IB History IA source requirements

IB History IA Source Checker

History IA sources should support a historical investigation, not just provide background. The event should be older than the recent-history cutoff, and the pack should include sources that can be evaluated for origin, purpose, value, and limitation.

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AI source auditor

History IA source check

Marksy reads the links or source notes you provide, applies the selected IB assessment profile, and only stops for clarification when the score depends on it.

Profile
2Sources
3Clarify
4Score

Selected profile

History IA

Source rules

What usually works for History IA

Usually strong

  • Primary documents, speeches, laws, letters, newspapers from the period, archival sources, and oral histories when appropriate.
  • Academic books and journal articles by historians.
  • Museum/archive/government collections with clear provenance.

Needs review

  • Textbooks or survey histories used as main evidence.
  • Webpages with no author, no date, or unclear editorial standards.
  • Modern journalism about a recent event that is not yet historical enough.

Avoid or replace

  • Wikipedia or encyclopedia summaries as evaluated sources.
  • AI summaries of historical debates.
  • A source pack with no source suitable for detailed OPVL evaluation.

Examples: strong, risky, weak

Strong

A translated primary speech, an archive photograph with provenance, and two scholarly historians with contrasting interpretations.

Review

A museum overview page that includes useful primary images but mostly summarizes.

Weak

A general encyclopedia article on the whole war.

Where to find better History IA sources

If your current source gets a warning, do not just add more websites. Use searches that match the assessment rule and replace weak evidence with sources that can actually carry analysis.

Replacement moves

Replace wikipedia or encyclopedia summaries as evaluated sources. with primary documents, speeches, laws, letters, newspapers from the period, archival sources, and oral histories when appropriate..

Use textbooks or survey histories used as main evidence. only as context unless your teacher confirms they can carry evidence.

Add one source that gives direct evidence for the IA, not just general background.

Strong places to look

Primary documents, speeches, laws, letters, newspapers from the period, archival sources, and oral histories when appropriate
Academic books and journal articles by historians
Museum/archive/government collections with clear provenance