GCSE History source paper tips - reliability, usefulness and value revision

In these types of questions the examiner wants to see that you recognise that some sources have more value to historians than others, some are more reliable than others, and some are more useful than others.
A question might be something along the lines of “What is the value of Source A for an historian trying to find out about…a certain thing?” Or it might be, “How useful is Source B for someone studying…whatever it might be?” Alternatively it might say, “How reliable is Source C regarding…something.”
To assess reliability you need to pay close attention to who created it, when it was created, and why it was created. This requires you to consider the provenance of the source - that’s the bit in italics at the bottom - as it gives you a lot of this information. You then need to cross-reference this with your own knowledge to put it into context.
It’s important to go into the exam knowing that sources can never be completely reliable or unreliable - but they can be more or less reliable. Every source has positive and negative aspects, and you need to consider these in your answer. If the source comes from an historian, you should think about whether they might have been personally involved or if they’re physically detached from the event and the time. If the source comes from an individual who was involved in the event and lived through it, you should consider whether they might have had a negative or positive experience of it. Was the source created at the time of the event, or later on, after it had finished? What’s their motive for creating it - why did they spend the time to write or draw it? And finally, what is or was their position or role within that event.
In terms of contemporary sources, those are the ones that were created at the time, newspapers are commonly used. The key questions still apply, however. Have a think about the country of origin, and any possibility of national attitudes that might shape the point of view that they’re writing from. Think also about the motivation of the writer or publisher - is it an accurate and objective report, or is it designed to persuade people of a particular point of view? Is the source actually an eyewitness account of the event, or is it a commentary of something pieced together from a series of eyewitnesses? Furthermore, is the report subject to any form of censorship and so purposefully not giving a full account?
Considering all these issues can help you judge how reliable a source is. Remember that there will be some positive aspects but also some negative. It’s no good just saying ‘the source is biased’ without explaining what the bias is - whose side is the person on, and why is that a problem? But even a source that is ‘biased’ will be able to give some information that is based on fact.
The issue of usefulness requires you to consider ‘useful to whom and for what’? Just because a source isn’t entirely reliable, it doesn’t mean that it can’t be useful or of value to a historian or someone else studying that topic.
Let me illustrate with an example: a source written by a male British politician that gives a negative view of women having the right to vote may be ‘biased’. But despite this, it could still be very useful to reveal male attitudes towards women and the right to vote in the early 20th Century. What lies at the heart of ‘usefulness’ and ‘value’ questions is a consideration of what the source is being used *for*. This is why you need to pay close attention to the question, since this gives you a clear focus.
It may help to think of your response in term of - oh yes, it’s that again - a comparative table. On one side, what are the values of this source to an historian trying to answer the question set? On the other side, what are the problems with using this source to answer that question? Once you’ve identified and discussed points on both sides of the argument you need to make final judgement. This means reaching a firm conclusion on ‘how useful’ or valuable you think that source is. It’s a sliding scale - where does the source fit? Is it a long way towards the useful side, or is it more on the ‘not useful’? Is it slightly? Reasonably? Quite? Those are the kinds of words you should be using to judge how useful, valuable or reliable a source is.
It’s very likely that you’ll be asked to compare the usefulness or value of sources, and need to decide which source is more useful. In this case you need to go through the process for each individual source in order to reach a judgement or conclusion on which you think is the most useful.

[@conradrayner7293]

Most schools don’t teach exam method. Cheers for this!

[@Redzpro725]

Got my exam today in like 5 hours and this is really good as the context to what I'm learning is easy

[@angelodineen9648]

Got my paper 1 exam tomorrow! This really helped, thanks!

[@16h46]

angelo dineen me now

[@maiz3558]

angelo dineen me in a bit

[@velvetwisteria6237]

Me soon

[@alexlyon3833]

how did it go mate

[@fayzanal-qadir2364]

Really good video. Helped me a lot for my History exam!

[@i-7195]

This is good for a level history true. Really nervous, thanks for the tips!

[@alimhussain8744]

How was it? 🤔

[@harrisonlambert4005]

Thanks for this, really useful video, I’ve got my GCSE history sources paper tomorrow, wish me luck lol

[@kayj291]

Got my history Surgery source enquiry exam tomorrow. This video is very useful!!!

[@Tessy8830]

I was really struggling with this. Thank you 😊

[@mr.electro4674]

Thank you so much, I made the mistake of dismissing a source in a test, luckily it wasn't that important, real thing tomorrow though

[@annajane2542]

Wow! This is really going to boost me on my exam- thank you very mu for making brigs video 😂😅

[@isabellehateley2667]

Is this aqa???

[@felixveysey1225]

epic vid sir

[@lukelewis2976]

Bit late the exam was last week lol

[@dasabel6820]

Not true mine is in 2 days

[@victoria_victoria111]

And mine is is 3 days

[@16h46]

Mine is tomorrow

[@kingtan3676]

Mine is today

[@arnavsharma9312]

@@kingtan3676 Mine is today

[@megaoli321]

really could've used this a week ago :(

[@imeatingicecreamrn]

Who else is here from crouton school

[@arabianwizard397]

Who's here from chancellors? I am ben from year 10