An excellent A2 History coursework in 13 easy steps

1.  Stick to your word limit, it's 2000 words for a reason.  Also you do not want to be penalised for writing too much.


2. In your introduction really focus on the historic event you are assessing, make explicit reference to it, supporting with statistics or relevant historic policies.


3. Clearly concentrate on your coursework question, make clear in your introduction what the different interpretation's views of this question are.  Which ones you think are the most credible and why, support with historical evidence.  Then make your judgement.

4. Remember at the end of the day your coursework is indeed similar to an AS History source exam.  So structure it and think of it as an essay.

5. Some schools may have given you a structure for how to tackle the sources. If they have use it, it will assist the flow and structure of your essay.  If they have not given you a structure, familiarise yourself with each of the interpretation.  Additionally you might find it useful to start with the interpretations which support the question.

6.  In your planning stages ensure you include all of the relevant quotes from whichever of the interpretations you are examining.  You might find it useful to create a table for this.

7.  Then you want to briefly examine or explain this quote in your own words and demonstrate how this supports the historian's interpretation or view.  Again you could include this in the table in a new column.

8. Next still using your table justify and support your analysis so far with relevant historical evidence to support the interpretation.  This could be another column in your table.

9. Ensure you frequently refer to and demonstrate with quotes, explanation/analysis or historic evidence the historian's crediblity, persuasiveness or demonstrate the strength of their argument. Again use the terms "crediblity", "credible argument", "credible", "supported" etc...

10.  Introduce the next interpretation by noting how it is similar to the first.  E.g. "Similarly " then follow the same format as before.

11.  Then highlight the limitations or weaknesses of these interpretations by explaining what they have omitted or not examined.

12. Next demonstrate how the next interpretation differs from the previous interpretation, then follow the same format for this and your final interpretation.

13.  Your conclusion should explain which two sources are the most credible and why, then answer the question

Best wishes with your coursework everyone.