The 8 Mark "How Useful are Sources B and C" Question (Edexcel GCSE History): Revision Note

Summary of Question 3 (a)

• Question 3 (a) requires you to evaluate how useful two sources are for a historian investigating a specific issue

  • You should: 

    • Refer to the content and provenance of the sources 

    • Use relevant own knowledge to support your points

      Make a clear judgement on how useful each source is for the enquiry

• This is the first question in Section B of the paper

  • Questions 3 (a) to 3 (d) will be based on the same topic

• An example of the type of question you may encounter can be seen below:

• In previous years, this question has focused on the following topics in Russia and the Soviet Union:

What is a historical enquiry?

• A historical enquiry is when historians ask questions, select evidence and make judgements about the past

• All questions in Section B — Questions 3 (a) to 3 (d) — will be focused on the same historical enquiry

  • The enquiry could be based on either Tsarist Russia or the Soviet Union

  • If you do not link your answer to the enquiry in the question, you cannot score more than 2 marks

Using the content and provenance of a source

• A historical source is made up of: 

  • The provenance

    • The background of the source 

  • The content 

    • The information the source shows or describes

Provenance 

• The provenance appears at the top of each source and usually tells you:

  • Who created it

  • What type of source it is (e.g. a diary)

  • When it was produced

  • Where it was created

• For the example question, here is a breakdown of the provenance of Source C:

How is provenance important for a "How useful …" question?

• Use the provenance to consider:

  • Is the source typical of what you would expect the author to say or show?

  • Is the source accurate if it was produced years after the event?

  • What factors could have influenced their opinion?

Content 

• Finding the content of a source depends on the type of source you have

Written sources

• Read the text closely to understand what it tells you about the issue in the question

• Look for:

  • The author’s overall viewpoint on the enquiry

  • Key quotes about the enquiry

Visual sources

• Look carefully at what the image shows

• Ask yourself:

  • What is happening in the image?

  • Who or what is included or left out?

  • What message is being communicated?

  • Is anything staged or exaggerated?

How is content important for a "How useful…" question?

• Use the content to:

  • Make inferences about the enquiry

  • Provide evidence for your judgement on the source's usefulness

Making judgements in a “How useful are Sources B and C?” question 

• The 8 mark "How useful” question requires you to make a judgement

Common mistakes in judgement questions

• Saying that neither source is useful

• Avoiding a clear decision by using phrases like “kind of” or “maybe”

• Focusing on reliability rather than usefulness

  • All sources are useful for a historian, but not all sources are reliable

    • A speech by Lenin is likely to contain incorrect information and be biased towards Bolshevik ideals

    • However, it tells historians about how the Bolsheviks communicated their policies to the public

What makes a good judgement?

• Refers to specific content from the source

• Uses the provenance clearly

• Applies relevant contextual knowledge

• Links back to the focus of the question

  • For the example question, the focus of the question is the impact of the New Economic Policy (NEP)

The limitations of sources

• Your judgement does not need to include limitations to get full marks

  • Students’ responses are often given higher marks if they only focus on the source's strengths

• However, if you include a limitation, you must make sure the limitation is: 

  • Supported by knowledge 

  • Focused on the question 

  • Relevant to your answer 

"How useful are Sources B and C?" question structure 

• You will find Sources B and C in the Sources/ Interpretations Booklet

• Do not use Source A for this question

  • This source is only relevant to Section A

  • It is not included in the insert

• Your answer should include:

  • An explanation of how useful each source is for the enquiry

  • Use of content and provenance

  • Specific and accurate own knowledge

• Your answer could be written in PEE paragraphs

  • P — Make a point about the question

    • Make it clear how useful the source is

    • Use the source to make an inference about the issue in the question

  • E — Use information from the source and knowledge to support the point you have made

    • Your knowledge should be specific 

  • E — Explain why this shows that the source is useful 

    • Focus on the given issue in the question 

• To get full marks, your judgement must use:

  • The source's content

  • The source's provenance

  • Your own knowledge

• You will need two paragraphs

  • The focus of Paragraph 1 should be Source A

  • The focus of Paragraph 2 should be Source B 

  • You will achieve 8 marks for your analysis and evaluation of how useful both sources are for the enquiry (S)

Worked example of a "How useful are Sources B and C?" question