HISTORY FORENSI

CS

Historian’s Questions

1. What do you know?2. How do you know it?3. What is your evidence?

SourcesSources fall into two categories:Primary sources• Firsthand evidence of historical events. Materials

such as diaries, manuscripts, photographs, maps, artifacts, audio and video recordings, oral histories, postcards, and posters.

Secondary sources• Evidence that comes after the event. Secondary

sources, such as textbooks and biographies, synthesize and interpret primary materials.

Documents

Many things can be used as historical documents:

Diary entries Political CartoonsPhotographs Audio recordingsSpeeches FilmsNewspaper Articles EditorialsArtwork Legal documents

DBQ

• Using “evidence” from historical documents to answer questions.

• These kinds of questions are called Document Based Questions…or DBQs.

• To answer a DBQ, we need to “extract” the evidence from the documents.

APPARTS• APPARTS is an acronym for 7 steps that we will

use when analyzing documents.

APPARTSA = Author

Who created the document?

• If it is a piece of writing, who wrote it?

• If it is a photograph, who took the picture?

• If it is a painting, who made it?

• If it is a legal document, who issued it?

APPARTSA = Author

P = Place and Time

Where and when was the source produced?

• Essential in determining if it is a primary or secondary source.

APPARTSA = AuthorP = Place and Time

P = Prior Knowledge

What do you already know that would further your understanding of this source?

• Don’t sell yourself short, you might know more than you realize.

• Do you know anything about the author? The events being described? The time period when it was created?

APPARTSA = AuthorP = Place and TimeP = Prior Knowledge

A = Audience

For whom was the source created?

• Was this document intended for the public or was it private?

• If it is something for the public (such as a speech or essay) than who would be seeing or hearing it?

• Knowing who the intended audience was can help you to determine the reliability of the source.

APPARTSA = AuthorP = Place and TimeP = Prior KnowledgeA = Audience

R = Reason

• Why was this source produced at the time it was produced?

APPARTSA = AuthorP = Place and TimeP = Prior KnowledgeA = AudienceR = Reason

T = The Main Idea

• What is the source trying to convey?

APPARTSA = AuthorP = Place and TimeP = Prior KnowledgeA = AudienceR = ReasonT = The Main Idea

S = Significance

Why is this source important?