1. The 5 Ws: Assessing Reliability of Historical Sources
AP World history

2. Historical Primary Sources
There are many types, including but not limited to:
Written accounts from a historical time period (interviews, diaries, etc.)
Government documents
Paintings, drawings, photographs, or other art depicting events, places, ideas, values, religious beliefs…etc
Historical artifacts: coins, pottery, other objects
Novels, stories, poems, literature

3. When was the source created?
Loss of information
Memory of people
Accuracy of research
Who is the author of the source?
Perspective (view point) of the author
Don’t assume bias
Why was this source created?
Reason for creation
How source was used in society

4. What type of source is this?
Medium of the source
Accuracy of the details (do they exaggerate? Are parts left out?)
Where does the source come from?
Perspective of a region
Differences between regions
Cross-reference: do other sources corroborate (support) this source?