A primary source is a first-hand account of a time-period or event. It includes newspapers, letters, memoirs, music, court cases, records and anything else that took place at the time you are researching.
their authenticity, their perspective and their usefulness.
How to analyze a primary source
1 step. Read the text closely several times. Look more carefully at the structure and words of the piece each time you read it. If it is a movie or a piece of music, also play it several times. Highlight and take notes as you go through the process of studying a source.
2 step. Understand the «Bias Rule». Analyze the source skeptically, and at the end of your primary source analysis, you should be able to determine the bias and seek out other sources on the opposite side of the bias or issue.
3 step. Understand the ‘Time and Place rule’. This rule says the closer the rule the author of the source is to the event, the better the source will be. After analyzing a source, you should be able to tell the quality of the source by the proximity of the author to the event.
4 step. Identify the type of source. Examples of source types are: an official document, a letter, an autobiography, a piece of music, a memo, a journal. This will help lead you to the author and reason of the document’s creation.
5 step. Identify who the author is.
6 step. Identify the audience for which the source was intended. By understanding the audience, you can more easily understand the motives behind the document.
7 step. Find the source’s intended message. Decide if the message is explicit or implicit (stated clearly or implied). Decide if it is prescriptive or descriptive.
8 step. Determine why the source was created. First decide if this was a clear statement of facts, or a message written to persuade its readers.
9 step. Ask if this is a credible source. Based on the bias rule, the time and place rule, and all the elements that you have just analyzed, decide if the source is trustworthy.
10 step. List the things you can determine about the historical period by analyzing this resource. Write down any clues the source provides to how ordinary people lived in that time and place.
11 step. List the limitations of the source, based on the bias, point of view and more. This will help you to know its weaknesses when using it in a paper or essay.
