Primary Source Analysis
Learning Objectives
In this lesson, you will:
- Analyze primary sources related to global connections
- Practice sourcing, contextualizing, and corroborating
- Evaluate bias and perspective in historical documents
- Draw conclusions from historical evidence
Practice Quiz
Practice analyzing primary sources. Click to reveal each answer.
Question 1: What are the key questions to ask when sourcing a primary document?
Answer: Who created it? When was it created? Where was it created? Why was it created? What type of document is it? Who was the intended audience?
Explanation: Sourcing helps determine the document's reliability and purpose. Context affects meaning.
Question 2: A European explorer's account describes a foreign culture as "primitive." How should a historian interpret this language?
Answer: The language reveals the author's biases and worldview, not objective facts about the culture. It tells us about European attitudes toward other cultures at the time. The document is still useful, but requires critical analysis.
Explanation: All sources have perspective. Biased sources are still valuable for understanding how people thought.
Question 3: Why is it important to corroborate primary sources with other evidence?
Answer: Single sources may be biased, incomplete, or inaccurate. Comparing multiple sources reveals what's reliable, shows different perspectives, and provides a fuller picture of events.
Explanation: Historians never rely on one source. Corroboration is like triangulating to find the truth.
Question 4: A merchant's letter describes profitable trade. What biases might affect this source?
Answer: Merchants may exaggerate profits (to attract investors), downplay difficulties (to maintain confidence), focus only on commercial aspects (ignoring social impacts), and reflect only the European/foreign perspective (not local views).
Explanation: Consider what the author gains from the document and what perspectives are missing.
Question 5: What is contextualization and why is it important for understanding primary sources?
Answer: Contextualization means understanding the time, place, and circumstances in which a source was created. Without context, we may misinterpret meaning, miss references, or apply modern values anachronistically.
Explanation: Words and actions meant different things in different times. Context is necessary for accurate interpretation.
Question 6: How would you analyze a map as a primary source?
Answer: Consider: Who made it? What's included or excluded? What's emphasized or labeled prominently? What projection is used? Maps reflect the mapmaker's priorities, knowledge limitations, and biases.
Explanation: Maps are not neutral representations. They make choices about what to show and how to show it.
Question 7: A colonial administrator's report and a local resistance leader's memoir describe the same event differently. How do you use both sources?
Answer: Compare where they agree (likely factual) and differ (likely perspective). Consider each author's position and interests. Use differences to understand how the event was perceived by different groups.
Explanation: Conflicting sources are valuable - they reveal complexity and multiple perspectives on events.
Question 8: What questions should you ask about a photograph as a primary source?
Answer: Who took it and why? Was it posed or candid? What's outside the frame? When and where was it taken? How has it been used or circulated? Photos can be staged, cropped, or used out of context.
Explanation: Photographs seem objective but involve choices about what to capture and how to frame it.
Question 9: What is the difference between intended and unintended information in a primary source?
Answer: Intended: what the author meant to communicate. Unintended: what we can learn that the author didn't consciously share (attitudes, assumptions, context clues). Both are valuable for historians.
Explanation: A letter might intentionally describe trade but unintentionally reveal attitudes about gender, race, or class.
Question 10: How do oral histories differ from written documents as primary sources?
Answer: Oral histories provide voices often missing from written records (illiterate populations, marginalized groups). However, they may be affected by memory changes over time, interviewer influence, and retrospective interpretation.
Explanation: Oral histories expand whose perspectives are included but require careful evaluation like any source.
Next Steps
- Practice analyzing different types of primary sources
- Research historical perspectives on global connections
- Move on to claim-evidence writing when ready