How would I approach an 8 mark question that asks how useful 2 sources are for a particular enquiry?

This is a typical example of a skill that examiners like to ask - for some exam boards it'll be mandatory that this question comes up and that means you can easily prepare a structure to aid you when you get into the exam room! For an 8 mark question, you don't want to be spending more than about 15 minutes on your answer (obviously this depends on your exam board and how long you are given for your paper). This, you will notice, is not a long time at all and therefore you really need to have a framework to go straight into so you don't waste time thinking about how to do this. I would say aim to make your answer 2 paragraphs long with an optional conclusion (you don't have the time to right a full blown essay for only 8 marks). For two sources, write 1 paragraph on Source 1 and 1 paragraph on Source 2. Complete the following steps in each of your two paragraphs... 1. Opening sentence - Briefly tell the examiner how useful the source is for the enquiry. You want to grab them by immediately stating what you think is the answer (e.g. considerable use, quite useful, of some use etc...) Then consider all of the following... 2. Reasons why the provenance of the source makes it useful for the enquiry 3. Reasons why the provenance of the source might limit it's usefulness (NOTE: there will not always be limitations for both provenance and content in every source) 4. Reasons why the content of the source makes it useful for the enquiry 5. Reasons why the content of the source might limit it's usefulness (NOTE: there will not always be limitations for both provenance and content in every source) A handy thing to prompt your thinking is SNAPCHAT (Says-What does the source tell you, Nature, Author, Purpose, Comprehensive, Historically Accurate, Typical)