History Extension Question Thread!

[sudodds]

Hey! I've just been curious about how long History Extension essays usually end up being for other people. Since you sort of have an hour for each, are you expected to write more than the basic 1000-1200 words that are anticipated in other subjects (e.g. in 40 minute english essays)? Or is it normal for people to spend maybe 10-15 minutes reading and analysing the source. Would love to hear anyone's thoughts/experience

Hey! So as a general rule they probably expect you to write at least a bit more than you would for a modern/ancient essay, however according to my teacher they mark the exam as if you had 50 minutes to write - the expectation is that you will spend at least 10 minutes outside of reading time going over the source, and planning your response. However, my teacher used to say that extension markers are generally care a lot less about length than 2u history markers. Whereas if you wrote a modern essay which appeared to be less than 1000 words, you *could* be penalised, for extension, your argument is so much more important. We had a girl at my school in the year above who had a condition which limited her ability to write (no idea why she wasn't given a scribe, but oh well). So near the end of exams, she just physically couldn't write enough. Despite her history marks across modern, ancient and extension remaining consistently the same, she received a mid range band 5 for modern and ancient, and a high E4 for extension, and my teacher puts that down to her just not being able to write enough in the other subjects.

Hope this helps!

Susie

[owidjaja]

Hey guys!
So I'm just scanning through the NESA Exam Pack page for History Extension and most of the sources I've found (well the 2014-2016 papers) are copyrighted. Do you know any other places where I can find recent History Extension exams where the sources aren't awaiting copyright?

Thanks

[av-angie-er]

Hey! So as a general rule they probably expect you to write at least a bit more than you would for a modern/ancient essay, however according to my teacher they mark the exam as if you had 50 minutes to write - the expectation is that you will spend at least 10 minutes outside of reading time going over the source, and planning your response. However, my teacher used to say that extension markers are generally care a lot less about length than 2u history markers. Whereas if you wrote a modern essay which appeared to be less than 1000 words, you *could* be penalised, for extension, your argument is so much more important. We had a girl at my school in the year above who had a condition which limited her ability to write (no idea why she wasn't given a scribe, but oh well). So near the end of exams, she just physically couldn't write enough. Despite her history marks across modern, ancient and extension remaining consistently the same, she received a mid range band 5 for modern and ancient, and a high E4 for extension, and my teacher puts that down to her just not being able to write enough in the other subjects.

Hope this helps!

Susie

Yeah, I thought around 10 minutes of analysing the source would be a reasonable amount of time. In my Trials I found myself just trying to blast through the paper without realising that we had so much time left! I had like 5 minutes for each section to just go through each essay and fix things since I went a little too fast haha. Thanks as always for the help, Susie!

[av-angie-er]

Hey guys!
So I'm just scanning through the NESA Exam Pack page for History Extension and most of the sources I've found (well the 2014-2016 papers) are copyrighted. Do you know any other places where I can find recent History Extension exams where the sources aren't awaiting copyright?

Thanks

Ahh I was given a sheet in class with the source from Section I of the 2015 paper but the picture's file size is too large to be posted here! I'd still definitely recommend asking your teacher if they have access to the sources because mine seemed to be able to find them for us. Sorry for not being much help, but I hope you find them

[owidjaja]

Ahh I was given a sheet in class with the source from Section I of the 2015 paper but the picture's file size is too large to be posted here! I'd still definitely recommend asking your teacher if they have access to the sources because mine seemed to be able to find them for us. Sorry for not being much help, but I hope you find them

Ahh it's ok It's not very urgent anyway since History Extension classes officially start next week for me (omg I'm so excited!). I just wanted to familiarise myself with the type of essay questions and sources we'll be getting in exams. Thanks for the tip though!

[Never.Give.Up]

Heya!!! 
Just starting Extension History and was wondering what the best structure for the notes would be?? For the case study and what is history?...please and thank you!!! 
also...if anyone has any good ideas for a major work I would be interested....some of my thoughts are 911, war photographers, impact of poets on history, Manhattan Project....i really don't know what to do as it has never been done at our school before....
really appreciate any ideas or tips...thanks so much!!! 

[katie,rinos]

Heya!!! 
Just starting Extension History and was wondering what the best structure for the notes would be?? For the case study and what is history?...please and thank you!!! 
also...if anyone has any good ideas for a major work I would be interested....some of my thoughts are 911, war photographers, impact of poets on history, Manhattan Project....i really don't know what to do as it has never been done at our school before....
really appreciate any ideas or tips...thanks so much!!! 

Hey!! Hope your enjoying Extension so far! 

For my what is history notes, I made tables on each of the historians and summarised information into columns on some of the syllabus questions:
Who are the historians (biographical details/context)
What are the purposes of history? (Aims and purposes of their work)
How has history been constructed over time (type of history, form,etc.)
Historians interpretation on subject
Why have approaches to history changed over time (reasons for changing interpretation and approach to history)
What impact has the historian had on historiography,
and What are some of the criticisms of their approach.
I also made some of this into flashcards as well later on in the year (as well as flashcards on different historical terms I wanted to remember).

I didn't do as much for my case study, but I summarised some of the main points (name/date of book, methodology, context, interpretations) and put them on flashcards that I've been going over.

In terms of your major all of those topics sound really interesting! I'd choose something you will enjoy as you'll be spending a lot of time on it. Maybe, you could spend a bit of time researching a few different topics and then see what one you find more interesting or has more information available? What one are you leaning towards at the moment?

Hope this helps! 

[Never.Give.Up]

Hey!! Hope your enjoying Extension so far! 

For my what is history notes, I made tables on each of the historians and summarised information into columns on some of the syllabus questions:
Who are the historians (biographical details/context)
What are the purposes of history? (Aims and purposes of their work)
How has history been constructed over time (type of history, form,etc.)
Historians interpretation on subject
Why have approaches to history changed over time (reasons for changing interpretation and approach to history)
What impact has the historian had on historiography,
and What are some of the criticisms of their approach.
I also made some of this into flashcards as well later on in the year (as well as flashcards on different historical terms I wanted to remember).

I didn't do as much for my case study, but I summarised some of the main points (name/date of book, methodology, context, interpretations) and put them on flashcards that I've been going over.

In terms of your major all of those topics sound really interesting! I'd choose something you will enjoy as you'll be spending a lot of time on it. Maybe, you could spend a bit of time researching a few different topics and then see what one you find more interesting or has more information available? What one are you leaning towards at the moment?

Hope this helps! 

Hey katie!!!
Thanks so much for that VERY, VERY helpful!!
....it's similar to what our teacher said- just going to add in a few more columns with what you suggested!!
I'm actually rather interested in the Manhattan Project- cos i read a really interesting book on it....but because the essay focuses on historiography im not really sure how it could work???!!! any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

[prickles]

Is there kind of a timeline to follow with my major work? Or can someone link me to one? When should I have my topic confirmed, question etc. TIA

[katie,rinos]

Hey katie!!!
Thanks so much for that VERY, VERY helpful!!
....it's similar to what our teacher said- just going to add in a few more columns with what you suggested!!
I'm actually rather interested in the Manhattan Project- cos i read a really interesting book on it....but because the essay focuses on historiography im not really sure how it could work???!!! any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

Hey!
That sounds so interesting! I was actually looking at doing the atomic bombing last year but choose a different topic. I was going to look at the different historian's perspectives of was it actually justified.

From the syllabus, I think yours may be able to fit these (depending on what you would like to do):
•   a historical debate or controversy
•   a historian’s or archaeologist’s work
•   contrasting approaches to a historical personality, issue or event (also how historians perspectives have changed over time)
•   history in the media – (film, documentary, fiction, docudrama, drama, poetry, opera)
•   an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the history of a personality, issue or event
•   critical analysis of a major historical work
There are a few others as well but these are the main ones.

You have to focus mainly on the historians who wrote about the event, although you can still look at the history behind it, but mainly for background knowledge. For my essay, I looked at a historical debate between two Holocaust historians (on why the German people of police battalion 101 were involved in the Holocaust), and I wrote about their context, methodology and interpretations and compared/criticised them.

I found this this website with interviews with four different Manhattan Project historians that might be helpful in getting some of their interpretations.

Hope this helps! 

[sudodds]

Is there kind of a timeline to follow with my major work? Or can someone link me to one? When should I have my topic confirmed, question etc. TIA

Hey! Tbh, I don't think there really is one (especially because since it's marked internally, schools typically set their own time frames - I know some schools who only give their students one term to write it, whereas others give them almost the entire year. For me, I didn't follow a time frame at all, and I think that it would be quite hard to, as he history extension project is very much a "back and forth" process, in the sense that your question often changes with your essay. I didn't come up with my final question until months into the project!

[Never.Give.Up]

Hey!
That sounds so interesting! I was actually looking at doing the atomic bombing last year but choose a different topic. I was going to look at the different historian's perspectives of was it actually justified.

From the syllabus, I think yours may be able to fit these (depending on what you would like to do):
•   a historical debate or controversy
•   a historian’s or archaeologist’s work
•   contrasting approaches to a historical personality, issue or event (also how historians perspectives have changed over time)
•   history in the media – (film, documentary, fiction, docudrama, drama, poetry, opera)
•   an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the history of a personality, issue or event
•   critical analysis of a major historical work
There are a few others as well but these are the main ones.

You have to focus mainly on the historians who wrote about the event, although you can still look at the history behind it, but mainly for background knowledge. For my essay, I looked at a historical debate between two Holocaust historians (on why the German people of police battalion 101 were involved in the Holocaust), and I wrote about their context, methodology and interpretations and compared/criticised them.

I found this this website with interviews with four different Manhattan Project historians that might be helpful in getting some of their interpretations.

Hope this helps! 

WOW!!! You are so, so, so KIND!!!
Thankyou veerrrryy much- that's excellent...definitely will help me get started
so...do you use those syllabus points to help form the question???
your topic sounds very interesting...realising how little i know
good luck for the exam!!! 

[katie,rinos]

WOW!!! You are so, so, so KIND!!!
Thankyou veerrrryy much- that's excellent...definitely will help me get started
so...do you use those syllabus points to help form the question???
your topic sounds very interesting...realising how little i know
good luck for the exam!!! 

Hey,
Thank you!!
I think you use these syllabus points to form the question, but as long as it is something historiographical and has been approved by your teacher it should be good (as it is marked internally by your teacher).

I think it also has to fit one of these main enquiry questions as well:
•   Who are the historians?
•   What are the purposes of history?
•   How has history been constructed and recorded over time?
•   Why have the approaches to the construction of history changed over time?
As long as you are focussing on the historians you should be able to hit at least one of these questions. For example, in mine I did 'Who are the historians?' (looking at the historians context/background) and also ‘How has history been constructed and recorded over time?’ (looking at their methodologies).

I loved my topic-it was really cool to research and so interesting!
Don't worry, I know nothing about history extension this time last year! You learn quite a lot in a year!
Hope this helps 

[owidjaja]

Hey guys,

So I'm surfing around Book Depository and I was wondering if you guys could recommend some historiography-related books that could be useful for History Extension? The books I've currently bookmarked are:
E.H Carr- What is History
John Vincent- An Intelligent Person's Guide to History (currently unavailable on Book Depository but under my radar)
Richard J. Evans- In Defence of History

Thanks

[katie,rinos]

Hey guys,

So I'm surfing around Book Depository and I was wondering if you guys could recommend some historiography-related books that could be useful for History Extension? The books I've currently bookmarked are:
E.H Carr- What is History
John Vincent- An Intelligent Person's Guide to History (currently unavailable on Book Depository but under my radar)
Richard J. Evans- In Defence of History

Thanks

Hey,
Your so keen! I've personally never read a whole historiography book yet (and wasn't that interested at the start of year 12) but my teacher gave us excerpts/readings related to the content each week, and I read heaps for my major. There is a document here that Board of Studies/NESA made which has heaps of excerpts of historians works that may be useful (although definitely don't feel like you have to read all of this, I've only read a few). It also has excerpts from Evans and Vincent that you can read through as well.

In terms of the books mentioned, I've only studied E.H Carr (who is basically a history extension God, like really useful for extension). I've read the first section and his fishmonger analogy is really good (I've used it a few times in my essays). However, I haven't read the other sections yet and wouldn't personally want to read the whole book (however, you might find it really interesting). There are some excerpts online that you might be able to read through as well.
I'm pretty sure Susie studied Vincent, so she'll be able to get back to you on him.

Hope this helps!