More tips on 'How to tackle Paper 2'

Paper 2 is essentially designed to test the candidate’s ability to interpret, extrapolate from, evaluate and use historical sources. This is an intense paper and each question in the Question Paper targets at least one of the skills mentioned. Individual questions will focus on particular sources but candidates are encouraged to use any of the sources if it can be used to answer the question. This paper is essentially designed to test source skills, contextual knowledge is also required. Contextual knowledge must be used only to comment on the sources under question.


Interpreting Sources:

Students must analyze the given sources carefully and work out what each source says-this would require one to go further than understanding just the surface meaning of the source. The message of each source must be worked out. Students must use the details in the source and their contextual knowledge to work out valid interpretations of the source. When the interpretation is written they must explain how they have reached it by directly referring to details in the source and to contextual knowledge. The examiner needs to know what led the student to that interpretation. Interpretations that are informed and supported by contextual knowledge will always be better rewarded.

Extrapolating from the sources:

Students must use the sources to reach a conclusion that goes beyond what the sources actually tell you. Students must work out: the purpose, the author, the audience or the impact of the sources. Contextual knowledge must be used in their response to support the answer.

Evaluating sources:

Students could be asked to evaluate sources for (i) usefulness (ii) reliability

For (i) usefulness: It is important that students do not dismiss as useless, sources that are biased. Historical sources are biased one way or the other but they still can be useful as they provide evidence of the attitudes of the person or group that produced that source.

For (ii) reliability: It is important that students interpret the source and consider who has produced the source and the purpose of that source. They should then either check the claims made in the source against their knowledge, and /or use their knowledge to consider the possible purpose of the source and how far this makes the reliability of the source questionable. A third way of evaluating sources consists of comparing what the sources say to what other sources in the paper say. Do they support or disagree with the sources under question? This approach usually gains fewer marks than the first two strategies.

General advice here would be –give your interpretation of the source, explain what you know about the person who produced the source, explain why you think they might have a particular purpose in producing the source, explain why this makes the source questionable.

Using sources:

The final question on the question paper always asks the student to consider how far the sources support a statement about the events. Students should first check back through the sources and make a rough list of the ones that support the statement and the ones which do not support/disagree. Most of the sources will fall in the category of agree/disagree. Only a couple will not fall in this category and should be put under the column neutral. Most of the sources, but it is not absolutely necessary that all sources must be used.

Students should then take the first list and then clearly explain how each source in that group supports the statement. They must make clear which source they are writing about at any particular time (by referring to the source letter).They should then do the same with the second group of sources. Earlier in the paper they would have already have made judgments about the reliability of the sources. These can be used again here as extra marks are given for any evaluation of the sources. Students must not refer back to the earlier answers; they must do the evaluation all over again. They must decide, for example, that a source cannot be used to support the statement because it is not reliable.

Hope the points will help you to tackle Paper 2-Keep a cool head and meet the challenge head on!!



My best wishes are with each one of you!!



MORE TIPS:
 
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Working With

Sources

A Guide to Paper 2

By Miss Evans

www.SchoolHistory.co.uk

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Introduction

Paper 2 of your GCSE exam will ask questions on a certain aspect of the

‘Medicine Through Time’ section of your course, using SOURCES.

Many students think this paper is difficult. This guide is intended to

help you to develop the skills you will need to perform to your best on

the day of the exam. It includes advise on how examiners want the

questions to be answered and sample questions with worked through

answers.

It is of course impossible to cover every type of question that may be

asked in an exam, but this guide will focus on 5 main types of questions:

1) Comprehension.

2) Comprehension in context.

3) Reliability/Usefulness/Value of sources.

4) Source comparison.

5) Interpretation.

- do not worry if you do not know what all of these terms

mean yet, that is what the guide is for!

The best way to become confident with historical sources is to practise,

and your teacher will give you plenty of opportunity to do that.

What is a Source?

A source is a piece of evidence that historians use to

find out about the past.

There are many different types of sources that can be

used, such as; letters, diaries, texts from books, pictures,

cartoons etc.

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• Always read the sources and the questions carefully.

• Make sure you relate your answer to the question, don’t get bogged

down writing everything you can think of.

• Read and use the captions underneath pictures and cartoons they can

be hugely helpful.

• Think carefully about timing yourself. Look at how many marks the

question is worth and then work out how much time you should

spend on it.

• REMEMBER. An 8 mark question does not require you to make 8

points, it is the level of analysis in your answer that gets you marks.

Whenever you see this symbol there will be essential tips and

hints. If you take notice of them, your answers will improve.

Here are some general hints to help you when working with

sources.

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1. Comprehension

There are no ‘easy’ questions in History, but comprehension source

questions are the easiest on paper 2 - they are usually the first questions

asked and carry the lowest marks.

Comprehension questions will usually look something like this:

• What can you learn from Sources A and B about ……………

• What impression do Sources A and B give of …………

• What message does the cartoon in source C give about ……….

All you have to do is write down what the source is telling you about the

person or situation mentioned in the question.

1) Firstly read or look at the source or sources carefully and write down

the obvious things it is telling you. Make sure you keep the question

in mind.

2) Secondly look beyond the obvious and see what you can infer. What

can you work out from what you have read or seen in the source even

though it may not be immediately obvious?

3) Write down what you have inferred and use the source to back you

up.

Infer = To work something out from what you have read or seen.

Let’s have a look at a real ‘comprehension’ source

question.

Study the sources and read the question and then work

through the ‘Hints for your answer.’

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SOURCE A: A painting showing Archie McIndoe working with his team in the

operating theatre at East Grinstead. It was painted by Anna Zinkeisen, a nurse at

the hospital, in 1944.

SOURCE B: From the book The Last Enemy, by Richard Hilary, written in

1950. In this book Richard Hilary describes his experiences as a fighter pilot.

He was shot down in the Battle of Britain in 1940 and was badly burned. In

this extract he describes what also happened to a friend.

Edmonds was placed in the bed next to mine. He was trapped inside his aircraft

when it turned over and burst into flames. He fried for several minutes before

they dragged him out. When he was first brought to Archie McIndoe he was

unrecognisable. Never once did Edmonds complain although it would take

years to build him a new face.

Three days after his operation to replace his eyelids I noticed a dribble from

under the dressings across his eyes. It was the streptococcus* at work again. It

was a bitter shame that McIndoe’s first eyelid failure was Edmonds.

(* = the deadly germ which often infected minor wounds.)

QUESTION

Study Sources A and B.

What can you learn from sources A and B about the work of Archie McIndoe?

(5)

Image unavailable due to copyright.

Cut and paste image in for school use.

6

HINTS FOR YOUR ANSWER.

1) After reading and looking at the sources carefully, ask yourself what

are the obvious things that these sources tell you about the work of

Archie McIndoe.

• Facts such as he was a plastic surgeon; he worked with a large

team; he was not always successful.

2) These facts are all fine, but will only gain you 2 marks at the most.

Now look beyond the obvious, what do these sources infer about his

work. What can you work out from what you have seen and read?

• Inferences such as he was highly skilled because eyelid

operations were complex; he was usually very successful

because a failure was unusual; he was respected because a nurse

took the trouble to paint him at work; he was dedicated because

he was prepared to spend years to rebuild the pilot’s face.

3) These are all good inferences and will gain you 3 or 4 marks. To get a

full 5 marks, you need to make sure you use both of the sources, use

several points from the sources to back up your inferences and bring

all of your points together to make a general but substantiated

comment. E.g.

• He was very highly respected as shown by the fact that a nurse

has painted him at work, that the burnt pilot was taken straight

to him and that people wanted to observe him at work.

• ‘Overall the sources tell me that Mcindoe was a highly skilled,

successful and well respected plastic surgeon who was

dedicated to the complex and difficult work that helped rebuild

many lives.’

• If a question asks you to use more than one source, you

must use more than one source.

• DO NOT paraphrase or describe everything in a source -

it is a waste of time, it will not get you any marks.

• Always keep referring to the question asked, it will help

you to avoid getting side-tracked.

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2. Comprehension in Context

These questions require you to understand what a source tells us about a

person or situation and then link it with knowledge you already have

which is also relevant to the question.

Comprehension in context questions usually look something like this:

Use Source A and Source B and your own knowledge to explain ……….

How does Source A help you to understand …..? Use the source and

your own knowledge to explain.

1) Firstly study the source or sources - what does it tell you? Go through

the same process as you would for a straight forward comprehension

question, looking for inferences as well as the obvious.

2) Then think about what else you know about the particular issue. If it

is relevant and it would help you to understand the source better

include it in your answer.

SOURCE A: Part of a letter from a Mr Perkins to the government’s Board of

Health in 1848.

‘….my impression is that [the gases] chemically infect exposed water; and the

poorer classes using such water are consequently the greatest sufferers.’

Let’s have a look at a real comprehension in context

question.

Read the source and the question and then work through

the ‘Hints for your answer.’

By Miss Evans

www.SchoolHistory.co.uk

8

QUESTION

Use the source and your knowledge to explain what Source A tells you

about people’s understanding of the causes of disease in the early

nineteenth century. (8)

HINTS FOR YOUR ANSWER

1) Firstly read the caption and the source carefully and ask yourself what

the source tells you about people’s understanding of the causes

disease.

• For example the source tells you that some people believed that

disease was caused by the drinking of water which was infected

by gases.

2) This will only gain you a couple of marks because you have not used

your own knowledge at all in the answer. Now think about what you

know. What do you know about people’s understanding of the causes

of disease in the early nineteenth century?

• You know that the Germ Theory was not developed until 1861.

People did not know that germs caused disease in the early

nineteenth century.

• You know that many people believed in the miasma theory.

• You know that there were several cholera epidemics during this

time which made people’s search for the cause of disease more

focussed.

3) You should now be aware of what the source is telling you and what

your background knowledge is. However it is not enough to just

write down this is what the source tells me….., and this is what I know …

To gain maximum marks you need to link your knowledge with the

information in the source.

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• You can link Mr Perkins’ comment that ‘gases chemically infect

water’ to your knowledge of the miasma theory. - give a brief

explanation.

• You can link the fact that the source was written in 1848 to your

knowledge that there was a cholera epidemic in 1848. Some

doctors suspected that dirt and poor quality water may be in

some way to blame although this was not proved until Snow in

1854.

• You can then link the two facts above, (i.e. that Mr Perkins

believed that poisonous gases infected water which then caused

disease), to your knowledge that there was no germ theory in

1848. Although people made links between dirt and disease,

nobody knew about germs until 1861.

4) Linking what you already know to what the source is telling you

creates a very good answer. Make sure it is written in a sensible way.

• If a question asks you to use the source and your own

knowledge then you must use both.

• Start with the source and then add in what you can remember

which will help you to understand the source better.

• Your own knowledge must be relevant to the question, keep

referring to the question in your answer to keep you focussed.

• Do not start writing about the usefulness or reliability of

sources in comprehension in context questions, it will gain you

nothing.

• Do not paraphrase the source.

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3. Reliability/Usefulness/Value of Sources

You are almost guaranteed to see a question of this type on you exam

paper, so be prepared. The examiner wants you to recognise that some

sources have more value to historians than others, some are more

reliable than others, and some are more useful than others.

Reliability/Usefulness/value questions usually look something like this:

What is the value of Source A for an historian trying to find out

about……..

How useful is Source B for an historian enquiring into ………

1) The first thing to ask of the source is, is it reliable? To do this think

about:

! who wrote it?

! when was it written?

! why was it written?

2) Then you should be able to identify whether or not the source is

biased. If you believe it is biased you must be able to explain why you

believe this.

3) You should then be able to make a judgement as to the source’s

reliability. Whether or not a source is biased effects its reliability. The

more biased the source the less reliable it is, BUT sources are never

completely reliable or unreliable.

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4) The second thing to ask of the source is, is it useful or valuable to an

historian? Remember just because a source is not very reliable does

not mean it is not useful or of value to a historian.

e.g. A source written by a male doctor that gives an unfavourable

view of a female doctor may be biased, and yet be useful in telling

an historian about male attitudes towards female doctors at that

time.

5) Usefulness/Value of sources can only be decided when you know

what the historian wants to use the source for. Once you know the

question being asked you need to make two lists.

What are the uses of this

source to answer the

question?

What are the problems of

using this source to answer

that question?

6) Finally once you have discussed all of the above in your answer, you

need to make a final judgement. Sum up how useful or valuable you

think the source is.

Reliable - can be trusted or made use of at face value.

Biased - gives a one-sided point of view.

Useful - can be used by an historian to answer a given question.

Valuable - can be used by an historian to answer a given question.

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SOURCE B: From the book The Last Enemy, by Richard Hilary, written in

1950. In this book Richard Hilary describes his experiences as a fighter pilot.

He was shot down in the Battle of Britain in 1940 and was badly burned. In

this extract he describes what also happened to a friend.

Edmonds was placed in the bed next to mine. He was trapped inside his aircraft

when it turned over and burst into flames. He fried for several minutes before

they dragged him out. When he was first brought to Archie McIndoe he was

unrecognisable. Never once did Edmonds complain although it would take

years to build him a new face.

Three days after his operation to replace his eyelids I noticed a dribble from

under the dressings across his eyes. It was the streptococcus* at work again. It

was a bitter shame that McIndoe’s first eyelid failure was Edmonds.

(* = the deadly germ which often infected minor wounds.)

QUESTION

How useful is Source B for an historian enquiring into advances in

surgery in wartime?

(6)

HINTS FOR YOUR ANSWER

1) The first thing to ask the source is, is it reliable? The information for

this part of your answer is in the caption that introduces the source.

• Who wrote it? Richard Hilary, a fighter pilot, ordinary man with no

medical training,

• When was it written? 1950, Hilary had been an eye-witness to the

event ten years ago, had some time after the war to research for his

book.

• Why was it written? Book of memoirs, to celebrate his and his fellow

pilots’ achievements - not to give details of medical advances.

Let’s have a look at a real reliability/usefulness/value

question.

Read the source and the question and then work through

the ‘Hints for your answer.’

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2) This initial search through the source will really help with the rest of

your answer. From this information, you can make a judgement as to

whether the source is reliable.

• Your answer could be that the pilot has no obvious motive to lie

or exaggerate, yet there may be errors as about the medical facts

involved because he is not a trained doctor.

3) Now that you have picked out all of these facts, you need to use them

to answer the specific question. How useful is the source for an

enquiry into the advances in surgery in wartime?

• It is very important that you keep the question in mind. For

example the fact that the source tells us of the bravery of pilots

in the second world war is irrelevant. If we were enquiring into

bravery then it would be useful, but we are not, we are

enquiring into advances in surgery and therefore it that question

against which we should judge the source’s usefulness.

4) At this point it would be useful to draw up a table.

(Never include such a table and include it in your answer - draw it

in rough and then cross it out. Don’t worry about it looking neat

either, you haven’t got time.)

What are the uses of this

source to tell me about

advances in surgery in

wartime?

What are the problems of using

this source to tell me about

advances in surgery in

wartime?

• An eye-witness account

gives detailed description

of plastic surgery.

• Gives the name of a plastic

surgeon able to carry out

such operations. - no

reason to doubt that name.

• Gives details of failure.

• He wrote 10 years after the

event so had time to reflect

and research

• The pilot was not medically

trained and may have made

inaccurate medical

statements, or not recognised

other advances

• It tells us more about the

emotions of surgery rather

than what was physically

done.

• It is only one account, it does

not provide details of any

other medical advances or

cover any other wars.

• It was probably written to

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glorify the achievements of

fighter pilots not to give detail

of advances in surgery and

therefore lacks the detail

required.

• It was written only 10 years

after the event the extent of

the advances made may not

have been obvious at that

time.

5) You now have the information that you require to write out a

balanced answer as to how useful the source is. It should be quite

obvious that although the source is useful for some things it is not

very useful in this particular enquiry. You would need to write both

sides of the argument but then sum up your judgement as to it’s

usefulness at the end.

• A source is never completely useful or useless.

• Biased, unreliable sources can still be useful.

• Usefulness or value can only be judged when you know the

question you need to answer with it.

• Make sure your answer is relevant. Keep referring back to the

question.

• The planning of your answer (e.g. the table) is very important to

a good answer, nevertheless don’t waste too much time.

• It is very likely that you will be asked to compare the

usefulness(utility) or value of sources, in which case you would

go through this process for each one and state a preference as to

which is more useful.

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4. Source Comparison

Once you are happy with the skills required to answer the 3 previous

types of questions, comparison questions are a piece of cake.

Comparison questions usually look something like this:

Compare the value of Sources H and K for an historian enquiring into….

Do you think that Source B is more useful than Source C for an enquiry

into……

In what ways do Sources D and E agree about ……….

To what extent to Sources A and B agree about ……….

In many ways there are two types of question in source comparison,

those that wish you to compare their value and those that wish you to

look for differences and similarities. You know how to tackle the former

from the last chapter.

1) The question may well ask you to compare two sources, but more

likely you will be asked, what do these sources agree on, or how do

they differ. Whichever way the question is worded, you MUST

always look for both SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES.

2) As with usefulness/value questions it is often useful to draw up a

table.

Similarities Differences

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SOURCE G : An account of Florence Nightingale’s work from a school text

book written by John Robottom in 1991.

By 1856 most people knew of Florence Nightingale’s work from the many

pictures of the ‘Lady of the Lamp’.

The pictures of the gentle lady with the lamp were only part of the truth, but

they touched people’s imaginations. They sent the huge sum of £40 000 to the

Nightingale Fund for training nurses.

Back in England, Florence Nightingale spent three years advising the

government on changes in army hospitals. Then in 1860 she chose St Thomas’

Hospital for the first nurse-training school.

SOURCE H : An account of Florence Nightingale’s work in the Crimea, from

the Oxford Children’s Encyclopaedia’, 1991.

Florence Nightingale set sail in 1854 with 38 nurses. Within a month they had

5 000 men to look after. Florence worked 20 hours a day to improve the

nursing of ordinary soldiers. Every night she visited all the wards, and the

soldiers loved her as ‘the lady with the lamp’.

Her story was published in newspapers back home and she became a national

heroine. £45 000 was collected from the public for her to spend as she saw fit.

In 1860 she spent it on the Nightingale training school for nurses at St

Thomas’s hospital , London.

QUESTION

To what extent does Source H agree with Source G about the work of

Florence Nightingale?

(6)

Let’s have a look at a real source comparison question.

Read the source and the question and then work through

the ‘Hints for your answer.’

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HINTS FOR YOUR ANSWER

1) Although the question asks you to look at how far the sources agree,

to answer the question fully, you must also consider the areas of

disagreement. The best way to plan your answer, would be to draw

up a table.

Agree Disagree

• She was known as the ’Lady

with the Lamp’.

• The public donated money to her

cause.

• Money was used by Nightingale

to found a training centre for

nurses at St Thomas’s hospital.

• She was well known.

• She worked in army hospitals.

• The figure donated by the public.

• Only Source G mentions she had

an advisory role to government.

2) Having completed the table you should be clear on whether the

sources agree on a great deal, on some aspects but not others, or not at

all. You can therefore now write a solid answer.

3) For a well-structured answer, first write about the points on which the

sources agree, then write about the points on which they do not agree.

Finally write a small conclusion commenting on the extent to which

they agree.

• When a question asks you to compare sources, it expects your

answer to include similarities and differences.

• Draw up a quick table to focus your thoughts.

• Even if the details are slightly different, the sources might

agree on a broader issue.

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5. Interpretation

These questions are usually the last to be asked on Paper 2 and carry the

most marks. You should be prepared to spend more time on these

questions. They will ask you to explain or make a judgement about the

past. You are usually required to use the sources and your own

knowledge.

Interpretation questions usually look something like this:

Do you agree that there were very few advances in surgery prior to

Pasteur’s development of the Germ Theory in 1861? Use all the sources

and your own knowledge to explain your answer.

Source E suggests that Fleming played the greatest role in the

development of Penicillin. How far do you agree with this statement?

Use the sources and your own knowledge to explain your answer.

1) It would not be feasible to go through a sample interpretation

question due to the number of sources and the length of the answer.

Nevertheless the important thing to remember in answering this type

of question is to produce a balanced and well structured response.

You should also plan what you are going to say - again maybe in the

form of a table.

2) You should structure your answer like this:

1. An opening paragraph which refers to the question and suggests

your opinion.

2. Points from the sources and your own knowledge that support

the view in the question.

3. Points from the sources and your own knowledge that oppose

the view in the question

4. A closing paragraph, which again refers to the question and

sums up your opinion.

• Plan your answer and your time carefully.

• Use the sources and your own knowledge.

 I am indebted to  Miss Evans

  www.SchoolHistory.co.uk