History Reading

Guide for Primary Sources

It’s about questions you ask yourself. So first, the external questions:

(1) What kind of document is it? (Fiction, diary, letter, philosophical argument, newspaper or magazine article, official memo, court ruling, politician’s speech)

(2) Who wrote it? What kind of person wrote it? (Meaning: age, gender, social class, nationality or ethnicity, religion, political views, occupation or profession)

(3) When was the document written?

(4) What was going on when it was written? In other words, what is the context of the document?

(5) Why was the written?

(6) For whom was it written? What was the document trying to achieve?

Then internal factors:

(7) What are the oppositions? And equations?

(8) What kind of rhetoric/metaphors?

(9) What are the author’s assumptions? Especially unspoken assumptions?

(10) What do you think we might learn from this document from an historical perspective?

(11) If you don’t know, can’t answer, or don’t understand any part of the text, ask questions!