Research, Reasoning and Rhetoric: Thinking with History Lecture 6: Developing your source commentary Ted Vallance

Reminder – draft e-portfolio The draft e-portfolio is due in TODAY You submit it by making your portfolio accessible on the Mahara Group. It should contain – –Your source or a link to it –Your hypothesis –A reflective journal (weeks 1-6) –A preliminary bibliography (min 6 items) But you can add more than this

Session structure Lecture –What is a source commentary? –How should it be structured? Seminar –Time management exercises –‘Blind’ source commentary exercises Session outcomes – learn how to answer source commentary exercises effectively; learn how to manage time effectively

The source commentary The source commentary element of the portfolio should be no more than 1500 words in length For that reason, if you are tackling a long source, it is better to choose a short excerpt to analyse (what are referred to as ‘gobbets’) Identify a passage that is relevant to your research hypothesis

What is a source commentary? It is NOT an essay. Make sure your discussion is focused on the source THROUGHOUT All source commentary exercises involving analysing, not simply describing, your source All source commentary exercises are explorations of the historical significance of your source Reliability/unreliability does not = significance/insignificance Your exploration of a source’s significance will be guided by your research hypothesis/questions

Example – ‘blind’ source commentary exercise Here is an example from Oxford University’s HAT (History Aptitude Test). This test is part of the university’s application process. I don’t want you to answer the question on the paper – in any case, the test gives you an hour to do this! BUT I do want you to think of some different questions that could be posed of the same source.

How to structure source commentaries Like essays, source commentaries need good beginnings, middles and ends But they are different sorts of exercises and need to be structured slightly differently A good way of thinking about how to approach organising your commentary is in terms of the 5Cs

The 5 C’s Context – When was the source produced? Who produced it? Content – What is the meaning of the source? (Summarise, don’t paraphrase) Collate – Can the evidence in this source be corroborated with reference to other sources? Comment – Your evaluation of the source Conclude – Overall, what is its historical significance?

Context Find out as much detail as you can about your source – who produced it? When? How does it relate to the immediate historical context? What sort of source is it? Remember – we need this detail for images too. This is the point also to bring in your hypothesis

Content In a nutshell, what does the source mean What is the purposes of the source? Who/What was it created for? Author/creator standpoint? DON’T just paraphrase the source – the aim of the exercise is to show you understand the source, not that you can read!

Collate – using other sources Use related primary sources to Corroborate information/args Assess how typical this source is – is it part of a trend? Assess change over time – later versions

Collation – key points Make sure that you are comparing related sources (similar type, relating to the same specific event) The comparison should help you understand the significance of the source A comparison of Hitler’s Mein Kampf and Anne Frank’s diary would not be appropriate.

Comment What is the historical significance of the extract as a piece of evidence? This will be guided by your hypothesis DON’T stray too far from the extract itself DO use relevant scholarship to help you evaluate the significance of your source

Conclude Finish with a short paragraph showing how your source analysis has addressed your research hypothesis Emphasise the significance of the source for addressing your q. ‘Analysing source x we can see that historical event/process/indivi dual y was....’

Historical significance Which is more historically significant? The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 or the creation of the birth-control pill?

Counsell’s 5 R’s Remarkable – The event/development was remarked upon by people at the time and/or since. Remembered – The event/development was important at some stage in history within the collective memory of a group or groups. Resonant – People like to make analogies with it; it is possible to connect with experiences, beliefs or situations across time and space. Resulting in change – It had consequences for the future. Revealing – Of some other aspect of the past.

Conclusion Remember – this is an exercise in source analysis Don’t stray too far from your source – you are not answering an essay question Don’t spend too long describing the source – most of your commentary should be devoted to analysing it (think about it in terms of 1/3 -2/3 split) Remember significance = addresses your hypothesis NOT is factually reliable (trustworthy)

Tasks for Reading Week Remember – no lecture/seminar next week Identify a related primary source or sources which will help you analyse your source Develop a project completion plan – decide when you are going to complete key tasks before final submission date 10 th December Note - I am at a conference so will not be on campus but will have access to

Time-management exercises Exercise 1: Time Bandits

Exercise 2: The in- tray