IB History SL Internal Assessment Example

You chose a clear, focused, and historically appropriate question that invites real evaluation rather than description.

Your two selected sources are highly relevant to the topic and clearly connected to the argument you are building.

You include origin, purpose, content, value, and limitation in a way that shows you understand why these sources matter.

Some of the evaluation becomes a little formulaic and could probe the sources more deeply.

A few comments about usefulness are too general and do not fully explain how the limitation affects the investigation.

The analysis would be stronger with more precise attention to historiographical context, audience, and how each source shapes interpretation.

Your investigation is generally clear and well structured, moving logically from Napoleon III’s role to broader structural explanations and then to a reasoned conclusion.

You make sustained attempts at analysis by linking evidence to causation rather than simply narrating events.

You show balance by comparing Napoleon III’s contribution with Bismarck’s diplomacy, Prussian strength, nationalism, and economic integration.

Your conclusion is sensible and consistent with the argument you build throughout the investigation.

Some claims are stronger than the evidence supports and would benefit from more precise substantiation.

At times the same causal idea is repeated without adding much new development.

Your treatment of alternative explanations is present, but the investigation would be stronger if you more clearly separated immediate triggers from long-term causes and made your final judgment more explicit.