In order to answer this 24 mark question as precisely as possible you should read the question carefully - the trigger phrase ‘how far’ is asking you to make a judgment on how much you think women’s roles during World War One subsequently changed the position of women in British society.  You should firstly take a position on how you will answer the question and then carefully begin to plan what points you want to argue in your essay – you should take several minutes in the exam to carefully plan what you want to say in the question, what evidence you are going to use and any counter arguments that you want to address; this should be fairly detailed as it will be useful guide to when you actually come to write the essay. In your introduction, you should provide a very brief context to the historical period and then set out what your position is in relation to the question and what you are going to mention in your essay. If you want to argue that women’s position in British society was significantly changed by their roles during World War One; then you could mention that there were changed opinions of women as a result of their economic and wider contributions to the war effort which were significant in allowing women over the age 30 the right to vote in 1918. Furthermore, you could also argue that there were economical, political and social changes that happened as a result of women’s work in wartime. However, if you wish to argue that the position of women was not largely changed as a result of their work during wartime; then you could mention that women were not earning equal pay to men (except in certain circumstances) or that women remained in many traditional roles, such as nurses or stay at home mums after the war ended.

 In order to get the highest marks, you should write an essay that provides a balanced view which engages with different counter arguments; you should mention them and then explain why they are not as strong as your arguments based on the evidence that you have provided. So, for example, you could argue that women’s position after World War One had changed due to their wartime roles – but these changes were only accelerating events that were already happening in British society before the war broke out; you could mention the fact that were an increased number of girls that were receiving a secondary school or university education by this point whilst other middle class women were gaining rights in relation to property ownership and employment. In each section of your essay, try and weave primary and secondary sources of evidence as well as different historical interpretations into your arguments – these will not only strengthen your answers and overall essay; but it will also show the examiner that you are able to use evidence to present complex arguments which engages with different interpretations of historical events. Once you have set out your main arguments, your conclusion should summarise your position and ultimately justify why you have done so – it should essentially mirror what you have said in your introduction.

Firstly, you should read and then re-read the question – it is important that you have a clear understanding of what it is that you are being asked. Many questions are likely to have trigger phrases such as ‘how far’, ‘critically evaluate’, ‘to what extent’ or ‘discuss’; each of these phrases is asking you to answer the question in a certain way, how you provide evidence and how you engage with different sources. Once you have a clear understanding of what it is being asked in the question, you can begin researching. In order to research effectively, you should review a variety of different sources which should include primary sources, secondary sources and points of views from historians. You can gather evidence online, by reading historical textbooks or by going to place that will give you access to historical records which could be relevant to your essay question. It is also important to note that you are not just looking to include research which supports your thesis; you will also want to include research which counters your position, so that you can devise some counter arguments in response. Another important part of preparing to write an independent essay is organisation – when you are compiling research, you should organise your evidence clearly so that you will know what evidence you are going to use, how you are going to use and where you can find it. This will be very helpful when you come to write your essay, as you will know where to find all of the evidence that you will need.  When you come to plan the essay; you should take a position in relation to the question and then set out what your main arguments are going to be at each stage and what research is going to be used in support of them. Your essay should have a logical and consistent theme that runs throughout it – so try and plan the essay in a way that flows coherently. The introduction of your essay should provide a brief background to the historical period in the question and what your thesis within the essay is going to be. Within the body of the essay, each argument should include what you want to say and what evidence you are providing in support of it. Any time that you are going to refer to a source in your essay, you should do so depending on the referencing method that you are using (if, for example, you are going to be using footnotes to cite your sources). The conclusion should then mirror your introduction and everything that you have already set out. Once you have a clear and comprehensive plan of what your essay will look like – writing it should be the easiest part!

 This question will ask you to choose a certain study from the three on the question paper and then suggest one strength and one weakness of the qualitative date used in your chosen study. In order to obtain the most marks from the question you will need to follow a certain formulaic structure in answering the question – you will need to: identify and explain a strength or weakness of qualitative data;link the strength or weakness to a certain study; andsupport your explanation with a specific example from the study that you have chosen. So, an outline of an answer could look like this: A generic strength of qualitative data
Qualitative data allows researchers to get rich, in-depth and detailed information about a particular individual or small group of people.

Link to study
This can be exemplified by the fruit machine gamblers in the study carried out by Griffths.

Specific example from study
They were able to gather in-depth information about the thoughts and actions of the regular and non-regular gamblers whilst they played on the fruit machines – for example, in some instances where some of the participants personified the machines.

A generic weakness of qualitative data
Qualitative data is frequently unique; as such the data can be difficult to analyse and compare to other data that has been gathered.

Link to study
This weakness can be illustrated by the fruit machine gambling study carried out by Griffths.

Specific example from study
Griffths found that one regular gambler had an erroneous perception of gambling; when he began gambling he put a one pound coin in because he believed it would bluff the machine. However, other gamblers may have had other thoughts and reasons to put a one pound coin into the machine at the beginning.

This is a question that through either its structure or content suggests to the witness that there is a desired answer that the questioner wants.