Reading, Writing, and Researching for History
\nPatrick Rael, Bowdoin College, 2004
\nhttp:\/\/academic.bowdoin.edu\/WritingGuides\/ 1
\n2.b.
\nHow to Read a Primary Source
\nGood reading is about asking questions of your sources. Keep the following in mind when reading
\nprimary sources. Even if you believe you can’t arrive at the answers, imagining possible answers will
\naid your comprehension. Reading primary sources requires that you use your historical imagination.
\nThis process is all about your willingness and ability to ask questions of the material, imagine
\npossible answers, and explain your reasoning.
\nI. Evaluating primary source texts: I\u2019ve developed an acronym that may help guide your Assessment
\nof primary source texts: PAPER.
\nC Purpose of the author in preparing the document
\nC Argument and strategy she or he uses to achieve those goals
\nC Presuppositions and values (in the text, and our own)
\nC Epistemology (evaluating truth content)
\nC Relate to other texts (compare and contrast)
\nPurpose
\nC Who is the author and what is her or his place in society (explain why you are justified in
\nthinking so)? What could or might it be, based on the text, and why?
\n\u2022 Why did the author prepare the document? What was the occassion for its creation?
\nC What is at stake for the author in this text? Why do you think she or he wrote it? What
\nevidence in the text tells you this?
\nC Does the author have a thesis? What \u2014 in one sentence \u2014 is that thesis?
\nArgument
\nC What is the text trying to do? How does the text make its case? What is its strategy for
\naccomplishing its goal? How does it carry out this strategy?
\nC What is the intended audience of the text? How might this influence its rhetorical strategy?
\nCite specific examples.
\nC What arguments or concerns does the author respond to that are not clearly stated? Provide
\nat least one example of a point at which the author seems to be refuting a position never
\nclearly stated. Explain what you think this position may be in detail, and why you think it.
\nReading, Writing, and Researching for History
\nPatrick Rael, Bowdoin College, 2004
\nhttp:\/\/academic.bowdoin.edu\/WritingGuides\/ 2
\nC Do you think the author is credible and reliable? Use at least one specific example to explain
\nwhy. Make sure to explain the principle of rhetoric or logic that makes this passage credible.
\nPresuppositions
\nC How do the ideas and values in the source differ from the ideas and values of our age? Offer
\ntwo specific examples.
\nC What presumptions and preconceptions do we as readers bring to bear on this text? For
\ninstance, what portions of the text might we find objectionable, but which contemporaries
\nmight have found acceptable. State the values we hold on that subject, and the values
\nexpressed in the text. Cite at least one specific example.
\nC How might the difference between our values and the values of the author influence the way
\nwe understand the text? Explain how such a difference in values might lead us to misinterpret the text, or understand it in a way contemporaries would not have. Offer at least
\none specific example.
\nEpistemology
\nC How might this text support one of the arguments found in secondary sources we\u2019ve read?
\nChoose a paragraph anywhere in a secondary source we\u2019ve read, state where this text might
\nbe an appropriate footnote (cite page and paragraph), and explain why.
\nC What kinds of information does this text reveal that it does not seemed concerned with
\nrevealing? (In other words, what does it tell us without knowing it\u2019s telling us?)
\nC Offer one claim from the text which is the author\u2019s interpretation. Now offer one example of
\na historical \u201cfact\u201d (something that is absolutely indisputable) that we can learn from this text
\n(this need not be the author\u2019s words).
\nRelate: Now choose another of the readings, and compare the two, answering these questions:
\nC What patterns or ideas are repeated throughout the readings?
\nC What major differences appear in them?
\nC Which do you find more reliable and credible?
\nII. Here are some additional concepts that will help you evaluate primary source texts:
\nA. Texts and documents, authors and creators: You\u2019ll see these phrases a lot. I use the first two
\nand the last two as synonyms. Texts are historical documents, authors their creators, and
\nvice versa. \u201cTexts\u201d and \u201cauthors\u201d are often used when discussing literature, while
\n\u201cdocuments\u201d and \u201ccreators\u201d are more familiar to historians.
\nB. Evaluating the veracity (truthfulness) of texts: For the rest of this discussion, consider the
\nexample of a soldier who committed atrocities against non-combatants during wartime.
\nLater in his life, he writes a memoir that neglects to mention his role in these atrocities, and
\nmay in fact blame them on someone else. Knowing the soldier\u2019s possible motive, we would
\nbe right to question the veracity of his account.
\nReading, Writing, and Researching for History
\nPatrick Rael, Bowdoin College, 2004
\nhttp:\/\/academic.bowdoin.edu\/WritingGuides\/ 3
\nC. The credible vs. the reliable text:
\n1. Reliability refers to our ability to trust the consistency of the author\u2019s account of the
\ntruth. A reliable text displays a pattern of verifiable truth-telling that tends to render the
\nunverifiable parts of the text true. For instance, the soldier above may prove to be utterly
\nreliable in detailing the campaigns he participated in during the war, as evidence by
\ncorroborating records. The only gap in his reliability may be the omission of details
\nabout the atrocities he committed.
\n2. Credibility refers to our ability to trust the author\u2019s account of the truth on the basis of
\nher or his tone and reliability. An author who is inconsistently truthful — such as the
\nsoldier in the example above — loses credibility. There are many other ways authors
\nundermine their credibility. Most frequently, they convey in their tone that they are not
\nneutral (see below). For example, the soldier above may intersperse throughout his
\nreliable account of campaign details vehement and racist attacks against his old enemy.
\nSuch attacks signal readers that he may have an interest in not portraying the past
\naccurately, and hence may undermine his credibility, regardless of his reliability.
\n3. An author who seems quite credible may be utterly unreliable. The author who takes a
\nmeasured, reasoned tone and anticipates counter-arguments may seem to be very
\ncredible, when in fact he presents us with complete balderdash. Similarly, a reliable
\nauthor may not always seem credible. It should also be clear that individual texts
\nthemselves may have portions that are more reliable and credible than others.
\nD. The objective vs. the neutral text: We often wonder if the author of a text has an \u201cax to
\ngrind\u201d which might render her or his words unreliable.
\n1. Neutrality refers to the stake an author has in a text. In the example of the soldier who
\ncommitted wartime atrocities, the author seems to have had a considerable stake in his
\nmemoir, which was the expunge his own guilt. In an utterly neutral document, the
\ncreator is not aware that she or he has any special stake in the construction and content
\nof the document. Very few texts are ever completely neutral. People generally do not go
\nto the trouble to record their thoughts unless they have a purpose or design which
\nrenders them invested in the process of creating the text. Some historical texts, such as
\nbirth records, may appear to be more neutral than others, because their creators seem to
\nhave had less of a stake in creating them. (For instance, the county clerk who signed
\nseveral thousand birth certificates likely had less of a stake in creating an individual birth
\ncertificate than did a celebrity recording her life in a diary for future publication as a
\nmemoir.)
\n2. Objectivity refers to an author\u2019s ability to convey the truth free of underlying values,
\ncultural presuppositions, and biases. Many scholars argue that no text is or ever can be
\ncompletely objective, for all texts are the products of the culture in which their authors
\nlived. Many authors pretend to objectivity when they might better seek for neutrality.
\nThe author who claims to be free of bias and presupposition should be treated with
\nsuspicion: no one is free of their values. The credible author acknowledges and expresses
\nthose values so that they may accounted for in the text where they appear.
\nReading, Writing, and Researching for History
\nPatrick Rael, Bowdoin College, 2004
\nhttp:\/\/academic.bowdoin.edu\/WritingGuides\/ 4
\nE. Epistemology: a fancy word for a straight-forward concept. \u201cEpistemology\u201d is the branch of
\nphilosophy that deals with the nature of knowledge. How do you know what you know?
\nWhat is the truth, and how is it determined? For historians who read primary sources, the
\nquestion becomes: what can I know of the past based on this text, how sure can I be about it,
\nand how do I know these things?
\n1. This can be an extremely difficult question. Ultimately, we cannot know anything with
\ncomplete assurance, because even our senses may fail us. Yet we can conclude, with
\nreasonable accuracy, that some things are more likely to be true than others (for instance,
\nit is more likely that the sun will rise tomorrow than that a human will learn to fly
\nwithout wings or other support). Your task as a historian is to make and justify decisions
\nabout the relative veracity of historical texts, and portions of them. To do this, you need
\na solid command of the principles of sound reasoning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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