ocr coursework history titles

A Level OCR History Primer for Teachers

Setting and marking every single History homework can take an awfully long time. Time that could have been spent on lesson planning, watching Manchester United lose, or with family.

However, this should no longer be the case. We wanted to try to support the formation of students' knowledge using the best History content and the best algorithms. Via this OCR History primer I aim to detail all the coursework sections that have been incorporated in the free Seneca revision courses.

Via the teacher platform you're now able to invite your students and set assignments in under 30 seconds. All of their History homework will be automatically marked, and their weaknesses automatically highlighted. But that's not all. You're now also getting insights into what topics the class understands well and what topics need attention during one of the upcoming classroom sessions. That way you can really bring your class to the next level, and even set individual homework based on each student's own progress.

See Seneca's OCR History Courses

Vital Resources for You:

• Seneca teacher platform
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• Scheme of Assessment

Setting History A Level Homework on Seneca

The benefits for A Level History teachers are:

- It's free to use.

- Insights into students' performance are granular and free.

- All revision courses are written by examiners and subject experts to ensure the content matches the exam board specifications.

- It's highly engaging making students study more often and for longer periods of time.

Set History Homework

Curriculum: History: OCR A A Level Democracy & Dictatorships in Germany, 1919–1963

1 The Weimar Republic, 1919-1933

1.1 Establishment of the Weimar Republic

1.1.1 Impact of WW1

1.1.2 Peace Settlement

1.1.3 The Weimar Constituion

1.1.4 Problems of Weimar Constitution

1.1.5 Political Turmoil

1.1.6 Economic Issues

1.2 The Golden Years

1.2.1 Stresemann Foreign Policy Aims

1.2.2 Foreign Policy

1.2.3 Economic Loans

1.2.4 Economic Recovery

1.2.5 Political Stability

1.2.6 Social Improvements

1.3 The Great Depression

1.3.1 Impact of the Great Depression

1.3.2 Elections & Governments 1929-1933

1.3.3 Rise & Appeal of Nazism

1.3.4 'Backstairs Intrigue'

1.3.5 Hitler Becomes Chancellor

2 Establishment of the Nazi State, 1933-1939

2.1 Consolidation of Power

2.1.1 Hitler's Consolidation of Power

2.1.2 Gleischaltung

2.1.3 Government & Propaganda

2.1.4 Machinery of Terror

2.1.5 Opposition

2.1.6 Social Policies

2.1.7 Economic Policies

2.1.8 Racial Policies

2.1.9 Benefits of Nazi Rule

3 The Impact of War & Defeat, 1939-1949

3.1.1 War Economy

3.1.2 Total War

3.1.3 Racial Policies

3.1.4 Opposition

3.2 Consequences of WW2

3.2.1 Impact of WW2

3.2.2 Development of the Cold War

3.2.3 Division of Germany

3.2.4 Development of the Cold War

3.2.5 Berlin Blockade

4 Divided Germany, 1949-1963

4.1 Creation of West Germany

4.1.1 Formation of West Germany

4.1.2 Economic Recovery

4.1.3 Political Stability

4.1.4 Social Stability

4.1.5 Foreign Policy

4.1.6 Berlin Wall

4.1.7 Adenauer's Decline

4.1.8 West Germany by 1963

4.2 Creation of the GDR

4.2.1 GDR in 19494.2.21953

4.2.3 Economy

4.2.4 Social Change

4.2.5 Control Over Society

4.2.6 East Germany by 1963

Set Homework

Curriculum: History: OCR A A Level England, 1485–1558: the Early Tudors

1 England, 1485-1547

1.1 Government of Henry VII & Threats to Rule

1.1.1 Henry VII's Consolidation of Power

1.1.2 Henry VII & Succession

1.1.3 Henry VII & The Nobility

1.1.4 Henry VII & Justice, Finance & Policies

1.1.5 Henry VII's Councils & Parliament

1.1.6 Henry VII & Rebellion

1.2 Henry VII's Foreign Policy

1.2.1 Henry VII's Relationship with Foreign Powers

1.3 Henry VIII & Wolsey

1.3.1 Henry VIII's Consolidation of Power

1.3.2 Henry VIII & His Government

1.3.3 Henry VIII's Relationship with Foreign Powers

1.3.4 Wolsey

1.3.5 Wolsey & the Church

1.3.6 Break from Rome

1.4 The Reign of Henry VIII After 1529

1.4.1 The Henrician Reformation

1.4.2 Religious Change & Opposition

1.4.3 Impact of Religious Upheaval

1.4.4 Cromwell

1.4.5 Factions at Court

1.4.6 Foreign Policy in the 1540s

2 Mid Tudor Crises, 1547-1558

2.1 Stability of the Monarchy

2.1.1 Constraints on Edward VI & Mary I

2.1.2 Mary I & Her Rule

2.1.3 Edward VI & the Succession Issue

2.1.4 Factions Under Edward VI

2.1.5 Factions under Mary I

2.2 Religious Changes

2.2.1 Protestantism Under Edward VI

2.2.2 Catholicism Under Mary I

2.3 Religion & Unrest

2.3.1 Edward VI & Rebellions

2.3.2 Mary VI & Rebellions

2.3.3 Social & Economic Developments

Curriculum: History: OCR A A Level England 1547-1603: the Later Tudors

1 Mid Tudor Crises, 1547-1558

1.1 Stability of the Monarch

1.1.1 Constraints on Edward VI & Mary I

1.1.2 Mary I & Her Rule

1.1.3 Edward VI & the Succession Issue

1.1.4 Factions Under Edward VI

1.1.5 Factions Under Mary I

1.2 Religious Changes

1.2.1 Protestantism Under Edward VI

1.2.2 Catholicism Under Mary I

1.3 Religion & Unrest

1.3.1 Edward VI & Rebellion

1.3.2 Mary I & Rebellion

1.3.3 Social & Economic Developments

2 Elizabethan England, 1558-1603

2.1 Elizabeth & Religion

2.1.1 Domestic Situation in 1558

2.1.2 Foreign Situation in 1558

2.1.3 Elizabethan Settlement

2.1.4 Puritan Threat

2.1.5 Catholic Threat

2.2 Elizabethan Government

2.2.1 Elizabeth & Court

2.2.2 Elizabeth's Royal Authority

2.2.3 Elizabeth & Government

2.2.4 Attitudes to Elizabeth & Marriage

2.2.5 Mary Queen of Scots

2.3 Finances, the Economy & Society

2.3.1 Finances

2.3.2 Trade

2.3.3 Poverty

2.4 Elizabethan Later Years, 1588-1603

2.4.1 Elizabeth & Parliament

2.4.2 Relations With Spain

2.4.3 Spanish Armada

2.4.4 Social Distress

2.4.5 Irish Rebellion

2.4.6 Essex's Rebellion

2.4.7 Elizabeth I's Reputation

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30+ A-Level History NEA Ideas

In A-Level by Think Student Editor May 3, 2024 Leave a Comment

When I took A-Level History, doing the NEA was my favourite part. Having so much more independence and control over my own work was exciting and much more engaging than just being in lessons or doing exams. However, it was also pretty daunting.

All kinds of A-Level coursework give you so much more academic freedom and independence than you’d previously experienced, which can make it a bit stressful to have all this responsibility. The first place this can come into play is right at the start when you have to choose your essay question. In this article, we’ll try to make this part a little bit less stressful by giving you some ideas for what you could do.

Continue reading to getter a better understanding of the A-Level History NEA as a whole and to see some ideas for your essay question. This article will take you through these ideas by going through some of the main topic areas that you could focus on.

Table of Contents

What is an A-Level History NEA?

The term NEA stands for non-exam assessment, which is relatively the same as coursework. For A-Level History, this piece of coursework is in the form of an extended essay, which may even be referred to as an “investigation” on a specific area of history that has different historical interpretations.

Due to this, students will need to research into different historical interpretations of their specific topic as well as use primary sources and factual evidence/ data to evaluate the different historical interpretations.

The specific requirements for this NEA will depend on the exam board, which is especially the case when it comes to the word count, which can vary quite a lot. For example, for students using the Pearson Edexcel exam board, the word count is between 3,000 and 4,000 words, whereas for the AQA exam board, there is a word limit between 3,500 and 4,500 words.

Unlike these exam boards that have a set maximum word count, the OCR exam board only has a recommendation of 3,000- 4,000 words, although there is no actual set limit.

Despite being quite a lot of work, the A-Level History NEA will generally be a fair low proportion of the A-Level in comparison to other factors. Typically, this will be worth 20% of the whole A-Level History qualification.

You can learn more about this by checking out the specifications of A-Level History courses by clicking on the links with the respective exam board: AQA (linked here and here) Pearson Edexcel , OCR , WJEC , CCEA .

How to choose an A-Level History NEA idea

Choosing an A-Level History NEA idea can come in a few different ways and may not even be your choice as a student. How this all works will depend on your sixth form or college.

The first most obvious option is that your sixth form/ college lets you choose the topic and question that you want to focus on. Alternatively, your sixth form or college may give you an approved topics list but allow you to submit your own topic question and consider options outside of this list.

The strictest form is where your sixth form or college chooses the topic(s) that you can do and may even give you pre-approved question ideas. You can learn more about these by checking out this guide by OCR.

As choosing your own idea and topic from scratch is by far the hardest, we’ll see primarily focusing on that in this article. When choosing your own idea, the first thing you should think about is which historical period you want to focus on.

There are obviously a wide range you can choose from, although exam boards tend to have some restrictions in this aspect too. First of all, you won’t be able to do the same topic as whichever piece of history you studied for your depth study. Other restrictions will vary by exam board, so it’s best to ask your teachers or to look directly at your exam board’s coursework information.

After you pick your main topic, you need to narrow it down to a specific historical debate within this topic. From here, you can shape it into an extended essay question that allows you to have a clear line of argument and be evaluative and analytical. To do this, you might want to use vocabulary such as “the most/ least important/ significant/ etc.”.

What makes a good A-Level History NEA idea?

To make sure you have a good A-Level History NEA idea, you need to make sure that it is something you can write an entire extended essay on. Remember the NEA will require students to do over 3000 words and write a full answer with several sections and a clear line of argument and judgement, depending on the style of your essay question.

To be able to do this, you need to make sure you have enough background information about this specific subsection of your topic area and that there are lots of interpretations and primary sources available.

Another step to making sure that you have a good topic and question title is to make sure that it is has the right level of detail. This is as you need to make sure the focus is very specific so it can be in-depth and analytical but also broad enough to give you a full answer and enough to write about.

A-Level History NEA ideas for 2024

Now that we’ve looked at the criteria for choosing a topic and what makes a good one, we can properly dive into some examples. However, as previously mentioned, an NEA idea needs to be focused on a specific area of history. Due to this, in this article, we’ll be looking at some ideas based on specific historical areas.

These historical areas have been chosen due to being commonly studied in A-Level History courses. You can learn more about this from this page of the Cambridge Assessment website as well as from the component options mentioned in each exam board’s specification, as linked above.

The ideas below are sourced from a mixture of exam board suggestions and information provided to me when I was doing the NEA myself. Exam board suggestions come from pages of the Pearson Edexcel website, OCR website, the WJEC website and the AQA website all linked respectively.

A-Level History NEA ideas for Russian dictatorship

When looking at the history of dictatorships in Russia, we’re generally referring to the period from 1855 to 1991/2. In this period of history, there were several different kinds of leaders of Russia, all of which can be focused on for your NEA. These types of leaders are the Tsar rulers, the Provisional Government and the communist leaders.

While you may want to look at the leaders and their regimes, you could also look at society at the time

Some ideas for Russia and its rulers are as follows.

• In the context of the years 1861 to 1964, to what extent was the Russian Revolution of 1917 caused by the war?
• How far do you agree with the view that Peter the Great was largely unsuccessful in his attempts to modernise Russia?
• How far do you agree with the view that Alexander II was largely successful in his attempts to modernise Russia in the period after 1855?
• How far do you agree with the view that Stalin’s main aim in the period 1924–1939 was to carry out the changes begun by Lenin?
• ‘The lives of the Russian peasants were transformed for the better in the years between 1928 and 1964.’
• How valid is assessment of the peasantry in Russia?
• How far do you agree with the view that the Battle of Stalingrad was mainly responsible for Soviet victory in the Second World War?
• To what extent do you agree with the view that by 1924, the people of Russia had exchanged one authoritarian regime for another?
• Assess the reasons for the purges in 1930’s Russia
• To what extent did Communism in Russia improve the lives of women in the years 1917-53?

A-Level History NEA ideas for civil rights in the USA

The civil rights movement in the USA spanned a long period and was made up of several significant events. Due to this, there is so much for you to focus on within this topic, from specific figures, such as Martin Luther King Jr. or Rosa Parks, to key legislation or specific protests or events.

Some of the essay question you could chose for the civil rights movement are as follows.

• How far do you agree with the view that the most significant contribution to the success of the Civil Rights movement between 1954 and 1970 was made by people in local communities in the US?
• ‘Martin Luther King had the greatest impact of any individual in advancing the civil rights of African Americans in the USA.’ How valid is this view of the years 1865 to 1968?
• Assess the claims that the role of Martin Luther King in the civil rights movement was exaggerated.
• Assess the view that the Civil Rights movement was the most significant cause of Second Wave Feminism?
• To what extent did Rosa Parks change the nature of the Civil Rights Movement by 1965?
• How far did World War II improve the lives of black Americans?
• To what extent has the role of women in the Black Civil Rights Movement been undervalued?
• To what extent did Malcolm X and the Black Panthers further the civil rights movement?
• To what extent was the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) responsible for the successes of the civil rights campaign in the years 1945–57?
• To what extent did life for black people in America improve between the end of the First World War and the Wall Street Crash of 1929?

A-Level History NEA ideas for Weimar and Nazi Germany

Weimar and Nazi Germany is a common topic, not only at A-Level, but also at GCSE and even at the start of secondary school, before starting GCSEs. Due to this, students will often have quite a bit of background knowledge on this topic, even if they haven’t studied it as part of their A-Levels. This can make it a bit easier for you to access this topic for your NEA.

Some NEA ideas for Weimar and Nazi Germany are as follows.

• ‘Propaganda was the main reason for Hitler’s rise to power in 1933’. How far do you agree?
• To what extent do you agree that the Holocaust was a long-term plan?
• The Reichstag Fire was a deliberate plot hatched by Hitler’s henchmen to help consolidate the NSDAP’s control over Germany.’ How valid is this assessment of the Reichstag Fire?
• Assess the view that the Wall Street Crash was the main reason the Weimar government lost support by 1930.
• Assess the view that Hitler’s use of fear and violence the main reason why he was able to maintain control of Germany between 1933 – 45.
• To what extent were the Nazis successful in winning over the hearts and minds of the youth?
• To what extent were ordinary German people responsible for the Holocaust?
• To what extent was music used as a form of opposition to the Nazi Regime?
• To what extent was Stresseman right when he said ‘Germany was dancing on a volcano’ when implying that German democracy would inevitably fail?
• Assess the view that the errors of Hitler were the main reason for allied victory in WWII.

A-Level History NEA ideas for the Tudors

Once again, the Tudors are commonly taught in some shape or form throughout, even starting in primary school. This can still make it easier to access the essay questions on this topic as you’ll already have some background knowledge.

Some NEA ideas are as follows.

• In the context of the years 1485 to 1603, how effectively did Tudor government deal with rebellion in England?
• How far do you agree with the view that the main reason for the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII was that they no longer served any useful purpose?
• How far do you agree with the view that Mary, Queen of Scots, was the greatest challenge facing Elizabeth in the period after 1568.
• Assess the reasons why there was there an attempt to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne in 1553.
• Assess the view that the survival of Roman Catholicism in England during the reign of Elizabeth I depended on the role of the gentry
• To what extent did Elizabeth I remain single to keep her political power?
• ‘Anne Boleyn lost her head because of the large faction against her’ To what extent is this true?
• Assess the view that Elizabethan propaganda was a success.
• ‘The reign of Mary I was a complete failure.’ How fair is this assessment?
• Assess the impact of the reign of Elizabeth I on the roles of women in Tudor society

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History A-Level Coursework Exemplar Essay (Full Marks and Grade A* Achieved)

Subject: History

Age range: 16+

Resource type: Unit of work

Last updated

19 April 2024

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History A-Level Coursework Exemplar Essay (Full Marks and Grade A* Achieved).

Title: Muslim disunity was the most important reason for the success of the First Crusade. How far do you agree?

This resource contains a full mark A* coursework essay that was awarded this grade in 2022. Included is an introduction, establishment of criteria, theme analysis, primary sources, historical interpretations and interim/final judgements. Furthermore, footnotes and an extensive bibliography (Harvard) are also included in this 13-page resource. Also included is a workbook to help you plan your own coursework as well as some advice sheets from the examiners.

Please use this resource (PDF version) to aid your study and how to plan your essay, rather than copying the content. Despite this, the information could well be very useful if you are studying the Crusades and Crusader States at A-Level (OCR and AQA exam boards).

If you do have any questions regarding this resource, or the course in general, please do not hesitate to email [email protected]

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Understanding history coursework assessment objectives.

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Last summer saw a varied and wide ranging series of topics covering several thousand years’ worth of history. We’ve seen some key insights come out as a result for all units .

Topic choice

Perhaps one of the most important things to remember, before any words have been written, is to be careful of the topic that you choose. Some topics have proven to be harder to resource than others. Be mindful of the demands of the assessment objectives, not only when marking, but when choosing the topic. Students have, perhaps unsurprisingly, shown their love of certain topics, but finding a decent number of credible or valid interpretations (AO3) have proven to be much harder and have hampered responses as a result.You can read more about choosing a topic in Mike Goddard’s blog .

Resourcing the topic

We recommend that each coursework piece should use at least 10-15 sources in total, covering both primary and secondary, an essay that uses only a solitary historian’s view is not going to score high marks in AO3. Equally, if a response only uses one or two primary sources, they will be unlikely to score highly in AO2. So if a topic is proven hard to resource, it might be worth thinking again!

Synopticity matters

The other really important thing to remember is that this is a synoptic unit. The essay skills you need to show in papers 1 and 2 are similar to the essay skills needed in coursework. You have to write relevantly; answer your own question; discuss different interpretations and come to a reasoned and convincing judgement. The source skills of analysis and evaluation of primary sources by using provenance and knowledge must also be applied in coursework – remember that there are 10 marks for evaluating primary sources.

You also need to use the skills that you have been using in Unit 3 when you have evaluated the two extracts from historians by using your own knowledge. The difference between coursework and these units is that you can choose which secondary and primary sources to include – so be sure that you choose evidence which you can evaluate! You can read more about units 1-3 in the guide to assessment .

The Assessment Objectives

Let us look at some key bullet points for each of the assessment objectives. The focus here will be on common themes aimed at supporting overall improvements.

• Ensure descriptive narrative isn’t overly credited.
• Ensure responses are focussed on the question. If an answer doesn’t remain focussed throughout, it can’t be a top level response.
• Avoid long, rambling paragraphs, keep to the point!
• Ensure marks for evaluation are for evaluation, and not for explanation – it doesn’t matter how excellently they’ve explained a source if they haven’t evaluated it.
• Evaluation at this level should reflect the skills learnt for unit 1 – evaluation of provenance and using own knowledge, but must be more than simple comments like: “This is a good source as the writer was living at the time”.
• Example of basic evaluation: “Hitler made the speech and he was the leader and would know”
• Better to say: “Hitler was making the speech at a time when war was imminent and emotions were high, but it may not reflect his true intentions, because the policy was still to force Jews to emigrate
• The key messages here were similar to AO2 but also include:
• Sometimes students simply cross reference historians and that would not be credited highly. For example, comments like “Kershaw agrees with Evans”.
• The only effective form of evaluation is always going to be that based on contextual evidence and ones that are sustained throughout the response.

The full asessment objectives can be accessed via the website .

As some key takeaways, we would urge your students to remember the following:

• Remember to choose the right topic – something that interests the student is great, but only if it is ‘doable’.
• Remember how to use AO2 and AO3 – simply saying “he was/wasn’t there at the time” or “Man agrees with Weatherford” (for any Mongol fans out there) is not enough.
• Remember to focus on the question not the topic!

Finally – scripts with commentaries from the summer series are now available on interchange

INSET material will also be available in due course.

Coming soon

We have a brand new interactive tool, giving you access to thousands of pre-approved coursework questions, bringing you a whole new way of submitting questions to us. Make sure you’ve signed up to updates to keep up to date with all the latest news and events.

Grant Robertson

A Level History Coursework Edexcel – A Guide

• Post author By admin
• Post date November 16, 2023
• No Comments on A Level History Coursework Edexcel – A Guide

This guide shows you how to plan, research and write A Level History coursework for Edexcel using ideas, resources, examples and structure. This coursework is weighted towards Assessment Objective Three (AO3) 15% and Assessment Objective One (AO1) 5%. This makes it substantially different from coursework assessed under AQA or OCR. For Edexcel coursework, the focus is on differing interpretations of the past and analysis of them, alongside your own view of the events.

A Level History Coursework Edexcel – Ideas, Examples and Resources

Question Format – The question that you decide to answer for the Edexcel Coursework will always use the following template.

• Historians have disagreed about [ the chosen question, problem or issue ].
• What is your view about [ the chosen question, problem or issue ]?

Thus, we can see that there are two parts to this coursework:

• Part 1 – dealing with the historian’s viewpoints which is (AO3) and worth 15%
• Part 2 – your own viewpoint which is (A01) and worth 5%  

Question Ideas, Example and Selection

There are two key points to consider when selecting a question, problem or issue for your coursework.

• Is there enough debate around this question? – There needs to be a scholarly debate around the question or issue. This means differing views on the question from different historians. This makes it easier to select appropriate works to analyse and compare.
• Can you access the appropriate resources? – You must use a minimum of three different key works as well as two supplementary works. Your three key works should hold opposing views about the question or issue. Let’s look at an example question to make this clear:

Historians have disagreed about the extent to which by 1924 the Russian people had exchanged one authoritarian regime for another. What is your view about the extent to which by 1924 the Russian people had exchanged one authoritarian regime for another?

• View 1 – Tsarist Rule was more authoritarian. (C. Hill argues this)
• View 2 – Bolshevik rule was more authoritarian. (R. Service argues this)
• View 3 – The regimes were equally authoritarian. (R. Pipes argues this)

This is the ideal example of having three viewpoints that would be spread across the historiographical spectrum. This helps us to engage with the historical debate and hit the following criteria for the coursework:

• analyse ways in which interpretations of the question or issue differ.
• explain the differences you have identified.
• evaluate the arguments, indicating which you found most persuasive and why.

You would then add to this a minimum of two supplementary works, (more is better) that would assist in helping you form your view and add weight to your analysis and arguments. Critically, you must be able to access all these resources to use them effectively in completing the coursework.  

Coursework Resources

• Library – school, local, college, university – you should be able to borrow appropriate works.
• Teacher – your teacher should be able to provide you with copies of appropriate resources to use.
• JSTOR – www.jstor.org – contains a large collection of journal articles from historical publications covering numerous topics. These will often engage in the historical debate by replying to opposing views.
• Purchase Books – many second-hand books are available to purchase at very cheap prices through Amazon or similar sites.

A Level History Coursework Edexcel – How to Research and Write

Researching the Coursework – When researching our coursework we use the resource record form, which acts as a bibliography to the books, articles and online resources we are using. As we go through these resources we want to make notes that help us to identify the overall argument of the historian. Key quotes or passages should be noted down, alongside a reference. If we then use this material in our write up, we can add the appropriate footnote.

Writing the Coursework – When writing our coursework we need to be aware of the total word count as well as making sure that we hit all the assessment criteria. This means dividing up the 4000 words (maximum word count) effectively between the assessment criteria. An example structure to implement this is shown in the next section.

A Level History Coursework Edexcel – Structure and Planning

First section – introduction to the overall question and key works (c. 1000 words).

Introduction to the overall topic. You need to put the question into context by providing relevant information regarding what was happening at the time. You then need to define any key terms in the question.

Example from our question above – authoritarian regime would be defined as ‘a regime in which power is highly centralised and maintained regardless of popular support, with the use of repression and violence’.

Finally, you need to set out valid criteria by which the question can be judged.

Example from our question and definition above – we need to compare the Tsarist regime to the Bolshevik regime in terms of:

• Centralisation of power .
• Power maintained despite lacking popular support.
• Power maintained through repression and violence.

You should now have a complete introduction to the topic (1 paragraph)

Introduction to the debate by placing each of the key works in the historiographical debate. You can also place your supplementary works on the historiographical line here. (1 paragraph)

Set out the arguments in extended detail from the three key works. What are the historians’ views on this question? (1 paragraph)

Show how the arguments from each of the key works differ or are like one another. (1 paragraph)

Summary of the views of the key works. (1 paragraph)

Second Section – Explaining why the key works differ from one another (c. 1000 words)

Introduction – You need to set out three valid criteria to explain why the key works differ. Why is it that the historians’ arguments differ? There are several different potential criteria that could be used here: When was the work written? What sources and evidence did they use? Have they defined the key terms of the question differently? Have they defined the criteria to answer the question differently? Do they have different scopes of enquiry? What is the purpose of the work? What is the historians background and view?

Example from our question – The historians have defined the key term to answer the question differently – C. Hill has focused on authoritarian being defined as lacking popular support. R. Service is more focused on authoritarian being defined through repression. R. Pipes is mostly focused on authoritarian being defined as a centralisation of power.  

The historians have defined the key term ‘authoritarian’ differently. (1 paragraph)    

Paragraphs – This is where you use the criteria set out from the introduction to this section. You want one paragraph per item of criteria that we are judging the key works on.

Example from our question – one paragraph regarding how the historians have defined the key term ‘authoritarian’ differently.

Then you need to consider the three works in terms of the criteria set out for that paragraph. Show why there are differences in the key works regarding that criteria and how that leads the historian to arrive at their interpretation. Use evidence to support your points. (3 paragraphs – 1 for each criterion)

Conclusion – Brief conclusion that offers a summary of why the key works are different. (1 paragraph)

Third Section – Your own viewpoint on the question (c. 1000 words)

Brief introduction of your own viewpoint and line of argument that will be taken, remembering to re-instate the criteria by which the question can be judged . (1 paragraph)

Paragraphs that set out your own view on the question. This is where you should be using the criteria set out in your introductions. You want one paragraph per item of criteria.

Example from our question – one paragraph regarding ‘centralisation of power’.

Then you need to bring evidence and analysis to assess the criteria being judged. You can also use the key works and the supplementary works in this section to help you. (3 paragraphs – 1 for each criterion)

Conclusion that reaches a judgement on the question and follows your line of argument that has flowed throughout. (1 paragraph)

Fourth Section – Evaluation and Judgement of the key works and of the question (c. 1000 words)

Go through each of the key works and make a judgement on how convincing and valid the arguments from the historians are compared to the criteria. (3 paragraphs – 1 for each key work)

Form an overall judgement on the question and an overall judgement on which of the key works is most convincing. These should broadly align together. (1 paragraph)   

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A Level History: Can more than one student do their coursework on the same title?

• 16 October 2023 12:30

There is no limit to the number of candidates permitted to answer the same question for their coursework. However, work must be independent, and students must have a choice of question.

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