Section E: Conclusion (200 words) - 2 marks

Obviously, this section is where you conclude your investigation by restating your main findings. Make sure you:

1.) Answer the question that you set in your title.
2.) Make sure your answer is based on the weight of evidence that you have presented.

You could even try to outline why any conclusion remains provisional in history. Does the study raise any fundamental problems of history? Is further research needed in any areas? etc...

Mark Scheme

0 marks = There is no conclusion, or the conclusion is not relevant.

1 mark = The conclusion is stated but is not entirely consistent with the evidence presented.

2 marks = The conclusion is clearly stated and consistent with the evidence presented.

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Example 1: Conclusion

It is clear that conditions in the mining industry and discontent among miners played a key role in the build-up to the General Strike. These problems were intensified by broader economic issues in Britain and post-war Europe, leading to the decline of the economic situation nationally. Equally as important were the political issues, specifically the conflict between the left-wing trade unions and the right-wing government, and the potential association with the revolutionary Communist Party of Great Britain. Based on the weight of evidence, it was these political tensions, specifically in the months prior to the outbreak of the strike, that explain why a general strike happened in May 1926.

(title = to what extent was the General Strike of 1926 caused by conditions in the mining industry?)

Example 2: Conclusion

Stalin's economic reforms can be met with mitigated opinions for certainly they succeeded to a great extent in traditional sense (40), but "the simple fact remained that Stalin's policies had deprived the USSR of any chance of genuinely competing with the modernising economies of Europe and the USA" (41). Because Russia had undergone a 'produce at any price' philosophy, this meant the quality of products being produced heavily declined, always leaving a feeling leaving "Russia with a legacy of inefficiency" (42). It is highly debated whether the modernising of Russia could have been done in a different way, thus avoiding the enormous cost in human lives and misery that followed Stalin's policies. If the 'Revolution from Above' was to be a full success, the modernising of Russia would have needed 'a change of heart in the Soviet people themselves' (43).

(title = to what extent was the Stalinist State established at the expense of the Soviet people?)