History Tips from Wise Seniors

(okay no not really)

SBQ
Types of sources include: historical commentary from historians, photos,
statistics, political cartoons, propaganda posters, quotes etc. Each of these
have to be addressed differently, esp with regards to reliability and
usefulness! (will be explained down there later)

Part 1: Inference
o An inference is essentially a generalization from the specific information given in
the source—so you extrapolate the big picture from the case study
o The evidence from the source that you use should be used purely to validate
inferences. If your evidence doesn’t serve a purpose, don’t bother wasting your
time writing it in. Similar to lit, the easiest guide to this would be to make sure
you explain whatever evidence you state. If it’s not explained, it shouldn’t be
there. BE CONCISE!
o Make sure your inference is clear and precise. Eg it’s not good enough to say “I
can infer from Source A that merger was doomed to fail from the beginning”. You
have to say “I can infer from Source A that merger was doomed to fail because
Singapore and Malaysia had intrinsically different political and economic
ideologies”
o DO NOT bring in contextual knowledge when you infer, that comes in later for
reliability. An easy guide would be to think about it from the POV from someone
who knows nothing about the topic—when she looks as the source, will she be
able to arrive at the same inference you did? If not, there’s something wrong
o Don’t worry too much about inferences, just make sure it’s clear and specific and
well backed up with evidence FROM THE SOURCE (and nowhere else!!), you
should do okay.
o Hmm you don’t actually need to put in evidence for sec four if you have no time,
the important thing is to state your inference and make sure it’s clear, then
evaluate it (:

Part 2: Reliability
o This is actually surprisingly easy, just remember: CK CR PPT (Contextual
Knowledge, Cross References, Provenance, Purpose, Tone)
o CK is pretty obvious, just state whether the source corroborates with or
contradicts your contextual knowledge and PUT IN CK. The important thing
to note about CK is that your CK must be specific!! Ie (to take an example
 from sec four history) you can’t just say “From CK, I know that Nazi
propaganda was highly effective and won them many votes”, you have to say
“From CK, I know that Nazi propaganda was highly effective and their vote
share increased from 10% to 40% in two years”. This is where statistics
come in. Statistics are the best way to demonstrate evidence since they’re
unassailable!
o At the same time don’t get carried away and put in every single stat you
know, that’s hardly any better.
o CR (cross reference) is slightly trickier but it’s not that bad. The important to
take note of is that you don’t cross reference every source to every other
source! You must CR with purpose.
o There’re two ways to CR sources. First one is when sources support each
other. This comes in handy when you prove one source reliable with CK/PPT
and you want to CR another source with the one already proved reliable to
show that it’s reliable. Here, your sources must come together to prove a
common truth. Eg, you can say that source A states that merger was doomed
to fail, source B states that merger is a double-edged sword for SG, and
therefore they come together to show that merger was not beneficial. It
doesn’t have to be about exactly the same subject matter or take the exact
stand/POV but it must have the same general idea.
o The second way is when two sources contradict. Make sure you prove that
one is reliable before cross referencing or it’d defeat the purpose if both
were equally unreliable. Basically it goes Source B is unreliable bc it
contradicts my CK of _____, and is proved further unreliable when cross
referenced with Source A, which states that _______, in contrary to Source B,
which states that _____.
o PPT: Provenance Purpose and Tone are PURELY OPTIONAL. This is good if
you want to get high marks but also not strictly necessary. Make sure your
inference, CK and CR are solidly substantiated before even thinking about
this.
o Provenance basically refers to the source of the source (ha ha) or where it
came from. For example a photo would be VERY reliable (usually, unless it’s a
propaganda photo!!) because well, it shows the state of affairs at the time. As
compared to a source written by someone at the time might not be as reliable
bc they don’t have the benefit of historical hindsight/are getting propagated
(???) to.
o Purpose is what the source is written for ORIGINALLY. Ie propaganda posters
are obviously to propagate an ideal, which may make it less reliable because
it’s intended to convince people to one viewpoint
o Tone is quite… litty (sorry if you hate lit guys). Basically look out for the
propaganda tone in speeches especially, or a pissy biased tone in the case of
 frustrated interviewees, or even subtle irony and satire in the case of
historical accounts or political satire. A neutral tone would be the most
reliable, but the presence of a strong tone does not necessarily discount
reliability!! A strong tone might increase reliability bc it shows the person
believes in what he’s saying.

Part 3: Usefulness
o Essentially, how useful a source is in addressing the issue.
o When writing this part, ALWAYS remember the question. ALWAYS. If it’s
not useful, it means it doesn’t address the question directly/sidesteps the
issue, OR it does not provide a solid perspective of the events.
o This is essentially just substantiating WHY it’s not useful (ie, propaganda
posters may not be useful in showing people’s mindsets because it shows
INTENDED mindsets but not ACTUAL mindsets)
o Do keep in mind though that there is no source that is completely not
useful!!

Also haha for the stand it’s possible to have 3 support 1 challenge source yet still end up
challenging the statement in the end, it’s very important to reiterate in the conclusion 1.
Inference of each source 2. Support/challenge 3. Whether source is reliable and useful 4.
Therefore whether it supports/challenges the statement overall 