GCSE Source Work Skills

Main things to Consider

• What can this source tell us?
• What can this source NOT tell us? (i.e. What other information would we need?)
• Is this source reliable?
• What is this source useful for?
• In what ways might this source be biased?

What about the Author?

Questions you should ask yourself when you analyse a source:

• What topic is it about?
• What actual information does it contain?
• When was it produced and where?
• Who was the author?
• What did the author do?
• What views and opinions is the author putting forward?
• How valuable is the authors opinion?
• Why did the author produce this source, what motives or intentions can be seen?

Explain everything you can, even if it seems obvious.

How reliable is the source?

• Is the author telling the truth? (does not mean it is useless if they are not)
• Has the source been tampered with - e.g. a photograph can be unreliable
  1. because it is only one second of time, a lot can happen before or after
  2. also it only shows a small space.. what is happening behind the camera?
  3. a photograph is often set up or
  4. perhaps only a small piece of the photograph is being used.
• DESPITE ALL THESE THINGS FAIRLY UNRELIABLE SOURCES ARE NOT USELESS
• You must say to what extent it is reliable.

How useful is the source?

• ALL sources of evidence in the past are useful to some extent.
• You have to say what the source IS useful for. What information can it give?
• Say what the source doesn't tell you and what extra information you would need.

Is the source one-sided?

• Are they trying to show themselves or someone in a good light?
• Why is the source biased, is it from the perspective of a person from one town, one country, do they have a particular political view, are they from a different social background?
• What does this opinion tell us? (we can find out about a whole range of different ideas and experiences on one issue and why they are different).
• How is the source different from another - you should compare sources.

Even if they are very one sided does not mean the source is useless, or that they are lying.

Related pages: Year Eleven, Year Ten

Category: History

Author: Mrs March