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Using Primary Sources

Primary sources provide first-hand insights into the past and are important tools for historians to develop an understanding of events. However, primary sources can be difficult to interpret, especially those from different cultures. To help interpret primary sources, one should consider questions about the historical context, type of source, understanding the main points and evidence provided, and evaluating how typical and widely circulated the source was.

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70 views2 pages

Using Primary Sources

Primary sources provide first-hand insights into the past and are important tools for historians to develop an understanding of events. However, primary sources can be difficult to interpret, especially those from different cultures. To help interpret primary sources, one should consider questions about the historical context, type of source, understanding the main points and evidence provided, and evaluating how typical and widely circulated the source was.

Uploaded by

Balázs Kovács
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Using Primary Sources

Primary sources are interesting to read for their own sake: they give us first hand, you-are-there insights into the past. They
are also the most important tools an historian has for developing an understanding of an event.

We can't always immediately understand what a primary source means, especially if it is from a culture significantly
different from our own.

To help you interpret primary sources, you should think about these questions as you examine the source:

A. Place the source in its historical context.

1. Who wrote it? What do you know about the author?

2. Where and when was it written?

3. Why was it written?

4. To what audience is it addressed? What do you know about this audience?

B. Classify the source.

1. What kind of work is it?

2. What was its purpose?

3. What are the important conventions and traditions governing this kind of source? Of what legal, political,
religious or philosophical traditions is it a part?

C. Understand the source.

1. What are the key words in the source and what do they mean?

2. What point is the author trying to make? Summarize the thesis.

3. What evidence does the author give to support the thesis?

4. What assumptions underlay the argument?

5. What values does the source reflect?

6. What problems does it address? Can you relate these problems to the historical situation?

7. What action does the author expect as a result of this work? Who is to take this action? How does the source
motivate that action?

D. Evaluate the source as a source of historical information.

1. How typical is this source for this period?

2. How widely was this source circulated?

3. What problems, assumptions, arguments, ideas and values, if any, does it share with other sources from this
period?

4. What other evidence can you find to corroborate your conclusions?

Source: http://www.thenagain.info/Classes/Basics/UsingSources.html

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