Scott Rausch

History, North Seattle Community College

How to Analyze a Primary Source – What Do I Ask My Sources?

These questions are generally in order from most concrete to most interpretive. While these aspects are most applicable to written documents (books, letters, diaries, treaties, tomb inscriptions), they may also be valuable in analyzing visual sources (editorial cartoons, photographs, sculpture, murals), experiential sources (speeches, films, television programs), and material sources (physical artifacts). Each question will be more or less useful depending on the kind of source and what is known about it. Some sample answers to these questions are listed below some of the questions. Some of these sample questions demand further, more specific answers. To answer many of these questions you would normally have to look at other, related sources.

1. Immediate context – Why then and there?

A. Moment in time – what’s the occasion?

                        Example: Inauguration Day; diplomatic negotiations; funeral oration

            B. Immediate purpose – why does this exist?

                        Example: answer to a question; an attempt at persuasion; a legal ruling

            C. Format – what is it?

                        Example: executive order; recommendation; artistic representation

2. Authorship – Who made this?

A. Basic background – who, when, what?

                        Example: Hammurabi, Babylonian king, 1792-1750 B.C.E….

            B. Relation to body of work – what else did the author say?

                        Example: first novel; part of larger set; last will and testament

C. Biographical influences on source – what’s the deal with this autor?

            Example: author's position in society; level of authority; individual experiences

3. Argument – What’s the point?

A. Position or Content – what is it trying to say?

                        General: a thesis; a story; factual information; a description

            B. Intended effect on audience – what does it want?

                        Example: agreement; learning information; obedience; emotional response

            C. Intended audience – who is this for?

                        Example: church congregation; consumers; a mid-level bureaucrat

            D.  Method – how does it get the point across?

            General: examples used, evidence in the case, statistical processes

            E. Assumptions – what does it assume and/or imply?

            General: what’s assumed the audience knows or believes

4. Form – Why is it like this?

            A. Characterization of the form – what is the tone?

            Example: cold, statistical; shocking; inspirational; authoritative

B. Language, symbolism, expression – what symbols does it use?

            Example: bawdy poetry; academic jargon; body metaphors; visual puns

            C. Characteristics of the medium – how does the medium affect the message?

                        Example: editorial cartoons, letters to editor, feature films, documentaries       

            D. Interface – how does it reach its audience?

            Example: public performance; private reading; confidential diary entry

5. Larger context – What does it say about other things?

            A. Body of work, style, ideology – what is it an example of?

            B. How representative is it?

            C. Audience response, reaction, reception – how did people react?

D. Intertextuality – what does it say about other works?

            E. Relationship to contemporary issues – a window into what?

            F. Legacy, effects, outcomes – what effect did it have?

6. Historiography – What do I say about it?

            A. History of the source – what happened to it from then to now?

            B. Interpretations of the source – what has been said about it?

            C. What thesis, argument, or perspective would this source agree with?

            D. What interpretation(s) do you agree with, and why?