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Want help with Russian History essays? :)

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Reply 120
Original post by SomethingSpezial
Hiya

I have this essay to do "“The Main Domestic Policies of Russian rulers remained the same throughout the period from 1855-1964” How far do you agree with this statement."

My idea is to split it up into sections (Social, Economic, Political and maybe military) and then make some comparisons between the ruler's policies.

However I was wondering how in depth i should go, for example the main economic aim (for the first five Rulers anyway) was Industrialisation, but they're actual policies differed, the five year plans, NEP, Wittes policies ect...

Its an OCR A2 level essay.

How in depth do you think I should go on each section?

Thanks :smile:


Sorry, to answer your actual question the A2 OCR course doesn't require huge amounts of in depth knowledge. It's used to illustrate your continuity or change, i.e the hungarian revolt of 1861 and 1956 were dealt with in the same oppressive way with the use of the military. your knowledge is used to introduce your point. I presume you did AS with OCR and they have an in depth study, I did Italy, where knowledge was the key.
Reply 121
'The Second World War had the greatest impact of all the wars on the people of Russia'

How far do you agree with this view of wars in the period from 1855 to 1964?


Thanks :smile:
Original post by crocker710
Sorry, to answer your actual question the A2 OCR course doesn't require huge amounts of in depth knowledge. It's used to illustrate your continuity or change, i.e the hungarian revolt of 1861 and 1956 were dealt with in the same oppressive way with the use of the military. your knowledge is used to introduce your point. I presume you did AS with OCR and they have an in depth study, I did Italy, where knowledge was the key.


Cheers man :smile:
Reply 123
Original post by crocker710
If you've stuck with a Russian History essay here's the place for you! Post up what you're stuck with and I'll give you a hand where I can. Quote me or inbox me for a quick(er) response, oh, and positive rep is always welcomed :wink:

Tom


Hi

Im currently studying AS Russian history up until Stalins death and Im struggling on Stalin and his involvement with WWII e.g. direct involvement, 5 year plans, collectivization .

I have my exam in a weeks time and would much appreciate any help you could offer :smile:
Reply 124
Original post by Mathmos
Plus... too help everyone I just found this on my computer.

Downloaded it from TSR a while ago.


For a quick refresher before the exam, i am going to do this table myself.


Wow! This looks really helpful, thanks :biggrin:
Original post by Jay02
Hi

Im currently studying AS Russian history up until Stalins death and Im struggling on Stalin and his involvement with WWII e.g. direct involvement, 5 year plans, collectivization .

I have my exam in a weeks time and would much appreciate any help you could offer :smile:


hi jay, i'm also doing the same exam on tuesday (resit) and my teacher said focus on the economy (she's predicting that due to previous questions) so dont worry too much about ww2, quote me if u need any help on that
Reply 126
Original post by winning11
hi jay, i'm also doing the same exam on tuesday (resit) and my teacher said focus on the economy (she's predicting that due to previous questions) so dont worry too much about ww2, quote me if u need any help on that


Thanks, yes the thing is my teacher predicted that it would be on directly on the three revolutions 1905,1917 feb + oct
and said the Stalin bit was more likely to be on WW2
Do you mean the 5 year plans then?
if so you havnt got a sample question and answer i could have a look at?
Thankyou :smile:
Reply 127
Original post by crocker710
Sorry, to answer your actual question the A2 OCR course doesn't require huge amounts of in depth knowledge. It's used to illustrate your continuity or change, i.e the hungarian revolt of 1861 and 1956 were dealt with in the same oppressive way with the use of the military. your knowledge is used to introduce your point. I presume you did AS with OCR and they have an in depth study, I did Italy, where knowledge was the key.


Hi!

Some very helpful info in the thread.

From what I've read you studied the OCR course last year.

Do you have any specific points about how to structure essays or help in order to achieve a top grade?

Thanks :smile:
Reply 128
Original post by mc13177
Hi!

Some very helpful info in the thread.

From what I've read you studied the OCR course last year.

Do you have any specific points about how to structure essays or help in order to achieve a top grade?

Thanks :smile:


Hiya, you're correct I did do this course last year. There's two things I can not stress enough to achieve anything above a C.

THEME

SYNTHESIS

If you do not include every leader, with the possible exception of the provisional government but I don't see why you couldn't include them as they provide great examples for almost every essay, you will not achieve above a grade C.

if you do not structure your paragraphs on a thematic basis, i.e include everything about agriculture in one paragraph, everything about the economy in another paragraph, ect. ect. you're doomed to fail. If you approach this essay chronologically you're going to struggle incredibly to A include all the leaders in enough depth in the one hour allowed and B) address the KEY objective of this exam, to examine CHANGE & CONTINUITY. As with any exam if you don't address the main point of the exam paper you're not going to get a good grade.

I hope this has helped on the structure front of essays,

Tom :smile:
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 129
Thanks--- pleased to hear I am on the right track!

Do you have any tips to help someone aiming for an A/A* in this paper?

Any help would be great :smile:



Original post by crocker710
Hiya, you're correct I did do this course last year. There's two things I can not stress enough to achieve anything above a C.

THEME

SYNTHESIS

If you do not include every leader, with the possible exception of the provisional government but I don't see why you couldn't include them as they provide great examples for almost every essay, you will not achieve above a grade C.

if you do not structure your paragraphs on a thematic basis, i.e include everything about agriculture in one paragraph, everything about the economy in another paragraph, ect. ect. you're doomed to fail. If you approach this essay chronologically you're going to struggle incredibly to A include all the leaders in enough depth in the one hour allowed and B) address the KEY objective of this exam, to examine CHANGE & CONTINUITY. As with any exam if you don't address the main point of the exam paper you're not going to get a good grade.

I hope this has helped on the structure front of essays,

Tom :smile:
Reply 130
Original post by mc13177
Thanks--- pleased to hear I am on the right track!

Do you have any tips to help someone aiming for an A/A* in this paper?

Any help would be great :smile:


The point of this essay is not in depth detailed knowledge, it's about deploying knowledge to a question with tact and skill, and to only illustrate the point you're trying to make and to highlight similarities and differences. For example, if you're talking about the way regimes were oppressive, you can use the ways Alexander II and Khrushchev dealt with the hungarian riots of 1861 and 1955 respectfully. The point of the knowledge for a high-end answer is to facilitate the comparison between different leaders.

Another way to get an A or A* is to have good synthesis between your paragraphs, think of good ways to link together key themes, i.e the economy affected the political climate and this in term affected the social aspects of russia is normally my preferred way of structuring the themes, but within that your last and first example should have some linkage, sounds slightly trivial but it really helps with a flowing essay and shows the examiner you've thought clearly and precisely and deployed your knowledge selectively rather than put everything you know on the page.

a plan for some people helps for others it doesn't, if you feel confident enough with your ability to plan as you go along it's worth saving the five or so minutes. I prefer not to make an overt plan and save the time, instead using my introduction as a plan as that's essentially what it's there for. besides this, it's all down to your technique, sounds boring and oldschool, but do plans practice writing in timed conditions, get your technique nailed.
What I did for my preparation is look at the past papers see what HASNOT come up, and try focus your plans on this. again look what are less common questions and aim your focus towards this as well, after all if a question have been asked on the past 3 exams it's unlikely to appear. again with this exam there are only 4 areas os study they expect you to know, so knowing things about the economy of Russia and key facts which will really help your argument. Nature of Government is also a key so knowing facts about the structure of the duma or the prov. govt. aren't going to hinder you.
As revision goes, attempt to look at an event then split it down into how it affected society politics and the economy. then when you get a question, you're going to be more able to deploy examples, especially when you're trying to include leaders which you think made little impact but need to get them in for full synthesis,

hoped this helped,

Tom :smile:
Reply 131
Original post by crocker710
The point of this essay is not in depth detailed knowledge, it's about deploying knowledge to a question with tact and skill, and to only illustrate the point you're trying to make and to highlight similarities and differences. For example, if you're talking about the way regimes were oppressive, you can use the ways Alexander II and Khrushchev dealt with the hungarian riots of 1861 and 1955 respectfully. The point of the knowledge for a high-end answer is to facilitate the comparison between different leaders.

Another way to get an A or A* is to have good synthesis between your paragraphs, think of good ways to link together key themes, i.e the economy affected the political climate and this in term affected the social aspects of russia is normally my preferred way of structuring the themes, but within that your last and first example should have some linkage, sounds slightly trivial but it really helps with a flowing essay and shows the examiner you've thought clearly and precisely and deployed your knowledge selectively rather than put everything you know on the page.

a plan for some people helps for others it doesn't, if you feel confident enough with your ability to plan as you go along it's worth saving the five or so minutes. I prefer not to make an overt plan and save the time, instead using my introduction as a plan as that's essentially what it's there for. besides this, it's all down to your technique, sounds boring and oldschool, but do plans practice writing in timed conditions, get your technique nailed.
What I did for my preparation is look at the past papers see what HASNOT come up, and try focus your plans on this. again look what are less common questions and aim your focus towards this as well, after all if a question have been asked on the past 3 exams it's unlikely to appear. again with this exam there are only 4 areas os study they expect you to know, so knowing things about the economy of Russia and key facts which will really help your argument. Nature of Government is also a key so knowing facts about the structure of the duma or the prov. govt. aren't going to hinder you.
As revision goes, attempt to look at an event then split it down into how it affected society politics and the economy. then when you get a question, you're going to be more able to deploy examples, especially when you're trying to include leaders which you think made little impact but need to get them in for full synthesis,

hoped this helped,

Tom :smile:


Great- thank you!
Hi Tom, I am doing the OCR Russia and its Rulers 1855 to 1964 and am struggling with structure. I normally do my essays thematically and usually do quite well with this but recently my teacher has been saying that i am not getting across a sense of sustained argument because I am doing it thematically and essentially writing a series of mini essays. But I find it really hard to write two sided essays because often there are the same themes on both sides because the arguements naturally fit into themes most of the time. Do you have any tips in getting sustained argument in thematic essays - even if say political and social is for and economical and agricultural is against?

My teacher says that it is easier to do a thematic essay, but harder to master than a two sided and that these are easier to get higher As. Do you agree?

Also can you write a thematic essay with individual themes such as political, social, industrial etc. which although in each paragraph consider the converse argument, every one of them shoots it down - is it therefore still a balanced arguement?

Sorry for all the questions but as you can see I am quite confused. Any help would be greatly appreciated! :biggrin:
Reply 133
Original post by Claudia.lethem
Hi Tom, I am doing the OCR Russia and its Rulers 1855 to 1964 and am struggling with structure. I normally do my essays thematically and usually do quite well with this but recently my teacher has been saying that i am not getting across a sense of sustained argument because I am doing it thematically and essentially writing a series of mini essays. But I find it really hard to write two sided essays because often there are the same themes on both sides because the arguements naturally fit into themes most of the time. Do you have any tips in getting sustained argument in thematic essays - even if say political and social is for and economical and agricultural is against?

My teacher says that it is easier to do a thematic essay, but harder to master than a two sided and that these are easier to get higher As. Do you agree?

Also can you write a thematic essay with individual themes such as political, social, industrial etc. which although in each paragraph consider the converse argument, every one of them shoots it down - is it therefore still a balanced arguement?

Sorry for all the questions but as you can see I am quite confused. Any help would be greatly appreciated! :biggrin:


Hi Cluadia, could you explain how you're currently structuring your essays? possibly with a quick essay plan for one you've already written and I'll try help you where you're going wrong. All I can say is that you, within each theme, should give a balanced argument, so that you've got within each theme where it agrees and contradicts with the given statement.

For example with something along the lines of 'Opposition was ineffective in Russia between 1855 and 1964 discuss.' You would identify three or four different areas of opposition. Then within each theme show primarily where it was ineffective but then where there was limited success, coming to a balanced conclusion within the theme. For your overall conclusion draw together these smaller conclusions on the effectiveness of different opposition to gain a balanced and sustained argument.

If you want to get above a C you need to be doing these essays thematically. It is harder than giving a straightforward two sided essay, as you are forced not to approach the essay chronologically. Stick with the thematic approach.

Im not sure what your last question is asking, if within each theme you're concluding that the premise in the question is invalid then you're A) having a continuous argument, and B) as long as you attempt to consider the reverse side of the argument as you seem to be doing by 'shooting [it] down',

If you need any more help feel free to post back,

Tom :smile:
Does anyone have any good example answers from turning point questions? I'm really struggling to structure/write enough on them....
Thanks :smile:
Reply 135
Reply 136
Does anybody have any A/B grade example essays?
Reply 137
Opposition was ineffective in Russia between 1855 and 1964 discuss.' You would identify three or four different areas of opposition. Then within each theme show primarily where it was ineffective but then where there was limited success, coming to a balanced conclusion within the theme. For your overall conclusion draw together these smaller conclusions on the effectiveness of different opposition to gain a balanced and sustained argument.


Would these be theme?

Different types opposition - populists, liberals, parties, individuals
Repression of opposition - army, secret police, propoganda (and how each regime differed)
Politcal factors - October Manifesto ect

I don't really understand how to plan this question?
Reply 138
Original post by yesioo
Would these be theme?

Different types opposition - populists, liberals, parties, individuals
Repression of opposition - army, secret police, propoganda (and how each regime differed)
Politcal factors - October Manifesto ect

I don't really understand how to plan this question?


Political opposition ( legitimate opposition )
Illigitimate opposition ( i.e the peoples will )
Internal opposition ( purges under Stalin )

There's loads of ways you can structure these essays, it's up to where you feel confident, choose 3 different types of opposition and analyse them,

Tom :smile:
Reply 139
Original post by jawain04


I've just read over this essay and it's quite good. It comes a conclusion that has been drawn form a sustained argument throughout. The only slight slight thing I'd say (and it takes 2 seconds to correct) is you've mentioned every leader by name bar Alexander III ( besides a fleeting comment about him making university entry harder). When you mention Count Witte ( how'd you pronouce that, i sat it like Vit but other people say Vitter :s-smilie: digressing :P ) say under Alexander III and you will be fine, good essay :smile:

Tom :wink:

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