How to beat source based questions Source Analysis 101 How to beat source based questions

Types of Questions On the PAT they ask two types of questions: Knowledge & Understanding Questions Straight Content Questions Skill & Process Questions Testing your critical thinking and problem solving skills In these questions they are asking to you identify the Issue & Perspective of the source.

Types of Sources Charts & Graphs Political Cartoons & Images Speakers/Opinions and Articles/Editorials The “Barely a Source” – just basically asking you a content question with a picture Source

“Barely a Source” Questions These are straight Knowledge and Understanding Questions. They are testing to see if you know basic content as learned in Social Studies 9 – and they are using a “source” to check for that understanding Usually involves presenting you with a variety of information about a topic and leaving one blank or with a “?”. You are asked to identify the question mark

2012 PAT “Barely a Source” Source

Charts & Graphs These questions will present you with a Graph or Chart that outlines percentages or number as they relate to a specific topic Questions based on these sources will sometimes ask you to interpret what those numbers/statistics mean in relation to the big picture

2012 PAT Chart Source

Charts & Graphs Sometimes questions will ask you to compare the information in the Chart/Graph to another Source – usually an opinion based source This is a Skills & Process (S&P) type of question It is asking you to critically compare and contrast the two sources

2012 PAT Chart Source

Speaker/Opinion Based Sources Similar to what we just saw these sources will present you with one or multiple peoples opinions on a common topic. Sometimes they are citizens opinions – sometimes they come from published news articles or editorials Questions relating to this type of source will ask you to identify a certain person’s opinion (pro or con for the topic) (K&U) Often time these questions will also ask to relate these opinions to another source (s & p)

“Combine the Sources” Questions More often than not, the last question to you will see relating to these sources will ask you to identify what all the sources have in common. Ex: Taken all together, which of the following issues do all 3 sources best address?

2012 Combined Question

Political Cartoons These sources are usually the ones students struggle the most with as they are not literal. Political cartoons are satirical – they attempt point out flaws or criticize something using humor, exaggeration, etc. Everything in a Political Cartoon has meaning.

Political Cartoons – Break it Down The SWAPP method is a helpful trick to breakdown a Cartoon & understand it’s message Symbols – Are there any important, well known symbols in the pictures? Are certain items symbolizing something? Nazi Swastika, government symbols, chains represent oppression Words – Is there dialogue or words in the picture? What are the key words? Where are they placed? Actions – Are there any specific actions taking place? Running, jumping, hiding, etc People – Who are the people (if any) in the cartoon. General or Specific Ex: Barrack Obama, American Citizens, Elephant made it look like Donald Trump Point – What is the point of this cartoon? What is the message the artist is trying to get across?

2009 PAT Political Cartoon Source