NSSCAS History 8234 study plan

Distinguish primary from secondary sources and classify ten provided extracts by origin, purpose and audience

Construct written evaluations of two sources' reliability by weighing provenance against content, not content alone

Define the core historiographical terms (revisionism, teleology, bias, corroboration) and apply each in a short paragraph

Build a personal glossary of 25 source-analysis command words with worked example sentences

Draft a reusable 6-step checklist for answering 'how useful is this source' questions under timed conditions

Sequence the key turning points of the French Revolution and Napoleonic era into an annotated timeline with cause-and-effect arrows

Compare two rival interpretations of one event (e.g. the Terror or Napoleon's legacy) and state which evidence each rests on

Practise extracting argument, evidence and limitation from a secondary-source extract in under eight minutes

Explain how industrialisation and nationalism interacted to reshape European politics before 1914

Write a comparative paragraph contrasting two historians' verdicts on one revolutionary figure

Trace the causes of the First World War across alliance systems, imperial rivalry, militarism and Balkan crises

Evaluate the Treaty of Versailles by weighing contemporary and later judgements against its clauses

Analyse how the Russian Revolutions of 1917 reshaped European power balances

Link interwar economic collapse to the rise of authoritarian regimes with specific causal chains

Answer one full essay question under timed conditions and self-assess against a cause-consequence structure

Map the major pre-colonial African states and trade networks onto a labelled sketch map with dates

Explain the economic and political drivers of the Scramble for Africa using at least three distinct causal factors

Compare two African responses to European expansion (e.g. armed resistance versus negotiated accommodation) with named examples

Analyse how colonial administrative systems (direct, indirect, settler) differed in practice and consequence

Identify and evaluate two African-authored primary sources on nineteenth-century trade or diplomacy

Distinguish the mechanisms of decolonisation (negotiation, armed struggle, mass nationalism, external pressure) with one case study each

Explain the role of the Second World War in accelerating African independence movements

Compare the independence paths of two African states and account for the differences

Assess the problems new states faced at independence (borders, economies, institutions) with evidence

Analyse a nationalist leader's speech or manifesto as a primary source for aims and rhetoric

Sequence the key phases of Namibian history from pre-colonial societies through German rule to South African administration

Explain the causes and consequences of the Herero and Nama genocide using specific evidence

Trace the origins and development of SWAPO and the liberation struggle, including international dimensions

Evaluate the transition to independence in 1990 and the constitutional settlement it produced

Assess the strengths and limits of two sources on Namibian colonial or liberation history

Explain the origins of the Cold War by weighing ideological, strategic and economic explanations

Sequence the major Cold War crises and link each to shifts in superpower policy

Analyse how decolonisation and Cold War rivalry intersected in Africa with named examples

Evaluate the causes of the Cold War's end and the relative weight of leaders, economics and pressure from below

Interpret one Cold War propaganda or diplomatic source for purpose and audience

Synthesise all six domains into a one-page revision map showing cross-links between themes

Complete two full past-paper-style essays under timed conditions and mark them against the assessment objectives

Audit your weakest three topics and close each gap with a targeted one-hour review

Rehearse source-analysis technique on unseen extracts until the checklist runs without prompts

Compile a final one-page list of dates, names and terms you still need to secure