Source-based questions and answers

1. Answers for
Sources A, B
and C

2. Source A: A description of the government
during the Shang dynasty.
The Shang Dynasty was a monarchy in
which the king was both lawmaker and
judge so no one dared to argue with him.
He ruled by force, and anyone who
transgressed the king's laws would be
killed immediately by his soldiers.
Archaeologists think that when a king died
in the Shang Dynasty, his closest relation
would take the throne.

3. Step 1: Making valid inferences
1. The King had the final say in everything.
2. The King was ruthless.
3. The Shang government was not democratic.
4. The King was feared by the people.
5. There was no freedom of speech.

4. Step 2: Evidence
Inference 1: The King had the final say in
everything.
Evidence 1: “...the king was both lawmaker and
judge...”

5. Step 2: Evidence
Inference 2: The King was ruthless.
Evidence 2: “He ruled by force, and anyone who
transgressed the king's laws would be killed
immediately by his soldiers”.

6. Step 2: Evidence
Inference 3: The Shang government was not
democratic.
Evidence 3: “Archaeologists think that when a
king died in the Shang Dynasty, his closest
relation would take the throne.”

7. Step 2: Evidence
Inference 4: The King was feared by the people.
Evidence 4: “...no one dared to argue with him.” and
“He ruled by force, and anyone who transgressed the
king's laws would be killed immediately by his soldiers.”

8. Step 2: Evidence
Inference 5: There was no freedom of speech.
Evidence 5: “The Shang Dynasty was a monarchy in
which the king was both lawmaker and judge so no
one dared to argue with him.”

9. Step 3: Explain
Inference 1: The King had the final say in
everything.
Evidence 1: “...the king was both lawmaker and
judge...”, “no one dared to argue with him.”
Explanation: Therefore, I can infer that the King
made the decisions ultimately because his
views and decisions cannot be opposed.

10. Step 3: Explain
Inference 2: The King was ruthless.
Evidence 2: “He ruled by force, and anyone who
transgressed the king's laws would be killed
immediately by his soldiers”.
Explanation 2: Therefore, I can infer that the King
was ruthless because a fair and reasonable
King would at least give people a fair trial before
execution.

11. Step 3: Explain
Inference 3: The Shang government was not
democratic.
Evidence 3: “Archaeologists think that when a
king died in the Shang Dynasty, his closest
relation would take the throne.”
Explanation 3: Therefore, I can infer that the
Shang government was not democratic because
the people could not elect their King.

12. Step 3: Explain
Inference 4: The King was feared by the people.
Evidence 4: “...no one dared to argue with him.” and
“He ruled by force, and anyone who transgressed the
king's laws would be killed immediately by his soldiers.”
Explanation 4: Therefore, I can infer that the King was
feared by the people because they did not dare voice
out their opinions since the King has the habit of
executing people unreasonably.

13. Step 3: Explain
Inference 5: There was no freedom of speech.
Evidence 5: “The Shang Dynasty was a monarchy in
which the king was both lawmaker and judge so no
one dared to argue with him.”
Explanation 5: Therefore I can infer that there was
no freedom of speech because if there was
freedom of speech, people ought to be able to
argue with the King.

14. Mistakes made
1. Directly lifting or copying
from the source for your main
inference.
E.g. Source A tells me that
when a king died in the
Shang Dynasty, his closest
relation would take the
throne.

15. Mistakes made
2. Describing the obvious (even though you're
not copying or lifting from the source)
e.g. Source A tells me that the throne is passed
to the King's closest relation.
Should have been: Source A tells me that the
Shang government was not democratic.

16. Mistakes made
3. NOT quoting from the source.
Your evidence comes from the source so
this is the part where you don't have to use
your words. You can copy a whole
sentence or just a short phrase. Remember
to use quotation marks.
E.g. “Archaeologists think that when a king
died in the Shang Dynasty, his closes
relation would take the throne”
Or
The evidence from this source is “...no one
dared to argue with him.”

17. Mistakes made
4. Irrelevant or unrelated
explanations
Remember that your explanation
has 2 parts.

18. Example
Therefore I can infer that there was no freedom
of speech because if there was freedom of
speech, people ought to be able to argue
with the King.
Part A (Reiteration of your main
inference) which came from “There
was no freedom of speech”
Part B (Explain how you came to that
inference) which came from ““The
Shang Dynasty was a monarchy in
which the king was both lawmaker and
judge so no one dared to argue with
him.”

19. Source B: An extract of an article on the
website www.harappa.com on the rise and fall
of the Indus Civilization.
The Indus Civilization flourished between about 2600
and 1800 BC when it collapsed into regional cultures at
the Late Harappan stage. According to Parpola the
collapse was due to a combination of several factors like
over-exploitation of the environment, drastic changes in
the river-courses, series of floods, water-logging and
increased salinity of the irrigated lands. Finally the
weakened cities would have become easy victims of the
raiders from Central Asia, whose arrival heralded a
major cultural discontinuity in South Asia.

20. Step 1: Making valid inferences
1. The fall of the Indus Valley Civilisation was
partly due to the government's poor planning.
2. The fall of the Indus Valley civilisation was
partly due to the government's inability to cope
with natural disasters.
3. The fall of the civilisation was due to
overpopulation.

21. Step 2: Evidence
Inference 1: The fall of the Indus Valley
Civilisation was partly due to the government's
poor planning.
Evidence 1: “...the collapse was due to a
combination of several factors like over-
exploitation...water-logging”

22. Step 2: Evidence
Inference 2: The fall of the Indus Valley civilisation
was partly due to the government's inability to
cope with natural disasters.
Evidence 2: “...the collapse was due to
combination of several factors like...drastic
changes in the river-courses, series of floods...”.

23. Step 2: Evidence
Inference 3: The fall of the civilisation was due to
overpopulation.
Evidence 3: “the collapse was due to a
combination of several factors like over-
exploitation of the environment”

24. Step 3: Explain
Inference 1: The fall of the Indus Valley
Civilisation was partly due to the government's
poor planning.
Evidence 1: “...the collapse was due to a
combination of several factors like over-
exploitation...water-logging”
Explanation 1: Therefore, I can infer that poor
planning was partly responsible for the fall of the
Indus Valley civilisation because proper
governance would have prevented over-
exploitation and water-logging.

25. Step 3: Explain
Inference 2: The fall of the Indus Valley civilisation was
not just due to natural disasters, but also the
government's inability to cope with them.
Evidence 2: “...the collapse was due to combination of
several factors like...drastic changes in the river-
courses, series of floods”.
Explanation 2: Therefore, I can infer that the Indus Valley
civilisations' fall was not just due to the natural
disasters. The government's incompetency in dealing
with the aftermath of the natural disasters cost them
greatly.

26. Step 3: Explain
Inference 3: The fall of the civilisation was due to
overpopulation.
Evidence 3: “the collapse was due to a combination of
several factors like over-exploitation of the environment”
Explanation 3: Therefore, I can infer that the Indus Valley
civilisation collapsed because of overpopulation which
severely strained limited resources.

27. Source B: A description of the features of the
Indus Valley Civilisation.
The city of Mohenjodaro covered at least one square
mile and is better preserved than Harappa. Both of
these principal cities were well planned, with streets laid
out in a regular grid pattern and oriented to the cardinal
directions. Street widths and brick sizes were
standardised. Most houses were served by a built-in
drianage system and had chutes for garbage disposal.
The main street at Mohenjodaro was more than half a
mile in length and about thirty-three feet wide. Perhaps
as many as 40,000 persons lived there and were
involved in industry and trade. The most spectacular
features of Mohenjodaro are the Great Bath and the
Granary.

28. Source C (Possible Answer 1)
Source C tells me that the government of the
Indus Valley Civilisation has advanced
architectural knowledge and technology. The
evidence is “Both of these principal cities were
well planned, with streets laid out in a regular
grid pattern and…street widths and brick sizes
were standardised.” Therefore, I can infer that
the government has advanced architectural
knowledge and technology because back then,
they were already using architectural ideas and
concepts that are thought to be relatively
modern.

29. Source C (Possible Answer 2)
Source C tells me that the government of the
Indus Valley Civilisation was concerned about
the hygiene conditions of the cities. The
evidence is “Most houses were served by a
built-in drainage system and had chutes for
garbage disposal.” Therefore, I can infer that the
government was concerned about the hygiene
conditions of the cities because of the sanitation
fixtures that were incorporated into the
buildings.

30. Source C (Possible Answer 3)
Source C tells me that the government had
foresight and was prepared for an increase in
population. The evidence is “Both of these
principal cities were well planned, with streets
laid out in a regular grid pattern…” Therefore I
can infer that the government had foresight and
was prepared for an increase in population
because the city was not built in a haphazard
manner, so as to accommodate more living
quarters for more people.