History Gr 10 · Year SummaryDate: Top Journal

History is not a list of dates. It is an argument, and evidence is how you win it.The GOAT Notes™

Every question in the paper · no marks of its own · the form of every mark

TERM 1 · HISTORICAL SKILLS SOURCES AND ESSAYS

What you must be able to do

Read any source, from photograph to map, by asking who made it and why
Answer each item with the number of points (n × m) asks for
Judge a source in four moves: origin, purpose, limitation, usefulness
Compare two sources and explain why accounts of one event differ
Tell Level 1, 2 and 3 questions apart
Write a PEEL paragraph and plan an essay against the seven-level matrix
Use cause and effect, change and continuity, and time to organise evidence

Core content · The range of sources, and reading photographs, cartoons and maps

A source is anything that tells us about the past: diaries, letters, newspapers, books, websites, film, photographs, drawings, paintings, cartoons, maps, oral accounts, monuments and museums. Whatever the type, we ask first: who made this, and why? For a map, read the title, key and scale, then ask what was left off.

Worked example: primary or secondary?

A primary source was made at the time by someone there; a secondary source later, by someone who studied the evidence. Either can be one-sided.

Source A, the 1888 report: Primary: written at the time.
Source B, the photograph: Primary: taken at the opening.
The 1921 memoir: Primary, but 33 years later: memory may have reshaped it.
A modern textbook: Secondary: written by someone who studied the evidence.
The 1988 plaque: Heritage, made a century later. It names only the engineer: who chose the wording, and whose work is left out?

Worked example: reading Source B

Who took it, for whom: The Public Works Department, to record the opening for the Government.
Who is in focus: Five officials, posed in a line.
Who is at the edge: Two workers, small and apart: they built it, but the picture is not about them.
What is outside the frame: What was not chosen: the cost, the wages, the people not invited.

⚠️ COMMON MISTAKE “It shows exactly what happened” loses the mark. A photograph is a chosen view: say what it shows, then what the photographer left out.

Worked example: reading Source C

Who drew it, for which side: The Kloofdrift Courant, a paper against the toll: expect argument, not record.
What is exaggerated: A giant toll keeper, a tiny wagon: size stands for power.
What the symbol stands for: The coin bag: money taken from travellers.
What the caption is doing: Sarcasm: “pays for itself” means the travellers pay.

Core content · Extraction and interpretation: the sub-question shapes

Each sub-question prints its marks as (n × m) (total): n points worth m marks each. A (1 × 2) wants a point plus its explanation; a (2 × 2) two such pairs. Extraction items say “quote”, “name” or “according to the source”; interpretation items “explain”, “comment” or “why”.

Worked example: four sub-questions on Source A (written for this guide)

Source A: report by the district engineer to the Colonial Secretary, 1888. “The bridge opened on 14 March, a fortnight early. I employed local men throughout, and their willing labour kept costs below the estimate. The toll charged at the northern end will, in my judgement, repay the Government’s outlay within five years.”

1.1.1 · L1 · (1 × 1): Quote ONE phrase that shows why costs stayed low. → “their willing labour kept costs below the estimate” ✓
1.1.2 · L1 · (1 × 2): Define toll in your own words. → A fee paid to cross a bridge or use a road ✓✓
1.1.3 · L2 · (1 × 2): Explain what “willing labour” implies. → The men chose the work and did not complain ✓, so the project looks fair and well run ✓
1.1.4 · L2 · (1 × 2): Using Source A and your own knowledge, explain why a government might charge a toll. → Source A: it will repay the Government’s outlay ✓. Own knowledge: colonial governments often charged tolls to recover what roads and bridges cost ✓

Each ✓ is one mark and → leads to the memo answer. “Quote” means copy, then stop; for Quote or Name items, the n is how many separate items you copy; a (1 × 2) can still earn two ticks.

⚠️ COMMON MISTAKE “Using your own knowledge” asks for a fact from outside the source. Copying the source back earns the source mark only, never the own-knowledge mark.

Core content · Usefulness, reliability and bias: origin, purpose, limitation, usefulness

We judge a source in four moves, in order. Origin: who made it, what kind, when. Purpose: why, and for whom. Limitation: what it leaves out or stretches. Usefulness: what it shows a historian about this question.

⚖️ LAWS / FRAMEWORKS Origin → Purpose → Limitation → Usefulness. Judge from the origin, not from how believable the content sounds. Reliability asks “can we trust it?”; usefulness asks “what does it show?”

📖 KEY DEFINITION Bias is one-sidedness: one perspective on an event, pressed too hard. Subjectivity is a personal viewpoint; a stereotype a fixed, over-simple picture of a group. A biased source can be unreliable yet useful.

⚠️ COMMON MISTAKE “It is biased, so it is useless” throws marks away: one-sided evidence shows what its maker wanted believed. “It sounds true, so it is reliable” earns nothing: reliability comes from origin.

Source D: wagons crossing Kloof Drift each year, counted by the drift keeper, published 1891 (invented figures)
Year	Wagons
1885	410
1886	425
1887	440
1888	610
1889	905
1890	1 020

Worked example: the four moves on Sources B, C and D

Source B: Origin: photograph for the Public Works Department, 1888. Purpose: to record the opening. Limitation: posed; workers at the edge. Useful for: how officials wanted the day remembered.
Source C: Origin: the Courant, a paper opposed to the toll, 1888. Purpose: to persuade readers. Limitation: exaggerated opinion. Useful for: what critics believed.
Source D: Origin: the drift keeper’s count, published 1891. Purpose: an official record. Limitation: wagons only, not people on foot. Useful for: change in trade.
In the paper (1 × 2): “Source D is useful because crossings more than doubled, 440 in 1887 to 905 in 1889, so the bridge changed trade. It is limited, because it counts wagons only. ✓✓” If your paper prints (2 × 2), give two of each.

Core content · Comparing sources and explaining different interpretations

A cross-source question names two sources and one relationship, supports or contrasts. Name BOTH sources, give a detail from each, and say what they share or how they differ.

Worked example: explain how Source D supports Source A. (1 × 2)

Detail from A: The toll “will … repay the Government’s outlay within five years”.
Detail from D: Crossings more than doubled once the bridge opened, so far more tolls were paid.
Answer ✓✓: Source A says the toll will repay the cost; Source D supports this, as crossings rose from 440 to 905, so many more wagons paid.

🔥 FREQUENTLY TESTED Nearly every source-based question carries a cross-source item. It is Level 3: the mark is for the link, not for summarising each source.

Worked example: why accounts of one event differ

Questions: A asks whether the project succeeded; C asks who pays.
Evidence: A has the accounts; C has travellers’ complaints.
Audiences: A writes to the Government; C to the public.
Times: Early written accounts of Shaka, mostly by traders with interests of their own, differ from later histories that add oral tradition.

Core content · The three cognitive levels in source-based questions

Questions are set 40% Level 1, 40% Level 2, 20% Level 3: in a 50-mark source-based question, about 20, 20 and 10 marks. The command word tells you the level.

Worked example: tag the items on Sources A to D

Quote ONE phrase (1 × 1): L1, copy from the source.
What is implied (1 × 2): L2, explain what it means.
Messages of Source C (2 × 2): L2, interpret a visual.
How D supports A (1 × 2): L3, compare two sources.
Usefulness of D (1 × 2): L3, evaluate.
The paragraph (6): L3, judge and conclude.

⚡ MUST MEMORISE Level 1 finds and copies; Level 2 explains what it means; Level 3 judges, compares and concludes. Essays are marked on the matrix, not by level.

Core content · The paragraph: PEEL in six or eight lines

Every source-based question ends with one paragraph, using the sources and your own knowledge: about six lines (60 words) for 6 marks or eight lines (80 words) for 8, marked as a whole at three levels.

Level	6 marks	8 marks	What the marker sees
1	0–2	0–2	Elementary use of evidence
2	3–4	3–5	Mostly relevant, basic paragraph
3	5–6	6–8	Relevant evidence, organised paragraph

⚠️ COMMON MISTAKE On “to what extent” you must take a stance or earn no marks. A paragraph that runs to half a page is as costly: it spends time a 50-mark essay needs.

⚡ MUST MEMORISE Point, Explanation, Example, Link. The example is a source detail PLUS a fact of your own; the link repeats the question’s words.

Scaffold: a six-line paragraph, frame by frame

P · 1 line: To a large (or limited) extent, … because …
E · 1–2 lines: This means …
E · 2–3 lines: Source … says …, and, from my own knowledge, …
L · 1 line: So, …, as the question asks.

The curriculum also names debate with evidence: practised in class, never assessed in the paper, but it trains the same habit: take a position, support it, answer the other side.

Core content · The essay: line of argument and the seven-level matrix

An essay is 50 marks and about three pages on one statement or question: “Do you agree?”, “To what extent?” or “Critically discuss”. It is marked as a whole on a matrix of content (does it answer this question, with relevant evidence?) and presentation (structure, argument, conclusion): the mark sits where the levels meet.

⭐ EXAM FAVOURITE A short essay that argues beats a long one that retells. Level 7 needs an original, balanced argument, sustained and defended.

Scaffold on the case file: a plan, not an essay

“The Kloof Drift bridge served the Government more than local people.” Do you agree? (50)

Analyse: Command: do you agree. Topic: the bridge. Limit: “more than”, so compare two groups.
Line of argument: Largely agree: the Government gained the toll and the credit, but traders gained too.
Introduction: The bridge and its toll, then the line of argument.
Paragraphs 1–3: 1 Government: the toll repays the cost; officials get the credit. 2 Travellers and workers: they pay the toll and stand at the edge. 3 Counter-point: trade grew, so some locals gained.
Conclusion: Synthesise: weigh the three, repeat “largely agree”, add no new facts.

Each paragraph is PEEL and links back. In the exam your evidence comes from what you have learned, not a source booklet.

Core content · Historical concepts and values: cause and effect, change and continuity, time

History organises evidence with cause and effect, change and continuity, time and chronology and perspective, and weighs the past against human rights, dignity, unity, justice and equality.

Worked example: the ideas on the case file

Cause and effect: A “why” question wants two or more linked causes, long-term and short-term, each with “because”.
Change and continuity: Change: traffic and the toll. Continuity: in 1888 the workers stand at the edge, and the 1988 plaque still leaves them out.
Time: 1888 is in the nineteenth century; the memoir came 33 years later, the plaque a century later: ask how each gap shaped the source.
Perspective and values: Officials, travellers and workers saw the bridge differently: whose dignity does Source B respect?

🧠 ACTIVE RECALL

Source A (written for this guide) is the district engineer’s report of 1888, written as the bridge opened. Which statement about it is correct?

A former labourer’s memories of the bridge were written down in 1921, 33 years after it opened. How should a historian treat this source?

A modern textbook explains how the bridge changed trade, using the engineer’s report and the drift keeper’s count. How is the textbook best described?

A plaque unveiled at the bridge in 1988 names only the engineer. What should a historian do with it?

Source D is the drift keeper’s yearly count of wagons, published in 1891. Which statement about it is correct?

Source C (drawn for this guide): the giant toll keeper holds a bag marked £. What does the bag stand for?

Source C (drawn for this guide): the toll keeper is drawn far bigger than the wagon. What is the cartoonist doing?

Source C (drawn for this guide): the caption reads “The Bridge That Pays for Itself”. How should a historian read it?

Which set of questions best opens up Source B, the photograph, for a historian?

A learner writes: “Source B shows exactly what happened at the opening.” Why would this lose the mark?

Source A (written for this guide): “The bridge opened on 14 March, a fortnight early.”
Sub-question: Quote ONE phrase from Source A that shows the bridge was finished early. (1 × 1) (1) What should you write?

Source A (written for this guide): “I employed local men throughout, and their willing labour kept costs below the estimate. The toll … will … repay the Government’s outlay within five years.”
Sub-question: Name TWO groups of people mentioned in Source A. (2 × 1) (2) How is it marked?

Source A (written for this guide): “The toll … will … repay the Government’s outlay within five years.”
Sub-question: Using Source A and your own knowledge, explain why a government might build a bridge. (1 × 2) (2) What earns both marks?

Source C (drawn for this guide) is a cartoon with a giant toll keeper, a tiny wagon and a bag marked £.
Sub-question: Explain the messages conveyed by Source C. (2 × 2) (4) What is the best plan?

Source D (written for this guide), wagons crossing Kloof Drift each year: 1885 410; 1886 425; 1887 440; 1888 610; 1889 905; 1890 1 020.
Sub-question: List THREE years in which more than 600 wagons crossed. (3 × 1) (3) How should you answer?

Source C (drawn for this guide) is a cartoon from the Kloofdrift Courant, a paper opposed to the toll.
A learner writes: “Source C is biased, so it is useless to a historian.” Which correction is best?

Source A (written for this guide) is the district engineer’s report to the Colonial Secretary, 1888, on the bridge he built.
Which limitation of Source A comes from who made it?

Source D (written for this guide), the drift keeper’s count of wagons, published 1891: 440 crossed in 1887 and 905 in 1889.
A historian is researching how the bridge changed trade. Which judgement of Source D is best?

Source A (written for this guide) is the district engineer’s report, 1888, which gives exact dates and costs.
A learner writes: “Source A is reliable because it gives exact dates and costs, so it sounds true.” What is wrong with this?

Which is the best limitation of the 1921 memoir written by a former labourer?

Which sub-question on Source D is Level 1?

Which sub-question on Source A is Level 3?

Levels are set 40 / 40 / 20. In a 50-mark source-based question, about how many marks are at Level 2?

A sub-question reads: Explain how Source D supports Source A. (1 × 2) Which level is it?

A learner banks every Level 1 and Level 2 mark in a 50-mark source-based question but skips all the Level 3 items. About how many marks can she earn at most?

Essay question: “To what extent did the bridge change trade across Kloof Drift?” Which opening sentence states a line of argument?

Essay question: “The 1988 plaque tells the whole story of the bridge.” Do you agree? Which opening sentence states a line of argument?

Essay question: “Local labourers gained little from the Kloof Drift bridge.” To what extent do you agree? Which opening sentence states a line of argument?

Essay question: “Traffic at the drift grew mainly because the bridge was built.” Do you agree? Which opening sentence states a line of argument?

Essay question: “To what extent was the bridge a success for the Government?” Which opening sentence states a line of argument?

Source B (drawn for this guide) is a photograph taken for the Public Works Department at the opening of the bridge, 1888. Five officials are posed in a line in the middle of the picture, and two workers stand small and apart at the edge.
Explain the messages conveyed by Source B. (2 × 2) (4)

Source A (written for this guide): the district engineer’s report to the Colonial Secretary, 1888: “… The toll charged at the northern end will, in my judgement, repay the Government’s outlay within five years.” Source C (drawn for this guide): a cartoon from the Kloofdrift Courant, 1888, showing a giant toll keeper with a bag marked £ beside a tiny wagon, under the caption “The Bridge That Pays for Itself”.
(a) Explain how Source C contrasts with Source A. (1 × 2)
(b) Why do you think the two sources give different views of the toll? (1 × 2) (4)

Source A (written for this guide), the engineer’s report, 1888: the toll “will … repay the Government’s outlay within five years”. Source C (drawn for this guide), a Courant cartoon, 1888: a giant toll keeper takes money from small wagons. Source D (written for this guide), the drift keeper’s count, published 1891: 440 wagons crossed in 1887 and 905 in 1889.
Using these sources and your own knowledge, write a paragraph of about SIX lines (about 60 words) on: To what extent did travellers benefit from the Kloof Drift bridge? (6)

Explain to a Grade 8 learner why a historian asks “who made this, and why?” before trusting a photograph or a cartoon, using the Kloof Drift bridge as your example.

Explain to a Grade 8 learner the difference between a long-term cause and a short-term cause, using the Kloof Drift bridge, and why a “why” question needs both.

Explain to a Grade 8 learner what PEEL stands for and why a paragraph that only retells the sources earns almost nothing.

ONE-MINUTE SUMMARY Every mark comes through the same skills: read the origin first, answer the (n × m) printed, tie reliability and usefulness to origin and purpose, name both sources when comparing, and build paragraphs and essays in PEEL around a line of argument.

IN THE EXAM

One 150-mark paper, three of six questions: at least one source-based (Questions 1–3) and one essay (Questions 4–6), 50 marks each.
Each source-based question has four sources, A to D, in an addendum: about 40–44 marks of sub-questions, a cross-source item and a 6- or 8-mark paragraph.
An essay is about three pages, marked on the seven-level matrix; each command word needs a line of argument.
Levels 1, 2 and 3 are set 40 / 40 / 20; merely rewriting the sources disadvantages you.

🔒 WORLD 1600

🔒 EXPANSION

🔒 REVOLUTION

🔒 TRANSFORMATIONS

🔒 COLONIAL EXPANSION

🔒 WAR AND UNION

🔒

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