Using historians’ interpretations to present different perspectives in your IB History essays
Mastering the art of writing an effective essay is an essential skill for all IB History students. Yet, knowing what is required to earn good marks and understanding how to implement these concepts in practice can be a challenge. In this article, our IB History author, Joe Gauci, shares advice on how to successfully present different perspectives in your analysis for IB History Paper 2 and Paper 3 focusing on using historians’ interpretations of events.
Note that this approach is not the only way to present differing perspectives. You may find our article An alternative approach to successfully incorporating different perspectives into your IB History essays of use when determining how best to answer the questions you encounter in your revision process and indeed on your IB exam.
How do you incorporate different perspectives into your essays?
Higher and Standard Level IB History candidates tackling Paper 2 and Higher Level candidates writing essays for Paper 3 need to be able to show an awareness and evaluation of ‘different perspectives’ in order to access the second highest mark band (10-12 out of 15) and provide an evaluation of different perspectives integrated into the answer in order to access the highest mark band (13-15 out of 15).
Does that mean you have to include different interpretations by named historians into your essays?
That is one way of demonstrating an awareness of differing perspectives, provided you use references to different historians’ views appropriately, and do not insert them just for the sake of displaying your knowledge if they do not contribute to answering the question.
However, referring to named historians and their interpretations is just one way of demonstrating an awareness of differing perspectives, you can do so in other ways, provided you show that there are different possible approaches to answering the question in the essay title.
What does ‘evaluation’ of differing perspectives require?
Whilst showing an ‘awareness of differing perspectives’ just means demonstrating in your answer that there are different possible approaches to answering the question or different historical interpretations that apply to the question, ‘evaluation’ requires you to weigh up the relative merits/validity of the different approaches/interpretations.
Example: ‘Examine the methods used by one authoritarian ruler to get into power’
Using historians’ perspectives and taking Lenin as your example in answering the question above, you might write that:
‘Historians such as Robert Conquest argue that it was, above all, Lenin’s leadership that ensured Bolshevik success in the October Revolution. This was demonstrated by his formulation of the April Theses to fit the circumstances Russia found itself in, playing for peasant support by promising them land, despite Marx writing the peasantry off as incapable of possessing revolutionary consciousness and positioning the Bolsheviks uniquely as the only party to oppose continuation of the war whereas the other revolutionary parties supported a war of ‘revolutionary defencism’. Arguably, without Lenin’s insistence that the Bolsheviks should use the Soviets to stage a second revolution as soon as possible and his return to Petrograd in October to push the Bolshevik Central Committee into action, the October Revolution would not have taken place. Many other leading Bolsheviks favoured working with other revolutionary parties, such as the Social Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, whereas Lenin insisted that the Bolshevik seize power on their own, despite the misgivings articulated by Kamenev and Zinoviev in October.
By contrast, revisionist historians such as Orlando Figes, suggest that the weaknesses of the Provisional Government were so great that its collapse was inevitable and that a second, popular revolution from below was building in Russia, which the Bolsheviks hijacked to their advantage. Figes and others point to peasant land seizures in the summer and autumn of 1917, a growing tide of desertions from the army and the increasing demands of a number of non-Russian peoples for independence to support their contention that if the Bolsheviks had not seized power in October, the Provisional Government would have been swept away by a popular revolution or revolutions and Russia may have avoided ending up as a one-party authoritarian state. Instead, the Bolsheviks were able to capitalise on the growing popular unrest by using the Petrograd Soviet as a vehicle for seizing power for themselves, resulting in the Mensheviks and most of the Social Revolutionaries storming out of the Second All-Russia Congress of Soviets when Lenin announced the revolution.’
Portrait of Vladimir Lenin in 1918, Unknown photographer
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vladimir-Ilich-Lenin-1918.jpg
Important tips to remember
You do not need to have included the names of particular historians to have shown an awareness of different perspectives – fine if you have them, of course – provided you show you understand the different interpretations put forward above (or suitable alternative ones).
The example text above has demonstrated an awareness of differing perspectives and some of the evidence those different perspectives are based on, but, in order, to provide evaluation, you need to test out the relative strengths/weaknesses of the two approaches, reaching a judgement on which is the more convincing on the basis of the evidence.
Continuing your IB History revision and review
Learning how to effectively present different perspectives in your IB History Paper 2 or Paper 3 essays takes practice. You will need to make a concerted effort to tackle practice questions and refine your approach to answering them. Take the time to review the materials you have covered in your IB History class and be sure to organise your notes so that you can more easily construct responses to the practice questions you are answering. You may find that creating mind maps for potential questions helps to refine your thinking and visualise potential answers.
The approach and tips shared in this article are an example of the type of guidance found in our range of IB History study guides, including our guide History SL & HL: Paper 2 Authoritarian States - Russia 1917 - 1953. Each guide provides a thorough review of syllabus topics, top tips on how to approach your IB History exam, examples of how to craft strong answers, and practice questions to help you refine your skills making them a great tool to help organise your IB History revision. You can learn more about all our IB History study guides and discover more free resources and study tools on our IB History subject page.
