Questions for Evaluating Text-Based Primary Sources*
* Mary Lynn Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, 10th ed. (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, Macmillan Learning, 2021), 2b.
- Who is the author?
- When was the source composed?
- Who was the intended audience?
- What is the purpose of the source? (Note that some primary sources, such as letters to the editor, have a central theme or argument and are intended to persuade; others, such as birth registers, are purely factual.)
- What is the historical context in which the source was written and read?
- How do the author’s gender and socioeconomic class compare to those of the people about whom he or she is writing?
- What unspoken assumptions does the text contain?
- What biases are detectable in the source?
- Was the original text commissioned by anyone or published by a press with a particular viewpoint?
- How do other contemporary sources compare with this one?
- Special considerations for editions and translations
- Is the source complete? If not, does the text contain an introductory note explaining editorial decisions?
- If you are using a document in a collection, does the editor explain his or her process of selection and/or translation?
- Are there notes introducing individual documents that provide useful information about the text?
Special considerations for editions and translations
- Is the source complete? If not, does the text contain an introductory note explaining editorial decisions?
- If you are using a document in a collection, does the editor explain his or her process of selection and/or translation?
- Are there notes introducing individual documents that provide useful information about the text?
- Are there footnotes or endnotes that alert you to alternate readings or translations of the material in the text?
- Does the edition or translation you are using most accurately reflect the current state of scholarship?
Questions for Evaluating Nonwritten Primary Sources
For artifacts:
- When and where was the artifact made?
- Who might have used it, and what might it have been used for?
- What does the artifact tell us about the people who made and used it and the period in which it was made?
For art works (paintings, sculpture, and so on)
- Who is the artist, and how does the work compare to his or her other works?
- When and why was the work made? Was it commissioned? If so, by whom?
- Was the work part of a larger artistic or intellectual movement?
- Where was the work first displayed? Who might have seen it?
- How did contemporaries respond to the work? How do their responses compare to the ways in which it is understood now?
For photographs
- Who is the photographer? Why did he or she take this photograph?
- Where was the photograph first published or displayed? Did that publication or venue have a particular mission or point of view?
- Do any obvious details such as angle, contrast, or cropping suggest bias?
For cartoons
- What is the message of the cartoon? How do words and images combine to convey that message?
- In what kind of publication (for example, a newspaper or a magazine) did it originally appear? Did that publication have a particular agenda or mission?
- When did the cartoon appear? How might its historical context be significant?
