History Internal Assessment

The Purpose of the History IA

The requirements for internal assessment for the history course are:

• the student undertakes a valid historical investigation that allows the opportunity for a judgment or assessment to be made

• the emphasis is on a specific historical inquiry under the guidance of a teacher

• the student applies the skills of the historian to the investigation.

The historical investigation is assessed against six criteria that are related to the objectives of the history course:

• undertake a historical investigation using a good range of historical sources

• focus on a topic or event with a cut-off date that is at least 10 years before the submission date for the investigation (therefore, an investigation submitted in 2023 would have a cut-off date of 2013)

• provide a title for the historical investigation that should be framed as a question

• produce a written account of between 2200 words for SL and HL, which must consist of:

  • a cover page with title: research question, date of submission,  accurate word count

  • Criteria A:  Research Question a plan of the historical investigation

  • a summary of evidence

  • an evaluation of sources

  • an analysis

  • a conclusion

  • a list of sources