Guide to writing thematic essays - Russia & its Rulers, Y318
- Created by: alexharker
- Created on: 11-07-23 15:28
step 1: read the question
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what theme is it asking you to write about?
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eg, economy, peasant lives, nature of government
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in what way do you have to assess the theme?
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is it asking about change, improvement, stagnation, etc?
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this will change the language you use in comparison
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is it asking you about leaders or events?
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if it asks about events, eg. fundamental laws, you need to compare events
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if it asks about leaders, time periods, communists vs tsars, etc, you need to compare leaders
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does it give you a stated factor?
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eg, X was the most important
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step 2: plan it
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split the theme into three different topics
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(please look to the bottom of this guide!)
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for each topic, list three events/leaders to compare
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heres a look at the last russia paper i did: i sorted them into most, moderate and least
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comparison is very important. eg. for change, look at most change (positive or negative). for improvement, however, “least” could be significant negative change!
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remember that if you have a stated factor, you need to include it in every paragraph. this might lead you to writing about four factors instead of three.
step 3: write the damned thing
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remember to include all time periods!
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never, ever write it chronologically! always regard it thematically!
regarding war + revolution:
when a war + revolution question is asked, it always asks about a war’s (or revolution’s) impact on something
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eg. ‘ww1 was the biggest change to industry’
the thing it’s impacting is your theme
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so, write your industry essay (light, heavy, comms + transport)
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