1. USING SOURCES IN HISTORY
Kerry Stead

2. Introduction What is a source? Why are sources used in History?
How are sources used in History?
Types of sources
Primary
Secondary
What makes a source useful?
How are sources analysed?
What to look for in a source as an historian?
Referencing sources
Examples of sources being used – Women in World War II

3. What is a SOURCE?
A source is anything that can be used to assist in support of an argument.
A source is something that is not the author’s own work (in a majority of cases).
A source can take many forms, from various forms of text (books, newspapers, diaries, etc) to speeches, posters, videos, sound and many other forms.

4. Why are sources used in History?
Sources are used to support an argument.
When making a point, in an essay for example, it has little credibility if you simply make a statement without any kind of support for the statement.
Sources can be used to provide evidence to support the argument being made.

5. How are sources used in History?
Sources are used as evidence to support an argument.
A quotation is an example of a way that a source can be used.
If John Howard made a speech in parliament on August 25th in Parliament where he said ‘Australian History is far too small a part of the current Victorian curriculum to adequately equip students with a knowledge of their country.’, how could we use this statement?

6. How are sources used in History?
The first thing you would need to do would be to develop an argument.
In order to use the quotation you have found, it needs to be related to your argument.
If you were writing an essay on the role of Australian History in the curriculum, the John Howard quotation could be of use.

7. How are sources used in History?
Let’s take a position – that Australian History needs to be a larger part of the curriculum (we’re in a History class after all!) – how do we use the source?
The current Victorian curriculum, although it has some Australian History content in years 9 & 10, is limited in its coverage of Australia. Prime Minister John Howard stated that current curriculums in Victoria failed to ‘adequately equip students with a knowledge of their country’ (Hansard, 25/8/06). If the current model is lacking, what then should a history curriculum aim to do?

8. How are sources used in History?
You will notice that the part of the statement that has been used is in ‘quotation marks’. This identifies this part of your work as coming from someone else.
There is also a reference following the quotation (in this case in brackets).
The statement has been used in a paragraph, which is relevant to the quotation.

9. Types of sources
There are two basic types of source that historians use.
These are:
Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
Both are useful to historians.

10. Primary Sources What is a primary source?
A primary source is one that is from the time in question.
A primary source can take many forms – it could be a speech, a newspaper report, a diary, a video recording, a government document, photograph or something else made at the time that you are investigating.
Later in this presentation you will see some examples of Primary sources.

11. Secondary Sources What is a secondary source?
A secondary source is one that has been made some time after an event and is not by someone directly involved in the event or time.
A secondary source can take many forms – it could be a book, a video, a report or another form that has been made after an event and is not directly linked to the topic.
Later in this presentation you will see some examples of Secondary sources.

12. What makes a source useful?
A source is useful if it can be used as evidence to support an argument.
Generally speaking, a source is more useful the more ‘official’ it is.
Having said that, you still need to be careful in using sources.
If you were looking for information regarding John Howard’s views on the history curriculum, would you prefer to use something John Howard has said, or something that a friend overheard in the playground that the history teacher from another school told a friend of the friend you overheard? Yes, it’s a slightly silly example, but it gets the point across!!

13. How are sources analysed?
There are some considerations that need to be made when analysing sources.
These are:
Who made the source?
When was the source made?
Why was the source made?
Who was the intended audience?
Can the information be confirmed by another source?
How could the source be used?

14. What to look for in a source as an historian?
These considerations are a good place to start with when looking at a source.
These questions look at the reliability of the source, and identifying any bias that may be present.
Having said that, if a source contains information that can not be corroborated, or if the source is biased, it does not mean that a source is not useful, merely that you need to be more careful in how the source is used.
What questions would need to be asked about a photo of Adolf Hitler kissing a black woman?

15. What to look for in a source as an historian?
In this case, the questions of who made the source and who the intended audience is would be the crucial ones to ask.
It would be more likely that the photograph had been modified for a particular purpose.
What that purpose was, or who the intended audience was would give you a good indication about the source – can it be used to support an argument? If so, how?

16. Referencing Sources
The reason that sources are referenced is so someone who is looking at what you have done (an essay, video, etc) can go back to the original source at a later time.
This means that your research (using sources) can be verified.
It is a quality of good scholarship that work that is not your own that is used is properly referenced.
Ideas are created from other ideas – acknowledging that is a good thing!

17. Referencing Sources
There are two main systems of referencing in use today.
These are the Harvard system and the Oxford system.
Both have the same aim, but the method is slightly different.
It is useful to be aware of both forms as you will see both forms in different situations.

18. The Harvard System
The Harvard System is an in-text referencing system.
It has two parts – the actual in-text reference and a Reference List
The in-text reference contains the author’s surname (or title of the work if there is no identifiable author) and a year. In some cases a page reference is also used.
This in-text reference is used if a quotation has been used, or if an idea mentioned has come from another source (not your own work).

19. The Harvard System The reference list contains a number of elements:
Author’s name (surname then initials)
Year of publication of work
Title of work, underlined or italicised
Publisher
Place of Publication
In the Harvard system, only sources that are actually referenced in the text are used in the reference list.

20. The Oxford System
The Oxford System, like the Harvard System, has two parts – the footnote (or endnote) and the Bibliography
A footnote is an abbreviated reference that is placed at the foot, or bottom of a page.
Footnotes are numbered, and are designated by a superscript number being inserted into the text.1
1. This is an example of a footnote – the text is at the bottom of the page in a smaller font than the main text.

21. The Oxford System
Footnotes can also be used for additional information that you do not with to include in the text. It could be something such as a useful fact that is not related to the argument you are presenting, but has some relevance to the topic.
Both the Bibliography and footnotes have common features, though there are subtle differences between the two.

22. The Oxford System
A Bibliography and footnote contain the following features:
Author’s name (surname then first name or initials in Bibliography; initials then surname in footnote)
Title of work (full title in Bibliography; main title only in footnotes)
Place of publication
Publisher
Page reference (for footnotes)

23. Examples of sources being used – Women in World War II
Left: Women's Army Corps, World War II, WWII recruiting poster, radio repairing 1
Below: World War II, WAVES, recruitment poster, military service, women, WWII 2

24. Primary Sources – Video

25. Primary sources - Sound files
Click on icon to start sound file
Note that the brief commentary at the start of the file is Secondary Source material.
Alternatively, you can find the sound file online:
Click on link to play sound file (Internet connection is required)

26. Primary Sources Newspaper Advertisements5 6

27. 7

28. 5 – 8. http://www.anzacday.org.au/education/activities/women/ads.html
5 –

29. Primary Sources - Photos
9. Left : AWAS who arrived in Lae from Australia wait for the trucks to transport them to the AWAS barracks at Butibum Road, New Guinea, 1945.
Above: Two WAAAF flight mechanics checking aircraft engine components at RAAF Station Tocumwal, 1944. 9.
10.

30. Primary Source - Posters11

31. Secondary Source - Website
‘Women who entered the services were also paid at a far lower rate than their male counterparts doing exactly the same job, and these jobs disappeared at the end of the war. The service experience, however, did have a profoundly liberating effect on many women, who then sought jobs after the war that would continue this independence and liberation. Many others, however, were happy to return to normal domestic life after the war.’
This was taken from this website:

32. Secondary Source - Graph
Taken from