You don't need to multi-post, Christina. When you post, your question awaits moderation before it becomes visible.
I don;t teach IGCSE, so I can't give any exam-specific advice, but I can answer in general terms:
Christina, on Oct 30 2008, 05:59 AM, said:
Okay... so i'm doing my paper two tomorrow.
i'm doing a source paper on vietnam war and the US involvement.
i've noticed that you don't really need to remember specific detail in advance for source papers. Am i wrong?
would i still need dates and names of people and things like that?
You can't NOT use facts in a source question.
Remember when you are doing a source question you need to mention three things in the course of answering the specific question - content, origin and purpose.
No matter what the question is, these three things will come into it (so, for example, if it's reliability, you will write three paragraphs on: 'is the content reliable', and 'what implications does the origin of its writer have for what I think of its reliability' and 'what implications does its purpose have for what I think of its reliability'.
Now, you don't need to have a comprehensive bank of facts to trot out - like, say, you do on a 'describe' question.
But you can't do without facts altogether. You need a general knowledge of the facts so that you can use them to prove the points you are making in your essay about the content, origin and purpose.
For instance, if you are talking about the reliability of the content, you need to know some facts about what was happening at that time so you can tell whether the content is true or not.
Similarly, you might notice that the writer was a communist, but you need to know that the Cold War was particularly fierce at that time etc.
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and i'm having trouble trying to analyse cartoons.
i've read through tips on web but i still don't really get it!
i don't understand cartoons.... i don't understand what they're trying to imply
and i've noticed that there are always three to four cartoons in source papers
any helpful cartoons on vietnam war that could help me?
with explanations please?
Don't know of any explained Vietnam cartoons, but if you click
here on the Cartoon Database website you will find more than a thousand Vietnam cartoons to look at, starting in 1954.
As for evaluating cartoons, there's a webpage
here which may help.
My general advice would be, however, to treat evaluating a cartoon exactly like evaluating any source, and structure your answer around content, origin and purpose. The only extra thing I would suggest is to start off with a paragraph stating what you take to be the
meaning of the cartoon.
When students' answers 'go wrong', it is usually because they have misinterpreted the cartoon's meaning, and it just makes a nonsense of everything they say. At least if you start off by saying what you think the meaning it, even if you've got it wrong, it'l be like a Maths question - you'll get marks for the working out.
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Oh, and i was just wondering. for the last question on paper 6. the question is always 'use all sources to debate.....'
and the marking scheme always says 'bonus points for evaluation of sources (maximum of two).'
what does evaluation mean?
is it just commenting on reliability and utility? i thought you were meant to do that for all sources?
You're right on both counts. Remember that the question is about the question, not about evaluating the sources, but when you're answering an historical question using sources the reliability and utility of those sources will come into it - for example, it may be that Source A would prove this idea perfectly, if it hadn't been written by general XXX, whom we know was about to be sacked and was just trying to save his own skin (or, conversely, this is wonderfully proved by Source A, which was written by genera XXX who was there at the battle and saw it with his own eyes).
Points about the content, origin and purpose of the sources will come into your argument in this way, but try to mention them as you go along, as part of your debate/argument - they should appear to be arising naturally as you develop your points.
If the worst comes to the worst, however, when you finish your answer, if you haven't managed to evaluate the sources, add a paragraph where you do just that!
It strikes me that use of sources in a debate question carries jus about as much weigh as using facts in a source evaluation question. You can't do without them, but you need to remember that that is not the main focus of the question!
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