How Do I Compare Sources in Sec 2?

Two people can share a view and still feel very differently about it. In Sec 2, the top level of a "how similar" or "how different" answer usually needs a supported similarity and a supported difference. These notes set out four steps (a common criterion, a similarity, a difference, then weighing it up), with a model answer on two views of National Service in 1967.

What's Changed This Year

Sec 1: the top level was for comparing tone or purpose.
Sec 2: for "How similar…?" or "How different…?", the top of the usual ladder needs a supported similarity and a supported difference.
Read the question: if it asks "In what ways are they similar?", give two supported similarities instead.
Lower levels: only one supported similarity or difference is the level below; comparing only who wrote the sources (provenance) is near the bottom.

The Two Sources

A teenage boy giving a thumbs-up and an older man smiling across a dinner table in a flat — Same table, two points of view. Illustration drawn for Our Study Tribe.

Question: "How similar are Sources A and B in their views on National Service?"
Source A: a young man starting National Service in 1967. He is proud: "If we don't defend our home, who will?"
Source B: a parent's letter to a newspaper, 1967. She agrees the country must defend itself, but losing her son's pay for two years will be very hard.
Context: in 1967, National Service became compulsory: two years full-time, then reservist duty.

The Four Steps

Find a common criterion: the thing you compare them on. Here, their views on National Service.
A similarity, with evidence from both.
A difference, with evidence from both.
Weigh it up: are they more alike or more different, and why?

How Do I Compare Sources in Sec 2?

Worked Example: The Similarity

PointSources A and B are similar in that both agree Singapore needed to defend itself.
EvidenceSource A asks, "If we don't defend our home, who will?" Source B agrees that the country must defend itself.
ElaborationBoth the recruit and the parent accept the reason for National Service, so on the question of whether defence was needed, they share the same view.
LinkThus, the sources are similar in their view of why National Service was needed.

Worked Example: The Difference and the Judgement

PointHowever, Sources A and B differ in how they feel about National Service: A is proud, while B is worried.
EvidenceSource A describes recruits as "tough as nails" and asks, "If we don't defend our home, who will?" Source B says that losing her son's pay for two years will be very hard for the family.
ElaborationA sees National Service as a matter of pride in defending the nation, but B sees it through its cost to her family, so they agree on the reason for it but not on how it feels to live through it.
LinkTherefore, the sources are more different than similar, because they share the reason for National Service but not the feeling about it.

Use Tone Words

Source A: sounds proud and confident.
Source B: sounds worried, almost pleading.
Why it helps: naming the tone makes a difference easier to support.

"How Far Does B Support A?"

Same steps, different wording.
The answer: B supports A on the need for defence, but not on A's pride, so only partly.
Common mistake: "They're different because one was written by a recruit and one by a parent." That only compares provenance, not what they say.

In One Sentence

To compare two sources, choose a common criterion, support one similarity and one difference with evidence from both, then weigh up whether they are more alike or more different, rather than comparing only who wrote them.

Think About It

Why isn't "one was written by a recruit and one by a parent" enough for a good comparison?
Two friends describe the same school camp: one loved it, one hated it. What could be your common criterion, and what might be similar?
Can two sources agree on the facts but disagree in tone? Give an example from the NS sources.