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

2. 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.

3. 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

4. “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

5. 2012 PAT “Barely a Source” Source

6. 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

7. 2012 PAT Chart Source

8. 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

9. 2012 PAT Chart Source

10. 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)

11. “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?

12. 2012 Combined Question

13. 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.

14. 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?

15. 2009 PAT Political Cartoon Source