The topic of this essay related to Multi-racial education in the 1970s and 1980s.  Please  read the guidance carefully.

ARCHIVAL RESEARCH AND ORAL HISTORY IN EDUCATION SOURCE COMMENTARY: GUIDANCE

This is an individual assessment, with a word limit of 500 words.This will ensure that each student individually demonstrates the independent ability to assess primary source material.

Completing the assignment

This is a very short assignment, and you are not expected to refer to a wide range of secondary literature. However, you may wish to refer to any relevant secondary material.

As with any other assignment, your source commentary should include references and a bibliography.

What your source commentary needs to include

Your source commentary should consider the following questions, although not necessarily in this order:

                       what is this source? what type of document/source is it?

                       who produced it, when, and why? What was the context?

                       what was the intended audience?

                       what values/attitudes does it reflect? What kind of language does it use?

                       what kind of information can we obtain from it? What kinds of questions would it help 
us to answer? How would you use the source? how does the source relate to other historical events or situations? How reliable is this information? would other sources offer a different perspective?  How does it relate to other sources from this period?
does it share the same ideas , attitudes and arguments? How would you explain any differences?




 marking criteria 
  your knowledge and understanding of the material that you are analysing; the principles of source criticism, and your understanding of the extent to which the 
source may offer insights into the historical circumstances of its production. Intellectual skills your awareness of different stances – in this case the perspectives of a specific genre of source material – and your ability to cite evidence in support of an argument or interpretation. 
Scholarly practices 
 your ability to use the literature to support your analysis. In a short piece of work, the amount of literature used will necessarily be limited, but you should be able to integrate the discussion of secondary and primary sources. 
Research and enquiry your ability to communicate effectively in writing, including the use of clear, appropriate and accurate references;  in this small research task, your ability to identify the context and critically assess the content of the chosen source. 
Professional and life skills these criteria do not form part of the assessment for the source commentary.