Picking historians!

[JoyMaalouf]

Hey guys! My teacher likes to make an emphasis on having a wide range of historians, however I don't want to go into historian overload as I will just stress

If I am confident with the historians in the Ken Webb book (Herodotus, von ranke etc) and add onto this a few more contemporary historians, will this be enough? Or should I also research more historians from the past?
Thanks!

[sudodds]

Hey guys! My teacher likes to make an emphasis on having a wide range of historians, however I don't want to go into historian overload as I will just stress

If I am confident with the historians in the Ken Webb book (Herodotus, von ranke etc) and add onto this a few more contemporary historians, will this be enough? Or should I also research more historians from the past?
Thanks!

Hey!! It's not as scary as it seems don't worry Remember the historians you included in your major work? They count as What is History historians too! My final What is History essay featured a lot of similar arguments and points as my major work - the best part about including them is that they are unique! Whereas sooo many students use the ken webb book (cries), the historians in your major work, and your interpretation of their arguments are totally yours

You'll also work out that you tend to like/use certain historians works more than others. For me, I usually stuck with EH Carr, Keith Jenkins and John Vincent. For almost all questions I encountered, these historians were enough, because they provided a lot of range

Hope this helps!

Susie

[JoyMaalouf]

Hey!! It's not as scary as it seems don't worry Remember the historians you included in your major work? They count as What is History historians too! My final What is History essay featured a lot of similar arguments and points as my major work - the best part about including them is that they are unique! Whereas sooo many students use the ken webb book (cries), the historians in your major work, and your interpretation of their arguments are totally yours

You'll also work out that you tend to like/use certain historians works more than others. For me, I usually stuck with EH Carr, Keith Jenkins and John Vincent. For almost all questions I encountered, these historians were enough, because they provided a lot of range

Hope this helps!

Susie

That helps heaps! Thank you:)

[marleely]

How do you know you schedule your time during the exam?

[mitchello]

How do you know you schedule your time during the exam?

The 2 hour exam features two essays, weighted evenly. The obvious answer would be to delegate 1 hour to each response, but if you are more confident in writing about your case study, as oppose to the uncertain 'What is History?' essay, then you should adjust accordingly (probably no more than 5-10 minutes). In the reading time, I personally will read the Section II question first and think it through, before trying to deconstruct the source in Section I. But that part is up to you. Also, if you're a plan type of person, it'd be useful to spend 5 minutes or so jotting down the cascade of thoughts and ideas that come with the sources. Hope this helped

EDIT: I am no master and am still in Year 12, definitely go with what Suzie says 

[katie,rinos]

How do you know you schedule your time during the exam?

I would spend at least 10 minutes planning for each essay. As you need to integrate the sources well, I would spend time highlighting the main points of the source, and choosing historians to fit those points. I would also spend time, trying to get your arguments together and knowing what you want to write. I would try to spend the same amount of time for each essay but maybe a little bit more for section 1, but only if I know that I would be able to get both essays done.
I actually asked Susie this question a couple of weeks ago, so this was her reply:

I spent roughly 10 minutes planning (not including reading time), and 50 minutes writing! According to my teacher that is about what the markers are expecting, so they'll mark the essay as if it was meant to be done in 50 minutes rather than an hour! The lengths of my essays ranged, but were typically around 1300-1400 word mark So usually intro (which were always a bit longer than a modern/ancient intro), 2-3 paragraphs based around historiographical ideas and then my conclusion

Hope this helps

[sudodds]

Both of the above responses are fantastic Not much more for me to add, other than, yes definitely give yourself at least 10-15 minutes to analyse and digest the source. I also recommend doing the exam in the order of most comfortable to least comfortable