Source analysis is a skill.
Skills need practice.

01

Provenance

Who made this source, when, and why? What does that tell us about its reliability?

AQA Assessment Objective 2: evaluate the nature, origin and purpose of sources

02

Utility

What does this source reveal? What does it leave out? How useful is it to a historian?

AQA Assessment Objective 2: judge the value of sources for historical enquiry

03

Context

How does this source fit with what else we know? Does it corroborate or challenge other evidence?

AQA Assessment Objective 1: deploy knowledge to support and develop analysis

80%

of marks lost on source questions come from thin provenance analysis. Students describe rather than evaluate.

1

source question per exam paper. Most students practise this skill fewer than ten times before the real thing.