You will analyze a primary source that I have provided. The purpose of this assignment is to exercise your critical thinking skills, practice

You will analyze a primary source that I have provided. The purpose of this assignment is to exercise your critical thinking skills, practice

You will analyze a primary source that I have provided. The purpose of this assignment is to exercise your critical thinking skills, practice concise and cogent writing, and to understand how historical sources are evaluated. Write a 2-3 page (500-750 words) source analysis on the assigned source. Use 12-point font with 1-inch margins. Place your name, class, and date at the top right of the first page. Your analysis will require you to identity, contextualize, and analyze the assigned source. Use your assigned readings and lecture to support your writing. Cite all sources. Do not plagiarize.

  1. Identify the source: Is the source a primary or secondary source? Who wrote it? Who was it written to? What is it? When was it produced or when did the event happen? Where was the source located? (Who, What, When, Where)
  2. Contextualize the source: What events and people surround the source? What is happening in the region or world that would help one understand the source? Why did the event happen? Why was the document produced? What was the item intended for? How does the source fit into to wider story? Your textbook and lecture note will help you place the source in historical context. (Why, How)
  3. Analyze: What level of importance would you place on the source? Given what the source says or when it was produced, could the source be biased? Is the source truthful? Is it propaganda? What does the source tell you? What does in indicate? Does the source allude to tension, cooperation, fear, confusion?

Tips: Do not skip these assignments. The points add up. If you are struggling or confused by the instructions please speak with me or email me. Do not stress out or lose sleep over this assignment. Proofreading will always serve you well.

Overview: Historians create academic histories by finding, contextualizing, and analyzing sources (evidence). Academic histories make arguments that offer new insights into previously studied topics, confirm and reinforce current understandings, or explore entirely new subjects. Good sources and proper analysis is critical to the credibility of a historian and their work, just as good evidence are critical to a court case. Even popular histories that simply inform a reader without offering a historical argument (think Barnes and Noble style history) require credible sources to be taken seriously.

Historical sources come in many different forms. Sources can be documents, diaries, recordings, visual media, interviews, artwork, architecture, or anything else that is pertinent to a historian’s investigation. Historian Alan Taylor used insurance claim forms to trace escaped slaves after the War of 1812. Historians examining Native American tribes often evaluate oral traditions, archeological surveys, and they often use items like calendar sticks (carved notches on sticks) to piece together tribal histories. What works as a source is really only limited to the historian’s imagination and ability to weave the source into their world in a credibly way. Evidence generally fits into two broad categories known as primary and secondary sources.

ONLY SOURCE NEEDED AND CITED: http://www.yosemite.ca.us/john_muir_writings/the_treasures_of_the_yosemite/

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