How to undertake History Inquiry

STEP
1. Framing a
hypothesis

2. Developing
questions

3. Locating,
organising and
evaluating sources

4. Answering
Questions

HOW TO

Choose one of the inquiry questions and develop a hypothesis to frame your
research.

Define the key historical terms and historical concepts in to be used in your
inquiry.

Develop questions to provide a focus for their research.

Use a graphic organiser to help organise their ideas to develop questions.

Locate a selection of primary and secondary sources using ICT and other
methods.

Record notes about sources in a table to evaluate their usefulness in answering

the inquiry questions.

Identify the main ideas and evidence to respond to the research questions.

Record notes, quotes and ideas from sources to help answer the research
questions.

5. Reflecting on your
research

Complete revisions or refinements as required.

Seek feedback from others.

6. Developing a
Persuasive text

Use the format provided to plan and develop a persuasive text (e.g. essay)
using historical arguments.

7. Preparing a
Bibliography

Record the details about your sources in a table.

Prepare a bibliography that follows the guidelines provided by your school.

1. Framing a hypothesis

Conscription
Conscription = Compulsory enlistment for military service.

2. Developing a question

How did Australians view conscription? Did it unite or divide Australia?

Conscripti
on
For

Against

Impact

Who

Who

United or
Divided

Why

Why

Result

3. Locating, organising and evaluating sources.

Primary

This source shows that the government needed more men to

sign up to support Britain, the motherland. This can be used
to explain why the government was trying to introduce
conscription. It is valuable as it is a primary source which
gives a perspective on conscription. It does this by evoking
an emotional response by using the word promise. It also
encourages nationalism by using the Australian emblem, a
kangaroo.

Retrieved from http://hsc.csu.edu.au/modern_history/core_study/ww1/posters/page74.htm

Secondary
o Online
Jstor
Google scholar
Where else?
o Books - 994 code is Australian History.
School library
Local library

Name

Author

Type

Where

Reference

Notes

A Shorter History
of Australia

Geoffrey Blainey

Book

School Library

The conscription
debate during
World War I.

Jack Hetzel-Bone

Online Article

Online Database

Blainey, Geoffrey. A
Shorter History of
Australia. North
Sydney: Random
House Publishing,
2000.
Hetzel-Bone, Jack.
The conscription
debate during
World War I
[online]. Bulletin
(Law Society of
South Australia),
Vol. 36, No. 8, Sep
2014: 24-25

Easy to read. Lots

of Information.
Known for small
factual mistakes.

Short article. Only

briefly outlines the
conscription
debate. Relatively
recent.

ETC
4. Answering Questions.
For

conscription
Labor Prime Ministers
Patriots
Protestants
Anglican
Liberals
Media

Late in 1916 the Labor Prime minister, W.M. Billy Hughes, decided that the reliance on volunteers should be
replaced by the compulsory calling up of young men for service in foreign lands Geoffrey Blainey, 177.

Anti conscription
Irish catholics
Unions
Labor party
Feminists
The trade unions which backed the Labor party, began to complain that workers more than employers were the
economic victims of the war; Real wages were falling in the face of wartime inflation Geoffrey Blainey 177.
5. Reflecting on your research

Get a parent, friend or teacher to read a draft.

Evaluate your information. Is it really relevant?

6. Developing a persuasive text

Introduction
o Thesis (Your point)
o Background information about World War I
o Key dates of the events.
o Outline of argument

Use TEELL to scaffold your body

o T = Topic sentence
o E = Example/Evidence
o E = Evaluation and Discussion
o L = Link to Thesis
o L = Link to next paragraph

Conclusion
o Recap
o Link to the thesis

7. Preparing a Bibliography

History- Chicago
o Book: Authors surname, given name. Title of Book. Place of publication: Publisher, year of publication.
o Article: Authors surname, given name. "Title of Article." Journal Title volume, no. issue (year): pages.
doi:
Author

Title

Year

Publisher/Journal

Where/Vol.