Using Primary Source Documents in Historical Writing

Validity and Bias in Primary Source Documents Never take a document at face value. All documents have strengths and weaknesses that should be evaluated in forming your historical argument. All documents contain biases. The historian’s job is to determine what those biases are so that the document can be effectively used in an historical essay.

SOAPS A quick way to think about validity and bias in an historical document is to think about the circumstance surrounding the documents creation. Specifically: Speaker Occasion Audience Purpose Subject

Speaker Who created the document? What do you know about the person’s identity? (race, gender, class, age, job etc.) How might their identity effect the document?

Speaker Northerner Man White Professional Cartoonist

Occasion When was the document created? What events were occurring historically that might effect the creation of the document?

Occasion “Bleeding Kansas” Preston Brooks attack on Charles Sumner Election year

Audience Who was the document created for? Was the document meant to be public or private? What do you know about the identity of the people or person it was created for? What is the relationship between the Speaker and the audience?

Audience Literate White Northerners Voters

Purpose Why was the document created? What purpose does the document serve?

Purpose To sway public opinion or reinforce public opinion.

Subject What is the subject of the document? Read between the lines. What is the true meaning of the document. Message

Subject Preston Brooks is portrayed as animalistic (notice hair, tail, etc) Charles Sumner well dressed, statesman. Only a quill to defend himself. “Southern Chivalry” --sarcastic “Argument versus Clubs”