Hey Susie,
I have a modern assessment at the moment on Russia for our national study with the question:
'Explain How the Bolshevik/Communist Government was able to consolidate it's power between 1917 and 1921.'
I was unsure as to whether I should write a thematic essay and split the factors by economic reforms, social and political reforms, military and repression (one idea per paragraph) OR focus on events or 'ideas' each paragraph - so a paragraph on social and political (combined), one on The Treaty of Brest Litovsk, another on Civil War and War Communism (combined) and a final paragraph on the NEP. My only concern is that if I do the second structure, that the essay will lack other minor details. However if I do the first structure, I will have too much content that won't go into enough detail?
What do you suggest I do and in your opinion, what do you believe will mark better?
Is there anything else crucial that I should consider to include in my essay?
Should I worry about including quotations from Historians?
And any good resources to use for research?
Thankyou so much!!! - Jess
The way I would have done it is by the syllabus dot points/events, so a paragraph on social and political reforms, a paragraph on the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, one on the Civil War and War Communism, and then one on the NEP, but that is because when it came to Bolshevik essays I always structured them this way as that is how I was most comfortable. You are correct in that these types of essays can be tricky though, because when you structure them around events you need to make sure you know the ins and outs of these events back to front. I'd still probably prefer this essay over a thematic essay though, as the extrapolating of themes from this section of the syllabus is going to be pretty intense given that it's such a large unit. My detail table + essays that I wrote on this section can be found under the notes tab - they will probably help quite a lot if you're worried about not having enough detail or knowledge on the specific events and their intricacies.
However, a thematic essay would definitely work with this essay also, and if I was going to attempt it, i'd say that paragraphs you'd want to write about would be socio-cultural, military, economic and political. I wouldn't particularly discuss repression as a theme in and of itself - but you could discuss it within the military and political paragraphs if you so wish.
I don't think one structure over the other is going to get better marks, its moreso what you are most comfortable writing. Syllabus essays sometimes have the advantage of making it easy for the marker to see that you are ticking all the boxes, however thematic essays sometimes have the advantage of appearing more sophisticated, so I don't really think either way it'll make much of a difference.
In terms of things that I think are crucial to mention - Communist Theory and Practice. This underlying factor of the entire consolidation so its defs something I'd try to include. Something on the conflict between ideological adherence and pragmatism/needs of society is also great to include.
Don't
worry about including quotes from historians. Are they a nice addition to an essay? Definitely! But you shouldn't lose marks for it (check with your teacher though for their opinion, because I do know that certain teachers can be quite insistent on their inclusion - but in regards to the final HSC exam you should never be marked down for not including them). That being said, if you do have the time, quotes are defs a nice touch and count as detail if you're worried about not having enough specifically. They're pretty easy to find, just type in "historian quotes on _________" and heaps should pop up!
In terms of resources, check out this thread I made
Modern History Reading/Resource Guide. I've put a bunch of some of the best resources I know there, I'd definitely recommend checking some of these out!