Edexcel GCE History A2 The United States 1917-54: Boom Bust & Recovery: Uni

I agree, however I would say that there are other ways of approaching the question, for example thematically. I know this wouldn't work in all cases however I think its a great way of integrating your own knowledge with the source material.
Don't be intent on trying to force a patterned structure though (not that you are ) because this may not be the best way to tackle the question so say we get a question that's quite broad like 'the ND was generally successful' 1933-36, I think depending on how many umbrella topics the sources give you eg. Agriculture and Banking, doing it thematically is more sophisticated however a danger with this is the tendency to neglect the sources.
I hope this has been of some help!

Here I would talk about:

How far it aimed to deliver relief
How far it aimed to deliver recovery
With a judgement of course on how far it brought relief over recovery

Thanks for the help guys, I guess I can't, or at least shouldn't just use the same cookie cutter structure for History essays the way I do for GovPol

yep thats exactly how I would do it. Talk about prosperity and who the real winners were e.g business tycoons etc and then talk about how different sections of society were better off than others. e.g farmers, women, black people, native americans didnt share in the prosperity and there was an uneven distribution of wealth and also how some industries were suffering e.g coal.

Has anyone got any/been suggested any Section B topics that they reckon will come up(for Roosevelt's New Deal controversy)? Also can anyone give me the low down of how to tackle a section B question pretty much mastered Section A now. Thanks guys

sorry to jump in, we just did this essay in school and wrote that economic prosperity was more apparent than real because it was based on risky easy credit that easily resulted in people becoming too indebted, also the stock market boom was a result of speculation and "real" since it was less to do with the performance of companies...would these points also gain marks? my teacher for history is not very good so it would be great if I can get some feedback

Yeah, those points seem perfectly relevant to me. (:

I have been mainly revising the 1920s and the Depression since I'm more familiar with those topics...however is there any chance that they will give both questions in section A on new deal stuff?

I'm not too sure about topics for the New Deal since I normally tend to do the Great Depression questions.

Here's how I plan my Section B:

-introduction: make sure you provide a clear judgement here, also if you want you can briefly outline the key stance taken by each source on the question, e.g. "overall source A is of the view that New Deal helped economic recovery in America, source B also takes a similar stance. However, source C opposes this view, and believes that the New Deal did not help economic recovery in America, it was the War that did." This is optional but I feel its good to give the examiner an idea of your understanding of the sources in the introduction itself.

-paragraph: use the PEEL structure here. start by stating your Point, e.g. The actions of the Federal Reserve was a very significant factor in causing the Great Depression. Then provide Evidence for this from one source, then cross reference the same point from another source. Explain this evidence. If you can find evidence from another source that opposes the first two sources, you can mention that too and then provide an overall judgement. At the end of the paragraph, always Link back to the question e.g. In this way, the actions of Federal Reserve were a key cause of the Great Depression.
I use this method for all my paragraphs in which I make a point.

-conclusion: summarise all your key point in a short sentence and then provide an overall judgement linking back to the question.

I hope this helps.

Nah it's always one each - that's what my teacher said

Hi all,

My teacher reckons that McArthyism and the second Red Scare is most likely to come up in section A (I'd loveeeee this).

How does everyone else feel? They haven't asked this question in a while and its a reasonably big part of the syllabus.

Yeah, my teacher has the same theory. He reckons it's likely to be a causal type of question, as the Previous McCarthyism was evaluation. Maybe something like 'How far was McCarthy responsible for anti-communist feeling in post-war America?'

I'd love it if McCarthyism came up, really hoping it does, because opposition to FDR came up last year, didn't it?

sorry to jump in, we just did this essay in school and wrote that economic prosperity was more apparent than real because it was based on risky easy credit that easily resulted in people becoming too indebted, also the stock market boom was a result of speculation and "real" since it was less to do with the performance of companies...would these points also gain marks? my teacher for history is not very good so it would be great if I can get some feedback