Modern History Exam tomorrow - Help! (1 Viewer)

[Paradox.101]

I'm the biggest procrastinator ever, thus haven't studied till the last minute, and my best hope would be some help from BOS - I love you guys.

Anyway, a few questions:

What makes a source primary/secondary? How can you further evaluate the sources usefulness/reliability in a question?

For all you Modern History veteran, what is; Militarism, liberalism and nationalism?

How would I answer a question along the lines of - "Discuss the reliability and usefulness of source "X" in relations to the outbreak of WW1"? Pointers please?

The first section requires us to write an extended response assessing the importance of given issues as a cause of tension in 1914, any pointers with this section?

 

[Kujah]

http://community.boredofstudies.org/300/core-study-world-war-i/67969/how-analyze-sources.html

For the other questions concerning the types of sources and the definition of such terms, a simple search will yield results.

 

[57o1i]

How would I answer a question along the lines of - "Discuss the reliability and usefulness of source "X" in relations to the outbreak of WW1"? Pointers please?

Firstly determine reliability and then, using the conclusions you draw, evaluate usefulness. Don't ever say that a source is completely useless -- a source (eg propaganda) can be highly useful despite being unreliable.

How can you further evaluate the sources usefulness/reliability in a question?

Reliability can be determined through several factors ... you could look at the origin of the source, the motive for its creation, the intended audience, the author's perspective, the types of language/images it uses, the tone it conveys (is it informative, persuasive, emotive, prescriptive etc?) any limitations that it has, whether it's evaluative or descriptive, whether it reflects stereotypes and the degree of bias it contains. Make sure when you talk about each of these things that you link back to what impact the factor has on reliability -- this gives your response cohesiveness.

Usefulness comes from but isn't necessarily bound up in reliability. Decide what the source tells you about the outbreak of WWI ... that's what it's useful for. And then you can modify your answer by referring to reliability ... perhaps a source tells you a lot about the militarism in Europe but it does so only from a British perspective <-- the usefulness of the source may be compromised by the bias/limited perspective it contains.

Good luck with the exam!

 

[Paradox.101]

Ah Damn! Wish I read your comment beforehand, 57o1i.

The test was not as horrid as I'd thought it would be, somewhat fun actually. I would've done a little better if I read your post before the exam, but nevertheless, It was quite good.

 

[57o1i]

Ah Damn! Wish I read your comment beforehand, 57o1i.

The test was not as horrid as I'd thought it would be, somewhat fun actually. I would've done a little better if I read your post before the exam, but nevertheless, It was quite good.

You'll have it in your head for next time . But from the sounds of it you didn't need help anyway -- it's great that everything worked out alright for you!