Understanding Perspectives in Primary Sources – A New National Archives Resource

Once they understood the distinction in between a secondary and primary source, assisting trainees understand the context, significance, and function of main source documents was one of the things that I enjoyed the most when I taught U.S. History. To that end, I frequently used resources from the National Archives Daily Document RSS feed to trigger discussions in my class. The National Archives recently published a brand-new guide to assist students understand point of views in primary sources. Understanding Perspectives in Primary Sources ( link opens a PDF) is a free guide that you can download and distribute to your students. The guide leads students through a series of concerns created to help them determine the type of primary source (writing, drawing, audio recording, and so on), who created it, and the context in which it was developed (time, location). Applications for EducationOne of the most important aspects of the Understanding Perspectives in Primary Sources guide remains in the last area. Because section students are asked, “what evidences does the developer present that you should fact check?” This is essential due to the fact that, in my experience, a great deal of trainees assume that simply due to the fact that something is an old primary source it is for that reason foolproof as a source of info. The concern that I would always ask my students to think about was, “does what youre checking out line up with what you already understand about this topic?”.