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Source B: From a letter written by William Rathbone to Liverpool nurses in 1901.

As nurses, you are not inferior servants doing inferior work for inferior wages, but trained and skilled workers carrying out intelligently the treatment prescribed by a doctor.

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Introduction to Inference questionsThe first question in both Unit 1 and Unit 2 is an inference question. An inference means something which is not actually said or shown in the source but which you can work out from the details of the source.

An example of an inference is that if you see someone going into several shops and in each one they ask to see the manager and hand over a letter and their CV you could infer that they are looking for a job.

An example of inference about change is that if someone queued up before the shops opened to buy a new CD by a particular singer but then didn’t bother to buy the next one a year later, you could infer that their taste in music had changed.

How do I answer inference questions?

Unit 1 focuses on change and continuity over time. In Unit 1 you will therefore need to make an inference about change, based on two given sources.

In Unit 2 you will need to make an inference from just one given source.

When answering the inference questions in Units 1 and 2, use only the source(s) – you do not need to use any additional own knowledge!

How will I be marked?

The inference questions in both Unit 1 and Unit 2 are worth 4 marks. The markscheme in both units spreads the marks over two levels:

• Level 1 (1–2 marks): the answer makes an inference but does not show which details of the source(s) have been used to work out the inference OR the answer identifies relevant points from the source(s) but doesn’t explain what inference has been made.

• Level 2 (3-4 marks): the answer makes an inference and supports it with details from the source(s).

You should be aiming to get the full 4 marks in this question. So you need to look at the source(s), then:

Make an inference AND support your inference by using details from the source(s).

1A Medicine

Unit 1 focuses on change and continuity over time. Therefore in Unit 1, Question 1 always asks you to make inferences about change. For example:

If you are studying Medicine in Unit 1, go to page xx.

If you are studying Crime, go to page xx.

If you are studying American West in Unit 2, go to page xx.

If you are studying Germany, go to page xx.

What can you learn from Sources A and B about changes in nursing in the period between the Middle Ages and the start of the twentieth century? Explain your answer, using these sources. (4 marks)

Activity

Read the four comments below. Which of them are valid comments about changes in nursing based on the two sources above? Circle your choice(s).

a. Nurses were better trained as a result of the work of Florence Nightingale.

b. Nursing used to be done by the women of the family but changed to be done by trained nurses.

c. Nurses were respected more in the twentieth century than in the Middle Ages.

d. Women made their own medicines to treat the sick during the Middle Ages but in the twentieth century they had less responsibility because the treatment they gave had been prescribed by a doctor.

Only two of these comments can be supported from the sources. Read the example below of how one of the comments has been turned into an answer that would score the full four marks although it is only 78 words.

Nursing used to be done by the woman of the family, at home, as is shown in Source A where the man is in bed and the woman is sitting in front of the fire making her own medicine by following a recipe. By the twentieth century nursing had changed to something that was done by trained nurses, which is shown in B where Rathbone tells nurses they are ‘not inferior servants … but trained and skilled workers.’ Now look again at the four comments about change and find the other comment that is based on the sources. Write two sentences that clearly identify the change from nursing as it is shown in Source A to nursing in Source B and support this comment by using a detail from each source.

Source A: An illustration from the Middle Ages, showing a housewife and her maid preparing medicine for the man lying ill in bed.

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Activity

Read the answer below.

1. Underline in blue the details that come from the sources.

2. Underline in red the comment about change.

3. Use the markscheme on page 4 to decide how many marks you would give it.

In Source A, I can see a woman using a recipe book to prepare medicine for the man who is sick and is lying in bed and her maid is helping her. This shows the way that nursing in the Middle Ages was done by the woman of the family, using her own remedies. Rathbone seems to have a lot of respect for the nurses. This is because Florence Nightingale made a lot of changes to the training of nurses and made it a respectable thing to do. This shows that nursing has changed by 1901 and has become a skilled profession which is respected instead of being part of the normal life of a woman.

I would give this marks.

Now read the Examiner’s comment below. Using that information, create an improved answer by focusing on the changes in nursing and only including detail from the sources if it is being used to support your comment. (Note that you have been given less space here than will be provided in the examination booklet.)

Examiner’s comment

This answer does make an inference about changes in nursing: that it has gone from being something done within the family to something that needs training. The answer makes some use of the sources to explain this inference so it is Level 2. However, the link between the details and the inference is not clear so it would receive 3 marks rather than 4. The comment about Florence Nightingale is true but it is not based on the sources and therefore gets no marks. Change is the point of the question but it is not mentioned until the end of the answer.

Improved answer: