The BOSTES key word justify occurs periodically throughout the HSC PDHPE syllabus. BOSTES define the term as follows:

Support an argument or conclusion

The key word justify relates to two other BOSTES key words:

Account

Account for: state reasons for, report on. Give an account of: narrate a series of events or transactions

Which is asking you to provide reasons for why something is happening. This links with justify, because it also required you to provide reasons, however this time with a specific purpose – to support your argument or conclusion.

And evaluate

Make a judgement based on criteria; determine the value of

Which relates to the key word justify because you have to make a judgement. This may not be clearly evident in the definition for justify, but you have to justify your position AND you have to use criteria to determine if the reasons you provide are legitimate. I.E. to support your conclusion.

Coming back to justify then, you need to argue a particular stance, with plenty of evidence/reason for the stance. If you use criteria to determine if your evidence is good, then your justification will be stronger.

When writing a HSC PDHPE exam answer to a question that has the key word justify you should be seeking to use causal conjunctions. These include words such as: therefore, because, or however (see also the terms used for the key word explain). These terms can be used to then identify your reasons for the argument, which functions as your support for your conclusion at the end.

A scaffold for how to answer a question with the key word explain can be found by clicking here.

Justify occurs in the HSC PDHPE syllabus in the following locations:

Sports Medicine

Improving Performance