“History is argument. This is so since professional historians do their work not by unstructured description but by posing exact questions to which (they think) verifiable answers can, at least potentially, be given.” Verifiable answers require careful consultation of appropriate source materials in order to support conclusions.
Primary sources are usually eyewitness accounts of some important event, process, social condition, or political platform in U.S. history. Primary sources may also be a creative work, produced during a specific time period that speaks to the processes and issues of the course, like art, photographs, maps, music, economic date, poetry, or novels. We will take this a step further and you all will find your own primary sources to analyze in a short research assignment. In addition to primary sources, you will be required to also find secondary sources to not only support your analysis but also so show the types of sources best suited for academic research.
Secondary sources are sources which analyze a particular subject matter, and often rely upon primary source data as evidence. Secondary sources are produced many years after specific events, written by experts in the field, and include the author’s expert interpretation of primary source material. An example of a secondary source may be a scholarly article, a biography of an historical figure, or an analysis of particular event. In addition to primary source material, secondary sources look at the broader historical context and often consult other scholarly experts in the field in order to either expand upon or refute interpretations.
For this assignment, you will find your own primary source(s) from the historical record (20th century US History) and write a 5-7 page essay in which you analyze the document and place the document within historical context. You may pick any topic that falls within the time frame for this class such as:
Imperial Age
Immigration to the US
Progressive Age
World War I and World War II
1920s & the Great Depression
The Cold War
Post-World War II Politics
Age of Affluence
Civil Rights
Vietnam War
The 1970s
These are only a few possibilities of broad topics; your final topic will be much more narrow, such as Immigrants in the 20th Century, The Tet Offensive, Women in World War II, U.S. Reactions to the Holocaust, Women’s Rights Movement. Exploring the various primary sources available will help you pick a narrow topic that interests you. You will need to run your topic past me so that I can help you narrow down your focus. You may not use a document that we have already covered in class or a variation of a document that we have already discussed or will be discussing as a group. That’s part of the reason why you have to check with me first. J I want you to find something different and unique to examine. So I want each of you identify 3-4 possible primary source documents and run them past me so that I can let you know if your choices are appropriate.
Primary sources may found quite easily with simple searches of databases readily available on the internet like:
American Memory– http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.htmlLinks to an external site.
History Matters– http://historymatters.gmu.edu/Links to an external site.
Internet Sites for Teaching American History with Primary Sources– http://intersect.uoregon.edu/ahs/resources/americansources.htmLinks to an external site.
National History Day– http://www.nhd.org/USHistoryPrimarySources.htmLinks to an external site.
These are only a few examples of the types of sites that are available to you. Simply Google U.S. History primary source databases and watch all the links that you will find!
When analyzing your primary source, you will want to answer some specific questions in your essay. Assume that your reader has no knowledge of the document in question:
Who was the author? What were the goals the author sought to accomplish?
Who was the intended audience? What were the major points or emphases of the document?
Does the document appear to have a bias? Does the author leave anything out that may provide a more balanced objective?
Place the document in context: What was happening in the U.S. at the time the document was created? What important themes, trends, concepts, or consequences does the document illustrate?
What are we able to learn about U.S. history by examining this source? What makes this document significant and worthy of study?
In addition to analyzing the value of a primary source, you will also find 2-3 good SECONDARY sources to analyze. Your secondary sources may be monographs (narrow historical book by a single author) or journal articles from an academic database like JStor or EBSCO. Wikipedia, History.com, PBS.org, or a textbook will not be accepted as good secondary sources; these are good places to start but should not be your secondary sources for a college level research project. Secondary sources will be easy to find via library services on campus. Internet sources are fine as long as we can determine that the source is reliable, has an easily identifiable expert author, and is not just an “encyclopedia” type page. Again, you will want to clear your secondary sources will me as well so I can steer you towards appropriate sources.
When choosing your secondary sources, you will also want to consider a few important points as well:
Who is the author? What gives this author authority to write on this topic? Why is this author a reliable expert?
What sources did this author use?
What is the author’s thesis? What is the author trying to prove?
Is the work particularly valuable to the study of U.S. History?
Your essay must use proper formatting and documentation of your sources. Quotes must be cited, and your sources must follow proper bibliographical format. If you are unsure what this means, you will want to consult a style manual or website tutorial.
This is not a traditional research paper. The primary source should be the “star” of your paper, but the secondary sources are not only support evidence. I want you also to analyze your secondary sources for their value to the study of your topic, explaining why the source is valuable for research on your topic and why the authors of your sources are reliable.
JUST TO BE CLEAR:
A primary (“first”) source is a document written during the time period of study by a close witness to the events. A secondary (second) source is a source written by a scholar who has studied the topic extensively, using primary sources and other secondary sources for research. A secondary source must be a book or a journal article with a discernible author who is an expert in the field. Textbooks, Wikipedia, pbs.org, history.com, Encyclopedia Britannica, or any other “encyclopedia” type source may be a fair place to start for general information but these will NOT satisfy the requirements for this project.
Here are examples of primary sources and secondary sources. These are US History sources, but you should be able to see the differences.
PRIMARY SOURCES:
Abraham Lincoln’s “House Divided” Speech (1860)
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (1863)
Secondary Sources:
Johnson, Martin P. Writing the Gettysburg Address. (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2013.)
Peatman, Jared. The Long Shadow of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2013. )
Huston, James L. “The Lost Cause of the North: A Reflection on Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural.” Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, Volume 33Links to an external site., Issue 1Links to an external site., Winter 2012, pp. 14-37. >
Unacceptable Sources:
A blog written by a hobby historian:
http://abesblogcabin.org/Links to an external site.
An online encyclopedia type source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_LincolnLinks to an external site.
http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/abraham-lincolnLinks to an external site.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/lookingforlincoln/Links to an external site.
A review of a book about the topic:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/14/books/review/wrestling-with-his-angel-abraham-lincoln-biography-sidney-blumenthal.htmlLinks to an external site.
A general newspaper article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/15/us/politics/abraham-lincoln-the-one-president-all-of-them-want-to-be-more-like.htmlLinks to an external site.
