SCUA often uses the questions below to facilitate critical analysis of items.
Questions to Consider When Evaluating Primary Sources
- What is it?
- Who created it?
- When was it created?
- Who owned it?
- Who is the intended audience? Is it public or private?
- What surprises you? And why?
- What’s missing if anything?
- What questions does it lead you to ask?
- What other sources might you need to interpret your materials?
Questions for Evaluating Non-Written Primary Sources
from Mary Lynn Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, 6th ed. (Boston: Bedford, 2010)
For Photographs
- Who is the photographer? Why did he or she take this photograph?
- Where was the photograph first published or displayed? Did that publication or venue have a particular mission or point of view?
- Are there any obvious details such as angle, contrast, or cropping that suggest bias?
For Cartoons
- What is the message of the cartoon? How do words and images combine to convey that message?
- In what kind of publication did it originally appear (newspaper, magazine, etc.)? Did that publication have a particular agenda or mission?
- When did the cartoon appear? How might its historical context be significant?
For Artifacts
- When and where was the artifact made?
- Who might have used it, and what might it have been used for?
- What does the artifact tell us about the people who made and used it and the period in which it was made?