The extended plan of the series is designed in response to the changing trends in history examinations at 18 plus, which now demand the study of documentary sources and the testing of historical skills.

Each volume, similar in format to the earlier books in the series, concentrates on a particular topic within a narrower time span. A general introduction to the period in question is followed by eight sections dealing with a major theme. Each section consists of an introduction, a series of documents to illustrate the theme (drawn mainly from primary sources) and sets of questions following groups of documents. The student is thus introduced to a wider range of sources than that to be found in the standard textbook.