THINK LIKE AN HISTORIAN ABOUT PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS* SCAFFOLDING FOR CRITICAL READING

AUTHOR

• Who do you think created the document?  Can you tell?
• Who is the targeted audience? (Please consider age, gender, class, culture)

CONTEXT

• What general time period was this document created?
• What does it say about the culture during that time period?

DELIVERY

• What style is represented: persuasive, reflective, informational (please be aware of language, tone or the font size)

ACCURACY

• How accurate are the documents?  Are they based on fact or opinion?
• Did they obtain their objective?
• Are there biases presented by the document or picture?

MAIN POINTS

• What are the key ideas, best supported ideas, interesting or unique information?

*These criteria can be adapted for historical pictures.