creating a logically coherent essay.
Social Studies Essay from 2019 is rated at 6 primary points , and this up to 12 secondary . Success in solving task 29 of the Unified State Examination in social science for the maximum score lies in criteria which have been changed since 2018. There are only four of them.

Criterion 1. Revealing the meaning of the statement. You should start your mini-essay by formulating the main idea or thesis of the statement. For clarity, let's analyze Maria's essay, rated by experts at 6 points. The theme of the essay is “The planned economy takes into account everything in its plans except the economy” (K. McWilliams).

For writing a mini-essay I chose the dictum of C. McWilliams "A planned economy takes into account everything in its plans, except for the economy." Main idea this saying is a way of organizing a planned economy as an economic system. The author believes that the planned economy does not ensure the proper development of the country's economy, as it is far from being the most efficient economic system. I totally agree with this statement. Indeed, with state regulation it is practically impossible to ensure the favorable development of the economy.

Here is an example of how to correctly reveal the meaning of the statement. Maria singled out the main idea of the statement, concretized it and expressed her attitude to this idea. You can disagree with the idea of the statement, the main thing is to give a convincing argument for your disagreement.
There can be several main ideas or theses in a statement. Formulate at least one, but do it right, because the wrong interpretation of the meaning of the statement evaluates your entire essay by zeros. Therefore, compliance with this criterion is very important, and when preparing for the exam, it is necessary to devote enough time to learn how to reveal the meaning of the statement. Correct fulfillment of this criterion will bring you 1 point, and incorrect 0 points for the entire mini-essay.

Criterion 2. Theoretical content of the mini-essay. At the next stage, it is necessary to think about what terms and provisions from the course of social science can be attributed to this statement and write them. Correct and complete fulfillment of this criterion is estimated at 2 points. Let's see how Mary did it.

The author highlights the concept of a planned economy as a key one. Planned Economy- an economic system in which the state exercises full control over the economic activity of the country, carries out centralized planning. Another name for this economic system is administrative-command. Of course, it has several advantages, for example, it functions well in wartime, producing the necessary funds in the right amount. But in peacetime, for the favorable development of the country, market economic system, at which the manufacturer, focusing on demand(the desire of the buyer to buy a certain product at a certain price), he decides what to produce. In the command-administrative economic system, the state deals with this issue, inefficiently allocating resources.
Directive pricing- Another of the disadvantages of this economic system. By setting prices for all goods and services, the state prevents competition and independence of commodity producers, which affects the quality of goods and services, because producers are not interested in improving their work.

Expanding the second criterion, Maria introduces several terms related to the topic of the essay: planned economy, market economy, demand, directive pricing. She lists the pros and cons of a planned economy.

Criterion 3. The correctness of the use of concepts, theoretical positions, reasoning and conclusions. New in 2018 Essay Criteria. Now you can get 1 point for not having scientific misconceptions. Therefore, it is necessary to pay close attention to the theoretical content of the mini-essay.

Criteria 4. The quality of the facts and examples given. You must illustrate your theoretical reasoning and conclusions with examples and facts from public life, other academic subjects, or personal social experience. The main thing is that your examples should not be abstract, but concrete and necessarily deployed. There should be two examples, use different sources (for example, one from science, one from social life). Well, if you encounter difficulty in selecting an appropriate example, do not get lost, model (invent) it. Correct and complete fulfillment of this criterion is estimated at 2 points.

Perhaps the most striking example of a command economy in history was the USSR. The state independently set all prices for goods and services, which led to an eternal shortage on store shelves. The economy of the USSR was in a deplorable state, which affected the mentality of its citizens, who are still afraid of a shortage of products and buy them for future use.
In the modern world, we can also observe several states where this economic system has remained. For example, North Korea. The standard of living of the population there leaves much to be desired, technical progress is moving at a slow pace. The country is also dominated by state ownership of the means of production - another sign of this economic system. Due to central planning there is no entrepreneurial activity. Citizens have a significantly limited choice of products, because the seller is not interested in the production of quality goods.

The essay ends with a logical conclusion.

Thus, K. McWilliams wants to convey to us the idea that a planned economy cannot bring the desired rate of economic growth to the state. It has many significant shortcomings, which prevents its full functioning.
What should not be done in an essay?

No need to write about who the author is!
No need to reinforce your thoughts or compare the quote with the aphorisms of other famous people!

Do you want to write an essay for 6 points? Write regularly (once or twice a week). For what? Firstly, you will develop the skill of writing an essay according to the criteria, as they say, your hand will “full”. Secondly, you will build your own bank of essays, and it is quite possible that you will be able to use a ready-made mini-essay on the exam.
Of course, it is difficult to learn how to write a mini-essay according to all the criteria on your own. You need an appropriate analysis of each of your essays from the outside.

Portal for the student. Self-training