Source comprehension: extracting information, making inferences and supporting them with detail from the source (AO3).

What this dot point is asking

The comprehension question is the first source question on a CCEA paper. It asks what a source tells you or what you can learn from it about a topic. It tests AO3, the ability to read evidence closely. The skill being marked is inference: working out what a source suggests and proving it with a detail. Examiners reward two supported points, not a copied sentence, so you must learn the difference between repeating a source and reading meaning into it.

Copying versus inferring

A weak answer copies a line from the source and stops. A strong answer infers and then supports the inference with a detail. The mark scheme rewards the move from evidence to meaning, so every point should follow the shape "the source suggests X, because it shows Y".

Treat the caption as part of the source. The line of provenance under a source, telling you who made it and when, often carries half the meaning. A photograph captioned "British troops on the Falls Road, August 1969" tells you far more than the image alone, because it dates and locates the scene at the moment troops were first deployed.

How to make a supported inference

Work in three quick steps for each point.

• Read the whole source, caption included. Note the topic, the date and who produced it.
• Ask what it suggests. What attitude, situation or change does it point to? That is your inference.
• Tie it to a detail. Quote a short phrase or describe what an image shows, so the inference is proven.

Two such points, clearly separated, answer a four-mark comprehension question in full. There is no need for provenance evaluation here; that belongs to the usefulness question. Comprehension is about reading the source accurately and showing what it reveals.

Using both content and tone

Sources carry meaning in their content (what is shown or said) and their tone (how it is said). A newspaper headline reading "Marchers Defy Ban" tells you about events through its content, but its tone, the choice of the word "defy", also tells you the paper saw the marchers as provocative. Reading tone as well as content lets you draw a second, richer inference from the same source and lifts a thin answer into a full one.

Examples in context

Model comprehension answer. "Source A suggests that the civil rights marches caused alarm among the authorities, because it shows lines of police drawn up across the road as if expecting trouble. It also suggests the marchers saw themselves as peaceful, because the banners in the photograph carry slogans about voting rights rather than threats." This answer scores full marks because it makes two distinct inferences and ties each to a specific detail in the source, rather than copying or describing without explaining.

Try this

Q1. What is an inference? [2 marks]

• Cue. A conclusion you draw from a source that it does not state directly, proven by a detail in the source.

Q2. Why should you read the caption of a source? [2 marks]

• Cue. It tells you who made the source and when, dating and locating it, and often carries half the meaning.

Q3. What two elements should each point in a comprehension answer contain? [2 marks]

• Cue. An inference (what the source suggests) and a supporting detail from the source (a quotation or a described feature).