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How do you handle primary documents?


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Do you have your students simply fill out a worksheet for each document read/studied? (such as this one...http://www.huntington.org/uploadedFiles/Files/PDFs/Selflibdocanalysis.pdf)

 

Do you ever have them write an essay which is drawn from this worksheet or ideas from the document?

 

Could you give me some examples of the types of written assignments you might have your student do?

 

Any help would be so appreciated...thanks!

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Years ago I bumped into these two methods for analyzing primary documents. I have kids sometimes use one and sometimes the other, though I prefer the second one. I have my high school age kids write at least one paragraph on a primary source document per week. ~200-~300 words. This is separate from essays.

 

1) SOAPS + S (or SOAPSTone)

 

S What is the SUBJECT?

the general topic, content or ideas contained in the text

 

S What is the SOURCE

newspaper, photograph, cartoon from liberal newspaper, etc.

 

O What is the OCCASION?

the time and place of the piece

what event inspired the document

why was it written THEN

 

A Who is the AUDIENCE?

the readers to whom the piece is directed

who is the intended audience

 

P What is the PURPOSE?

the reason behind the text

why was it created?

What is the reaction the author wants?

 

S Who is the SPEAKER?

the voice that tells the story -- not always the author

 

S What is the SIGNIFICANCE?

 

T What is the TONE?

 

2) AP PARTS Method

 

Author

Who created the source? What do you know about the author? What is the author’s point of view?

 

Place and Time

Where and when was the source produced? How might this affect the meaning of the source?

 

Prior Knowledge

Beyond the information about the author and the context of its creation, what do you know that would help you further understand the primary source? For example, do you recognize any symbols and recall what they represent?

 

Audience

For whom was the source created and how might this affect the reliability of the source?

 

Reason and Bias

Why was this source produced and how might this affect the reliability of the source?

 

The Main Idea

What is the source trying to convey?

 

Significance

Why is this source important? Ask yourself, “So what?” in relation to the question asked

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Yes, the weekly paragraph was based on either the AP PARTS or the SOAPStone approach to a primary source document.

 

For essay topics, I hope others chip in. Often there are "topics" mentioned at the beginning of a chapter in a history textbook. We used a lot of those. Sometimes I or my kids came up with the question.

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