Section B: Summary of Evidence (600 words) - 6 marks
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Section B is designed for you to give a narrative background to your topic by summarising the evidence you have collected. It should 'tell a story' and should give the examiner an overview of the topic. You should therefore describe the main events, issues, personalities etc. that are relevant to your study.
The key to this section is to set down your evidence clearly, and ensure that you have consistently referenced the material (plenty of quotes & footnotes!). Aim to use at least five different sources. Remember, what ever referencing system you use, you must stick to it rigidly! Your summary of evidence must be organised, usually thematically, and it must show that you have conducted a thorough piece of research. It can be written as a numbered or bullet pointed list or written in continuous prose. |
Mark Scheme0 marks = There is no relevant factual material.
1-2 marks = There is some relevant factual material but it has not been referenced. 3-4 marks = There is relevant factual material that shows evidence of research, organisation and referencing. 5-6 marks = The factual material is all relevant to the investigation and it has been well researched, organised and correctly referenced. |
Example 1 - Written Prose Summary'Prior to Stalin's rise to power as leader of the USSR, Russia was undergoing a period of great change and turmoil. Immediately after Lenin's death in 1924, the struggle for power and individual ruling of Soviet Russia had already started only to end in 1928, with Stalin beating both left and right with cunning ability enhanced by good fortune (2). In the late 1920s, Stalin became the definite vozhd (3) of the USSR and did not wait to apply his concept of 'Socialism in One Country' (concept that had countered Trotsky's notion of 'Permanent Revolution'). (4). This concept aimed to overcome Russia's present primitive agriculture and industrial problems (5). Stalin, who believed that the USSR's survival depended on its ability to became a powerful modern and industrialised nation, made it very clear from the start that this was his main priority, for in 1931, Stalin announced that 'We (the USSR) are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in ten years [...] or we shall be crushed' (6).
---------------------------------------------------------------- (2) Stalin associated himself to Kamenev and Zinoviev to form a triumvirate aiming to isolate Trotsky from a possible position of power. For this, they took advantage of Trotsky's main disadvantages being that... (3) Russian term for supreme leader. (4) Lynch, Michael. 2008. Stalin's Russia 1924-53, Fourth Edition. Hodder Education, p.25. (5) as well as being a modern and industrial state capable of rivalising with powerful western countries. (6) Speech made from Stalin to workers in a factory in February, 1931. |
Example 2 - Thematic List Summary1. Conditions in the Mining Industry
a.) 70% of mine owners ' costs were for labour - wages would be cut (1). b.) 'Miners were amongst the nation's worst paid workers and suffered the nation's highest rate of unemployment' (2). 2. Broader economic problems a.) The Triple Alliance was formed in April 1914 (comprising 1.5 million miners, railwaymen and transport workers) after a series of strikes (12). b.) 'The war led to over-investment in... iron, steel, coal, shipbuilding and textiles [which] were not needed in such quantities in peacetime' (13). 3. Political Discontent a.) In 1920, of the 288 Trades and Labour Councils, 139 voted in favour of ending the economic blockade of the USSR 'in defiance of the right-wing national leadership' (21). b.) November 1924: 'the stage was set for the offensive against the conditions of the British working class. Economic crisis was to be translated into political attack' (22). ---------------------------------------------------------------- (1) Pugh, M., 'The General Strike: On the 80th anniversary of the General Strike, Martin Pugh revisits one of the most bitter disputes in history and assesses its impact on industrial relations and the wider political landscape of the twentieth century.' History Today, 13 May 2010, pp. 13-16. (2) 'Great Britain's General Strike, 1926', Discovering World History. Online edn. accessed 13 May 2010. (12) Rees, R., op. cit., pg. 47. (13) Renshaw, P., op. cit., pg. 56. (21) Foster, J., op. cit., pg. 28. (22) Kluggman, J, 1976, The General Strike 1926, London: Lawrence and Wishart, pg. 58. |
