The 12 Mark "How Useful" Question: The Gulf & Afghanistan (Q2) (AQA GCSE History)
Revision Note
Written by: Zoe Wade
Reviewed by: Bridgette Barrett
Summary of Question Two
Question Two requires you to evaluate how useful two sources are for a historian about the issue outlined
You should:
Refer to the content and provenance of the sources
Include knowledge that is relevant to the source
Make a judgement on how useful the source is for the given issue in the question
Amount of marks | 12 |
|---|---|
The time that you should spend on the question | No more than 20 minutes 5 minutes of planning 15 minutes of writing |
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:
Year of Exam | Question Topic |
|---|---|
2018 | |
2019 | |
2020 | |
2021 | No paper available |
2022 | |
Sample 1 | |
Sample 2 |
Using the Content & Provenance of a Source
A historical source is made up of two sections:
The provenance
The content
Provenance
Provenance is the background information of a source
The provenance can be found at the top of each source
The provenance usually tells you
Who created the source
What type of source it is, for example, a newspaper article
When the source was made
Where the source was created
For the example question, here is a breakdown of the provenance of Source C:
Who | Tony Blair, British Prime Minister |
|---|---|
What | A speech |
When | 2001 |
Where | Blair delivered the speech to Parliament, London, UK |
In this question, you should use the provenance of the source to:
Help you explain the usefulness of a source
Content
The content is the information presented in the source
The content could be a variety of different types of sources such as:
A picture
A photograph
An extract from a book
A speech
A political cartoon
A letter
In this question, you should use the content of the source to:
Help you explain the usefulness of the source
Making judgements in a 12 Mark “How Useful” Question
The 12-mark "How Useful” question requires you to make a judgement
The common mistakes that students make when making a judgement are:
Not giving a clear judgement. Students do this by:
Explaining that neither of the sources is useful to a historian
Failing to decide how useful the sources are
Not addressing the sources together
Using language in their answer which is not decisive e.g. “kind of” or “maybe”
Focusing on reliability rather than how useful the source is. Students do this by:
Not making any judgement about the source’s usefulness
Stating that, because the source is unreliable, the source is not useful to a historian
All sources are useful for a historian but not all sources are reliable
Unreliable sources can be very useful. For example, a political cartoon from the United States might be biased or have inaccurate information. However, it tells historians about US opinion on tensions with the Middle East
Good judgements will:
Include specific content from the sources
The source’s provenance
Your knowledge of the time period
This will help you to see if the source is accurate or typical for the period
Good judgements will also keep going back to the focus of the question
For the example question, you must only talk about how useful the sources are for the 11 September attacks
Your judgement does not need to include limitations and you can receive full marks without one
Students’ responses are often given higher marks if they only focus on the source's strengths. This is because the question wants you to pick parts of the source that are useful
However, if you include a limitation you will be credited, you must make sure the limitation is:
Supported by knowledge
Focused on the question
Relevant to your answer
Unlike the 8-mark "How Useful" questions, to achieve full marks you need to make a complex evaluation of the sources together by addressing them in combination or as a pair
The best place to do this is in your conclusion at the end of your answer
Historical sources are always more useful together as they may show
A change in perspective over time
How different people viewed an event or person in history
How an event or person affected different people in the same country or place
“How Useful” Question Structure
You should write two paragraphs, one for each source, and a conclusion
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
Focus on the content and provenance of the source
E- Explain why this shows that the source is useful
Focus on the given issue in the question
For top marks, your judgement about the source’s usefulness will combine the content of the source, the provenance of the source and your own knowledge of the issue in the question
To achieve full marks, you need to repeat this twice, a paragraph for each source
For the 12-mark "How Useful" question you need a conclusion
Your conclusion should:
Include both of the sources
Address how the sources are more useful together
Be brief
Worked Example of a “How Useful” Question
Worked Example
How useful are Sources B and C to an historian studying the 11 September attacks on the United States?
[12 marks]
Source B: A cartoon published in an American newspaper in 2001 by Nick Anderson. The figure in the picture represents the United States. AWAITING IMAGE |
Source C: From a speech made by British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to Parliament shortly after the 11 September attacks in 2001. "Killing so many innocent and defenceless people can never be justified. The world needs to stand together and bring those responsible to justice. President Bush has been careful not to strike first and only think about it afterwards. The United Nations Security Council has passed a resolution to combat terrorism and now we need to think about how to fight terrorists. We have to stop their training, funding and supply of weapons. We will do whatever is necessary." |
Answer:
Source B is useful to a historian studying the 11 September attacks on the United States as it demonstrates the power and anger that the United States had against terrorism. Source B shows the representation of the United States pulling out the "knife" of terrorism. The terrorist attacks by al-Queda on 11th September 2001 were politically and socially damaging to the United States. The cartoon demonstrates this by the United States being wounded by the knife. However, the figure stands up again. The purpose of the cartoon was to appeal to American patriotism and encourage support for whatever measures would be taken to deal with the threat. Therefore, this source is useful to a historian studying the 11 September attacks as it shows the opinion that the US had tremendous power which it would use to defeat terrorism.
Source C is relatively useful to a historian studying the 11 September attacks because it highlights the wider reaction to the attacks by allies of the United States. Source C is an extract from a speech made by Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister at the time of the attacks. The source states “The world needs to stand together and bring those responsible to justice.” Blair had such a passionate reaction because many British citizens worked in the Twin Towers and were casualties in the attacks. Blair wanted other countries to work with the UN to undermine and weaken terrorism. Therefore, this source is useful to a historian because it shows the reactions of the West to the attacks and the potential for military retaliation.
Although these sources are useful to a historian, they are more useful together. Taken together, the sources are useful because they illustrate how the US and its allies quickly reacted to the attacks. They show the shocking nature of the attacks and how this warranted revenge.
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