Answering Source Questions

Source questions test Assessment Objective 3: analyse, evaluate and use sources that are contemporary to the period to make substantiated judgements. AO3 is worth 15% of the whole GCSE.

A source is primary evidence produced at the time being studied. It can be visual — a photograph, cartoon or propaganda poster — or written — a newspaper article, speech or diary extract. This is what separates a source from an interpretation: a source is from the period, an interpretation is written about it afterwards.

The examiner is testing whether you can judge how useful a source is for a particular enquiry. The key question is never just "is it reliable?" but "useful for what?".

Source questions appear in Paper 1 Section B (your wider world depth study) and Paper 2 Section A (your thematic study).

Paper	Q	Wording	Marks	Sources
P1 §B	1	Source A supports…/ is critical of… How do you know?	4	One
P1 §B	2	How useful are Sources B and C to a historian studying…?	12	Two
P2 §A	1	How useful is Source A to a historian studying…?	8	One

The 12-mark and 8-mark questions apply the same skills; the 12-mark one simply asks you to handle two sources instead of one. The 4-mark "how do you know?" question gives you a proposition (for example, "Source A is critical of American involvement") and asks you to show how the source supports it, using content, provenance and contextual knowledge.

Every strong source answer weaves together three things.

Element	Questions to ask
Content	What does the source say or show? What is its message or point?
Provenance	Who made it? For what audience? How do the time and place affect its motive or purpose?
Contextual knowledge	How does the source relate to what I know? What accurate fact explains its content or provenance?

A remember-this shortcut for provenance is NOP: Nature, Origin, Purpose. Nature = what kind of source it is (a cartoon, a speech, a pamphlet). Origin = who produced it, when and where. Purpose = why it was made, and for whom.

You do not treat these as three separate paragraphs to tick off. You use them together to judge usefulness for the specific enquiry.

Both the 8-mark and 12-mark 'useful' questions progress through four levels.

Level	What it shows	8-mark	12-mark
1	Basic: identifies features of content/provenance	1–2	1–3
2	Simple: simple inference, implicit link to usefulness	3–4	4–6
3	Developed: developed evaluation of content or provenance, well supported	5–6	7–9
4	Complex: content and provenance evaluated, plus a substantiated judgement	7–8	10–12

To reach Level 4 you need to develop both content and provenance and reach a substantiated judgement about usefulness for the issue in the question. On the 12-mark question you must address both sources to reach Levels 3 and 4.

A common trap is to dismiss a source because it is one-sided. The mark scheme is explicit that a source can be useful even if it contains distortions or inaccuracies.

A piece of Nazi propaganda is not useful for finding out what really happened, but it is extremely useful for a historian studying what the Nazis wanted Germans to believe. Usefulness always depends on the enquiry.

So instead of writing "this source is biased, so it is not useful," turn the provenance into a strength: explain why the bias makes the source useful for a particular line of enquiry. That is the move that separates a developed answer from a weak one.

Use Point–Evidence–Explain, aimed squarely at usefulness for the stated enquiry.

1. Content:    "Source A is useful for studying X because it shows..."
               → quote/describe a detail + your own contextual knowledge
2. Provenance: "Its nature/origin/purpose makes it useful because..."
               → who made it, when, why + how that serves the enquiry
3. Judgement:  overall, how useful is it FOR THIS ENQUIRY, and WHY

Take a worked example: a satirical 18th-century cartoon showing a patient surrounded by rival quack remedies. A Level 4 answer uses the content (the array of quack treatments on offer) with knowledge of quackery before germ theory, then uses the provenance (the cartoon's purpose was to mock and expose fakes) to explain why it usefully reveals contemporary attitudes to treatment — before judging its overall usefulness for studying methods of treating disease.

1. Confusing a source with an interpretation

Sources are from the time (AO3); interpretations are written later (AO4). Check which one the question gives you before you plan.

2. Dismissing a source as biased

Never write "it is biased, so it is not useful." Explain what the bias makes the source useful for. Provenance is a tool, not a disqualifier.

3. Ignoring provenance altogether

An answer that only discusses content is usually capped at Level 3 on the 'useful' questions. To reach Level 4 you must develop provenance too.

4. Handling only one source on the 12-mark question

The Paper 1 12-mark question needs both sources evaluated to reach the higher levels. Do not spend all your time on one.

5. Forgetting the enquiry in the question

Usefulness is always "useful for studying [the stated issue]." Keep referring back to that exact enquiry, not usefulness in general.