The dissertation: SQA Advanced Higher History quiz quiz

30 marks

40 marks

50 marks

90 marks

2,000 words

Up to 4,000 words, excluding footnotes and bibliography

6,000 words

No limit

Long, detailed and famous

Focused, debatable and well sourced

Modern, British and short

Easy, broad and uncontested

It is too narrow

It cannot be argued in 4,000 words and forces narrative

It has too many sources

It is too debatable

Write the conclusion

Map the historiography, identifying the schools of thought that disagree

Choose a title page

Memorise dates

As a single literature section at the front

As the spine of the argument, organising the whole piece

It should be avoided

Only in the bibliography

To quote the historian at length

To test what a historian argues against the primary sources, showing where it holds and where it is challenged

To ignore the primary sources

To count how many historians agree

Weaving historians through the argument

A front block of historians' views the dissertation then ignores

Evaluating interpretations against evidence

Reaching a substantiated conclusion

Write background narrative

Select, so every section earns its place by advancing the argument

Include every source found

Avoid a conclusion

Yes, both count

No, both are excluded

Only footnotes count

Only the bibliography counts

Narrate the background in full

Frame the question, set out the debate, and state the line of argument

Reach the conclusion

List the sources only

Introduce new material

Reach a substantiated judgement that answers the question and takes a position within the debate

Restate the introduction word for word

List every footnote

Because it is short

Because wide reading and redrafting cannot be crammed

Because the exam is first

Because the field changes

No, it must stay in the field

Yes, it may range beyond the field

Only with special permission

Only if it is Scottish

Arguing each section

Narrating the topic instead of advancing an argument

Referencing accurately

Evaluating interpretations