Document Analysis

Instructions and Information

    Please use the document analysis form to prepare and submit your assignment.

    Primary sources provide the basic data for historical study.  Historians examine and interpret their sources.  Any argument for a thesis must build on evidence contained in primary sources. In each document analysis, you will try your hand at the identification and evaluation of primary sources.

         Historians must decide what kinds of sources are (a) available, (b) relevant, and (c) reasonably reliable for their purposes.  In this class you won't have to worry about (a) because you will work with sources already identified. But you will have to think about (b) and (c).

         Relevance:  is this source relevant to an understanding of, e.g., the Salem Witch Trials, or to some particular aspect of them?  If so, how? A list of Salem Village residents is likely to be highly relevant, while tax records from Egypt are not likely to be so.  Be sure to say why you think as you do.

     Reliability: are we reasonably confident that the source is genuine (i.e., not a forgery?)  In what ways does potential bias limit the weight it can have in our argument?  For example, does a court record contain verbatim testimony, or a digest of what supposedly was said? Does a letter reflect the viewpoint of a reasonably impartial observer, or of a deeply engaged participant?  Does the source raise questions that can only be answered by examining other sources?

 The Analysis

     Components of document analysis include: 

• Identification of the source: its name or description and its location (book, museum, etc.)  If using sources obtained online, provide also the name URL of the site.
• Type of source (letter, cartoon, etc.)
• Summary of the contents
• Assessment of its potential value as a source (e.g. bias, authenticity, representativness, etc.)
• Interpretive possibilities: what might this document tell us about the topic?