Historical Source AnalysisA Learning Object designed to help students analyse and examine sources as evidence.

Sou

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sisIn History, we

study the facts in order to piece together our

interpretation of the past.

Sou

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sisIn order to

understand the message

conveyed within a source we need to look deeply

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Historical Sources are created for a

Purpose

Sou

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sisSometimes, what

information is missing from the source is more important than

what is included

Sou

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sisHistorical

Sources can be classified as

either Primary or Secondary

source material

Historical Sources

• is an eyewitness account of what occurred and therefore dates back to the actual time when the event took place

Primary Source Material

• is produced after the event has occurred and therefore is not an eyewitness account given by a person who was present when the event occurred.

Secondary Source Material

Types of Sources

• Prints, Paintings, Drawings, Photographs, Cartoons, Graphs, Tables, Maps, Comics, Diagrams, Posters, Statistics

Graphics

• These come in a range of printed and handwritten modes.

Textual

Sou

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Context/Background

Bias

Reliability

Source Identification

•What was the original purpose of the source? To whom was it targeted?

Purpose

Source Identification

• When was the source created?, Where? By Whom? and How?

Context or Background

Source Identification

• Is prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another. Bias isn’t necessarily ‘bad’ as it can tell you how a person or group felt at a particular time, you just need to realise it is only ‘part’ of the picture.

Bias

Source Identification

• Is about considering how reliable a source is for a purpose. When you judge a source’s reliability you ask questions like: Who made the source and why? Is their bias present?

Reliability

• Choose a topic (there are 5 contained in this learning object) and in table format use the LIST on the next slide and apply it to the four sources within the topic.

Task One:

Source Identification: LIST

When?

Where?

Who?

How?

• Choose a topic (there are 5 contained in this learning object) and in table format or using another graphic tool use the GRID on the next slide and apply it to the four sources within the topic.

Task Two:

Source Analysis: GRIDCONTENT: What

message/information is being

conveyed through this source?

CONNECTIONS : How does this

connect to what you already know?

COMMUNICATIONS: How does this express bias or point of view?

CONCLUSIONS: What conclusions

can we make about this source and its place in history?

Source: Classify/Ty

pe

• Choose a topic (there are 5 contained in this learning object) and respond to the questions on the next slide in full sentences.

Task Three:

Source Analysis Questions:

When responding to questions, take note of the points/marks allocated. They are a good indication as to the number of ideas/sentences you should be

writing.1. Which of these sources had the most impact on you? State

reasons for your answer.

3 points

2. Identify each of the four source materials, what are they and what

type of evidence are they an example of? 6 points

3. What facts can you learn about your chosen topic from

examining these sources? 3 points

4. How do any two of the Sources differ in their purpose and tone?

4 points

5. What is the main feeling conveyed in source 4? Give reasons for

your answer. 3 points

6. Other than the fact these are all sources deal with the same

topic; what other common links do you see between all four

sources? 4 points

7. Choose a source and mention how it could be biased. 3 points

8. Choose a source and mention how valuable it is. 3 points

9. Choose two sources and mention how one contradicts the other.

4 points

10. Choose a source and discuss it in relation to the idea of

reliability. 2 points

Source Analysis Topics:Shogunate Japan

World War I

World War II

The Vietnam WarThe Stolen Generation

Shogunate Japan

Source 1: PaintingPrince Shotoku flanked by younger brother (left: Prince Eguri) and 1st son (right: Prince Yamashiro), Woodblock painting. drawn by unknown author 573-621 CE

Source 2: PaintingSamurai on horseback, wearing armor and horned helmet, carrying bow and arrows circa 1878 artist unknown

Source 3: PhotographPhotograph by Henry Guttman, produced 02 Jan 1754. Navigator William Adams (1564 - 1620), (standing), the first Englishman to visit Japan, who was at first cast into prison as a pirate, but was freed after building two ships for the Emperor Iyeyasu, (1542 - 1616), (seated, second from left).

Source 4: PaintingPainting displaying the lineage pf the Tokugawa Shoguns by Yoshitoshi Taiso 1839-1892.

World War I

Source 1: Diary ExtractExtract from diary of Signaller Ellis Silas, a soldier at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915.

Source 2: PaintingDetail from a painting by official war artist, George Lambert of The Charge of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade at The Nek, 7 August 1915. This painting was produced after the war when Lambert visited Gallipoli in 1919. It now hangs in the Australian War Memorial at Canberra.

Source 3: CartoonThis cartoon, ‘The Dinkum Anzac’ featured on the cover of the book Imperishable Anzacs:A story of Australia’s 1st Brigade, published in 1916. It was based on the diary of Private Harold Walter Cavill who had fought at Gallipoli and been wounded. Private Cavill dedicated the book to ‘mothers, wives and sisters’.

Source 4: Newspaper ArticleNewspaper report of the Anzac Landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, by English war correspondent, Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, published in The Hobart Mercury, 12 May 1915.

World War II

Source 1: Letter. Written by Colin

Flockhart, 20 years old and sent to his family on 7 January 1945

Source 2: Poster“You talk of sacrifice: He knew the meaning of Sacrifice”

Source 3: Photograph The Age Newspaper. Photograph published April, 27 2009 showing Australian prisoners of war during World War II, unknown photographer.

Source 4: Poster“Waste helps the Enemy: Conserve Material”

Vietnam War

Source 1: Written Reflection of an anonymous soldier about his first combat experience in Vietnam.

Source 2: PaintingPainting by Bruce Fletcher, Long Tan Action, 1970. An artists depiction of events in Long Tan Phuoc Province, South Vietnam, 18 August 1966

Source 3: Poster, artist unknown. Four out of five of these men chose their careers. 1970 lithograph in red and black, 50.6 x 38 cm.

Source 4: PhotographTaken in Trang Bang, South Vietnam, June 8, 1972 by Nick Ut. Shows a nine-year old girl running naked after her back has been burned by a Japanese Napalm attack.

The Stolen Generation

Source 1: PhotographYoung Aboriginal Children who were taken from their parents and raised in Anglo-Saxon homes, in what has become known as the Stolen Generation, photographer unknown, published by Peter Plit.

Source 2: An Act of LawThe Aboriginal Protection Act Victoria 1869. Victoria enacted this law to regulate the lives of the Aboriginal people. The Board for the Protection of Aborigines gained the right to control and make decisions about where aboriginal people lived, where they could work and who they could marry. They could also remove people of mixed decent to merge into white society.

Source 3: Film PosterRabbit Proof Fence, Directed by Phillip Noyce, 2002.

Source 4: PoemThe Stolen Generation: Poem written by a surviver from personal experince. Published October 21, 2007 by Paul Buttigieg