Advice on Answering Source Based Questions

How to answer source questions

Advice on answering source based questions.

This part of the course is assessed through the use of source based questions that will follow a theme through one of the depth studies. For example, how effective were the Liberal Reforms or why did some women receive the vote in 1918?

The exam paper itself will have 6 questions and contain up to 8 sources. You will need to spend 10 minutes reading through these before you start the answering the questions.

The great thing about OCR is that there will be no trick questions or sources, but you will be expected to use you knowledge to help spot and explain the similarities and differences between the sources. Where necessary, you will also be expected to evaluate the sources by either using your knowledge or by evaluating their origin, nature and purpose.

Paper 2: Question Types

There is no choice of questions on Paper 2, you have to answer them all. However, they are designed to test key historical skills and fall into four types.

The secret is to look carefully at the questions and try and work out what the examiner is looking for.

Type 1: Comprehension: Analysing or explaining the message or purpose of a source. For example: What is the message of Source A? Why was this poster published in 1906?

Type 2: Reliability: Comparing the reliability or trustworthiness of one or two sources. For example:

Do you trust Source E more than Source F about the leadership of the WSPU? Does Source C o D give a more accurate view of attitudes towards women in 1900? Do you believe what this cartoon is telling you about the impact of the Suffragettes?

Type 3: Utility: How useful is a source to answer a particular question. For Example:

Is Source A more useful than Source D to historians studying the attitude of women to the suffragettes?

How useful is this source for understanding the problems of the campaign for votes for women?

Type 4: Essay: The big picture or conclusion question. For example:

‘Women were given the vote in 1918 as a reward for their work during the war.’ How far do the sources in this paper support this statement?

The First World War did nothing to change the status of women in British society.’ How far would you agree with the following statement?

Study all the sources. ‘The suffragettes did more harm than good for the campaign for votes for women.’ How far do the sources in this paper agree with this statement?

As part of the Assessment For Learning (AFL) exercise, you are expected to write down the ‘type of question’ – (1 to 4) or Comprehension, Utility, Reliability or Essay at the end of each question!

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Mark schemes

Type 1 Comprehension: (6 Marks) E.g. Study Source A. What point is the poster making? Explain your answer using details of the poster.

Type of question? (Type 1)

This is a fairly standard source comprehension question.

What do I need to do? The aim of the question is to get you to explain the message that the source is trying to get across. Level 1 = vague points made that just describe the source. (1 mark) Level 2 = copies information straight from the source, no explanation of

what you can learn. (2 marks) Level 3 = Identifies things you can learn from the source and uses

examples pr quotes from the source to back this up. (3-4 marks) Level 4 = Identifies things you can learn from the source AND uses

examples from the source OR own knowledge. (5 marks) Level 5 = Identifies things you can learn from the source, uses own

knowledge and examples from the source (6 marks)

Ideas for your answer Comment (Point) L1/ L2 - What is the message of the source Content (Examples) L3 - What examples can I quote to back up the points

being made in the source? Context – (Explain) L4/ L5 -What do I know about the period / issue

which helps to explain or backup what the source is trying to achieve? What is the origin, nature and purpose of the source?

An alternative to PEE is PEEL (Point – Example – Explain – Link)

The Link part of PEEL is a good way of making sure that that the closing sentence of your answer links directly back to the question and passes judgement. E.g. – To conclude, the main message of the source is ...

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1. Study Source A. What can we learn about the problems of poverty from this source? Use the source and your own knowledge to explain your answer (6 Marks)

1. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Source A: Photograph of Slum housing in Liverpool around 1900Type of Question =


2. Study Source G. Why was this poster published in 1911? Use details of the posteryou’re your own knowledge to explain your answer.

(7Marks)

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Source G: A Liberal party poster, 1911Type of Question =

LG’s National Health Insurance Bill provides for the insurance of the worker in case of sickness


Type 2: Reliability (9 Marks)

Study Sources C & D. Which source do you trust more about British attitudes towards the war? Explain your answer, using details of the source and your own knowledge.

Type of question?(Type 2)

This is a reliability question. It is asking you to compare the reliability or trustworthiness of the two different sources for finding out about one issue – British attitudes towards the war.

What do I need to do?

The aim of this question is to get you to compare and contrast the contents of both sources and then use your own knowledge to explain which one you trust the most. • Level 1 = Answers that simply accepts OR does not accept the

content of one of the sources. (1-2marks) • Level 2 = Answers based on what the source does tell us OR by

type - e.g. I think source X is more reliable as it is first hand account. (2-4 marks)

• Level 3 = Answers that are based on what the source tells us AND some evaluation of the reliability of the source based on the origin, nature, purpose or tone of the source. E.g. I don’t trust source Y as its tone is clearly mocking and sarcastic, therefore it will be over exaggerated (5-6 Marks)

• Level 4 = Uses contextual knowledge or cross reference to evaluate the content of one of the sources (7-8 marks)

• Level 5 = Uses contextual knowledge or cross reference to evaluate the content of both sources (8-9 marks)

Ideas for your answer

When answering this type of question start by looking at each source in turn:

Comment (Point) L1 - What is the message of each of the sources?

Content (Example) L2 – What examples can I quote to back up the points being made in each source? Is there any emotive language or biased tone?

Context – (Explain) L3 / L4 – Using your knowledge, which parts of the sources agree or disagree with what you know about the topic. What is the nature, purpose of each of the sources? How do they affect its reliability or whether it can be trusted?

Judgement – (Links) L5 - In conclusion, which source do you think is the most reliable or trustworthy?

Hot Tip: Cross-refer: do any other sources in the paper support or contradict the source? Just because you are comparing two does not mean you can’t use the other sources or even some of their facts to help you evaluate those two!

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3. Study Sources E and F. How far do Sources E & F prove that the Liberals were concerned only with the threat from the Labour party? Use details of the sources and your knowledge to explain your answer. (9 Marks) (Type of Question = )

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Source E: Speech by Lloyd George to a Liberal Party meeting in Cardiff, October 1906

I warn you about the Labour Party. I warn you it will become a terrifying force that will sweep away Liberalism. We have a Liberal Parliament, but we must act to help the poor. We must get rid of the national disgrace of slums. We must eliminate the widespread poverty which scars this land glittering with wealth, otherwise the working men of Britain will vote Labour instead of Liberal.

Source f: From a letter Winston Churchill wrote to Asquith in December, 1908.

Germany is not rich as us, yet German social reforms mean they are better organised for peace and also for war. We are organised for nothing! We cannot rely on existing charities and this winter is causing misery. Consequently, there is an urgent need to help the working class and make England a safer and better country for them. When the people begin to feel the benefit of our social reforms they will give solid support to our Liberal Government.


2. Study source B and C. Is one source more reliable than the other to an historian studying poverty at the beginning of the twentieth century? Use the sources and your own knowledge in your answer. (9marks)

(Type of Question: )

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Source B: Description of a room in Lambert from a survey of poverty in South London by Maud reeves in 1913

Under the window facing the door is the large bed, in which sleep mother, father and two children. A baby is asleep in the pram by the bed and another child is asleep in the cot in the corner. The second window can be and is, left partly open at night. At the foot of the table is a small table. Three wooden chairs and a chest of drawers complete the furniture. The small fireplace has no oven, and open shelves go each side of it. There are two saucepans, both burnt. There is no larder. (Storage Cupboard)

Source C: Findings of the Rowntree Report on Poverty in York in 1901.


Type 3: Utility (6 Marks)How useful is... (6 marks)

Type of question? This is a typical utility or usefulness question focusing on one source

What do I need to do?

You are being asked to explain what a historian could learn from this source by pointing to the parts of the source that are useful. Don’t be fooled by the question as there is no such thing as a completely useless source!• Level 1 = vague points made that just describe the source and agree that it is of

no use. (1 mark)• Level 2 = copies information straight from the source to show what facts you

can learn, no explanation. (2 marks) • Level 3 = answers that points to parts of the source that are useful with

explanation of what it is useful for and uses examples or quotes from the source to back this up. (3-4 marks)

• Level 4 = answers that point to parts of the source that raise legitimate or well reasoned concerns about the usefulness of the source and uses examples, quotes or knowledge to back this up (5 marks)

• Level 5 = answers that use knowledge AND details / quotes from the source to explain why the source is useful. Answers properly explained. (6 marks)


Comment (Point) L1 / L2 - What points can we learn from the source? Content (Example) L3 – What examples can I quote to back up the points

being made in the source? Context – (Explain) L4 – Using your knowledge, which parts of the source

agree or disagree with what you know about the topic and the type of source. (Origin / Nature / Purpose)

Judgement (Link) L5 – is the source reliable if not what is it useful for? Don’t forget that an unreliable source might be very useful for finding out about peoples attitudes in a historical situation.

Remember for a how useful question you need to structure your answer in the following way:Source X is useful because...Content – what can you learn from the details of the sourceNature – what is the source? how is that useful? for example a photograph is useful as it shows an image from the time, a diary shows someone’s personal opinions, a newspaper shows what people were readingOrigin – who produced the source? When was the source produced? How does this help?Purpose – why was the source produced? Does this make the source unreliable? How is that useful?Your next paragraph should then discuss the limitations of the source.However source x has limitations because...Content - what can you not learn from the source? What does the source not tell you?Nature – what is the source? how may that have limitations, for example – if its a photograph – we do not know what was happening outside of the frame, if it is a cartoon – it will be exaggerating.Origin – when and who produced the source? How may that limit its usefulness?Purpose – why was the source produced? What if we don’t know why the source was produced?

If the question is asking you which of two sources are useful you repeat the two previous paragraphs for the next source and then conclude with a paragraph stating which source is more useful.

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4. Study Source D. How useful is this poster to historians studying the need to help the poor in Britain at that time? Use details of the poster and your knowledge to explain your answer. (7 Marks) (Type of Question: )

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Type 4: Essay Use all the sources and your own knowledge how far do you agree with the following statement….? (12 marks.)

Type of question?

This is a mini essay type question at the end of the paper. The aim is to pull together your knowledge and the ideas in the sources into a short essay.

What do I The main rule for this type of question is to use the sources to support your answer. If you

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Source D: A poster showing matchboxes being made at home. From an exhibition about working conditions held in London, 1906


need to do? make general statements without using the sources you will get a low mark, even if you include loads of relevant knowledge! In order to get the high marks you must discuss both parts of the question and try and write a balanced answer which makes a judgement at the end in the form of a conclusion. The examiner can also award up to 2 or 3 marks for commenting on how far particular sources are reliable.

• Level 1 = General comments, no detail from the sources (1-2 marks)• Level 2 = Specific contextual knowledge to explain why the interpretation given in the

question can / cannot be supported. No detail from the sources is used. (3-4 marks) • Level 3 = Uses the sources with specific examples and quotes to explain how the

interpretation given in the question has been reached. One sided answer either agrees or disagrees. (5-6 marks)

• Level 4 = As for level 3 but shows other interpretations that could be reached. (7 - 8 marks)

• Level 5 = As for level 4 but reaches an overall judgement in the form of a conclusion. (9 – 10)

• An additional 3 marks can be awarded for evaluation. Sub max 12 marks.


Introduction: The sources and my knowledge suggest that the statement in the question is partly right, but there are other points of view to consider as well. Sources X, Y Z support the statement, whilst sources P, Q and R do not.

Agreement paragraph: Sources X, Y and Z support the view of the statements. Source X does this Point – Example – Explain. Source Y does this – Point - Example – Explain.

However, we should also remember that Source X is reliable / unreliable because … (Knowledge, Origin, Nature and Purpose). Also Source Y is unreliable because … (Knowledge, Origin, Nature and Purpose)

Disagreement paragraph: Sources P, Q and R do not support the view of the statement. Source P does this by (Point – Example – Explain) Whilst Source s does this by (Point – Example – Explain)

However, we should also remember that Source P is reliable / unreliable because … (Knowledge, Origin, Nature and Purpose). Also Source Q is unreliable because … (Knowledge, Origin, Nature and Purpose).

Conclusion: So having weighed up the evidence this essay concludes that the sources support the statement more / less than they do not support it because …. (For example, sources X, Y and Z are more trustworthy …

Hot Tips: Start each paragraph clearly. Use two paragraphs, one for each side of the argument, in the main body of your answer. Use at least two sources to support each side of the argument. Show awareness that some sources are more reliable than others.

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Advice on Answering Source Based Questions

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