Humanities and Social Sciences (History, Geography, Sociology, Political Science)
What the paper tests
Modern History tests source analysis and argument across the core study, a national study, and peace-and-conflict topics. Geography examines ecosystems at risk, urban places and economic activity, using fieldwork-style data. Society and Culture, Legal Studies and Politics apply concepts to contemporary cases and legislation. Across the faculty the discriminator is identical: can you build a supported judgement rather than retell events?
Core rules
- Treat every source as evidence: ask who made it, when, for whom and why.
- Integrate sources into the argument; one appended at the end of a paragraph earns little.
- Deploy specific dates, names, figures and legislation.
- Avoid presentism - judge decisions in their historical context, then evaluate consequences.
- Put the thesis in the introduction; make each topic sentence advance it.
Worked example
A 1933 German poster shows a uniformed figure and a family. Question: 'How useful is this source for a historian studying Nazi consolidation of power?' Usefulness combines provenance, content and limitation. Content: idealised imagery of order and family. Provenance: state-produced propaganda, so it reveals intended messages, not popular opinion. Limitation: no evidence of how audiences received it. Conclusion: useful for propaganda aims, not for measuring support. That structure scores; describing the poster does not.
Traps
Narrative summary instead of analysis; unsupported moral judgement; ignoring a question's focus on usefulness or reliability; failing to cite provenance; overgeneralising from a single source.