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PEEL Paragraph Builder

Label the Point, Evidence, Explain and Link in model history paragraphs, put one back in order, and pick the sentences that really explain.

About this activity

Students learn the paragraph most long history answers are built from. They label the four parts of a model paragraph, put a jumbled one back in order, then choose the best point, the most specific evidence, the sentence that really explains and the best link, and spot what a paragraph is missing. The paragraphs cover the Armada, hyperinflation in 1923, the Berlin Blockade, penicillin and the Homestead Act, and change each time. The first screen says how PEEL paragraphs fit the student’s exam board’s long questions (AQA and Edexcel GCSE History).

How to use PEEL Paragraph Builder

  • PEEL Paragraph Builder is a free History activity for Years 9 to 11 that takes about 10 minutes. Try it on this page on a computer, tablet or phone: there’s nothing to download.
  • In a lesson, choose Show on the board to play it together as a class.
  • To set it for a class, a teacher shares it and gets a code: students type the 6-digit code at lycolearn.co.uk/join with their first name and the first letter of their surname (no accounts needed), and their scores come back to the teacher.

Students will

  • Name the four parts of a PEEL paragraph and what each one does
  • Start a paragraph with a point that answers the question
  • Explain how evidence proves a point, not just describe it
  • Link back to the exact words of the question

Teaching tips

  • Use it before the first practice essay: students arrive knowing what an explanation sentence looks like.
  • Ask students to write their own PEEL paragraph on a topic you’ve just taught, then label its parts.

Revise these topics