Using Primary Source Documents in Historical Writing

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Using Primary Source Documents in Historical
Writing
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Validity and Bias in Primary Source Documents

• Never take a document at face value.
• All documents have strengths and weaknesses that
  should be evaluated in forming your historical
  argument.
• All documents contain biases. The historians job
  is to determine what those biases are so that the
  document can be effectively used in an historical
  essay.

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SOAPS

• A quick way to think about validity and bias in
  an historical document is to think about the
  circumstance surrounding the documents creation.
  Specifically
• Speaker
• Occasion
• Audience
• Purpose
• Subject

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Speaker

• Who created the document?
• What do you know about the persons identity?
  (race, gender, class, age, job etc.)
• How might their identity effect the document?

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Speaker

• Northerner
• Man
• White
• Professional Cartoonist

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Occasion

• When was the document created?
• What events were occurring historically that
  might effect the creation of the document?

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Occasion

• Bleeding Kansas
• Preston Brooks attack on Charles Sumner
• Election year

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Audience

• Who was the document created for?
• Was the document meant to be public or private?
• What do you know about the identity of the people
  or person it was created for?
• What is the relationship between the Speaker and
  the audience?

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Audience

• Literate White Northerners
• Voters

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Purpose

• Why was the document created?
• What purpose does the document serve?

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Purpose

• To sway public opinion or reinforce public
  opinion.

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Subject

• What is the subject of the document?
• Read between the lines. What is the true meaning
  of the document.
• Message

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Subject

• Preston Brooks is portrayed as animalistic
  (notice hair, tail, etc)
• Charles Sumner well dressed, statesman. Only a
  quill to defend himself.
• Southern Chivalry --sarcastic
• Argument versus Clubs