Introducing
Prezi AI.
Your new presentation assistant.
Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.
Trending searches
Loading…
Copy of Primary Sources
Transcript
Primary Sources
An Overview of the Basics
Define
What is a primary source anyway?
Primary Sources are actual records that have survived from the past. The person(s) who created a record may have intended for it to survive, but more often than not, Primary Sources survive into the Present Day by pure accident.
Examples
There are 4 main types of Primary Sources, and they are listed below with specific examples.
- Published Documents: Books, Magazines, Newspapers, Government Documents, Advertisements, Maps, Pamphlets, Posters, Laws, and Court Decisions
- Unpublished Documents: Personal Letters, Diaries, Journals, Wills, Deeds, Family Bibles (containing Family Histories), School Report Cards, Meeting Minutes, Financial Ledgers, Speeches, Census Records, Tax and Voter Lists, and Police and Court Records
- Oral Tradition/Oral Histories: Interviews and Recordings of witnesses to historical events
- Visual Documents and Artifacts: Photographs, Films, Paintings, Comic Strips, and other types of Artwork
Very important!
Analyze
It is important to read a Primary Source skeptically and critically. Historians follow a few basic rules to help analyze Primary Sources. The rules are briefly explained below.
- Time and Place Rule: This rule states that the closer in time and place a source and its creator were to an event in the past, the better the source will be.
- Bias Rule: This rule states that EVERY SOURCE is biased in some way. Documents only tell us what the creator of the document thought happened; or perhaps, what the creator wants us to think happened.
Questions
Questions to ask yourself when analyzing a primary source
- Who created the source and why?
- Was it a spur-of-the-moment act, or a deliberate process?
- Did the recorder have firsthand knowledge of the event? Or did he/she report what others saw?
- Was the recorder a neutral party, or did he/she have opinions that might have influenced the record?
- Did the recorder produce the source for personal use, for a small group, or a large audience?
- Was the source meant to be public or private?
- Did the recorder wish to inform or persuade others? (Examine the terminology used in the source. The words might suggest if the recorder was trying to be objective or persuasive). Did the recorder have reasons to be honest or dishonest?
- Was the information recorded during the event, immediately after the event, or after some lapse of time? How large a lapse of time?
Choose a template
Learn more about creating dynamic, engaging presentations with Prezi