Mr. JohnDClare advise on how to answer Paper 2:

Mr. JohnDClare advise on how to answer  Paper 2:


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.