How do you answer the Unit 1 enquiry, evaluating four primary sources to test a hypothesis?
Unit 1 Section A: the enquiry question, evaluating four contemporary sources for their use in testing a given hypothesis, weighing content and provenance against the historical context (AO2).
An OCR A-Level History Unit 1 guide to the Section A enquiry. Explains how to answer the source question, evaluating four contemporary sources for their use in testing a hypothesis, weighing content and provenance against the historical context, with a Tudor worked example and the AO2 skills the enquiry rewards.
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What this dot point is asking
OCR Unit 1 Section A is the enquiry: a single compulsory question that gives you four contemporary sources and a hypothesis, and asks how far the sources, used in their historical context, support that view. It tests AO2: the analysis and evaluation of primary sources. It is worth 30 marks (the largest single question in Unit 1), shown here capped at 20 in line with the site's display limit. The skill is to evaluate the set as evidence for the claim, not to summarise each source.
The answer
What the enquiry rewards
Grouping the sources
Rather than working through Source 1, then 2, then 3, then 4, group the sources by what they suggest about the hypothesis. Typically two or three support the view and one or two qualify or oppose it. This lets you build an argument (on balance the sources support or do not support the view) and compare sources directly, which is what the top level requires.
Using provenance
Testing against context
Finally, you set the sources against your own contextual knowledge of the period. If a source claims the Pilgrimage of Grace was purely religious, you test that against what you know of the rebels' economic and political demands and the role of the gentry. Context is what lets you judge how far the sources can be trusted for the enquiry, and supplies the standard against which you weigh them.
Examples in context
A model opening would state the line of argument at once ("on balance the sources lend qualified support to the view"), so that every paragraph then tests the hypothesis rather than drifting into description.
Try this
Q1. Using four sources in their historical context, assess how far they support the view that Kett's Rebellion of 1549 was caused mainly by economic grievances. [shown at the 20-mark cap; the enquiry is worth 30 in the full paper]
- What the marker wants. An AO2 answer grouping the sources by the grievance they reveal, weighing provenance to judge value, testing them against the context (enclosure, weak government, the Western Rebellion's religious contrast), and judging how far they support the economic explanation.
Q2. In the Unit 1 enquiry, what should you use a source's provenance to judge? [2 marks]
- Cue. Its value and limitations for the specific enquiry, not simply whether it is reliable or biased.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of OCR exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
OCR H505 Y106 201920 marksUsing these four sources in their historical context, assess how far they support the view that the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 was caused mainly by religious grievances. [shown at the 20-mark cap; the enquiry is worth 30 in the full paper]Show worked answer →
The Section A enquiry (AO2), shown at the 20-mark cap (worth 30 in the full paper), marked by levels of response. The top level evaluates all four sources for the enquiry, grouping them and using provenance and context, not summarising them one by one.
Method. Group the sources by what they suggest about the cause: those supporting religious motives (defence of the monasteries, the oath) against those suggesting economic or political grievances (taxation, gentry leadership).
Provenance. Weigh nature, origin and purpose: a rebel petition is valuable for the grievances the leaders chose to advertise; a government report is valuable for how the regime wished to portray the rising.
Judgement. Set the sources against contextual knowledge (the dissolution from 1536, Robert Aske, the demands) and judge how far, on balance, they support the religious explanation. The top level reaches a substantiated answer to the hypothesis.
OCR H505 Y106 202120 marksUsing these four sources in their historical context, assess how far they support the view that Henry VII faced a serious threat from Perkin Warbeck. [shown at the 20-mark cap; the enquiry is worth 30 in the full paper]Show worked answer →
The Section A enquiry (AO2), shown at the 20-mark cap (worth 30 in the full paper). The top level evaluates the set as evidence for the hypothesis, using provenance and context.
Method. Group the sources: those stressing the danger (foreign backing from Burgundy and Scotland, the scale of support) against those minimising it (the ease of Warbeck's defeat, his low-born origins as alleged by the regime).
Provenance. A royal proclamation is valuable for how Henry wished to dismiss Warbeck as an impostor; a foreign ambassador's report is valuable for the international dimension of the threat.
Judgement. Set against knowledge of Warbeck's career (1491 to 1499, his capture in 1497) and judge how far the sources support the view that the threat was serious. The top level answers the hypothesis on the balance of the evidence.
Related dot points
- Unit 1 Option (e.g. Y106 England 1485 to 1558): the establishment of the Tudor dynasty under Henry VII, his government and finance, the pretenders and rebellions he faced, and his foreign policy and consolidation of power.
An OCR A-Level History Unit 1 British period study guide to the establishment of the Tudor dynasty under Henry VII from 1485 to 1509. Covers Bosworth and the securing of the throne, government and royal finance, the pretenders Simnel and Warbeck, the major rebellions, and foreign policy, with the period-essay and enquiry skills the paper rewards.
- Unit 1 Option (e.g. Y106 England 1485 to 1558): Henry VIII and Wolsey, the divorce campaign and the break with Rome, the royal supremacy and the Reformation, the dissolution of the monasteries and the Pilgrimage of Grace.
An OCR A-Level History Unit 1 British period study guide to Henry VIII and the break with Rome from 1509 to 1547. Covers Wolsey's ministry, the divorce and the King's Great Matter, the royal supremacy and the Reformation statutes, the dissolution of the monasteries, the Pilgrimage of Grace and the role of Cromwell, with the essay and enquiry skills Unit 1 rewards.
- Unit 1 Option (e.g. Y106 England 1485 to 1558): Edward VI and the Protestant Reformation, the protectorates of Somerset and Northumberland, the rebellions of 1549, the succession crisis of 1553, and Mary I's Catholic restoration, marriage and rebellion.
An OCR A-Level History Unit 1 British period study guide to the mid-Tudor crisis from 1547 to 1558. Covers Edward VI and the Protestant Reformation, the rule of Somerset and Northumberland, the rebellions of 1549, the disputed succession of 1553, and Mary I's Catholic restoration, Spanish marriage and Wyatt's rebellion, with the debate over whether there was a crisis.
- Unit 1 Section B: the period study essay, building a sustained analytical argument across the period that ranks factors and reaches a substantiated judgement (AO1).
An OCR A-Level History Unit 1 guide to the Section B period study essay. Explains how to read the command, plan a ranked thematic argument across the period, deploy precise evidence and reach a substantiated judgement for AO1, with a worked Tudor example and the essay skills the paper rewards.
- AO2 source skills: evaluating primary sources for their value to a stated enquiry, using content, provenance and contextual knowledge to reach a judgement rather than labelling sources reliable or biased.
An OCR A-Level History skills guide to evaluating primary sources for the AO2 enquiry. Explains how to judge a source's value for a stated enquiry using content, provenance and contextual knowledge, why bias is not a verdict, and how to reach a judgement on usefulness, with a worked example transferable to any Unit 1 option.
Sources & how we know this
- OCR A Level History A (H505) specification — OCR (2015)