How to use a source
The History GCSE has one paper dedicated to using source material and much of the two coursework pieces will involve this as well.
It is essential that you develop source work in a systematic way.
Source material will be presented to you in three main forms
1) Pictorial; photographs, cartoons, drawings etc. The political cartoon is a very popular type of source with the examination board, so try and expose yourself to as many as possible.
2) Text. Passages of primary or secondary sources are used as a focus of a question. The problem with many primary sources is the language they use. You don't have to go back to many years to find people using words hardly heard today. Some secondary sources will be from text books that are very 'wordy' and can be a little bit concerning at first.
3) Statistical sources. Tables, graphs etc. can be used for students to expand or explain events. These can be very useful indeed. Many students find these more straightforward to use. However note that as with all sources the key is to dig a little deeper and go beyond the obvious.
With practice you will find using sources quite simple. Once you are used to seeing what it is the question is looking for it is a simple matter of applying the same rules to the different sources.
I have produced some notes about using the different types of sources. So if you would like to look at these click on the appropriate sources below.
Statistical sources.