How do you answer the Paper 2 Section A source question on using two sources together to investigate an enquiry?
The Paper 2 Section A source question (AO2): the 'How far could the historian make use of Sources 1 and 2 together to investigate...' stem, and how to weigh content, provenance and own knowledge across both sources to judge their combined value for the enquiry.
An Edexcel A-Level History guide to the Paper 2 Section A source question, the compulsory AO2 task worth 20 marks. Explains the 'How far could the historian make use of Sources 1 and 2 together to investigate' stem, how to read the enquiry, weigh content and provenance across both sources with own knowledge, and reach a Level 5 judgement on their combined value.
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What this dot point is asking
Paper 2 opens with a compulsory source question in Section A, worth 20 marks and marked entirely on AO2. Its wording is distinctive: "How far could the historian make use of Sources 1 and 2 together to investigate..." a stated enquiry. This is not a general "how useful are these sources" task. It directs you to judge what the two sources, used together, allow a historian to find out about a precise enquiry, and to reach that judgement through content, provenance and your own knowledge.
The answer
Read the enquiry first
Weigh each source: content, provenance, own knowledge
For each source, do three things. State what its content shows about the named enquiry. Judge its value and limitations through provenance. Use your own knowledge of the period to confirm, qualify or challenge it. This is the same AO2 method used across the source papers, applied here to a paired enquiry.
The decisive move: "together"
The stem says together, and the mark scheme rewards genuine combination. After evaluating each source, ask how the pair relate to the enquiry:
- Corroboration. Where do they agree, and does that agreement strengthen what a historian can claim?
- Complementarity. Does one source supply a perspective or detail the other lacks, so the two cover more of the enquiry between them?
- Limits. What does the enquiry still leave unanswered even with both sources, given their shared blind spots or purposes?
A strong answer treats the two sources as a small evidence base for the enquiry, not as two separate mini-essays.
Reach a judgement on combined value
Conclude on how far a historian could use the two together to investigate the enquiry. The best judgements are specific: the pair may be strong on one strand of the enquiry and weak on another, so the historian could investigate part of it confidently while needing further sources for the rest. Tie the verdict back to provenance and context, not to abstract reliability.
Examples in context
A reliable structure is one paragraph per source, then a short paragraph that combines them, then a judgement, so the "together" element is never an afterthought.
Try this
Q1. How far could the historian make use of Sources 1 and 2 together to investigate the aims of a reform movement? Explain your answer, using both sources and your knowledge of the historical context. [20 marks]
- What the marker wants. AO2 evaluation of both sources on the named enquiry, provenance used to judge value and limitations, own knowledge to test them, explicit combination of the pair, and a judgement on how far they together support an investigation into the aims.
Q2. Why is "together" the most important word in the Paper 2 source stem? [2 marks]
- Cue. Because the marks reward judging what the two sources combined allow a historian to investigate about the enquiry, including where they corroborate or complement each other, not rating each source in isolation.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of Pearson Edexcel exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
Edexcel 201820 marksHow far could the historian make use of Sources 1 and 2 together to investigate the reasons for opposition to the regime? Explain your answer, using both sources and your knowledge of the historical context.Show worked answer →
This is the Paper 2 Section A question, marked entirely on AO2. It is not "how useful is each source" in isolation: the enquiry directs you to judge what the two sources, used together, allow a historian to investigate about the stated topic.
Read the enquiry. Identify exactly what is being investigated (here, the reasons for opposition). Everything you say about each source must bear on that enquiry.
Each source. Weigh content (what it shows about the reasons for opposition) and provenance (nature, origin, purpose) using own knowledge to test it. Explain what each source is good evidence for, given who produced it and why.
Together. Show how the two sources combine: where they corroborate, where one fills a gap the other leaves, and where together they still leave the enquiry incompletely answered.
Level 5 reaches a judgement on how far the two sources together support an investigation into the stated enquiry, grounded in content, provenance and context.
Edexcel 202020 marksHow far could the historian make use of Sources 1 and 2 together to investigate the impact of a government policy? Explain your answer.Show worked answer →
Again AO2, again organised around the enquiry rather than around reliability.
Content. For each source, set out what it reveals about the impact of the policy and tie it to the enquiry, not to a general summary of the source.
Provenance. Use nature, origin and purpose to judge value and limitations. A source produced to praise the policy is valuable evidence of official claims about impact, even if it overstates success.
Combined value. Decide what a historian could and could not learn from the two together: perhaps one gives the official view and the other a local or critical view, so together they cover more of the enquiry than either alone.
Level 5 judges the combined value of the pair for the specific enquiry, integrating content, provenance and own knowledge throughout.
Related dot points
- The AO2 skill of evaluating primary source material: provenance, tone, content, value and limitations in context, as tested in Paper 2, Paper 3 and the coursework.
An Edexcel A-Level History guide to evaluating primary sources for AO2. Explains provenance, tone, content, and value and limitations in context, with a clear method for the Paper 2 and Paper 3 source questions and the coursework, the Level 5 mark-scheme expectations, and the common mistakes to avoid.
- The three assessment objectives AO1, AO2 and AO3: what each rewards, how they are weighted across the 9HI0 qualification, and which paper and question type targets each, the examinable spine common to every route.
An Edexcel A-Level History guide to the three assessment objectives. Explains what AO1 (knowledge, analysis and judgement), AO2 (evaluating primary sources) and AO3 (analysing historians' interpretations) reward, how they are weighted across the four components, and exactly which paper and question tests each, so you can match your technique to the objective being marked.
- Paper 2 Option 2A.1 The German Democratic Republic 1949 to 1990: the establishment and consolidation of the SED state, life in the GDR, the role of the Stasi, and the collapse of the regime.
An Edexcel A-Level History Paper 2 depth guide to the German Democratic Republic 1949 to 1990. Covers the establishment of the SED state, the 1953 uprising and the Berlin Wall, the role of the Stasi, economic and social life, and the collapse of the regime in 1989 to 1990, with the AO2 primary-source skills the depth paper rewards.
- Paper 2 Option 2G.1 The USA civil rights 1865 to 1992: the changing position of African Americans, the campaigns and federal responses, and the methods and impact of the civil rights movement.
An Edexcel A-Level History Paper 2 depth guide to civil rights in the USA from 1865 to 1992. Covers Reconstruction and Jim Crow, the role of the Supreme Court, the campaigns of Martin Luther King and others, federal civil rights legislation, and the methods and impact of the movement, with the AO2 primary-source skills the paper rewards.
- Paper 2 Option 2H.1 Mao's China 1949 to 1976: the establishment of communist rule, the command economy and the Great Leap Forward, social change, and the Cultural Revolution.
An Edexcel A-Level History Paper 2 depth guide to Mao's China 1949 to 1976. Covers the establishment of communist rule, the Great Leap Forward and the famine, social and cultural change, the Cultural Revolution and the cult of Mao, with the AO2 primary-source skills and the historiography the depth paper rewards.
Sources & how we know this
- Pearson Edexcel A-Level History (9HI0) specification — Pearson Edexcel (2015)