HSC Modern History

WWI Usefulness & Reliability

Ned Latham (SAC 2012)

Overview

Go through history department handout

the question

structure

usefulness

reliability

2012 HSC question

Questions

The Question

A skills based question NOT an opportunity to write

everything you know about WWI

Nonetheless, it still DOES require a good knowledge

of the core i.e. you still need to study your WWI
stuff

The Question

A very predictable question

2012: How useful would Sources A and D be for a historian

studying recruitment and propaganda in Britain and Germany?

2011: How useful would Sources C and D be for a historian

studying the strategies and tactics used to break the
stalemate on the Western Front?

2010: How useful would Sources E and F be for a historian

studying the different goals of Clemenceau, Lloyd George and
Wilson in creating the Treaty of Versailles?

A pattern emerges
Consider the question in two parts

i. How useful would sources X & Y be for a historian

studying.specific topic from the syllabus

ii. In your answer consider the perspectives provided

by the TWO sources and the reliability of each one.

Non-negotiable
directives
1. Assess how useful each source is
and
2. Consider how reliable each source
and
3. Consider the perspective of each source

Given just under two pages by all means ask for

more paper

No need for a general introduction get straight into

the first source

STRUCTURE

SOURCE 1 RELIABILITY
(contd)

SOURCE 2 USEFULNESS

SOURCE 1 USEFULNESS

SOURCE 2 RELIABILITY
SOURCE 1 RELIABILITY

Usefulness and reliability should be treated as

independent factors. Therefore
NEVER put usefulness and reliability in the same
paragraph
NEVER use either of the following phrases or
anything similar

Source X is useful because it is reliable

Source X is reliable because it is useful

Linking between
paragraphs

If linking usefulness and reliability paragraphs it is

critical that you DO NOT state/imply that usefulness
implies or reliability or vice-versa

Some appropriate links include;

In addition to being useful to a historian studying X,

Source A is also quite reliable

While Source A is useful to a historian studying X, it is

of questionable reliability

USEFULNESS

Very rarely (if ever) is a source of no use at all keep

in mind that the sources have been selected so that
they are at the very least somewhat useful to a
historian studying X topic

A source is unlikely to provide an exhaustive

examination of an entire issue think of the source as
providing a small, often specific, insight into part of a
particular topic area

i.e. do not provide a list of all the things the source doesnt
mention and conclude that is of no use

Specificity

In order to assess how useful something (a source,

an object etc.) is we need to know what task/function
it is expected to perform

This function is provided in the question stem.

How useful would Sources X & Y be for a historian

studying the different goals of Clemenceau, Lloyd
George and Wilson in creating the Treaty of
Versailles?

The topic which the historian is studying must be

referred to throughout the usefulness section of the
response

Assessing Usefulness

Two key criteria must be considered;

1.

Provenance information about the source;

2.

Date

Author

Form

Content

Equal coverage does not need to be given to provenance &

content in some cases on may be more relevant than the
other
i.e. provenance is usually (but not always) less relevant in
modern sources

Provenance Date
1914-1918: provides an insight into the way of thinking
at a particular time (i.e. know your key events and turning
points)
e.g. in a question about changing attitudes over time the
date of the source is critical to its usefulness

Post-1918: more difficult to link to usefulness - more

likely to appear in your reliability paragraph

Provenance - Author
If/when mentioning the author in a usefulness paragraph be
sure not to stray into a discussion about reliability

How can the author contribute to usefulness ;

soldier (or a relative of a soldier) provides an insight into

the soldiers/ordinary persons point of view

government provides an insight into the governments

official line/policy

historian provides an academic interpretation of an issue

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Source A, which is a text type would be useful to a historian studying topic

as

Source A presents the perspective of author* and would be useful to a

historian studying topic as

Source A is a text type, written from the perspective of author*, and would
be useful to a historian studying topic as

Source A was written in date which would make it useful because

*not their name but who they are e.g. nationality, occupation

Content

Keep discussion analytical at all times do not

provide a summary/paraphrase of the source

Choose issues raised by the source and link them to

the topic being studied by the historian

e.g. Source A highlights/reveals/provides evidence about

issue and as such it would be useful to a historian
studying topic.

RELIABILITY

Avoid absolutes e.g. completely reliable or

completely unreliable

Rather use more moderate language such as;

somewhat reliable/unreliable

quite reliable
reliable/unreliable to some extent
of questionable reliability
may be less reliable

Assessing Reliability
1. Date

2. Author; nationality (esp. primary sources +

profession)

3. Type of Source

4. Audience + Motive (can be linked to type of

source)

Date
During
1914-1918

Proximity to
WWI

Soon After

More modern

Can be less
reliable
usually
written by
those with a
direct
connection
to the war
(and hence a
motive/bias)
More reliable
author
personally
removed from
the war +
greater
access to
sources

Type of Source
Text Type

Audience

Motive

Memoir

General public

Give a favourable
impression of the
author

Personal Letter

Usually friends or
family check
provenance

Can exaggerate
certain issues and
omit/downplay others

Fiction Novels,
Poems

General public

To entertain often
hyperbolic

Propaganda Posters

Wartime general
public

Persuade the public

Photographs

Varies depending on
photo

Documentary depict
the war accurately
Artistic (incl.
propaganda) may
be altered or staged

Text Type

Audience

Motive

Newspaper Audience

The general public

(usually of a specific
city of country)

Can be
sensationalised or
overly opinionated

Historical Works

Academic audience

Usually scholarly

Government
Documents

General Public

Persuade the public

to adopt a particular
point of view

Internal Government
Documents

More selective - can

be between
ministers, generals
etc.

Often give a closer

approximation of the
truth as they have
not been moderated
for the general public

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Wherever possible try to link factors that you suspect
may affect reliability to content within the source

Two Sentence Scaffold:

Source A is a text type written from the perspective of
author and as such may be quite reliable/unreliable.
Indeed, the feature of the text is indicative of the
date/authors nationality/authors profession/authors
motive.

2012 HSC
How useful would Sources A and D be for a historian studying
recruitment and propaganda in Britain and Germany?
In your answer, consider the perspectives provided by the TWO
sources and the reliability of each one.

What makes this source

different?

sources within a
source
Source A is an extract from a modern historical work
i.e. it is a secondary source

However, within Source A there are two letters which

are themselves primary sources

How do we deal with

this?
Acknowledge the situation when discussing perspective
using the words primary and secondary source

In weaker responses, candidates struggled with Source

A, not understanding that it contained primary sources
within a secondary source
Notes from the Marking Centre 2012

Implications for
Usefulness
Remember - within the context of recruitment & propaganda
in Britain & Germany

Provenance:

Date: provides a contemporary perspective on

recruitment and propaganda in Britain & Germany in
the early months of the war*

*be as specific as possible about a sources usefulness

Usefulness (contd)
Content:

Useful as it provides information on recruitment &

propaganda in both London and Berlin.

Useful as it incorporates evidence from individuals

who were present in Britain and Germany at the time.

More specifically the source is useful as it provides a

historian within an insight into the extent to which
wartime propaganda had created an anti-enemy mood
within both countries as well as the ubiquity of
recruitment campaigns (in London)

Reliability

The source is quite reliable as the analysis provided

in the secondary source places each of the primary
eyewitness accounts in context. This improves the
reliability of the source as it ensures that there is no
evident British or German bias.

The fact that it is an academic source published a

significant amount of time after the war further
improves reliability as it is likely that the source is
well researched and more objective.

Usefulness
Remember - within the context of recruitment &
propaganda in Britain & Germany
Provenance:
Date (1917) & Text Type official British propaganda
poster provides a historian with an insight into both
the style and content of British propaganda posters in
the latter half of the war
NOT however not particularly useful to a historian
studying German propaganda >>> the historian would
need to consult further sources

Usefulness (contd)
Content:
Visual: provides a historian with evidence of the use of
caricature in British propaganda to demonise the German
enemy
Written:
useful as it provides an insight into the jingoistic language
that commonly featured in propaganda posters
useful as it highlights the fact that propaganda was often
targeted at women on the homefront, especially when their
support was increasingly required in the latter half of the war

Reliability

Source A is a reliable example of British propaganda

as it is an official poster that was published in 1917
HOWEVER

The written and visual content itself is of reduced

reliability as there is a usually a significant element
of exaggeration inherent in the propaganda poster
form

The fact that the poster presents the British

governments perspective also reduces the reliability
of its content as the jingoistic language reveals a
clear nationalistic bias

Summary: Common Mistakes to

Avoid

Not using the word perspective at least once for

each source

Not using the specific topic given in the question to

analyse usefulness

Putting usefulness & reliability in the same

paragraph

Linking usefulness and reliability

Forgetting to use the provenance

Questions?