Historical Skills: Source Analysis and Historiography

3 dot points, in syllabus order. Each dot point has a focused answer, with exam-style questions and worked answers where available.

How do you construct a clear, sustained and evidence-based historical argument in an extended essay?

The skills of constructing extended historical arguments, including thesis, structure, evidence and addressing the question

WACE Modern History essay skills strand, explaining how to plan and write extended responses with a clear thesis, sustained argument, specific evidence and engagement with historiography.

6 min read →

How and why do historians interpret the past differently, and how should students use historiography?

The nature of historiography and historical interpretation, including why interpretations differ and how to use historians' views in analysis

WACE Modern History historiography strand, explaining why historians interpret the past differently and how to use schools of interpretation and named historians in source analysis and essays.

6 min read →

How do historians analyse and evaluate sources for meaning, perspective, reliability and usefulness?

The skills of source analysis and evaluation, including identifying origin, purpose, perspective, reliability and usefulness for a historical inquiry

WACE Modern History source-analysis skills strand, explaining how to identify a source's origin, purpose and perspective and evaluate its reliability and usefulness for the external examination.

7 min read →