Internal Assessment Guide From Question Creation to Final Submission SL = 25% , HL = 20 %

1. Internal Assessment GuideFrom Question Creation to Final SubmissionSL = 25%, HL = 20%

2. Format: *Total of 1500-2000 words* • Plan of Investigation: • 100-150 words • 3 marks • Summary of Evidence: • 500-600 words • 6 marks • Source Evaluations: • 250-400 words • 5 marks • Analysis: • 500-650 words • 6 marks • Conclusion: • 150-200 words • 2 marks • Bibliography: • not part of word count • 6-12 reputable sources • 3 marks

3. Final Product Format • 1 inch margins • Times New Roman, size 12 • Double spaced • Word count at the end of each section • U Chicago Footnotes • Appendix = optional

4. Examples of Types of Investigations: • A historical topic or theme using written sources or a variety of sources • A historical topic based on fieldwork; for example a museum, archeological site, battlefields, churches • A historical problem using documents (this could include newspapers) • A local history project • A history project based on oral interviews • A historical investigation based on interpreting a novel, film, piece of art

5. Topic Selection& Title Creation

6. Narrowing your focus • The title should relate to the question that you are going to create • No, it doesn’t have to rhyme or be catchy and clever, but you should capture the reader’s attention/interest • It should include the phrase “An Investigation…” • You can change your title • In doing so, you may also have to change your question • The topic, title, and question should represent a narrowing of focus or scope • The investigation should be specific • You have to PROVE something • It should be something that you are interested in researching

7. Previous IA Topics

8. Refining Your Topic • Narrow it down by: • Region(s) • Time Period • Key Players • Interesting/debatable • When in doubt: • Relate it to a topic that crosses over between Papers 1-3 • Paper 1: Crisis in communism • China • USSR • Eastern Europe • Paper2: Topic 3: Single Party States • Mao • Stalin • Nasser • Castro • Paper 2: Topic 5: Cold War • Paper 3: HOA

9. Choose a Question of Controversy • Try to find a topic/title/question that has at least two sides (ex. to what extent…) to allow you to include differing interpretations • It is only controversial if historians disagree as to the answer • Focus on the issues that historians debate, such as: • Which is more important • The main causes • To what extent someone’s reasons for doing something were justifiable • Whether one person is more blameworthy or praiseworthy for something than another person, etc. • Avoid questions that lend themselves to a descriptive answer (upon which historians would agree) such as: • The causes of the Cold War, Stalin’s reasons for punishing the Kulaks, etc

10. Question Creation • Step 1:Create a question: • Using your Topic & Title  Create a question will lead to an appropriate investigation • Use a command term(To what extent, compare/contrast, analyze, assess) • Create an overarching question (Consider Compare/Contrast or Changes and Continuities Over Time) • Narrow the scope of the question • Be specific, consider a question that requires Evaluation and/or Justification • 1It must be resolvable with measurable (empirical) evidence • It must be open-ended • It must be flexible and open to endless refinement • It must be explicit and precise • It must be tested

11. Examples • To what extent were the Moscow Olympic Games of 1980 affected by Cold War tensions? • With what justification can it be claimed that it was the leadership of Trotsky that promoted Red victory in the Russian Civil War? • With what justification can it be claimed that the Chinese Great Famine 1959-1962 was a man-made famine resulting from Mao’s policies? • How significant was the role of industrial workers in creating the environment for the Bolshevik seizure of power in 1917?