The History Controlled Assessment: looking at representations.

Background

1955-70 was a time of great turbulence and upheaval in the USA.
It was a time of mass protests for black civil rights and against the war in Vietnam.
What was the impact of mass protests? How successful were they?
Why do historians have different views about this?

The aim of mass protest: force the authorities to take action.
Publicity was very important. We therefore have a lot of evidence about the protests.
But finding out the effect of protests is harder.

Hundreds of thousands of people marched against the war in Vietnam. Did they represent the views of most Americans?

President Nixon said that the ‘silent majority’ of Americans supported the war. He called the protesters ‘bums’. Was this the view of most Americans?

You need to know facts about this. The sources you looked at in class will be available on Monday for you to take home. But you cannot take the representations home.

What you can do at home: find out more about the topic. There are links lower down this page.

Representations

Representation = a depiction of the past either visually or in words, creating an image of the past (what life was like, why people did what they did. A representation can be writing, a photo, a cartoon, film, music …. Each representation is a deliberate attempt to create an impression, a particular message.

Questions to think about:

· What did the author decide to include?
· What did the author decide to leave out?
· What did the author decide to emphasise?
· How much did his/her own views influence the author?

You are looking at three representations. They are all about student protest but they are different.
What makes them different?

· The authors may have looked at different sources.
· The authors may have chosen different sources as evidence.
· The authors made different decisions about how to organise and present information.
· The authors may have had different ideas about student protest.


Question B(i) – 30 minutes writing time. 1 page plan. 1 page of notes.

Comparing Representations 1 and 2. How far do these representations differ?

What to put in your notes

How different are the two representations?
· What details of protest are included in each source? Do they give different information?
· Do they disagree about anything? Do they have different points of view?
· Do they stress different aspects of the protests?
· Do they say the same about the effect/impact of the protest? What different impressions do we get from reading them?
· How do the authors use language, selection, omission and emphasis to create an impression?
· Why do you think these representations differ?
Any facts about the topic that you will use.

What to put in your plan

Introduction: your main point.
First paragraph: a key difference between the sources.
Second paragraph: another difference.
Third paragraph: another difference ……… and so on
Conclusion: the main difference between the sources.


Question B (ii) – one hour writing time, 1 page plan, 2 pages of notes

Analysing and evaluating representations 1,2 and 3. How accurate are the Representations?

Look at each representation in turn.
Is it accurate ? Test it against what you know from other sources. Is it correct?
Is it complete? Are any important aspects missing?
Is it objective? (In other words, not biased) Is it fair and unbalanced? Think about the author’s purpose, the reason why it was written.


What to put in your notes

How accurate each source is: facts you know that help you judge this.
How complete each source is: points you will make and which parts of the sources you will use to support your ideas. What has been left out and why?
How objective each source is: points that show bias or objectivity, judgments about the author’s purpose.


What to put in your plan

Introduction: what you are going to analyse.
First paragraph: your key point about accuracy.
Second Paragraph: your key point about completeness.
Third paragraph: your key point about objectivity. …….. etc

Conclusion: your overall judgement of which is the best representation.


What is the examiner looking for?

F or G

You understand the main points in the representations.
You select points, describing or explaining in your own words.
You make simple judgments.
You give some accurate information about the period.

D or E

You understand the representations and differences between them.
You explain one comparison in detail.
You make a judgement about the best representation.
You give detailed and accurate information about the period.

B or C

You analyse the sources and identify a range of similarities and/or differences.
You select precise detail from the sources to back up your explanation.
You make a judgment about how much the representations create different views.
You evaluate the representations based on well selected information about the period.
You use at least two different criteria to judge: for example the author’s purpose or objectivity, or how accurate and complete the representation is.

A or A*
You analyse the sources to show the way the past has been represented.
You support your analysis with precisely selected detail.
You do a critical evaluation based on precisely selected information about the period.
You apply at least three criteria to all three sources.