Personal Study Guidance (F987)

Personal Study (3000 words)

Choosing a question  The focus is “historical significance” therefore this is what must be the core of the question  You should do some basic background reading before thinking about your question. This will help you have a better understanding of how achievable your study will be. It will need to be something where there are opinions on the subject. Possibly something considered as a turning point or with different historical interpretations  Trying to move away from basic causation questions which produce very stock answers therefore if your question can be answered as “factors which caused this thing, event, action are...” then you are on the wrong track.  Your question must give scope for: assessing significance in the short term and also assessing significance over time  Bad Question: o How significant was the First World War in gaining women the vote in 1918 . This is effectively a causation question – can discuss WWI then look at other factors . Does not meet criteria for the unit  Good Question o How significant has the First World War been in Britain? o Who was more significant in Irish history, Michael Collins or Eamon da Valera? . Both of these allow scope for answers to be developed with the board criteria ie. Showing significance at the time and over time. . They are open ended and allow discussion  When you have chosen a question – write 3-4 lines to explain what you are going to do to answer it

Research

 To get a good mark in your personal study it is absolutely critical that you have a good body of knowledge and have read widely. You will need to be doing all of the following in your preparations! o READ BOOKS. Cannot stress the importance of this enough. You need to be aware of some of he historical debate around your topic, person, event etc. You don't need whole books but do take notes and pull out important quotes and interpretations. Also keep a note of the bibliographic details of your books o Historian, A: “A book about my topic” (2009) A publisher, London, p100-101 o COLLECT SOURCES. You will need to critically engage with sources in order to produce an effective personal study, especially when discussing the historical significance of your topic at the time. o Remember that great personal studies don't just come out of your head, the examiner wants to see an engagement with the evidence and the wider historical community.

Writing your answer  You will need to generate criteria for assessing significance as this will be central to your essay structure, there will be a vast number of ways to show the significance of the person/event either at the time or over time.  It is important to have some sort of discussion recognizing the wide variety of ways the event/person could be seen as significant but narrowing down as identifying a few key areas to focus on. eg. If looking at an event such as WWI it would be impossible to completely assess the significance but could focus on a few key areas eg. Loss of life, remembering the war, impact on policies in the 1930s, changing Britain’s role in the world, part of collective memory etc.  There must be a recognition the topic is too wide to conclude on and therefore any conclusion will not be expected to be definitive.  Make sure your whole answer is building the case for significance – you are providing evidence for the significance of your chosen topic.  Try not to exceed the 3000 word limit. Longer answers are generally worse!  Remember to reference. Footnotes in MS Word are very easy and will stop you getting confused. If you write a bibliography as you go you can just copy and paste the relevant books into your footnotes.  There are three main elements you will need to cover in your answer. You must try to do ALL of the elements: o HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE ACROSS TIME (AT THE TIME) . What was the impact of the event or person at the time itself? What was the nature of this impact? . Can we learn anything from the speed or extent of the impact? . How profound was the impact at the time? . All of this should involve a critical use of the evidence you have collected. You will NOT be awarded marks for asserting significance based on providing a narrative of evidence. . Consider the value as well as the content of your sources. Interpret source materials in context with provenance in mind. Find any opportunities to cross reference and use this to DEVELOP your argument. . Quotes should be used and explained in relation to the historical significance. Do not simply use evidence as “decoration” make sure we learn something from it! o HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OVER TIME: You need to enter some discussion about the historical significance of your topic over time. There are three possible approaches to this as well! . DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE: Look at your topic as a turning point. How did things develop before and after it? What was its impact here? Is there evidence that it was more of a “false dawn”? You could look back at your event from another point. Eg. A modern perspective looking back at the discovery of electricity could be one point of looking back. Could also look back from a C19th perspective as well. Make sure you don't fall into the trap of narrative. . HISTORIOGRAPHICAL PERSPECTIVE: Make a critical use of the historiographical debate on your chosen topic. How have different historians viewed the significance of your chosen topic? You need at least 2 historians to compare and contrast here. Eg. Oliver Cromwell from the perspective of a C18th, C19th and C20th historian would create an interesting debate on his historical significance. Good opportunity for some detailed engagement with evidence and interpretation. . COMMEMORATIVE PERSPECTIVE: Look at a discussion based around the “iconic significance” of the topic. Eg. Magna Carta, Bastille, 9/11 can all be said to have iconic significance. How and why is the event commemorated? Why does it seem to transcend time? What is it about the topic which makes it so resonant? Does widespread commemoration mean that it should just be accepted? o ANALYSE THE DIFFERENCE: Compare the significance across and over time. What can we learn from the difference? . By synthesising the difference between the two types of significance you can arrive at a much more in-depth analysis of the topic required for the top levels

The Diary (1000 words)  You will need to produce a log/diary of your study  This is NOT a presentation piece it is a working document and is expected to be a bit messy in places  Your diary should show: o A justification of your question – why you chose to pursue it – how does it allow you to address significance? o A log of meetings – don’t need a line every meeting – just a record of really key stuff – not verbatim!!! o Plan for the study which might include research questions which help you address the larger study. Eg you might have broken down your question into several investigations of significance, each of which might demand an investigation question. o A discussion of key sources. Don't tell us your life story, explain how a source was or wasn't useful to you briefly. Better to engage with a few sources in depth than a whole range of “got a book, read a book” type statements. o Discussion of availability of sources ie. If you can’t get hold of a key text mention it! A critical evaluation of the relevance and value of the sources you use. o Explanation of any significant problems and how you overcame them o A final evaluation: what would you do differently next time and why? You must have something here – there is no such thing as perfect o A bibliography

Marking Notes

The following is intended as some basic guidance for the marking of the F987 unit. The trend for 2009/10 has been towards marking that is too generous.

 The actual study should be marked first and put into a band. After this the diary should be used to either support a move upwards or in extreme cases, downwards. The diary is therefore very important.  When marking use summative paraphrasing of the bands to explain the judgment. This will make it easier for the marker to check the piece.  It is most important to ensure the rank order for the centre is correct therefore a moderation meeting BEFORE the final pieces are marked would be the best option  Do not award assertions of significance arrived at by process of “common-sense” reasoning. The discussion must have a direct bearing on the question and be related to detailed study and proof.  To get to higher levels candidates must have engaged with at least one of the methods of assessing significance over time  Quotations must be used critically to support and develop the argument. Decorative quotes are worthless.  Simplistic “then...now...” assertions must not be rewarded. Eg. If Henry VIII had not lived we would all be Catholic