A Level Coursework Russian Revolutions Interpretations Essay Guidance

The Basics 4 Interpretations to consider in relation to the question These passages are the views of respected historians You need to consider what they say and the validity of their claims You are NOT concerned with provenance or bias The answer must be driven by the passages – they must be the starting point for your arguments Use of own knowledge is very important – but must mainly be used to challenge and evaluate the view of the historian This cannot become a narrative story on the Russian Revolution Your answer must be very focused on the question thoughout

Planning The most crucial phase – if you get this right the write up tasks should be straightforward The first thing to do is clearly identify what the historian’s view is in relation to the question – write this into your planning sheet Next, identify specific areas of own knowledge that you can use to challenge and evaluate the interpretation. In other words, how accurate is their view based upon what you know Also, you can identify an opportunity to x-ref interpretations against each other if that helps your evaluation of a passage. I think the correct balance in the whole essay is probably 80% evaluation by own knowledge and 20% by x-ref

Synoptic Judgement The last part of the planning sheet is concerned with synoptic judgement. This means – ‘what is the overall view of the historian?’ and how strong is that view? An interpretation may have a couple of different strands in it but overall what are they saying about the topic in the question? As well as a synoptic judgement for each interpretation there is a synoptic judgement to be made overall about what the 4 passages as a whole say in relation to the question In this respect it is similar to the 70 mark Normans answer – but with no need to discuss provenance

Structure The structure is quite straightforward Short intro – set the context of the question and identify the main interpretation of each of the 4 passage (approx words) 4 themed paragraphs – each of these have a strict focus on each of the passages. They should be done chronologically (A to D) and be focused on the style outlined earlier (approx. 400 words each) Synoptic conclusion – here you bring together the judgements you have made earlier and make clear decisions about the relative merits of each of the passages and make decisions about the relative strengths of the passages against each other (approx. 250 words)

Vocabulary Using the right vocabulary is very helpful You need to be making ‘value judgements’ about the relative strength and accuracy of the 4 interpretations The following words and phrases can indicate where you are making these judgements ‘strong argument’, ‘stronger than’, ‘more convincing’, ‘a valid view’, ‘weakened by’, ‘less valid’, ‘less accurate’, ‘correctly argues’, ‘less credible’, ‘undermines’, ‘discredits the view’ etc. However, you cannot just insert these judgements. You must either precede or follow them with specific, accurate knowledge x-ref that explains your judgement and supports it. On their own these words are merely assertions, which is Level IV or V work

Conclusion You must do the following Answer the question – make a judgement, do not sit on the fence Assess and balance the 4 interpretations – which is strongest, weakest, which correlate and which stand on their own Judge which is the strongest argument based on the context and your knowledge of the era Do not introduce new ideas and theories The interpretations must be used – do not write a narrative conclusion

Advice … Try to finish 2 or 3 days early to give yourself time to edit Work really hard on your plan and stick to it – start writing as soon as you are happy with your plan Refer to the advice sheet on highlighting the key skills inj word in different colours as you go along; it will give you a clear visual indication if you are doing the right things or not Working hard in the lessons will minimise your homework and possible lapses of concentration Use the IT lessons productively to write – not to plan Aim to finish with between 2000 and 2200 words – and then edit down to 2000 No waffle – make every sentence count