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Time
and Place Rule Bias Rule Questions
for Primary Sources
Historians analyze historical sources in different ways. First, historians think
about where, when and why a document was created. They consider whether a source was
created close in location and time to an actual historical event. Historians also think
about the purpose of a source. Was it a personal diary intended to be kept private? Was
the document prepared for the public?
Some primary sources may be judged more reliable than others, but
every source is biased in some way. As a result, historians read sources skeptically and
critically. They also cross-check sources against other evidence and sources. Historians
follow a few basic rules to help them analyze primary sources. Read these rules below.
Then read the questions for analyzing primary sources. Use these rules and questions as
you analyze primary source documents yourself.
Picturing
Modern America features historical thinking exercises for middle and
high school students
Image
Detective - Read an image closely. Think
critically about turn of the century America
Interact with visual sources as you think carefully about these
topics: Modern Women
| Picturing Prairie Life
Picturing Social
Change - Explore Child
Labor and Indian Life
through the eyes of two influential photographers
Build your own historical
exhibition with photographs, documents, and text that
you type in yourself
Time and Place Rule
To judge the quality of a primary source, historians use the time
and place rule. This rule says the closer in time and place a source and its creator
were to an event in the past, the better the source will be. Based on the time and place
rule, better primary sources (starting with the most reliable) might include:
- Direct traces of the event;
- Accounts of the event, created at the time it occurred, by firsthand
observers and participants;
- Accounts of the event, created after the event occurred, by firsthand
observers and participants;
- Accounts of the event, created after the event occurred, by people
who did not participate or witness the event, but who used interviews or evidence from the
time of the event.
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Bias Rule
The historians' second rule is the bias rule. It
says that every source is biased in some way. Documents tell us only what the creator of
the document thought happened, or perhaps only what the creator wants us to think
happened. As a result, historians follow these bias rule guidelines when they review
evidence from the past:
- Every piece of evidence and every source must be read or viewed
skeptically and critically.
- No piece of evidence should be taken at face value. The creator's
point of view must be considered.
- Each piece of evidence and source must be cross-checked and compared
with related sources and pieces of evidence.
- Who created the source and why? Was it created through a
spur-of-the-moment act, a routine transaction, or a thoughtful, deliberate process?
- Did the recorder have firsthand knowledge of the event? Or, did the
recorder report what others saw and heard?
- Was the recorder a neutral party, or did the creator have opinions or
interests that might have influenced what was recorded?
- Did the recorder produce the source for personal use, for one or more
individuals, or for a large audience?
- Was the source meant to be public or private?
- Did the recorder wish to inform or persuade others? (Check the words
in the source. The words may tell you whether the recorder was trying to be objective or
persuasive.) Did the recorder have reasons to be honest or dishonest?
- Was the information recorded during the event, immediately after the
event, or after some lapse of time? How large a lapse of time?
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