Analyzing and Evaluating a Primary Source

When using a primary source, some useful "framing questions" to ask are:

Other specific questions to ask are:

What Do We Know?

What can you learn from the document about:

What happened?

Who was involved?

When did it happen?

Where did it happen?

Why did it happen?

How Do We Know?

Who created the document?

What was the creator’s role in the event?

Who was the document’s intended audience?

What was the document’s purpose?

Can We Trust the Document?

Was the document’s creator competent?

What was the document creator’s perspective or bias?

Are the document’s assertions logically consistent with other available information?

Is there missing or ambiguous information in the document?