Questions about history source questions - GCSE

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Is there anyone that can help with history source questions please?

There seem to be different types of source questions - some ask about the usefulness of a source, some about its reliability etc. amd some about comparing sources. My son is confused about the differences between them. I wondered if anyone had a broad guide or can explain about the differences and how to answer these questions so I can understand this and try to help. Thanks very much.

Do you know what exam spec he is on? If AQA dd will know a fair amount

It is kind of History 101. Should have been covered from primary school onwards. You have for example "Primary" Sources (first hand accounts/artefacts/birth certificates, diaries, photographs) or Secondary Sources - after the fact (magazine articles/text books)

Regardless of whether it is primary or secondary before you take whatever you read as "fact" you need to think about it's reliability and bias. So for example:
Newspaper article - who wrote it? Why? What political leanings does the paper have? When was it written...and was sources were used?

Diary - first hand/primary source (eg Anne Frank as probably one of the most famous) - but biased in the view point of one person. Her experience of it. So 100% accurate vis a vis her view point - but needs other sources to get a full picture of all the events/experiences of others.

Government records/parish records etc - dry lists of fact often. Eg births/deaths/marriages. Pretty reliable but can be gaps (fire/lost records). Can be used as a starting point for info or to fill in data details. Tend to be reliable as generally no-one has an opinion/view point on 3rd April 1784 ABC died.

History text book written by Churchill vs a History textbook written by a holocause denier. History textbook on 16th century peasants rebellions written by a Russian Marxist (says they were politically motivated) vs revisionist historian (they were just hungry and wanted food).

So all of those ^^ (and other stuff) affect how much weight you would give a source. Just like the historians of the future will have to assess Trump's Tweets in the same way.....god forbid they don't just take what he says as fact!

History teacher here. If you pm me, I will happily give you some guidance.

Thank you @RedPoppiesAndSpots. My daughter would probably roll her eyes at me as she knows it all but I didn't.

www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zttw4j6/revision/1

Google the board, specification and then WAGOLL (what a good one looks like) and you will get lots of advice on how to answer these source questions. I did the same a couple of months ago for my DC and it has really helped.

Thank you for all these helpful replies.

Carrotsontrees the board is Edexcel. Is there a large discrepancy between source questions across the boards? I am not sure what examiners look for in terms of source materials - does any history teacher know? To be fair Carrotsontrees I’m interested in what your daughter has to say anyway - it’s got to be better than what I’m telling my son.

RedPoppiesAndSpots thank you for your response. I understand the difference between primary and secondary sources but I think a good answer goes a bit further than this. The examples you gave of diaries and government records are really interesting and thank you for that however I think your whole response is more to do with reliability then usefulness but maybe I’m wrong because I don’t really understand the difference between the two.

StealthBoaster thank you very much. I have Pmed you.

Sedburn78 I’ve tried to do that but nothing has come up for Edexcel - was that the board you looked at?

Yes, I will send you the link that I found.

Thank you sedburn78

We teach our pupils to consider DAMMIT

(D) Date- when written/ any censorship/ what else happening at the time that may impact it (if comparison what major developments happened between the two sources)

A- Author- we’re the there at the time? Would they be biased or presenting a particular viewpoint? Would they have access to all relevant info so be able to tell the whole story?

M- Medium- diary/ newspaper article/ photo/ textbook/ website/ political cartoon etc. How could this impact how reliable/ useful the source is.

M- motive- why was the source produced- info/ propaganda/ to sway opinion/ to show a different perspective/ to excuse their actions etc-

I- Information- what are the key things it tells us about the events

T- Tone- look at the language used- is it factual or trying to convince you of a particular viewpoint.

Reliable- consider relevant aspects of DAMMIT to decide if you would trust the source to give a full and accurate account. (Usually the source will be unreliable to give pupils something to discuss)

Useful- what does it give us to add to our picture of events- a particular viewpoint, some key info etc.

Different exam board but I imagine methods are similar.

Apologies for typos!

Also an unreliable source is often useful e g speech by Hitler about the achievements of the Nazi economy in 1937- almost certain to include bias, probably propaganda, (motive, medium, author and tone should demonstrate this) may exaggerate achievements (info) therefore unreliable.
But useful- it’s from the countries leader who should be aware of all issues. Tells us what the people believed at the time.