Higher History
Examples of sources
Higher History Paper 2 exam paper
• The Paper 2 exam paper lasts 1 hour 25 minutes
and consists of five sources and four questions
about four different issues. This is the same for
each of the five subject contexts.
• Of the five sources, at least two sources will be
primary sources and at least two sources will be
secondary sources.
• Each individual source will only be used for one
question.
Higher History Paper 2 exam paper
• Each subject context poses four questions on four
different issues. The issues can be found in the
central boxed area of the SQA arrangements
document.
• There are three types of questions:
• Source evaluation – 5 marks – appears once
• Source comparison – 5 marks – appears once
• Contextualisation – 10 marks – appears twice
Higher History Paper 2 NABs
• The unit assessment (NAB) differs from the
external exam paper. It lasts 1 hour and is marked
out of 20. There are still five sources but only
three questions.
• The three types of questions are:
• Source evaluation – 5 marks – appears once
• Source comparison – 5 marks – appears once
• Contextualisation – 10 marks – appears only once
as the over-arching question is removed.
What types of sources can be used in
teaching Paper 2 of Higher History?
• Learners will be asked to evaluate various
different primary and secondary sources.
• Most sources will be written sources.
• Visual and audio sources can also be used for
analysis.
• Books, resource packs and electronic/online
materials provide other examples of sources.
• A wide variety of sources is available locally and
in the national collections.
Primary and
secondary sources
• Learners will have to be clear on the difference
between a primary source and a secondary
source.
• Learners should also be reminded not to fall into
the trap of thinking that primary sources are
always useful and reliable, and secondary sources
are biased.
Using primary sources
• Primary sources give us first-hand insights into
the past. They can be crucial for historians to use
to develop an understanding and an
interpretation of a past event.
• To enable learners to interpret primary sources
they should use questions to help them examine
the primary source thoroughly.
Exemplar primary source
Extract from The Treaty of Union, 1689-1740
Higher History Specimen Paper
Source E: from a letter written by the Earl of Mar to the Earl of
Leven, 1708.
The Queen called a Cabinet Council last night, where she was pleased to
call the Dukes of Queensberry and Montrose, the Earl of Loudon, Seafield
and myself. We gave an account there of what orders the Queen had sent to
Scotland, since the news of the invasion. It is expected that the Council will
seize the horses and arms of those they think disloyal, and will also be
giving their advice and instructions for securing the money, in the Mint and
Bank, in case of a hostile landing. It was told to us that since both Houses
had advised the Queen to arrest such persons as she had cause to suspect,
and are now discussing a Bill for the suspending of Habeas Corpus Acts, it
was appropriate that suspected people in Scotland should be arrested.
Using secondary sources
• Sometimes learners assume that secondary sources are
the fount of all knowledge on a topic.
• Some learners dismiss secondary sources as being so
biased that they conclude that the secondary sources
are of no value.
• To enable learners to deduce the interpretations
contained within the secondary sources they could use
questions to help them examine the secondary source
thoroughly.
Exemplar secondary source
Extract from Migration and Empire, 1830-1939
Higher History Specimen Paper
Source A: from T M Devine, The Scottish Nation, 1700-2000 (2006).
It is clear that many of the crafts were being undermined by urban competition in
the second half of the nineteenth century. Already by the 1850s, the technology of
power looms was destroying the textile economy in numerous villages in Perth, Fife
and Angus and promoting large-scale migration as a result. The development of a
network of branch railway lines enabled cheap factory goods to penetrate far into
the rural areas and so threatened the traditional markets for tailors, shoemakers and
other tradesmen. The displacement of craftsmen and their families from the smaller
country towns and villages became a familiar feature of the rural exodus by the end
of the nineteenth century and before. While some trades vanished completely,
others, such as the blacksmiths, continued to thrive as long as the horse economy
survived. However, in large part, migration from the land before the 1940s has to be
explained in terms of the changing attitudes of the farm labour force itself.
Examples of questions to use when
evaluating sources
One of the best ways to understand a source is to
consider these basic questions:
• When was it written/drawn/said?
• Why was it written/drawn/said?
• Who wrote/drew/said it?
• What information does the source contain?
To encourage thinking skills learners could also
think of other questions they have about the
source as well as what the source missed out.
Example of evaluating sources
• Here is a link to a useful but basic example of how
you use simple questions to gain a more solid
understanding of the source. This is to practice
source handling skills it is not a Higher History
question.
• www.ltscotland.org.uk/scottishhistory/investiga
ting/fodocuments/resource.asp This exercise is
based on the Declaration of Arbroath.
Examples of written sources
• Documents
• Government reports
• Hansard minutes from Parliamentary discussions and speeches
• Cabinet minutes
• Diaries
• Letters
• Manuscripts
• Newspaper reports
• Secondary text
• Journals
• Autobiographies
• Biographies
Examples of visual sources
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Drawings
Photographs
Cartoons
Paintings
Maps
Posters
Artefacts
Film footage
Examples of audio sources
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Speeches
Interviews
News reports
Poems
Songs
Documentaries
Radio broadcasts
http://www.britishpathe.com/
http://www.itnsource.com/
http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/archive/
http://www.bl.uk/
The national collections
There are many varied resources available for the five contexts of the Scottish History (Higher) unit, in the
national collections as well as locally available sources. Some archive materials from the national collections
have been digitised and are available online and some are used in the NQ subject guides.
Sources are available from:
• National Archives of Scotland
• National Library of Scotland
• National Galleries of Scotland
• Scottish Archive Network
• National Museums Scotland (NMS)
• Museums Galleries Scotland
• SCRAN
• Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS)
• Historic Scotland
• The National Trust for Scotland
• Mitchell Library in Glasgow
• Scottish Jewish Archive Centre
• Archaeology Scotland
• Scottish Natural Heritage
• engage Scotland
Literacy across learning
Learners will need guidance and strategies to help
them understand and analyse sources. Often, it is
not the learners’ historical knowledge that prevents
them from analysing sources but their command of
English, particularly with sources from earlier time
periods or sources that are written in a higher
register. It is therefore important for practitioners to
take time to teach the type of language found in the
sources they are using.