Question on Option Topics (1 Viewer)

[bright_angell]

With the topics suggested in the syllubus- are we supposed to answer the questions written booklet (describing each topic)- or must we develop our own question(s) to investigate?

 

[veridis]

option topics are asesed in the exam, along with the manditory stuff on "What is History?" the points are just like normal syllabus points from ancient or modern or other subjects. you'll study it all in class with your teacher so no need to worry to much. they'll explain it all alot better than i ever could

 

[Plebeian]

With the topics suggested in the syllubus- are we supposed to answer the questions written booklet (describing each topic)- or must we develop our own question(s) to investigate?

No, those questions are sufficient. The syllabus says, "Each case study has a principal focus and five associated areas of historical debate. The case study enables students to examine historiographical issues within a specific context." (Syllabus, page 11).

The idea is to apply the five key questions that you learnt about in the historiography topic (• What are the historical debates? • Who are the historians?
• What are the aims and purposes of history? • How has history been constructed and recorded over time? • Why have the approaches to history changed over time?) to those particular dotpoint issues in your case study and the historians who have written about them. For example, the attached file is an analysis of Seymour Hersh's position on the Cuban Missile Crisis dotpoint from the JFK case study.

The HSC exam will probably ask for two areas of debate, so you will have to deal with the historians' arguments on two of these focus dotpoints.

This is the way our teacher got us to do it, and I think he was actually on the committee who wrote the syllabus, so he should know what he was talking about