SOAPSTone Analyzing Primary Source Documents

Focus Question: O Describe in a short, two to three sentence response, what you would like to learn in this class during the year.

Objectives: After today’s lesson, you will: O Investigate the tools within the textbook. O Describe the importance of documents to the study of history. O Analyze a series of documents using the SOAPSTone strategy

Documents O History is studied by using documents O Documents are any item useful for study O Articles, essays, newspapers, diaries, memos, etc. O Maps, graphs, charts O Paintings, Cartoons, Photos O Songs, Film, Video O Artifacts

Sources O Primary Sources: Written and developed during the time studied O Secondary Sources: Written and developed after the fact. Both are highly valuable to historians

Analyzing Primary Sources O SOAPSTone O Speaker O Occasion O Audience O Purpose O Subject O Tone

O Speaker: The speaker is the voice that tells the story. Include not only the name of the author, but also important facts about him/her. O Occasion: It is the time and place of the piece; the context that encouraged the writing to happen. O Audience: The audience is the group of readers to whom the piece is directed.

O Purpose: It is the reason behind the text. What does the author want the audience to think or do as a result of reading this text? O Subject: It is the general topic, content, and ideas contained in the text. This should be brief. O Tone: It is the attitude of the author as heard in his/her tone of voice. Tone extends meaning beyond the literal.

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations [preference], or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence: nor is the law less stable than the fact; if an assault was made to endanger their lives, the law is clear, they had a right to kill in their own defence; if it was not so severe as to endanger their lives, yet if they were assaulted at all, struck and abused by blows of any sort, by snow-balls, oyster-shells, cinders, clubs, or sticks of any kind; this was a provocation, for which the law reduces the offence of killing, down to manslaughter, in consideration of those passions in our nature, which cannot be eradicated. To your candour [fairness] and justice I submit the prisoners and their cause.” John Adams, Defense Counsel Closing Arguments, Boston Massacre Trial December 1770 Boston, MA

Summary O In a short, two to three sentence response, describe the most important thing you learned in this class today.