Skills tested in Paper 2 interpretation of sources making inferences about e.g. purpose, audience, author, reactions using contextual knowledge with the sources cross-referencing sources

Skills tested in Paper 2 evaluating sources using sources to reach, support, and argue, a conclusion NB - the levels in the mark scheme reflect student responses. They are not levels to be learned by students

Types of questions: interpreting sources e.g. what impression? what is the message?; do these sources agree? interpret sources in context look for the big/overall meaning/message - go beyond e.g. differences of detail explain the interpretation with support

Types of questions: making inferences from sources e.g. why was this source published then? how would X react to this source?, who was this source aimed at? purpose - need to look for intended outcome/impact - must go beyond message; explanation required use content of source, provenance, and contextual knowledge to explain and support the answer

Types of questions: cross-reference e.g. how far do these sources agree? go beyond details - look for a point of view there are often agreements and disagreements these need to be supported/explained - not just asserted

Types of questions: evaluation for usefulness e.g. how useful is this source as evidence? sometimes purpose is given explain limitations of the source as well as ways in which it is useful when purpose is not given - ask useful for what?; look for unwitting testimony e.g about the author. NB biased sources can be useful

Types of questions: evaluation for reliability e.g. does this source prove…?; how reliable is this source as evidence of…? check the claims made in the source against own knowledge use the language/tone of the source make an informed use of the provenance e.g by considering purpose cross reference to other sources on the paper

Types of questions: are you surprised questions e.g. are you surprised by this source? knowledge and understanding of the context is key also consider the author/artist, e.g. are you surprised they would say that then? there might be reasons for being surprised and not surprised

Types of questions: Question 6 there will always be some sources on either side some sources might be used for both sides there might be the odd source that is not really relevant - leave it out the key is the quality of the explanation of how a source e.g. supports the statement - no assertions or descriptions explain sources individually, do not make general assertions about groups of sources not all the sources have to be used - but more marks within a level for more sources being used there are marks for evaluating the sources

Role of knowledge in Paper 2 knowledge should never be included in an answer for its own sake - no marks are awarded for this it should only be used if it leads to a better answer about the sources every questions is a question about the sources - appropriate use of knowledge will lead to sources being interpreted/ evaluated/used better

Evaluating sources using knowledge to check claims being made cross-referencing to other sources making an informed use of the provenance of the source e.g. asking about purpose considering tone/language

Useful questions ask ‘useful for what?’ be aware that ‘biased’ sources can be useful look for unwitting testimony

Some hints for Paper 2 do not teach the skills in a mechanistic way they should emerge naturally from teaching and learning develop flexible thinking encourage students to take risks with their ideas as long as they can justify them a lot of marks can be picked up for Q6 if students know exactly what to do

Common weaknesses candidates do not answer questions directly, they waste time describing sources, writing about the context and not the sources, telling the examiner everything they know. Just answer the question! answer the question in the first line - then support the answer

Common weaknesses biased sources are not useless simplistic evaluation e.g. eye-witness statements are not always accurate comparisons of sources often never provide a direct comparison - each source is summarised separately, followed by an assertion sources are sometimes ignored in answers to Q6