Dissent in America
History 0849
Dr. Ralph Young
Fall 2013

Document Worksheet

On a separate sheet of paper answer the following questions. Don’t get carried away—this is to help you read effectively for the purposes of this class. Brief is fine, so long as the answers are thoughtful and show engagement with the text.

1. Describe the text. What type of document is it (speech, petition, article, etc.)? Who authored the text? Where and when was it originally published if a written text or delivered if an oral text (this may require a bit of outside research)?

Who:
What:
Where:
When:

2. Summarize the author’s argument or central claim. If the text does not have an explicitly stated author (as with a court transcript), you will need to think creatively about who might have produced the document. Why was this document created? Take a stab at the creator’s objectives in recording this event for posterity.

3. How does the author (or creator) build his or her case? What types of arguments or evidence does he or she muster to support the argument?

4. How does the author (or creator) claim authority? Does the author make you trust him or her?

5. How does the author (or creator) seem to imagine his or her audience?

6. What is the historical significance of the document (its “so what?”)? How does it enrich our understanding of the past?

7. What do you think of the document? Did you find it persuasive?

GUIDE TO READING PRIMARY SOURCES

What is a primary source?

Primary sources are those constructed by people who were actually there at the time of the event you are studying. For example, an 1865 newspaper account about the assassination of President Lincoln is a primary source. Primary sources may include but are not limited to: letters, journals and other items written by individuals; newspapers, magazines and other news sources; laws, statutes and regulations; and memos, reports, and other records generated within organizations. A physical artifact, such as a piece of pottery excavated from an archeological site, can also be viewed as a primary source. In contrast, a secondary source is one that compiles or analyzes information about events with which the author was not directly involved. A textbook is a secondary source, as are many articles in scholarly journals.

Why is reading a primary source different from reading a secondary source?

Reading primary source materials differs significantly from reading textbooks and other secondary sources. Very often, textbooks and other secondary sources will tell the reader what is important to remember from the text, and will organize the material specifically with the student in mind as the audience. In contrast, because the author of a primary source was not thinking of college students in the future as the most important audience for his or her work, s/he did not