Section A: Plan of the Investigation (150 words) - 3 marks
This section serves as an introduction to your investigation and should be written like an introduction to an essay. In total it should be about 150 words. Follow these steps to complete your plan:
1. State your research question. You should briefly explain and justify the reasons for choosing your theme. Consider why it maybe personally important to you or why the topic is important historically. Does it provide us with lessons to learn from? A good sentence starter could be: "This study will seek to answer the question... I chose this question because..."
e.g. Title = 'To what extent was the success of the CCP in 1946-1949 due to Mao Zedong?...... I chose this topic because, coming from China, I was interested to investigate the reasons for the dramatic changes that took place in my country in 1989.'
2. Define the scope of the investigation. You should clearly identify the themes or lines of argument to be considered in your research. You may even set-out the time frame or the years that the investigation will focus on.
e.g. 'As well as the role of Mao Zedong, other factors such as the influence of the USSR, the situation in China at the end of World War Two and the failures of the KMT will be analysed as to their impact on the situation in 1946-49... the years 1945 to 1949 will be the focus of this investigation because...'
3. Explain the method used. You should explain what types of sources will be used, and which two key sources you will be evaluating and why. A possible starter could be: "In order to answer this question, I made use of a variety of carefully selected sources, in particular the following..."
e.g. 'A range of both Chinese and Western sources have been used. A thorough evaluation has been done of a propaganda poster used by Mao to increase his support during the Civil War, and of an extract from an American book written during the Civil War. These sources give contrasting reasons concerning the impact of Mao Zedong.'
1. State your research question. You should briefly explain and justify the reasons for choosing your theme. Consider why it maybe personally important to you or why the topic is important historically. Does it provide us with lessons to learn from? A good sentence starter could be: "This study will seek to answer the question... I chose this question because..."
e.g. Title = 'To what extent was the success of the CCP in 1946-1949 due to Mao Zedong?...... I chose this topic because, coming from China, I was interested to investigate the reasons for the dramatic changes that took place in my country in 1989.'
2. Define the scope of the investigation. You should clearly identify the themes or lines of argument to be considered in your research. You may even set-out the time frame or the years that the investigation will focus on.
e.g. 'As well as the role of Mao Zedong, other factors such as the influence of the USSR, the situation in China at the end of World War Two and the failures of the KMT will be analysed as to their impact on the situation in 1946-49... the years 1945 to 1949 will be the focus of this investigation because...'
3. Explain the method used. You should explain what types of sources will be used, and which two key sources you will be evaluating and why. A possible starter could be: "In order to answer this question, I made use of a variety of carefully selected sources, in particular the following..."
e.g. 'A range of both Chinese and Western sources have been used. A thorough evaluation has been done of a propaganda poster used by Mao to increase his support during the Civil War, and of an extract from an American book written during the Civil War. These sources give contrasting reasons concerning the impact of Mao Zedong.'
Example Section A: Plan of the InvestigationRead the following example plan and identify where the following elements have been discussed: research question, scope and methods used.
To what extent was the Stalinist State established at the expense of the Soviet people? This investigation will contend to answer the question "to what extent was the Stalinist state established at the expense of the Soviet people." I will focus on the economical, agricultural and social policies undertaken by the Stalinist dictatorship, and look into particular detail how these policies and reforms affected the peasantry and the proletariat in Russia. I have chosen this topic for I am deeply interested in how Josef Stalin managed to re-organise the Russian nation into the superpower it had the potential to be after Russia emerged victorious after WW2. I was amazed how quickly the country progressed after it had been soiled and dragged in the mud by a painful and endless tsarist autocratic rule, displaying Tsars each as bad as the other, failing to reform in multiple aspects of Russian life. In order to answer this question, I have structured my analysis to firstly see what were the benefits of the changes adopted by Stalin, and secondly if these benefits were outweighed by their cost. In order to keep the scope of the study manageable, I have made use of a variety of carefully selected sources, in particular a wide range of book passages, photographs, quotes and statistics." Word Count: 200 words |
Mark Scheme0 marks = There is no plan of the investigation, or it is inappropriate.
1 mark = The research question, method and scope of the investigation are not clearly stated. 2 marks = The research question is clearly stated. The method and scope of the investigation are outlined and related to the research question. 3 marks = The research question is clearly stated. The method and scope of the investigation are fully developed and closely focused on the research question. |
