Talk:Unit 3: Evaluating Sources
Which source do you trust more to answer the historical question? -- Vanessia11 (talk) 10:52, 14 December 2016 (EST)
Directions
After reviewing student answers, students will explain their rationale for the source they chose in the Discussion Area (tab at the top of the page). Share your thoughts with your students and encourage students to review at least two other responses, and provide some feedback. Make sure students explanations are based on the following criteria:
Purpose
-What is the purpose or motivation for the source? (e.g., educational, commercial, entertainment, or promotional.) -Is it trying to sell you something? How easy is it to differentiate advertisement from content in the source? -Based on your knowledge, is the information fact, opinion, or propaganda? -Who is the intended audience for the information, and how is this fact reflected in the organization and presentation of the material?
Authority
-Is the author identifiable? -What is the author's background? (e.g., experience, credentials, and occupation, and has he or she published anything else on the topic?) -Does the author cite his or her sources? -How current is the publication? -When was the resource last updated or revised, and how often is it updated?
Reliability
-How stable does the resource seem to be? The resource’s dependability (particularly in the case of Web sites) is important if it is going to be cited as a source or recommended for use by others.
-For Web sites, do most of the links on the page work? From your evaluation of currency and authority, do you think the resource will be there the next time you visit it?
Coverage
-What information is included or omitted?
Historical Questions:
1. Historical Question: Who was present at the signing of the Declaration of Independence?
Source 1: Hollywood movie about the American Revolution made 2001.
Source 2: Book written by a famous historian who is an expert on the American Revolution, published in 1999.
Which do you trust more? Why?
2. Historical Question: What was slavery like in South Carolina?
Source 1: Interview with former slave in 1936. The interviewer is a black man collecting oral histories for the Federal Writers’ Project.
Source 2: Interview with former slave in 1936. The interviewer is a white woman collecting oral histories for the Federal Writers’ Project.
Which do you trust more? Why?
3. Historical Question: What was the layout of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz?
Source 1: Interview with 80 year-old Holocaust survivor in 1985.
Source 2: Map of concentration camp found in Nazi files.
Which do you trust more? Why?
4. Historical Question: Why were Japanese Americans put in internment camps during WWII?
Source 1: Government film explaining internment from 1942.
Source 2: Government report on Japanese Internment from 1983 based on declassified government documents.
Which do you trust more? Why?
5. Historical Question: Did American soldiers commit atrocities during the Vietnam War in 1969?
Source 1: Sworn testimony by American Sergeant in Congressional hearings in 1969.
Source 2: Speech by American General touring the United States in 1969.
Which do you trust more? Why?
6. Historical Question: What happened at the Battle of Little Bighorn?
Source 1: High school history textbook from 1985.
Source 2: Newspaper account from the day after the battle in June 1876.
Which do you trust more? Why?
