Higher History

1
Higher History

• Examples of sources

2
Higher History Paper 2 exam paper

• The Paper 2 exam paper lasts 1 hour 25 minutes
  and consists of five sources and four questions
  about four different issues. This is the same for
  each of the five subject contexts.
• Of the five sources, at least two sources will be
  primary sources and at least two sources will be
  secondary sources.
• Each individual source will only be used for one
  question.

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Higher History Paper 2 exam paper

• Each subject context poses four questions on four
  different issues. The issues can be found in the
  central boxed area of the SQA arrangements
  document.
• There are three types of questions
• Source evaluation 5 marks appears once
• Source comparison 5 marks appears once
• Contextualisation 10 marks appears twice

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Higher History Paper 2 NABs

• The unit assessment (NAB) differs from the
  external exam paper. It lasts 1 hour and is
  marked out of 20. There are still five sources
  but only three questions.
• The three types of questions are
• Source evaluation 5 marks appears once
• Source comparison 5 marks appears once
• Contextualisation 10 marks appears only once
  as the over-arching question is removed.

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What types of sources can be used in teaching
Paper 2 of Higher History?

• Learners will be asked to evaluate various
  different primary and secondary sources.
• Most sources will be written sources.
• Visual and audio sources can also be used for
  analysis.
• Books, resource packs and electronic/online
  materials provide other examples of sources.
• A wide variety of sources is available locally
  and in the national collections.

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Primary and secondary sources

• Learners will have to be clear on the difference
  between a primary source and a secondary source.
• Learners should also be reminded not to fall into
  the trap of thinking that primary sources are
  always useful and reliable, and secondary sources
  are biased.

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Using primary sources

• Primary sources give us first-hand insights into
  the past. They can be crucial for historians to
  use to develop an understanding and an
  interpretation of a past event.
• To enable learners to interpret primary sources
  they should use questions to help them examine
  the primary source thoroughly.

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Exemplar primary source

• Extract from The Treaty of Union, 1689-1740
• Higher History Specimen Paper
• Source E from a letter written by the Earl of
  Mar to the Earl of Leven, 1708.
• The Queen called a Cabinet Council last night,
  where she was pleased to call the Dukes of
  Queensberry and Montrose, the Earl of Loudon,
  Seafield and myself. We gave an account there of
  what orders the Queen had sent to Scotland, since
  the news of the invasion. It is expected that the
  Council will seize the horses and arms of those
  they think disloyal, and will also be giving
  their advice and instructions for securing the
  money, in the Mint and Bank, in case of a hostile
  landing. It was told to us that since both Houses
  had advised the Queen to arrest such persons as
  she had cause to suspect, and are now discussing
  a Bill for the suspending of Habeas Corpus Acts,
  it was appropriate that suspected people in
  Scotland should be arrested.

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Using secondary sources

• Sometimes learners assume that secondary sources
  are the fount of all knowledge on a topic.
• Some learners dismiss secondary sources as being
  so biased that they conclude that the secondary
  sources are of no value.
• To enable learners to deduce the interpretations
  contained within the secondary sources they could
  use questions to help them examine the secondary
  source thoroughly.

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Exemplar secondary source

• Extract from Migration and Empire, 1830-1939
• Higher History Specimen Paper
• Source A from T M Devine, The Scottish Nation,
  1700-2000 (2006).
• It is clear that many of the crafts were being
  undermined by urban competition in the second
  half of the nineteenth century. Already by the
  1850s, the technology of power looms was
  destroying the textile economy in numerous
  villages in Perth, Fife and Angus and promoting
  large-scale migration as a result. The
  development of a network of branch railway lines
  enabled cheap factory goods to penetrate far into
  the rural areas and so threatened the traditional
  markets for tailors, shoemakers and other
  tradesmen. The displacement of craftsmen and
  their families from the smaller country towns and
  villages became a familiar feature of the rural
  exodus by the end of the nineteenth century and
  before. While some trades vanished completely,
  others, such as the blacksmiths, continued to
  thrive as long as the horse economy survived.
  However, in large part, migration from the land
  before the 1940s has to be explained in terms of
  the changing attitudes of the farm labour force
  itself.

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Examples of questions to use when evaluating
sources

• One of the best ways to understand a source is to
  consider these basic questions
• When was it written/drawn/said?
• Why was it written/drawn/said?
• Who wrote/drew/said it?
• What information does the source contain?
• To encourage thinking skills learners could also
  think of other questions they have about the
  source as well as what the source missed out.

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Example of evaluating sources

• Here is a link to a useful but basic example of
  how you use simple questions to gain a more solid
  understanding of the source. This is to practice
  source handling skills it is not a Higher History
  question.
• www.ltscotland.org.uk/scottishhistory/investigatin
  g/fodocuments/resource.asp This exercise is
  based on the Declaration of Arbroath.

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Examples of written sources

• Documents
• Government reports
• Hansard minutes from Parliamentary discussions
  and speeches
• Cabinet minutes
• Diaries
• Letters
• Manuscripts
• Newspaper reports
• Secondary text
• Journals
• Autobiographies
• Biographies

14
Examples of visual sources

• Drawings
• Photographs
• Cartoons
• Paintings
• Maps
• Posters
• Artefacts
• Film footage

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Examples of audio sources

• Speeches
• Interviews
• News reports
• Poems
• Songs
• Documentaries
• Radio broadcasts
• http//www.britishpathe.com/
• http//www.itnsource.com/
• http//archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/archive/
• http//www.bl.uk/

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The national collections

• There are many varied resources available for the
  five contexts of the Scottish History (Higher)
  unit, in the national collections as well as
  locally available sources. Some archive materials
  from the national collections have been digitised
  and are available online and some are used in the
  NQ subject guides.
• Sources are available from
• National Archives of Scotland
• National Library of Scotland
• National Galleries of Scotland
• Scottish Archive Network
• National Museums Scotland (NMS)
• Museums Galleries Scotland
• SCRAN
• Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical
  Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS)
• Historic Scotland
• The National Trust for Scotland
• Mitchell Library in Glasgow
• Scottish Jewish Archive Centre
• Archaeology Scotland
• Scottish Natural Heritage
• engage Scotland

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Literacy across learning

• Learners will need guidance and strategies to
  help them understand and analyse sources. Often,
  it is not the learners historical knowledge that
  prevents them from analysing sources but their
  command of English, particularly with sources
  from earlier time periods or sources that are
  written in a higher register. It is therefore
  important for practitioners to take time to teach
  the type of language found in the sources they
  are using.