In a history class, much of your work will be based on reading historical documents: any texts written by someone in the period you're studying. These texts are the main kind of evidence historians use to make arguments about the past. Historians also call these "primary sources." "Secondary sources," on the other hand, are sources written by historians.
Reading a historical text is very different from reading a novel. In order to analyze it effectively, you need to keep some background information in mind and ask a sequence of questions. The questions below will help you to get the most information as possible out of a primary source, which you can then use to participate successfully in class or write an essay. At first, this process will take a lot of time. With practice, it can become second nature.
Identify
These first questions are mostly factual, but they’ll lead you to the broader questions in the “contextualize” section.
1. Who is the author?
2. When was the source written?
3. Where was it written?
4. What kind of source is this? What’s the genre? Is it a letter, chronicle, biography, history, treaty, legal record, or something else?
5. What language was it written in? You might be looking at a translation. If so, it’s important to keep in mind that some vocabulary and phrasing may be the editor’s choice.
Contextualize
These questions help you to think about the source within the historical context. To do this well, you’ll need to know some information about the time and place the source was written in – this will get easier as you go.
1. What is the author’s relationship with the subject matter? You might want to think about the author’s occupation, values, and personal connection to what they’re writing about.
2. Who is the source’s audience? Is it directed to an individual or patron? Is there an implied audience? Do we know anything about how the source was circulated?
3. What’s the author’s purpose? Do they tell you, or do you have to figure it out? Are there multiple purposes?
4. What’s the historical context? What do you know about events at the time the source was written? Is the text responding to particular problems or debates?
Interpret
This is the hardest but also the most exciting part of reading a primary source. Now that you’ve broken down what the text and its context is, you can read it for meaning. There are almost infinite ways to do this, but the following are helpful guiding questions.
1. Read for surface meaning. First, make sure you understand what’s happening in the text. What events or ideas does the text depict? Is it making an argument? You may need to look up references or terms you’re unfamiliar with.
2. What does the text show about values at the time? What cultural values or ideas do you find in this text? For example, can you tell what the author thinks about gender roles? Or morality? What spoken or unspoken values does the text promote? There may be multiple perspectives visible within the same text! Remember to be specific about your conclusions: the text may show the author’s values, but those values may not be shared by everyone else at the time. To do this well, you’ll need to practice detaching yourself from your own values.
3. How does the text help us to understand history? There are lots of ways to answer this question. A good place to start is by thinking about the big themes and events of the text’s period. How does this text help us to better understand what was happening? Does it show change or continuity over time? What was at stake? How were people like the text’s author grappling with big problems?