1. AQA (B) GCSE Modern World History
Unit 2 Depth Study 1 Lesson 3
Answering the ‘Utility’
source question
Hodder Education Revision Lessons
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2. AQA (B) GCSE Modern World History
Unit 2 Depth Study 1 Lesson 3
Principles
You are a policeman investigating a theft of gold.
Two informers come to you:
• One is an alcoholic who thinks he heard someone
selling gold in a pub last night.
• One is a jeweller who says he was offered the
stolen pieces for sale yesterday, and that he has a
name and address.
Which informant is more useful … and why?
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3. AQA (B) GCSE Modern World History
Unit 2 Depth Study 1 Lesson 3
Principles
The jeweller’s is certainly the better information
because of:
1. The information’s content
His evidence is more precise and more accurate.
2. The information’s provenance
He is the more credible witness – he has
relevant expertise, and less reason to lie.
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4. AQA (B) GCSE Modern World History
Unit 2 Depth Study 1 Lesson 3
You answer the ‘Utility’ question
in much the same way!
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5. AQA (B) GCSE Modern World History
Unit 2 Depth Study 1 Lesson 3
The ‘Utility’ question will refer to a source – like this:
Source B
A court-martial by
the Bolshevik
Army of the USSR
in Louza, Poland,
in 1920
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6. AQA (B) GCSE Modern World History
Unit 2 Depth Study 1 Lesson 3
Then it will ask you to evaluate the utility of the
source, like this:
‘How useful is Source B for studying the
success of the Red Army in the Russian Civil
War?’
Note that it is asking you to evaluate what it tells you about
the Red Army’s success.
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7. AQA (B) GCSE Modern World History
Unit 2 Depth Study 1 Lesson 3
The mark scheme requires you to address two
issues to earn the 10 marks for this question:
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• How useful is the provenance?
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Note that thefa
number of marks you get depends on how
o
t
fully you explain your ideas, and prove them with facts!
• How useful is the content?
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8. AQA (B) GCSE Modern World History
Unit 2 Depth Study 1 Lesson 3
You are advised to spend
17 minutes maximum
on this question.
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9. AQA (B) GCSE Modern World History
Unit 2 Depth Study 1 Lesson 3
So, let’s begin with the CONTENT …
What does the photo tell us about the Red Army?
What ideas
and facts
might you
mention
here?
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10. AQA (B) GCSE Modern World History
Unit 2 Depth Study 1 Lesson 3
So, let’s begin with the CONTENT …
What does the photo tell us about the Red Army?
LOTS of interesting things, which mirror what we
know from our studies:
•Court-martial (cf. Red Terror/Trotsky ’s discipline)
•Workers (cf. the Soviets/workers ’ control of factories)
•Role of women (cf. equality / women could be soldiers)
YET lots of things it DOESN’T tell us:
•Tactics and equipment, battles, atrocities, role of
Trotsky
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11. AQA (B) GCSE Modern World History
Unit 2 Depth Study 1 Lesson 3
So, let’s begin with the CONTENT …
What does the photo tell us about the Red Army?
Write your first paragraph, remembering
that the number of marks you get
depends on how fully you explain your
ideas, and relate them to facts you know
about the times.
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12. AQA (B) GCSE Modern World History
Unit 2 Depth Study 1 Lesson 3
And now let’s go on to the PROVENANCE …
How useful is this photo as a source of information?
What ideas
and facts
might you
mention
here?
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13. AQA (B) GCSE Modern World History
Unit 2 Depth Study 1 Lesson 3
And now let’s go on to the PROVENANCE …
How useful is this photo as a source of information?
LOTS to suggest it would be useful:
• Contemporary to the time – taken in 1920
• Taken in Poland – where the fighting was most vicious
• Purports to show a genuine court-martial
YET some things suggest it can’t be trusted:
• Certainly posed – perhaps totally fabricated
• Bolshevik propaganda to show how determined and
ruthless the Red Army was
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14. AQA (B) GCSE Modern World History
Unit 2 Depth Study 1 Lesson 3
And now let’s go on to the PROVENANCE …
How useful is this photo as a source of information?
Write your second paragraph,
remembering that the number of marks
you get depends on how fully you explain
your ideas, and relate them to facts you
know about the times.
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15. AQA (B) GCSE Modern World History
Unit 2 Depth Study 1 Lesson 3
CONCLUSION
Finally, write a brief paragraph summarising
whether, overall, you feel the source is
useful or not to tell us about the success of
the Red Army.
What is the ‘telling point’ – explain why.
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16. AQA (B) GCSE Modern World History
Unit 2 Depth Study 1 Lesson 3
Peer-assess each other’s essays. Have they:
• written a section explaining (including facts from
their own knowledge) whether the source’s
content seems useful?
• written a section explaining (including facts from
their own knowledge) whether the source’s
provenance is reliable?
• finished with a conclusion, giving and explaining
a ‘telling point’?
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