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HISTORY

SOURCE WORK

AND

EXTENDED WRITING

GUIDE

GRADES 10-12
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WORKING WITH SOURCES

The focus of history teaching in the National Curriculum Statement has shifted to working
with sources. The aim is to enable learners to extract, analyse and interpret evidence from
sources, just like historians do, and write their own piece of history. Emphasis is on history as
a process rather than a product.

It is therefore imperative for learners to note that nearly all the assessment in history is based
on sources and that this guide will help them go through those skills in a confident manner.
The guide will handle issues such as usefulness, relevance, reliability and bias in sources.

What are sources?

Sources are the raw material of history. These include letters, documents, books,
photographs, drawings and paintings, speeches, monuments, statues and buildings, tables and
graphs, maps, poems, diaries, songs, etc. They can be written, oral, visual and any other
material that is useful to the historian to find historical evidence. Remember that historians
construct a view of the past by using what has survived from the past for gleaning of
information/evidence.

Skills developed in working with sources

When learners work with sources in history, they go through an enquiry process which leads
to acquiring the following key skills:
• Analysis
• Interpretation
• Evaluation
• Synthesis
• Communication

Important questions to ask about historical sources

When learners are working with a source, they need to ask the following questions:
- Who produced it? (provenance)
- When was it produced?
- For whom was it produced?
- Why was it produced?
- What does it say?/ What does it tell us about the past?
- Can we trust what it say?/ Was the person there?
- Is reliable? (is the information accurate)
- Is it biased? (whose point of view)
- Would it be useful if I were writing a history of the time?
- Is it a primary/ secondary source?

Let us look at some of the questions raised above.

Is it valid?
Learners need to be aware that some sources are not authentic or real; for instance, those
made up by the teacher. Another example of a bogus source is that of Hitler’s diary in the
1980s. This had been faked in order to make money. Sources can also be invalid if they are

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misapplied. For instance if a source on the French Revolution is presented as dealing with
the Russian Revolution, it would be invalid.

Is it useful?
A source might be useful for some purposes but not so useful for others. It depends on the
question you are asking. For instance, if a source is biased, it may not be useful if you are
trying to find out about an event; however that same source might be useful to show how
people felt at the time. Sources are not just useful for what they are about but also for
incidental and background details. Furthermore, their very existence shows that they were
regarded as important at the time.

Example:

The topic might be about the Rise of the Nazi Party. This photograph has nothing directly to
do with the Nazi Party. It is a photograph taken in the early 1920s showing how business and
professional men managed to get to work during a transport strike. Despite this having
nothing to do with the Nazi Party, it might well be useful to a researcher trying to get a
complete picture of the period as it shows the type of vehicles of the time, the everyday dress
worn at the time. The fact that all the workers are male is also significant. More importantly
it suggests the sort of class divides that the Nazi Party was later able to exploit.

Is it primary or secondary?
Primary source is either produced at the time of the event or produced after the event by a
witness of the event. It comes from the time the historian is studying and provides learners
with opportunities to have a more direct encounter with past events and people. It links
learners to the human emotions, aspirations, and values that prevailed in another time.
Secondary source is written after the event by someone who did not witness the event. It is
based on other sources e.g. a book produced by a historian. Although knowing whether a
source is primary or secondary is important, it is more important to explain whether a source
is useful or reliable.

Perhaps the most important thing to know about these two types of sources is that we assess
them differently when trying to decide such things as their usefulness and reliability. Most of
what we will be saying about reliability refers to primary sources, so what should we be
looking for when assessing a secondary source. The key features are the reputation of the
author and/or publisher, evidence of extensive and balanced research (bibliography and

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footnotes) and, in the case of historians, some knowledge as to which historical school the
historian belongs to (liberal, Marxist, Nationalist, annales, post-modern etc.)

Is it reliable?
Reliability refers to how credible or trustworthy material may be as a historical source of
evidence. A source might be reliable for some purposes but unreliable for others. In order to
test for reliability, these are some of the questions learner should ask.

• Who produced the source and when?

- what are their ideas/ beliefs?
- what is the extent of their knowledge of the subject?
- are they well-informed or is much of their knowledge second-hand (hearsay)
without evidence of any attempt to get a balanced and well-researched picture?

• Was the person who produced the source an eyewitness?

- eyewitness may lack a global view, they may not be able to see/hear all that
has happened.
- however, they will be able to present a focused point of view.

• Why was the source produced?

- was it for publication?
-was it for private use?
-was it for official use?
• Who was the intended audience?
-was it written for the general public, e.g. newspaper?
-was it written for experts or people who knew little about the subject?

• How was the language used?

-choice of words may place bias on the material
-is it emotive or factual?

• What about the selection of facts? (Bias)

-does it seem to be a fair account, or is only one side presented?
-what gaps exist in the information? (areas of silences)

• Are there errors in fact?

-is the information in it accurate?
-if there are errors, it may indicate an unreliable source.

Remember that different people see past events from different viewpoints and thus it will be
difficult for any source to be completely reliable.

When sources do not agree, check the areas where they do not agree. Look further for what is
called “corroborating evidence”. This is material which either confirms or denies your source.

Example:

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You have to penetrate courts reeking with poisonous gases arising from the piles of sewage and
refuse scattered in all directions; courts, many of them which the sun never reaches, which are
never visited a breath of fresh air. You have to climb rotten staircases. You have to grope your
way along dark and filthy passages swarming with vermin. Then you may gain admittance to the
dens in which thousands of these beings herd together.
From: The Bitter Cry of Outcast London published in 1883 by Rev Andrew Mearns.

This source about housing conditions in London in the 1880s is clearly very biased as can be
detected from the extreme nature of the language used. However, it is not necessarily
completely unreliable for someone studying this topic. A historian would need to cross-
reference this source against a variety of other sources in order to gauge its degree of
reliability.

Analysing visual sources

Cartoons, photographs, posters, graphs, and maps are all different types of visual sources.

Cartoons
Cartoons are an amusing primary source that gives us contemporary comment on historical
events. Sometimes they are usually produced to convey a political message. The message in
the pictures is usually satirical in nature; for instance, most cartoons that appear in our daily
newspapers.

In order to understand what a cartoon is trying to say you need to look closely at all the visual
clues in the cartoon such as facial expression, body language, style of dress, what each
character is holding, what action each one is performing, relative position of the characters,
speech bubbles, how each character is portrayed, the caption, the date, the publication in
which the cartoon originally appeared, the persons and historical event represented. The more
you know about the event or person the cartoonist is depicting the easier it is to make sense of
their message.

Example:

Dr Jack’s cartoon of the TRC Thingummy refers to the cleansing effect of the work done by
the three committees of the TRC [Bottaro p. 213]

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The reason for choosing this cartoon as an example is that it was recently used in workshops,
where teachers were required to set questions on it. Unfortunately the questions showed that
most teachers have a poor grasp of cartoons as a genre. On more than one occasion the
question set was to ask how accurate the cartoon was and the answer was along the lines of
yes it is accurate because it shows the workings of the TRC committees. A question like this
completely misses the satirical and in a literal sense, inaccurate, rendering of a cartoon. The
answer is no it is not accurate – no such machine existed, the committees are not named,
there was no literal process whereby devils were stripped naked, scrubbed and ejected the
other side as angels.

It is almost invariably more appropriate to ask what the cartoonist’s message is, because that
is what a cartoon is a way of conveying a point of view on a current event or debate using an
image which is often, but certainly not always humourous. In this case the cartoon is clearly
a humourous view of the workings of the TRC. The very fact that it is called a Thingummy
(a thing whose name one has forgotten, does not know or wish to mention) gives this away.
It suggests that the cartoonist had a somewhat cynical view of the workings of the TRC. He
seems to be saying can this ramshackle device really change the devils of apartheid into
delicate little angels. It makes a further interesting comment in that the tube like structure is
broken in the middle, so that only part of the process is seen by the public. Very tellingly the
decision about whether to grant amnesty or not takes place outside public view as suggested
by the handing in of amnesty certificates into the closed portion of the machine. Cartoons
should never be treated as the literal truth but as a symbolic or representational way of
commenting on a matter of public concern.

Photographs
Sometimes photos can be staged or altered to improve the appearance of people; parts of a
photograph can be blocked out or a photograph can be even a fake. Such pictures do not tell
the whole story. It is important that photographs be tested by providing corroborated evidence
by using your own knowledge or by referring to other sources.

When analysing a photo, the learner needs to look into the following aspects:
• Describe the setting and time
• Identify people and objects
• What is happening in the photo?
• Was there a purpose for taking the picture?
• What would be a good caption for the photo?

Example:
Stalin’s regime was notorious for altering pictures. Here is an example.

Original Picture – In this picture, Lenin is

seen addressing the crowd. Standing
immediately to the right of platform from
which Lenin is speaking can be seen the
figure of Trotsky, who, as the leader of the
Red Army was an extremely important
figure among the Bolsheviks.

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Altered Picture – By 1927, Stalin

was supreme and Lenin, the
advocate of World Revolution, had
been forced to flee. He was later
assassinated by Stalin’s agents in
Mexico. As a result when this
photograph was published during
the Stalinist era, Trotsky had been
removed from the photograph.

Posters
Posters are usually produced for a particular reason. They tend to serve the purpose of the
person who has paid for them to be made. These people have motives for presenting the
poster in a particular way.

When analysing a poster, the learner needs to look into the following aspects:
• Note images, colours, dates, characters, references to places, etc.
• Describe the idea that the information seems to point to; compare it with ideas
others may have.
• Write a sentence to give the central purpose of the poster.
• Do you think the poster would have been an effective one?

Example:

This poster with the words “Long Live Germany”

on it uses the sort of imagery associated with
Christ and the dove to portray its message.
“Noble” Hitler with the eagle swooping above
him has come to “save” Germany. In tapping
into centuries of Christian imagery, the cartoon is
typical of the highly effective propaganda
machine the Nazis built up around the person of
Hitler.

Graphs, maps and tables

Graphs, maps and tables are sometimes used to help learners understand information more
easily than providing a written source. Learners need to carefully look at the information
contained in these sources before answering questions. Graphs depict statistical data on the x-

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axis in relation to the y-axis, e.g. a bar graph showing the number of immigrants admitted to
the USA in 1921.

Tables present statistical data in rays and columns, e.g. a table showing share prices of US
companies before and after the Wall Street Crash.

Maps contain information that can be interpreted using a symbol legend or key, e.g. a map
showing the direction the German army took to invade Austria.

More Examples Using the Source Matrix

Carefully study the Source Matrix developed on the next page. It is hoped that it will give
you a systematic way of approaching sources. Basically it works like this:

— If you are asked about the usefulness of a source for a certain task, what should you
look at? The matrix suggests that you should look at three factors: validity, relevance
and reliability and it provides you with all the questions you should ask to evaluate
these factors.
— If you are asked about the reliability of a source for a certain task what should you look
at? Once again the matrix provides you with specific questions to ask about the source
to reach a reasoned judgement. The same is true of bias, which is treated as a sub-
section of reliability.

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Validity/Authenticity - This term refers to sources which are either fake or are misapplied
e.g. using a source about the French Revolution for the Russian Revolution. Unless indicated
otherwise, treat all sources in exams and tests as valid/authentic.

Does the source deal directly with the topic and if so

How relevant is the how much detail and context does it provide? (Direct)
source to my
investigation? If it does not deal directly with the topic or is short on
(Relevance) detail are there other ways in which it is useful?
(Indirect)

Is it accurate? Look for factual inaccuracies. To what

extent was it based on firsthand knowledge and/or
How useful
careful research or is it merely hearsay? (Accuracy)
is the
source? Does it mean what it says? For instance someone who
(usefulness) might be blamed for an incident may well try to find
ways of covering it up as compared with someone who
is disinterested (neutral). This is a common problem
with most published sources. (Deceptiveness)
Is it typical? Can it be corroborated? Does what it is
saying agree broadly with what other sources and your
own knowledge about the subject are telling you?
(Typicality)
Who produced the source and for what purpose? For
How reliable is the example: If it was produced by a government for
source? advocacy/propaganda purposes it is probably going to
(Reliability) give everything it says a positive spin, while a private
journal or letter might be much more frank. How
reputable is the producer? (Provenance)

When was this source produced and by what means?

e.g. If the source was produced long after the event,
what about the effect of memory? Did the person who
produced the source, produce it him- or herself or was
it written down/recorded by someone else?
(Recording)

Provenance (see
above)

Lack of balance one-

sidedness
How biased is
the source?
You should Language cues
look at the phrases etc which tie
following: into known ideological
positions, e.g.
vanguard party =
Marxism-Leninism

Emotionalism e.g.
words like evil ,
ruthless etc. used
without clear
evidence, or emotive
images such as those
sometimes found in
cartoons and drawings.

Use of stereotypes and

generalisations such
as frequent references
to they and us .

Selection process: Is
the source, which is
often part of a larger
document, being
External quoted out of context?
factors:

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What about the effects
of translation and/or
editing on the source?
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1st Example: Cold War

The Key Question is: What factors led to the building of the Berlin Wall?

The source we are using was used in the November 2008 Paper 1. Background to the source:

The document comes from the National Security Archives at the George Washington
University. This independent archives and research institution was set up in 1985 to make
available and study declassified American documents relating to events such as the Cold
War. The Wheeler Interview was part of a project to document the Cold War by means of
oral history interviews with individuals who were involved in various ways. Wheeler was the
BBC’s German correspondent based in West Berlin in the early 1950s. The interview was
made with Wheeler in May 1996. The main focus of the interview of which only a small part
is reproduced in the source was the Berlin Riots of 1953. An important point that Wheeler
makes in an earlier part of the interview is that, as a foreign correspondent, he was not
allowed to visit East Berlin.

Having given you the background here is the source.

1. Conditions in East Berlin (in the 1960s) as viewed by Wheeler .

... East Berlin struggled to recover from the effects of the Second World War and was
feeling the effects of Russia extracting reparations (payments) from East Germany. In fact
very little rebuilding took place and despite a huge housing shortage, no building of houses
took place, yet money was spent on building prestigious projects like the Communist Party
headquarters.
The standard of living was poor compared to the West, wages were low, and there were no
consumer goods in the shops, only endless jars of pickles. What production there was, was
either going to the Soviet Union or being exported in the interests of the Soviet Union.
Conditions here were desperate and people were indeed left destitute.

2. Conditions in West Berlin (in the 1960s) as viewed by Wheeler.

On the other hand West Berlin was a prosperous Western city that was rebuilt as a result of
assistance from the Marshall Plan and assistance from other European states. The result of
this was evident in a number of ways such as, many people I knew were employed, they
enjoyed a good quality of life, most shops were well stocked with several goods and services
and they bustled with shoppers. Moreover, there was freedom to travel and unemployment
was really very low. Many people were happy with this state of affairs.
It was difficult to disentangle politics from economics. West Berlin thrived as a democracy
and enjoyed the fruits of freedom, while East Berlin could not develop because of
communist influence.

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The bracketed phrases appeared in the 2008 History paper.

Having studied the source as well as the contextualisation (the part which gives you all the
background information such as Who produced the source? For what purpose? When was it
produced? etc.) very carefully, let us use the Source Matrix to answer the following
question:

How useful would this source be for a historian studying the factors which led to the
building of the Berlin Wall?

Validity – As you will see from the matrix, the examiners are not likely to give you a bogus
source, although it may be poorly contextualised. In this particular case, because Charlie
Wheeler is describing the situation in the early 1950s, this source is invalid for the 1960s.

Relevance – This source would receive a fairly high score on this criterion because, although
it does not deal directly with the Berlin Wall, it certainly gives insight into the factors which
may have contributed to its building, which is the main focus of the question you have been
asked.

However, it should be borne in mind that Wheeler is commenting on the situation in East and
West Berlin in 1953 — there were almost certainly some changes between 1953 and the
building of the Wall in 1961. One of the changes was that the Soviet Union was no longer
directly involved in the running of its East German satellite. This is clearly shown by the fact
that Stalin’s Soviet Union was directly involved in imposing the blockade in 1948 but had no
direct involvement in the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961, which was erected by the East
German government of Walter Ulbricht. This was very convenient for Khrushchev as, even
though the Wall broke several treaty terms, he could claim that the Soviet Union had nothing
to do with it, although there is evidence that he suggested the idea to Ulbricht.

Reliability – The following factors should all be taken into account when judging reliability:

Accuracy: There is no evidence of any wrong facts and as the BBC correspondent in West
Berlin Wheeler’s business would have been finding out as much as he could about the
situation.

However, we know from reading the contextualisation that Wheeler, as a foreign

correspondent, was not allowed to enter East Berlin. This means that his information on
conditions in that part of the city would have had to come mainly from Germans who either
worked in West Berlin but lived in East Berlin or refugees who had fled from the Eastern
sector. The likelihood would therefore be that most of his sources would view developments
in East Berlin in a negative light.

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Deceptiveness: As this interview occurred after the conclusion of the Cold War, there would
be no reason for Charlie Wheeler to be deceptive in any way. In other words the source
means what it says.

Typicality: As learners, the only way we can test whether this source is typical is to compare
it with the other sources we have been given in the exercise and with our own knowledge.
Judged in this way, it appears to present a similar and therefore typical view of the situation
in the two Berlins found in most other sources. In other words the other sources available to
us appear to corroborate (agree with) what is being said in this source.

Provenance and Purpose: The main things we can say about provenance is that Charlie
Wheeler was English; he was working for the BBC and was living in West Berlin. His
access to East Berlin would therefore have been non-existent and he is likely to have
approached the situation from the perspective of a supporter of the West. These are indeed
factors which might affect the reliability of what he is saying. However, as this was not a
propaganda piece, and was recorded after the Cold War had ended, there is no evidence that
he has made any deliberate attempt to distort the information he provides. Furthermore, both
the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the George Washington University can be
regarded as reputable sources with high standards of journalism in the case of the one and
scholarship in the case of the latter.

Recording Constraints: In this case Wheeler is being interviewed about events which had
taken place 44 years earlier. Unless he kept a journal to which he was referring, of which
there is no evidence in the transcript of the interview, distortions may have crept in because
of the long period involved. Memory even in the short term can be the cause of considerable
distortion. Furthermore, this testimony was obtained using an oral history interview
technique; this might further confound the reliability of the testimony. On the other hand as
a seasoned journalist his job would probably have made him a more careful observer than
someone in a different line of work.

Bias: Although this is certainly written from the perspective of a supporter of the West – a
factor which needs to be kept in mind – it does not exhibit particularly strong signs of bias.
Let’s quickly look at the various bias indicators:
- Provenance and purpose – see above
- Lack of balance – Although he states that conditions in West Berlin were
much better than those in East Berlin, he does provide the political context for
these differing situations – Soviet Union extracting reparations vs the Marshall
Plan and deliberate Western reconstruction.
- Language cues – some signs of anti-communism but not very strongly
expressed.
- Emotionalism – language appears balanced and is not very emotional – look
for lots of adjectives such as evil East German government, enlightened
Western powers etc.

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- Use of stereotypes and generalisations – only to a limited degree – some

attempt to qualify statements such as “Many people were happy with this state
of affairs” rather than “Everybody was happy with this state of affairs.”

As you can see from the foregoing, you could spend hundreds of words just deciding on the
degree of usefulness of a source. So how would you go about answering the original
question about the usefulness of this source for understanding factors leading to the building
of the Berlin Wall? We suggest that your answer should contain the following points:

- source provides useful details about the different lifestyles in West and East
Berlin (relevance)
- worth noting that Wheeler was talking about the situation in Berlin in 1953,
while the focus in the question is on 1961 – much can change in eight years.
(relevance)
- descriptions of lifestyles in the two Berlins are supported by other sources and
by my own knowledge (accuracy, deceptiveness, typicality)
- a degree of bias needs to be taken into account as the author was a BBC
correspondent living in West Berlin, who was not allowed access to East
Berlin (provenance)
- However, as this was recorded after the Cold War, no ideological purpose
would be served by giving a strongly biased account.
- further cautions are that this source is based on oral testimony taken 43 years
after the event – memory lapses/distortions should be kept in mind.

If you are asked about how reliable you think this source is, you would leave out the first two
bullets concerning relevance – all the others would apply, however.

2nd Example: Women’s March 1956

Let us look at a source which contrasts very strongly with the first source:

The following source is the front page story which appeared in Die Vaderland (The
Fatherland), a Johannesburg-based Afrikaans-language newspaper, the day after the
Women’s March on August 9, 1956. As was the case with virtually all mainstream
Afrikaans-language papers, Die Vaderland was strongly in favour of the National Party
government that had come to power in 1948.

Key Question: What happened during the Women’s March of 1956?

The question is:

How useful would the following source be for someone trying to find out what happened
during the Women’s March of 1956?

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Translated out of the Afrikaans the main

headline and front page article reads as
follow:

Do their Parents know where they are?

It is very clear that these white children in the

photos do not know what is happening.
Do their parents know that they were taken by
their non-white maids to the demonstration at
the Union Buildings?
When we took this photograph the little boy
was very close to tears. The non-white on the
right of the photo took off her shoe and gave it
to him to comfort him as shown in the
photograph.

(From Shuters History Grade 11 – Learner’s book)

Validity The source is valid.

Relevance – The source is almost entirely irrelevant for the question being asked. The report
contains no details as to who was involved, how many were involved, what their demands were,
what happened during the day. Therefore, for the particular question being asked it is almost
entirely irrelevant.

Reliability
Accuracy It is not an accurate account of what happened during the Women s March as it
focuses on two small details to the complete exclusion of everything else. It therefore gives a
distorted impression of the March.

Deceptiveness This is slightly tricky in that the writer of this article definitely meant what he
says. However, the article deceives the reader as to the true nature of the Women s March.

Typicality This article is not at all typical of accounts of the Women s March. All the other
accounts focus on who was there, how many were there, and what happened. Well-disposed
mainstream papers like the Rand Daily Mail emphasised the impressive discipline shown by the
women.

Provenance This source is taken from a newspaper, which is a strong supporter of the
apartheid government. The purpose of the writer would tend therefore to be to belittle any
opposition to government policy and support government policy very strongly.

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Recording This is a contemporary, primary source. It was produced by journalists sent to

cover the Women s March for the paper. Consequently there are unlikely to be any problems
related to memory distortions over time.

Bias This is a very biased source. Let us look at why this is the case:
- Provenance see above
- Lack of balance / one-sidedness the reporter picks out one or two instances
where white children were present at the March and tries to blow this up into a
major feature of the March. Furthermore the evidence he or she advances for
what he or she is saying is very weak. For instance, we do not know whether the
maids had permission to take the children to the Union Buildings or not, and we
have to rely on the journalist that the little boy was upset as this is not obvious
from the photograph.
- Language cues nothing much to comment on in the case of language.
- Emotionalism this is very strong the image of poor little white children being
exposed to danger by the people who are looking after them. The emphasis on
the idea that the little white boy was near to tears.
- Stereotypes and generalisation Strong stereotyping of black women as ignorant,
irresponsible servants. A degree of generalisation as one is meant to assume
that this sort of irresponsible behaviour was widespread.

External Factors The fact that the article has been translated from the original Afrikaans may
be a distorting factor. However, the original has been published alongside the translation.

So how might you answer a question about the usefulness of this source to someone trying to
find out what happened during the Women s March. Here are some of the main points which
should be in your answer:

- Relevance is very low as the source contains no details about the Women s
March other than that there were a few white children there, apparently with their
minders.
- The source gives such a narrow view of the event and can be described as
inaccurate and not typical (in other words the information it gives is not
supported by other sources and seems to focus on one detail of the gathering
that was not typical of the March as a whole.)
- The source was produced by a journalist working for an Afrikaans-language,
National party newspaper which strongly supported apartheid and white
domination. (Provenance)
- Because of the provenance, the source is very biased. This is shown by such
things as the emotional tone of the source and by the use of stereotypes.

A question asking about reliability would focus on the last three points.

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Note that if the question had been about the attitude of National Party supporters or the
National Party press to the Women s March, this source would have been both more
useful and more reliable. This shows that a lot of the characteristics of sources discussed
in this guide depend on the particular question which is being asked (context).

The following points can be deduced from what has been said about answering these types of
questions:

— Wherever possible use primary sources rather than secondary ones.

— If secondary sources are used, they must be thoroughly referenced giving such details as
author, publisher, place of publication and date and, where relevant, specific details about
the author. This will prevent the use of extracts from David Irving s book without
reference to the extremely controversial nature of his views.
— Very careful consideration needs to be given to the language level in sources. Try to always
choose sources which are written in accessible English with due consideration given to the
fact that these sources are going to have to be translated.
— Thorough contextualisation is of enormous importance in the case of primary sources as is
clearly demonstrated by the example used in this paper. Without this contextualisation it
will be difficult, if not impossible for the candidate to make any meaningful comments
about factors such as usefulness and reliability.
— The category usefulness was created largely because the usefulness of a source is not always
readily apparent. Since the post-modern stress on textual analysis, there has been as much
concentration on the unintended significance of sources as there has been on what the
person who produced the source intended to say. Marc Bloch, one of the founders of the
Annales school of History refers to this as the evidence of witnesses in spite of
themselves and regards these unwitting revelations as being of great significance to the
historian.
— Wherever possible, the question should be unambiguous in its phrasing and there should
be a clear answer so that examiners are not forced to fall back on the any other response
type of entry in the marking memorandum.
— It needs to be clearly acknowledged that full source analysis is beyond the scope and
competence of the vast majority of learners. Furthermore, most teachers have not had the
training to make them confident practitioners in this field. It is important therefore, that
our ambitions are scaled down to accord with the reality of the situation. As teachers of
History, we would like to get across to our learners the fact that sources can almost never
be taken at face value. It is this critical stance towards information and opinions which
makes History so valuable in creating the sort of critical thinkers which a modern
democracy requires.

Extended Writing

It is useful to begin by considering why extended writing is a method of choice for

assessment in history. The chief reason is that it provides an effective means of testing the
learner’s comprehension of a topic. The Learner must show that not only has he acquired
knowledge of the topic but also that he has fully understood the topic and issues raised by it.
Furthermore, extended writing helps the learner to progressively develop skills in research,
analysing different forms of source material, using different kinds of evidence, and writing
strong critical and clear arguments.

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Using sources as evidence in extended writing does not mean to copy sources as they are and
put them in different paragraphs as your answer. It means you must extract evidence from the
sources provided and use it as facts and opinions for your extended writing. Mere copying of
sources is a clear indication that the learner does not understand the question or does not
know enough about the topic asked.

There are various forms of extended writing, namely:

• Essay
• Paragraph
• article (newspaper/ magazine/ journal)
• Editorial piece
• Memo/ report
• Letter (formal & personal)
• Speech
• Diary

Essay Writing
An essay writing in history provides learners with an opportunity to explore a particular issue
or theme in more depth. It should simply not be a list of facts, nor should it be a description
of your opinions; but a clear line of argument substantiated by accurate and well explained
factual evidence gathered from the sources provided and your own knowledge.

Essential steps in analysing the question:

Select a question; identify the subject of the question; what are you being asked to do- that is,
what kind of information will you need to answer the question, and how will you treat it?
Circling the key words in the question is sometimes a helpful first step in working out exactly
what you need to do. In general, an essay has three parts:

Introduction:
The introduction identifies the central problem or issue and introduces the argument or
contention the learner chooses to tackle (state your case). It should show how you intend to
answer the question, by indicating a line of argument you intend to take, by giving an
overview of the organisation of what follows (set out the basic structure of your
argument), and by indicating the sort of material or evidence you will use.

Body:
The body is made up of paragraphs that develop and defend the argument or contention. Each
paragraph must advance a new point relating to the argument or contention. It is here that the
learner will discuss and analyze a range of appropriate evidence from sources provided and
critically assess the interpretations of other historians while developing and advancing his
own argument.

Conclusion:
In the conclusion, you restate your case strongly and clearly by summarising your main
points from paragraphs to interrelate. The best way is to write your introduction in a different
way, but without changing the argument. Do not include any new ideas in your conclusion.

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Remember, the best essay presents a thesis and has a clear line of argument. In other words, it
states a position, defends that position, and arrives at a strong, clear conclusion. It has a well
defined introduction which, a body which logically develops the argument point by point, and
a conclusion which sums up the argument

It is useful to note that essay questions can take the following format:

‘Explain’ and ‘why’ questions demand a list of reasons or one big reason: each reason will
have to be explained- that is, clarified, expounded, and illustrated.

‘Assess’ and ‘evaluate’ questions require judgements supported by reasons, explanation and
evidence. You must show why your assessment is the best by considering its merits vis-à-vis
alternative evaluations.

‘What-role-did-X-play-in-Y’ questions imply a functionalist approach- that is; they require

that you identify the function of some phenomenon, group or institution within some specific
system. The question requires a discussion of the system as a whole and the consideration of
alternative explanations of how ‘X’ worked within it.

‘To-what-extent’ questions involve a judgement of measure.

‘Quote-and-discuss’ questions require you to identify the issue at stake and to produce a
reasoned response. You may respond, for example, by agreeing with the quotation in which
case you will need to explain why agreement is the best response, why it would be wrong to
disagree. You should consider the merits of a variety of responses. It is always good to know
where the quotation is coming from to understand what its author meant by it and how the
author understood by the issues.

‘Compare-and-contrast’ demand the identification of similarities and differences.

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Acknowledgement

The contribution of Simon Haw (Former History Subject Advisor- KZN) in the development
of this material acknowledged.

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