PRIMARY SOURCE ANALYSIS GUIDE
Teaching it
- Give the students a primary source – or multiple sources – to interact with (e.g. an article, document, diagram, video, work of art, etc.).
- Give the students time to interact with the source.
- Discuss the source in a way that allows the students to connect the information they just gathered to the overall theme of the lesson.
Accompanying assignment: When you give students a source to interact with, you may also want them to take notes and/or fill out a guiding handout. This form of scaffolding is especially important for students who don’t have much experience with analyzing sources. Many of the sources featured in this curriculum are already accompanied by guiding handouts.
Discussion: Keep in mind that the students can discuss their sources either as a class or in small groups.
Small group work: Consider allowing students to interact with sources in pairs or small groups. This can be a form of scaffolding if the sources are difficult to analyze.
Jigsaw source analysis: If you have a lot of sources that you want your students to interact with, consider divvying them up “jigsaw” style. For more information about jigsaw style activities, see the jigsaw activity guide page.
Class reading: Have your students work together as a class to interact with a source. If the source can be read, take turns reading. Then, have a class discussion about the source.
Stacking sources: Giving students access to multiple sources at a time allows them to move at their own pace. In addition, if the students don’t have to interact with all of the available sources to understand the point of the activity, “stacking sources” will ensure that all students are kept busy for the duration of the activity.
Student choice: Giving students multiple sources to choose from can increase engagement. It also creates opportunities for students to teach each other.
Searching for sources: Rather than giving sources to your students, consider having them search for relevant sources on their own. This will help develop their research skills, and it may also increase engagement.
Before completing primary source analysis activities with your students, you may need to walk them through the process of identifying and analyzing primary sources. See the following links for resources from educational organizations:
Library of Congress – Teacher’s Guides and Analysis Tool
ASSESSING IT
By having your students answer questions about the primary sources they read, you can assess their development of the following skills:
- Reading comprehension
- Making arguments and drawing logical conclusions based on primary source evidence
- Taking proper note of perspective and potential bias in a primary source
- Comparing and contrasting sources
- Gauging the value/relevance of a source in relation to overarching research or inquiry questions
- Applying knowledge gained during previous activities
- Applying knowledge of historical events and time periods
Content-based criteria for specific primary source analysis activities can be found within the Protecting Our Waters lesson plans.