There are two types of sources we will use in Social Studies; primary and secondary. Primary sources were created at or very near the time that they discuss. They can include letters, diary journals, newspaper articles, drawings, paintings, and any other type of record of a person or event.
Secondary sources are interpretations of primary sources. Usually these are created by historians or other experts in the field that comment on or explain what the primary sources are telling. You must use the information in the sources to answer some historical question, and you must quote from the sources to support your answer.
Identify the author’s argument in response to the question. What side is the author on? How would the author respond to the historical question? Read each paragraph and ask about the author’s main idea. What is the author describing in this paragraph? What is the main idea of the paragraph? Does this main idea relate to or answer the historical question? How? Underline the sentences that tell you the main idea, or write the main idea in 3 to 4 words next to each paragraph.
Examine the author’s reliability. Who wrote the document and what judgements can we make about them? Why did they write this? Place a star next to the information about the author, their purpose, the type of document, and the occasion for writing Assess the influence of context. How might place have influenced the writing of this document? What else was going on at this time in history? Place ->arrows<- next to information about context – dates of documents, locations, and historical events
Determine the quality of the author’s facts and examples. What facts and examples does the author use to support their argument? How do facts and examples support the author? Where do the facts, examples, or characterizations come from? Put boxes around facts and examples the author uses to support their claim
They then asked me if I intended to order the men to fire. I answered no, by no means, observing to them that I was [in front of] the muzzles of the men's pieces, and must fall a sacrifice if they fired; that the soldiers were... charged bayonets, and my giving the word fire under those circumstances would prove me to be no officer. While I was thus speaking, one of the soldiers having received a severe blow with a stick, stepped a little on one side and instantly fired, on which turning to and asking him why he fired without orders, I was struck with a club on my arm, which for some time deprived me of the use of it, which blow had it been placed on my head, most probably would have destroyed me. On this a general attack was made on the men by a great number of heavy clubs and snowballs being thrown at them, by which all our lives were in imminent danger, some persons at the same time from behind calling out, “damn your bloods-why don't you fire”. Instantly three or four of the soldiers fired, one after another, and directly after three more in the same confusion and hurry. The mob then ran away, except three unhappy men who instantly expired... Excerpt of Captain Preston's account of the Boston Massacre March