Writing Questions - Conflict and Tension

Question 1

how to write a 4 mark source question? (5 mins)

e.g. source D is criticising Germany’s complaints about the Treaty of Versailles. how do you know?

Answer 1

step 1. annotate the source you are given (if its a cartoon or image)
step 2. if there is a provenance, read it
step 3. form the answer like this:

source D is criticising Germany’s complaints about the Treaty of Versailles because in the source I can see/in the caption it states…(explain what you can see). this is critical because it suggests that…(explain your contextual knowledge with reference to the image)

another reason source D is criticising Germany’s complaints, is because in the source I can see/in the caption it states…(explain what you can see). this is critical as it suggests…(use contextual knowledge)

Question 2

how to write a 12 mark source question? (15 mins)

e.g. how useful are sources E and F to a historian studying the reactions to the Treaty of Versailles

Answer 2

step 1. make a nop + content table for each source
step 2. form the answer like this:

source E is useful to a historian studying the reactions of the Treaty of Versailles because…(refer to NOP). source E is also useful as…(refer to context). however, source E may be limited because…(explain reasons for this e.g. it only shows us the German’s pov)

source F is useful to a historian studying the reactions of the Treaty of Versailles because…(refer to NOP). source F is also useful as…(refer to context). however, source F may be limited because…(explain reasons for this e.g. it doesn’t show the publics view of the Treaty, only the government)

in conclusion, source E is useful to a historian studying the reactions to the Treaty of Versailles as…(explain). in contrast, source F is also useful to a historian as it shows…(explain). therefore, these sources are useful together because they…(explain why both are useful to a historian e.g. one gives me the perspective of Germany, whereas the other gives me the perspective of Britain).

Question 3

how to write an 8 mark write an account question? (10 mins)

e.g. write an account of how events in Manchuria became an international crisis in the years 1931-1932

Answer 3

step 1. cross out ‘write an account’ and write explain two reasons
step 2. plan the two reasons you are going to use - they must be in chronological order!
step 3. form the answer like this:

one way in which Manchuria became an international crisis in the years of 1931-32 was because…(make your first point e.g. Japan’s actions which meant they broke the covenant of the league). (explain Japan’s invasion/Mukden incident). this meant that Japan breaking the covenant lead to an international crisis because…(explain why), which in consequence…(explain).

another way in which Manchuria became an international crisis is when….(make second point e.g. in 1938 when Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia). (explain Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia). this meant that Hitler’s invasion lead to an international crisis because…(explain why), which led to…(explain).

Question 4

how to write a ‘how far do you agree with this statement’ 16 mark question? (20 minutes)

e.g. the Nazi Soviet Pact was the main reason for the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. how far do you agree with this statement? explain your answer.

Answer 4

step 1. decide your judgement
step 2. plan out your paragraph structure e.g:

para 1 - intro - state your judgement, what do I think is most important?
para 2 - why Nazi Soviet Pact was the main reason for WW2 (only if that is what I decided in the intro)
para 3 - Treaty of Versailles - however other historians may suggest that…
para 4 - appeasement - furthermore, other historians may suggest
para 5 - conclusion - restate your opinion and solidify why that is and why the other reasons are not so important

step 3. the form of your answer should look like this:

I believe that the Nazi-Soviet Pact was the main reason for the outbreak of WW2 because…(explain why you think this - two sentences max)

(explain the Nazi-Soviet Pact). therefore, this was the main reason for the outbreak of WW2 because…(explain), which in consequence led to…(explain further).

other historians may suggest that the Treaty of Versailles was the main reason for the outbreak of WW2, this is because…(explain). (explain how the terms of the Treaty led to WW2) however, I believe that this is not the main reason for the outbreak of WW2 as…(explain reasoning)

furthermore, other historians may suggest that appeasement was the main reason for the outbreak of WW2, because…(explain). (explain the policy of appeasement). however, I believe that this is not the main reason for the outbreak of WW2 because…(explain reasoning).

fundamentally, I believe that the main reason for the outbreak of WW2 was the Nazi-Soviet pact. (explain further). although other historians may think, (explain e.g. appeasement helped Hitler gain land such as the Sudetenland, this was not the main cause as…)