1. You read that Elene Cornaro-Piscopia was awarded an MA and a doctorate by the University of Padua (Italian - Padova) in 1678, making her the first woman to be awarded a degree anywhere in the world. Your initial reaction is disbelief: the date strikes you as at least 150 years too early, and Padua seems an unlikely place for such an innovation. However, the claim has aroused your curiosity. What is the simplest and most effective way of checking it? Finding out about the life of Elena Cornoro-Piscopia Trying to find out about Roman Catholic attitudes to university education for women at the time Writing to the University Archivist at Padua with your query Assuming that America led the way in admitting women to university

2. One source states that the then Kingdom of Armenia converted to Christianity in 301, another give the date as 313 and yet another as "262-270 or 310-313". You are feel helpless in view of the bewildering discrepancies. What is your best next step in this case? To find a list of countries that converted as a whole to Christianity To find out what date the Armenian Apostolic Church recognizes To check the reputability of the various sources To look for more and more sources

3. You read that "British appeasement of Germany dates from 1921". You have always assumed that appeasement was a phenomenon of the period 1935-38 (or 1933-38). What is the most important next step? Find out what Lloyd George did in 1921 To dismiss the statement without further ado as nonsense To draw up a list of all concessions made by Britain to Germany in the period 1921-1939 To establish a defintion of appeasement and find out if historians distinguish between "appeasement" and the background to or "roots of appeasement"

4. You want to find out the overall number of Soviet war dead (military and civilian combined) in WWII. You find figures ranging from 10 milllion to 27 million. Which course of action makes best sense? To find recent articles that expressly discuss such discrepancies To reject all figures above 10 million as Soviet propaganda designed to gain sympathy To take an average of all the totals you find To take the highest figure on the grounds that Communism is inefficient

5. You read in an article on economics that "Lenin approved of Keynes". The article is dogmatically opposed to any kind of government intervention in the economy, so you decide to check this claim. Which of the following would disprove the statement? Evidence that Keynes published nothing specifically "Keynesian" during Lenin's lifetime Evidence that Lenin took little interest in capitalist economic theory Evidence that Keynes took a dim view of Lenin Evidence that Lenin was more interested in Keynes's politics than his economic theories

6. Some kinds of areas of history are more prone to factual inaccuracy than others. In which of these would you need to be most aware of the possibility of plain factual inaccuracies, such as wrong dates, names and places, in secondary literature? Church history Political history Hitherto neglected areas Asian history

7. You find a copy of the "Cinq Codes" (1816) - that is, the collected version of the five Napoleonic Codes. The book begins by stating (in English translation), "The laws are enforceable throughout French territory ..." This is so obvious that it doesn't seem worth saying. What is the most likely reason for its inclusion? There's no reason at all for including it Lawyers like to waste time stating the obvious Until after the French Revolution (1789) different laws applied in different parts of France It's a complete mystery

8. You read that in England, between about 1680 and the late 1840s, husbands sometimes sold their wives openly and publicly in a market-place on a busy market day. You are thunderstruck. What's the best next step if you want to make sense of this? Trying to discover what the practice of "wife selling" really was Assuming that it was only possible because of the moral laxity of the Church of England Boggling in sheer disbelief Finding out whether it was a purely local custom confined to one or two counties

9. You read that ever since the start of the Hundred Years' War in 1337 "England and France have been hereditary enemies". Why should you treat this statement within the utmost skepticism? Britain and France were allies in the Crimean War, WWI and for much of WWII Britain and France were last at war in 1815 All of these reasons Between the late Middle Ages and 1689 there was no major conflict between England and France

10. In practice, do you need some prior knowledge of history in order to undertake effective historical research? Yes No