1. Analyzing Primary and Secondary Sources
Questioning Sources
Analyzing Primary and Secondary Sources

5. Questioning Sources
Knowing the difference between primary and secondary sources is the first step to better understanding the past.
Once you have found your primary sources, it is important to question them to find out what they say and who made them.

6. Primary Sources
A primary source is created every time you send an , take a photograph, or write in your journal.
These sources reflect the worries, concern, or opinions you have when you created them.

7. Emotions
Primary source documents can express feelings of love, joy, unhappiness or dislike.
Sometimes the emotions of the creator or author can be clearly seen.
Sometimes the emotions are hidden.

8. Questioning Sources
When looking at primary sources, there are several questions you should always ask to help you understand the material
These questions will also help you figure out if a source is authentic or fake.
Authentic primary sources are great research material but you need to be careful of fake ones.

9. Lies and Fakes
Sometimes a primary source will contain lies or mistaken information.
Sometimes a primary source is actually a fake, made to look old and important.

10. Using Fake Sources A faked source can also tell you a lot.
Why would someone go to all of that trouble to fool us?
What were they hiding and what did they want us to think?
Being a historian is a lot like being a detective, with primary sources as the evidence. It's your job to find out what really happened!

11. Questions for Analyzing Primary Sources
What
What is the primary source?
Is it a photo?
If so, is it in black and white or colour?
Is it a letter?
If so, is it typed, or handwritten?

12. Questions for Analyzing Primary Sources
Who
Who wrote the letter, took the photo or painted the painting?
Can you be sure it was really that person who made it?

13. Questions for Analyzing Primary Sources
When
When was the primary source created?
How can you tell its age?

14. Questions for Analyzing Primary Sources
Where
Can you tell where the primary source was created?

15. Questions for Analyzing Primary Sources
Why
Why was the primary source created?
Does it tell a story?
Is it a love letter?
Is it an order from an officer to a soldier?
Is it a picture of the Rocky Mountains?
Does the primary source tell you why it was created?
Can you guess why it was created?

16. Time and Place Rule To Judge the quality of the Primary Source
The Closer in time and place a source and its creator were to an event in the past, the better the source will be.
Direct traces of the event
Accounts of the event, created at the time it occurred, by firsthand observers and participants
Accounts of the event, created after the event occurred, by firsthand observers and participants
Accounts of the event, created after the event occurred, by people who did not participate or witness the event, but who used interviews or evidence from the time of the event

17. Bias Rule Every source is biased in some way.
Documents tell us only what the creator of the document thought happened, or perhaps only what the creator wants us to think happened.
Every piece of evidence and every source must be read or viewed skeptically and critically
No piece of evidence should be taken at face value. The creator’s point of view must be considered
Each piece of evidence and source must be cross-checked and compared with related sources and pieces of evidence

18. How Do I Analyze A Source?

19. Artifact

20. Cartoon

21. Map

22. Motion Picture

23. Photo

24. Poster

25. Sound Recording

26. Written Document

27. Works Cited
Eamon, Michael. "Defining Primary and Secondary Sources." ARCHIVED. Library and Archives Canada, 27 May Web. 06 Oct <
Pappas, Peter. "Analyzing Primary Sources." Analyzing Primary Sources. Edteck, Web. 06 Oct <
"Special Topics and Tools." National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 06 Oct <