[Simon Ross]

I think a key issue for students progressing from the skills of GCSE and even AS, is that you are evaluating the arguments not the authors. To help students do this I think it is useful to suggest structures for evaluation (perhaps hypothesis, antithesis, synthesis) and also give them evaluative phrases: this is supported by, this can be seen in, however, on the other hand, this is questioned by, this is seen in, this is dubious, this is evident in, etc.