2.  Historians use different types of resources to support and/or draw conclusions.  Historians look at both artifacts and primary sources.  Artifact vs. Primary Source

3.  Primary sources are the raw materials of history- original documents and objects which were created at the time under study.  These are created by a person with firsthand experience, like an eye witness to the event.  By using these to study history, you can analyze and draw conclusions on the event in history. You can often imagine yourself in that time when seeing something like a photograph.

4.  Is there a title?  Is there a caption?  What is the subject?  What are the actions?  What are the objects and do they symbolize something?  Who is the audience?  Is there anything labeled?  What background knowledge do you have?

5.  Journals  Diaries  Government documents  Newspaper and magazine articles  Letters  Birth Certificates  Photographs  Political cartoons  Maps  Graphs

6.  Diary of Anne Frank  The Constitution of the USA  Plato’s Republic  Memoirs

7.  Secondary sources are documents written after an event has occurred, providing secondhand accounts of that event, person, or topic.  They offer different perspectives, analysis, and conclusions of those accounts.

8.  Textbooks  Scholarly articles  Historical Fiction  Encyclopedias  Almanacs  Non fiction books  Magazine Articles (purpose)  Newspaper Articles (purpose)

9.  Look at authors How do the authors know what they know? Do their knowledge come from personal experience or having read about and analyzed an event? Does the author cite several different (published) reports?  Look at the content Why is the information being provided or the article written? Are there references to other writings on these topics? Is the author interpreting previous events? Does the information come from personal experience or others’ accounts?  Look at the currency/ timeliness  Look at the date. Is it close to the event?