Due Date: Wednesday October 16th at midnight.

Primary sources are the foundation of most research projects in history. It is from primary sources that historians first develop their own ideas and interpretations of a defined topic; ideas and interpretations that are then developed and explored using those primary sources as evidence.

Step #2 helped you to understand the CONTEXT for your primary source: who the author was (or what kind of person may have written it), where it is from, when it was created. You may also have found out information about why your source was created or what purpose it served (the agenda) and who it was written for (the audience).

In this step of your research assignment, you will use the context you’ve gathered from Step #2 to help you analyze your primary source as a historical source. Answer the questions below using information gathered from Step #2 alongside your OWN INTERPRETATIONS of the source as it appears in Sources for the Frameworks of World History.

Make sure to double-space your assignment and include the questions.

For a google doc version (make sure to download or copy the file first before writing on it):

Research Assignment Step #3

Submit your answers to the following questions to Moodle.

  1. Name of your primary source as it appears in the textbook. Is it part of a larger document/source?
  2. Author (if known)? Author’s background? If the specific author isn’t known, who (not an individual named person but a general sense) might have written it? 
  3. What geographical area is your source from?
  4. When was it created (if known)?
  5. What language was it originally written in?
  6. What is your primary source about (1-2 paragraphs)?
  7. Why do you think your primary source was written? What is its purpose?
  8. What kind of source is it? Is it a novel or a poem? A legal document (a law code or a court case)? A painting? A travel narrative? A history? A religious text? A letter? Some other kind of document or visual?
  9. Who do you think is the intended audience? Is there a specific group of people, or a specific person, that it was written for? If there is no specific person or people, who might be the people it is intended for?
  10. What are some of the central themes in your source? What did you learn about the particular time period and place that it comes from? Remember to focus this question on the section of the primary source that is included in the textbook, not the broader source as a whole. This question is important as it will help guide your research in Step #4.