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YEARS 10-12; IMPROVING YOUR GRADE IN HISTORY

UNDERSTANDING SKILLS KNOWLEDGE

UNDERSTANDING You need to: Understand the key features and characteristics of the periods, societies and events that have been studied Evaluate representations and interpretations of events, people and issues Evaluate and use a range of sources of different types

SKILLS You need to develop skills in the following areas:

Comprehension of sources Location and extraction of relevant information from the sources Distinguishing between fact and opinions Indicating deficiencies in sources, such as gaps and inconsistencies Detecting bias Comparing and contrasting sources Reaching conclusions based on the use of sources as evidence Comparing interpretations of an event

KNOWLEDGE You must be able to: Use historical terms correctly Be able to recall specific facts Be able to recall specific dates

WORKING WITH SOURCES: Source work is a very important aspect of your studies at Years 10-12 You should be able to do the following: Comprehend sources and make inferences from them Comprehend sources by using your own knowledge and making inferences from them Assess the reliability of sources for use in a particular historical enquiry, using your own knowledge Assess whether the information provided in a source is sufficient to answer a particular enquiry Evaluate the usefulness of a source for a particular enquiry Explain why two interpretations of the same event differ Assess the reliability of interpretations. When evaluating sources think SOURCE Source: where it comes from (date/author etc) Objective: why it was written (diary/newspaper etc) Usefulness; how useful is it to the question you are doing? Reliability; how reliable is it for your purposes? Context; how does your background knowledge help you to understand or explain the source? Example; always use examples from the source to back up what you say Comprehending a source and making inferences This means that you have to understand the source. Then you have to work out the implications of what is said. You have to draw conclusions from the source that are not shown directly within it.

Sufficiency of evidence Is there enough evidence in a source to answer a particular historical question? You should outline the information that the source provides Provide other information, not given in the source that sheds further light on the question asked. Never say the source is useless, or that it contains enough information. The source contains some information but it would be nice to have more eyewitness accounts, views of people involved, and statistics. Use your own knowledge to help expand on the information given in the source. Reliability of sources Can you trust the source? Comment on the author, the purpose of the source and the nature of the source. Compare the facts and opinions given in the source with other facts and opinions you are aware of from your own knowledge. If they back each other up then the source is likely to be reliable; if not, then the reverse is true. In fact, a source is usually somewhere between the two extremes. Examine the source itself for signs of bias, exaggeration and distortion; whether deliberate or otherwise. The more evidence of this you find, the more unreliable the source. It is a good idea to include the information given about the source to explain its reliability.

Ask these types of questions 1. Who wrote/ made the source? Do they have a reason to be biased? 2. Did the author have access to all the facts? 3. When was the source written or made? Are there any special circumstances that might affect the reliability of the source? 4. Was the source written a long time after the event, have they had the benefit of

hindsight? Have they attempted to provide a balanced view? 5. Why was the source made or written? Did the author/artist have a specific reason for saying what they say? Is the author trying to persuade people to share his or her views? 6. Does the author hold views typical of the people of that time? 7. Reliability is all about trust. Do any of the words or images suggest that you cannot trust the source? 8. Remember that if you suggest the source is reliable/unreliable try to explain what is in the source that shows this. Usefulness of sources A source is useful depending on what you want to use it for, the information must be relevant, and it must be linked to the topic you are studying. Assess the reliability of the sources. The more reliable the source is, the more useful it is, although even very unreliable sources are still useful. A biased source will give you the opinions of the author which might have been important at that time? Draw conclusions from the sources. Ask these types of questions 1. What information does the source contain? 2. Is the information relevant to the question set? 3. What information is missing from the source? 4. Is this missing information vital or can the historian get most of what they need from the sources provided? 5. Are the sources reliable? Do not suggest a source is not useful if it is not reliablethink what it could be reliable for. Examining interpretations and representations Different people make different statements about the same topic. This is because many of the issues are matters of judgement and not matters of fact. New information comes up which throws new light on issues and requires old judgements to be revisited. Your task is to look at interpretations and comment on how accurate

they are. You may be asked why are interpretations are different? Examiners will ask you why two or more sources dont agree. Do not just describe what the sources say that only shows how they differ not why. You must consider the motive of the authors. Were the authors in a position to know all the evidence? Did they only know some of the facts of the case? Did the authors position, at the time of writing, or who they were writing for, give them an incentive to lie or at least deliberately distort the truth? Does the job, background, nationality or culture have a bearing on what they say? EXTENDED WRITING Extended writing (PEEL, Point-Evidence - Explanation - Link) How to structure your answers; the introduction should outline your overall conclusion, It is the short answer to the question. Conclude and then prove. Each paragraph should start with a key sentence which sums up the key point of the paragraph. The rest of the paragraph should be devoted to proving the point made in the key sentence by using evidence. The last sentence should connect that paragraph to the paragraph that follows. The conclusion should outline your main argument and why you have reached that conclusion.

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