Guide:

This is a form of essay and your answer will need to be structured accordingly. There are many different ways to structure an essay but they should all have a beginning, a middle and an end. One way of structuring your answer would be as follows: • Introduction – this should be about the question and you should make it clear to the examiner that you understand the question For example: ‘Climatic factors such as precipitation, temperature and evaporation are important factors in determining river discharge but basin characteristics such as vegetation, land-use and rock type can also have a big effect.’ • Main paragraph one – you could outline the ways in which the climatic factors influence discharge but as this is a discursive essay (it asks you to say if climate is more important than basin characteristics), you will need to mention the relative importance of each factor. • Main paragraph two – you should outline the ways in which basin characteristics can influence river discharge but remember to mention the relative importance of these factors. • Main paragraph three – you might introduce the effect of people by saying that human influence on climate is less than on basin characteristics e.g. people can cut down forests faster than they can change the climate. • Conclusion – this is where you say whether you think climate factors or drainage basin characteristics is more important. Climate affects the inputs and outputs of the system (rainfall and evapotranspiration) and has a major effect on discharge. Basin characteristics affect the flows and stores within the drainage basin and have a less fundamental effect on discharge in total but can affect the height of flood peaks (extreme discharge events).