history is fun

The purpose question is another form of inference. It is asking you to make an inference of the purpose of the source.

Normally, the question takes the form of 'Why was Source B written'

In order to answer the question, you need to be able to infer the purpose of the source. As long as you understand the source and the historical context of the source, it can be quite easy to score the full marks.

For example, 'Why was this blog post written?'

This blog post was written to show students how to do a purpose SBQ question, this can be supported by evidence 'in order to answer the question'. This shows that the post is trying to impress upon students the required techniques to answer the question.

If you can answer this, you have understood the source, however, is this all there is to it? You must realise that embedded within the source there is a certain message to the audience so that the audience will do something after they read it.

For example

This blog post was written by a history teacher [speaker/writer] a week before the history SA2 exams [context] to convince [strong verb] students [audience] that the purpose question is easy to score marks, so that students will be confident going into SA2 and be able to do well for this history [intended impact]. This can be supported by evidence from the source "can be quite easy to score the full marks" [evidence]

Hence, your answer should be similar to the two paragraphs listed above.

Para 1 - What is the purpose of the source upon your first reading of the source? What does the source show or tell?

Para 2 - What is the embedded purpose within the source? What is the author trying to get the audience to do after they read it? Bear in mind for this paragraph that you need to have the author, audience, a strong verb . In order to get the intended impact of the audience, you will also need to understand the context of the source, i.e. when was the source written? who is the audience? All of this must be supported by evidence from the source.

Someone once said, in the humanities (geography notwithstanding), it is not always about what you know (i.e. the content), but what you do with it.

In this case for SEQs, it is all nice and well if you can regurgitate the textbook, but if you cannot explain the significance of these facts with regard to the question, then you have failed to build on your knowledge.

What constitutes explanation?

Let's have a look at a paragraph from an earlier post.

First, with the coming of the immigrants, Singapore began to open itself up as a centre for entrepot trade. It began to import and export goods for different areas to different parts of the world. These immigrants also provided important support services such as workers in the dockyards, plantations, factories and some even provided daily necessities for traders all over the world. All these contributions of the immigrants helped to maintain Singapore as an attractive trading centre and kept it competitive. Without them, Singapore would not have grown so fast from a backwater island to a bustling island of trade and other commercial activities. Hence, the impact of the coming of the immigrants leading Singapore to a well-grown trading centre was the most important.

The section of the paragraph in bold is the explanation, but can we break it down even further?

All these contributions of the immigrants [This component can be called the cause, i.e. sum up the evidence that you have presented in the earlier section]
helped to maintain Singapore as an attractive trading centre and kept it competitive. Without them, Singapore would not have grown so fast from a backwater island to a bustling island of trade and other commercial activities. [This component can be called the effect, i.e. what did the evidence lead to in relation to the issue?] Hence, the impact of the coming of the immigrants leading Singapore to a well-grown trading centre was the most important. [This component can be called the consequence, i.e. what was the final consequence and the outcome as a result of the 'effect']

In most instances, students are able to write the cause and the consequence. However, they are not able to clearly state the effect which links the cause and the consequence. The contributions of immigrants may not always lead to a well-grown trading centre. Therefore, it is very important to make this link between the contributions of the immigrants and Singapore becoming a well-grown trading centre.

Try breaking down this paragraph yourself! Comment if you are not sure.

The lack of preparations for the defence of Singapore by the British was responsible for the Japanese victory. The British had underestimated the Japanese capabilities as they had inadequate intelligence and were caught by surprise by the better Japanese equipment. The British also had poor and obsolete equipment which was no match for the Japanese which resulted in Japanese air superiority which gave the Japanese a tremendous advantage over the British. In addition, the British soldiers were not well trained in jungle warfare and were unable to match the Japanese during their battles. Because of their lack of preparations, the British inferiority in all areas was quickly exposed by the Japanese which resulted in one Japanese victory after another. As a result, Malaya and Singapore fell within a short space of 4 months resulting in a Japanese victory.

In my earlier post, I covered the (a) question which is the how far/to what extent question.

This post will cover the (b) question which relates to a hypothesis or an assertion which is made. An example of this question is as follows.

(b) The fall of Singapore in 1942 was a complete success for the Japanese. How far do you agree? Explain your answer. [8m]

Now as you can see, the first part of the question is an assertion, it is not a factor. Hence, this should tell you that it is different from the (a) question.

What this question is looking out for is an argument of whether indeed the fall of Singapore was a complete success for the Japanese, hence it requires you to use all the relevant knowledge about the subject area to answer the question of whether or not it was a complete success.

In your answer, you should utilise the PEEL structure in order to organise the facts and to tell us how the facts support the assertion in paragraph 1, then tell us how other facts contradict the assertion in paragraph 2. Then in paragraph 3, determine, is it more yes than no or vice versa?

A sample answer should look like this.

I disagree that the fall of Singapore was a complete success for the Japanese .

The Japanese achieved a brilliant victory in all aspects. Not only had they managed to defeat the British armed forces during the Battle for Malaya and Singapore, but they had also destroyed the two famous battleships of the British thereby asserting their superiority. Besides that most of the Europeans were so terrified that they ran away for their lives. The British who all along had been invincible in battle had been dealt a devastating blow by the Japanese in such a quick time and with minimum casualty on the Japanese sides. Thus it is indeed a qualified success on the part of the Japanese.

However, it should also be born in mind that the Japanese were successful only from a military perspective. While the victory over Singapore was won, yet it was another matter in capturing the hearts and minds of the people. The Japanese were feared and hated by the local people so much and they were secretly despised. Furthermore the Japanese also mismanaged the economy and there was a shortage of essential commodities like food, clothing, medicine and other stuff. Furthermore there was uncontrolled inflation and the people’s lives were more miserable than during the British. Thus it would be incorrect to say that the fall of Singapore was a complete success for the Japanese.

In conclusion, it would be incorrect to assume that the fall of Singapore was a total success for the Japanese. While it was indeed true that from a military perspective it was a success yet it was severe failure from all other aspects. In terms of the economy, in terms of freedom, and in terms of happiness the Japanese occupation was far from success. The fact that even today the Japanese occupation is remembered as the days of darkness stands as testimony to the fact that the Japanese Occupation of Singapore was not a success.

More to come.

Regards,
Mr Tan

Dear all

Here are some practice SEQs for you. Please try some of these SEQs out as you prepare for your exams.

Practice SEQs

Chapter 2

(a) To what extent was Singapore’s good geographical location the reason for the British decision to start a trade settlement in Singapore.

(b) ‘Farquhar’s residency was bad for Singapore’, How far do you agree? Explain your answer.

Chapter 3

(a) How far were unfavourable conditions in their homeland the main reason for the coming of immigrants to Singapore? Explain your answer.

(b) ‘The contribution of immigrants to the development of Singapore was purely economic’ How far do you agree? Explain your answer.

Chapter 4

(a) To what extent were law and order problems the main issue confronting the British colonial government in the 1860s? Explain your answer.

(b) ‘British colonial rule was unsuccessful’ How far do you agree? Explain your answer.

Chapter 5

(a) How far was the threat to Singapore’s trade the greatest impact of the First World War? Explain your answer.

(a) To what extent was the increase in trade was the most important impact of the industrial revolution on Singapore? Explain your answer.

Chapter 6

(a) To what extent were better Japanese preparations the reason why the Japanese were victorious? Explain your answer.

(b) ‘The Japanese occupation was a disaster for Singapore’ How far do you agree? Explain your answer.

Chapter 7

(a) To what extent was the greatest impact of the Rendel Commission limited self government? Explain your answer.

(b) ‘The 1948 elections was a failure’ How far do you agree? Explain your answer.

Chapter 8

(a) To what extent was the success of the 1959 elections due to the participation of more political parties? Explain your answer.

(b) ‘Lim Yew Hock’s stint as Chief Minister was a great success’ How far do you agree? Explain your answer.

Chapter 9

(a) How far were economic considerations the main reason for the merger between Singapore and Malaysia? Explain your answer.

(b) ‘Separation was a disaster for Singapore’ How far do you agree? Explain your answer.

Please note that I have decided to remove the tag box. Some of you are clearly too immature to handle such a responsibility as you are clearly incapable of basic courtesy. It should by now be apparent to this unfortunate minority that this form of conduct is unbecoming and should this happen again in any form on this blog, this WILL become a discipline case.

hi all,

Here are some slides on comparison skills.

Please do take some time to go through the slides

Comparison is something that we all do everyday, and any comparisons that we make is always based on a point of comparison. For example, we compare footballers based on their position and which club they play for.

Similarly, for SBQs, you MUST have a point of comparison for similarities and differences. Thereafter, try to identify a similarity/difference based on the tone and purpose of a source.

When you are done, refer to the sources on pages 84 and 85 of your Activity Book and answer the following question:

Study Sources A and B
How similar is Source A to Source B? Explain your answer. [5]



Once your are done, use the following LORMS to assess your answer

L1: Answers based on provenance (1)
e.g. Both sources were written by the Japanese

L2: Answers based on similarity and/or difference without support (2)
e.g. Sources A and B are about Operation Clean-Up
and/or
e.g. Source A and B do not agree on the approach taken by the Japanese

L3: Answers based on similarity and difference with support (3-4)
e.g Both sources are similar in terms of the Chinese being the targets of Operation Clean-Up. Source A states that 'the Chinese were hostile and their collaboration with the enemy to take up arms against the Japanese that angered the army;. In Source B, many Chinese died as 'thousands were massacred during this notorious operation.'

and

However, both sources do not agree on the approach taken by the Japanese. Source A shows us that 'the Japanese army took Operation Clean-Up very seriously. During the early days of the Japanese occupation, the Japanese army adopted a soft approach and had never dreamt of having to resort to hard tactics so suddenly. However, Source B shows otherwise. It is stated in Source B that 'thousands were massacred during this notorious operation' and that the Japanese adopted random tactics such as "a knowledge of English at once classified them as pro-British and dangerous.

L4 Identifies tone with support with all elements of L3 (5)
Source A is defensive in its tone as compared to Source B which is accusing in its tone. For example Source A states "the number of deaths resulting in from Operation Clean-Up as suggested by the Chinese is completely groundless", whilst Source B states that "Thoise who failed to apologise at once to the young Kempeitai for not being able to write their names in Chinese, or for having tattoo marks, were detained and later slaughtered."

In your SA2 paper, you will be encountering two different question types.

The first type of question is the (a) type question which asks you how far or to what extent was a factor (called the GIVEN FACTOR) responsible or the reason for a particular issue or outcome.

(a) To what extent was the growth of Singapore as a trading centre the most important impact of the the immigrants? (7)

First of all, you need to identify the GIVEN FACTOR and the ISSUE.

To what extent was the growth of Singapore as a trading centre [given factor] the most important impact of the the immigrants [issue]?

Once you've done that, you need to identify another factor that addresses the issue.

The two issues are:
1) Growth of Singapore as a trading centre
2) Social Impact of Immigrants

Now you need to write one paragraph on each issue using the PEEL structure and follow up with a conclusion that ranks the relative importance of both factors and concluding which was more important.

So your answer should look something like this:

I agree that the most important impact for the coming of the immigrants was the growth of Singapore as a trading centre.

First, with the coming of the immigrants, Singapore began to open itself up as a centre for entrepot trade. It began to import and export goods for different areas to different parts of the world. These immigrants also provided important support services such as workers in the dockyards, plantations, factories and some even provided daily necessities for traders all over the world. All these contributions of the immigrants helped to maintain Singapore as an attractive trading centre and kept it competitive. Without them, Singapore would not have grown so fast from a backwater island to a bustling island of trade and other commercial activities. Hence, the impact of the coming of the immigrants leading Singapore to a well-grown trading centre was the most important.

However, besides the impact of growth of Singapore as a trading centre, there were other social impacts such as acts of philanthropy by rich businessmen. These businessmen from different ethnic groups saw the need to contribute to the well-being of the society and started kind acts such as building schools, hospitals and places of worship for their fellow countrymen. An example would be Tan Tock Seng. Such acts were important as they made lives of the immigrants more bearable and ensured that these immigrants were well taken care off so that they could continue to contribute to Singapore growth.

All in all, the most important impact of the coming of the immigrants was the growth of Singapore as a trading centre as it is due to their hard work that Singapore could continue to grow and this would benefit everyone. As for the acts of the philanthropists, some of these acts were given to specific ethnic groups only, hence the impact is not as great as the first.

More to come.

hi all,

Here's your holiday homework, please complete the SEQ in the form below.

hi,

Here's your holiday assignment, complete the SEQ using the form below.

hi all,

Complete your holiday assignment using the form below.

Thanks.