How on earth do you structure the History NEA (AQA A level)?

I had to find 3 primary sources and 2 interpretations. We have to have footnotes at the bottom of each individual page.
My question is: In the context of the years 1863-1969 "to what extent was the Second World War a significant turning point in the Civil Rights Movement".

I'm not sure if this is true, but my teachers said that the best NEA's will have the sources and interpretations worked into the essay so it flows nicely, rather than writing about them individually. I think with the historians, you should just include what is relevant, and information about them that has influenced their opinions

Thank you so much, this is really helpful! Are you doing yours currently too? Also, sorry to cause any hassle, but can you please expand on the use of footnotes because I don't really understand what they're for?

i miss doing this lowkey lolll

we did it so we had 12 factors - 6 for the statement and 6 against. i think my essay was about 8 pages. we alternated each point and you're not comparing back and forth. we had loads and loads of footnotes and quotes and stats from about 10 different books / sources.

Thanks! But in the footnotes can you ONLY put idk ‘Ross Charles, ‘The Wars of the Roses’, pp. 208-209’ (random example) and put the small number to show where you’ve referenced it in your essay, or can you elaborate on his view? Or elaborate on the events?
Also, are we supposed to LINK every single event e.g. this rebellion was less economic than the previous rebellion because...
sorry I’m SO lost

it's ok! it's best to email your teacher about this though, as I did it maybe 8 months ago so it's a little rusty

In the writing, you should be talking about who wrote it, in what context, and the blurb that it gives you. every single stat that you use (there should be a LOT of stats!) you need to quote the footnote of where you got it from. there should be a mix of stats, sources (like source C,F etc) and just normal quotes that you pick out from the blocks of textbook information. we got the majority of our sources from the textbook as they're there for practising, and they link it to the information you've just learned.

e.g. if the blurb for the source was 'a german protestant who exiled during Mary I's reign', you'd be like:
'he disliked Catholicism, he was rich and had good connections because he was able to exile and only 200 exiled, he would be in favour of the protestant elements of Elizabeth I's reign'.

in the footnotes, you should only be writing the name, page, date, and then the book name, date published, and publisher(s). make sure these are always in the same order. at the end of the essay, make a bibliography, which should list only every book that you used throughout the essay. of these, there should be at least 10.

i hope this helps. i remembered more than i realised actually ahaha.

let me know if you have any other questions or if i didn't make it very clear!

Thank you so, so much. I’m just a bit confused because the mark scheme says we’re not allowed to use textbooks of any kind for information, so will I get penalised if I use it for statistics? Sorry it’s just really tough because we cover the Wars of the Roses for the depth study and that’s straight before the Tudors, so I’m trying not to overlap or to use textbooks that include info from the main course if that makes sense. Oh thank you that’s brilliant! So we kinda have to explain the provenance of each source in a sentence?
That’s great, thank you! Right now my biggest worry is that I’m reading too many books haha because I’m come across a page and think, ‘ooh, that’s a good quote!’ and note it down, but if I carry on like this, my essay will literally be an amalgamation of other authors’ words.
I’m hoping to start planning it next week or the week after, but I don’t really feel ready and don’t want to rush it either.
Plus I’m worried about misinterpreting a source and then messing up my whole line of argument :/.

No worries! It's what I'm here for

It basically is an amalgamation of other authors' words anyways. All the facts and stats should come from the appropriate sources (i.e. historians) and the analysis (linking things together, explaining why they were important, and answering the question) is down to you.

weird that textbooks aren't allowed....I did mine with OCR but it was the same requirements I believe. Doesn't your teacher help you out with this?

Thank you!! Our teacher actually left last week and I feel bad emailing our other one over the summer, so I'm not too sure what to do... Can we get facts and stats from websites and YouTube videos too, or is that banned, and if it's allowed do we have to put the link or something?

its ok. I'm glad I can pass on the info!

so we were told that if you use links, only get them from reliable sources - like a history website. do not use youtube or wikipedia or anything like that!

Brilliant, thanks! So, say I used idk history.co.uk, would I just past the link into the footnotes or do I have to find out who wrote the article to make it more professional?

@Anonymousamie I've attached a tiny excerpt of my coursework. the question was about there being a threat and crisis - these were the two key words. whatever your question is, with every. single. thing. you. write. you need to mention the key words of the question so that you're answering it throughout. it will make for horrendous writing style, but you'll get top marks for always answering the question.

notice also how there are loads of footnotes, and I pick out short quotes to talk about and focus on specific parts? you want to be doing that. *BIG MENTION - DO NOT COPY MY WORDING. YOU'LL GET CAUGHT FOR PLAGIARISM*

Thank you so so much again, that's really helpful! Don't worry I'd never copy and I'm also covering Tudor rebellions, but have chosen Elton and Davies for the historiography. Final question sorry, can we only stick to two historians or can I mention multiple as you have? Your work reads great by the way, did you get into top band?

Thank you so so much again, that's really helpful! Don't worry I'd never copy and I'm also covering Tudor rebellions, but have chosen Elton and Davies for the historiography. Final question sorry, can we only stick to two historians or can I mention multiple as you have? Your work reads great by the way, did you get into top band?

Thank you so so much again, that's really helpful! Don't worry I'd never copy and I'm also covering Tudor rebellions, but have chosen Elton and Davies for the historiography. Final question sorry, can we only stick to two historians or can I mention multiple as you have? Your work reads great by the way, did you get into top band?