PRIMARY SOURCE EVALUATION ASSIGNMENT PART I: BACKGROUND In studying the human past, it is important to develop the ability to evaluate primary sources. What is a primary source? A primary source is...

1 answer below »
added a file



PRIMARY SOURCE EVALUATION ASSIGNMENT PART I: BACKGROUND In studying the human past, it is important to develop the ability to evaluate primary sources.  What is a primary source? A primary source is firsthand information from the time period being studied. It provides direct evidence about an event, object, person, or work of art and has not been changed in any way. Primary sources can include diaries, legal documents, manuscripts, eyewitness accounts, photographs, sketches, autobiographies, audio and video recordings, transcripts of speeches, and many other types of artifacts. In studying history, primary sources must be distinguished from secondary sources. Secondary sources are based on primary sources, but they are not firsthand accounts. So, for example, if I was not present at a historic speech but after reading a transcript of it or watching video footage I wrote an article about it, what I wrote would be considered a secondary source, not a primary one. The original artifact upon which my article would be based would be the primary source. What does it mean to evaluate primary sources? Evaluating a primary source means thinking critically about it. It means objectively analyzing and considering a source in order to make an informed judgment of it -- to discern whether it is factual, trustworthy, reliable, or whether perhaps it might contain errors or mistruths of some kind. How do we evaluate primary sources? It depends in part on what you are evaluating. For example, written sources would be evaluated differently from photographic sources. As the library of the University of Toronto explains regarding written sources: (Links to an external site.) Evaluating sources, whether they are primary or secondary, is an important part of the research process.  Consider the following questions in order to effectively evaluate and gain a more critical understanding of your sources. Author Authority    Who created the item?  What is his or her affiliation?  What is his or her relationship to the information contained in the source? Audience and Purpose  Who is the intended audience?  Why was the item created? Perspective and Bias How do the author's bias and perspective inform the arguments and evidence presented? Accuracy and Completeness  Is the evidence reliable?  Are the important points covered?  How does the source compare to other similar sources?  What may have been left out? Footnotes and Documentation Are the author's sources in secondary and reference literature clearly identified with complete citations to allow you to find the original source yourself? Meanwhile, as the same library explains regarding sources that are images: Images require the same kinds of evaluating questions as other texts, but different types of images require additional questions. Photographs Where was the image first displayed or published? Do the angles, lighting, or cropping suggest a particular bias? Art Works Is it a single work or part of a larger movement? Where was it first displayed and what was the critical reception? Cartoons In what type of publication was the cartoon published? When?  What is the historical significance? What is its message? What are the basic steps of primary source evaluation? Regardless of what type of primary source you're handling, the basic steps are always. Per the U.S. National Archives, the best practices for evaluating primary sources of all kinds are as follows: 1. Meet the document. 2. Observe its parts. 3. Try to make sense of it. 4. Use it as historical evidence. PART II: THE ASSIGNMENT A: TAKING NOTES In Part B, below, you will find a series of images from the Library of Congress. Please look carefully at each of these images. Try to determine what you can about these images as presented here. Then, click through to the Library of Congress bibliographic record for each image, which has additional important details such as who the photographer was, where the photograph was taken, which Library of Congress collection the image comes from, and a description of the photograph.  Once you have done so, please engage in the following primary source analysis steps (per the guidelines of the National Archives -- click here for a printable worksheet you can take notes on (Links to an external site.)). Please note that you may need to do some additional research online to answer some of these questions. If you do, please be sure to keep track of your sources so that you may cite them later in this assignment, in the paper described in Part C, below. 1. Meet the photo. Quickly scan the photo. What do you notice first? Type of photo (check all that apply): ❑ Portrait ❑ Landscape ❑ Aerial/Satellite ❑ Action ❑ Architectural ❑ Event ❑ Family ❑ Panoramic ❑ Posed ❑ Candid ❑ Documentary ❑ Selfie ❑ Other Is there a caption? ❑ yes ❑ no 2. Observe its parts. List the people, objects and activities you see. Then, write a short description summarizing the photo. 3. Try to make sense of it. Answer as best you can. The caption, if available, may help. · Who took this photo? · Where is it from? · When is it from? · What was happening at the time in history this photo was taken? · Why was it taken? List evidence from the photo or your knowledge about the photographer that led you to your conclusion 4. Use it as historical evidence. · What did you find out from this photo that you might not learn anywhere else? · What other documents, photos, or historical evidence are you going to use to help you understand this event or topic? B: THE PHOTOSET  Here are the photos you should analyze using the steps detailed in Part A, above, and then write about as instructed in Part C, below. Be sure to click on the bibliographic record for each image to conduct your analysis, since the captions here are abbreviated, and they do not contain any information about the photographer, time period, etc. The full captions have more detail, and there is a lot more to look at in the bibliographic records. Some even have additional related photos taken in the same location or a related location (such as an exterior shot of the building in which a photograph was taken). 1. A "Reader" in cigar factory, Tampa, Fla. He reads books and newspapaers at top of his voice all day long. [Link to bibliographic record] (Links to an external site.) 2. "Carrying-in" boy in Alexandria Glass Factory, Alexandria, Va. Works on day shift one week and night shift next week.  [Link to bibliographic record (Links to an external site.)] 3. Three cutters in Factory #7, Seacoast Canning Co.,Eastport, Me. they work regularly whenever there are fish.  [Link to bibliographic record (Links to an external site.)] 4. 6 yr. old Earle Holt (or Hope),712 H St., S.W., Washington, D.C., sells papers for a neighbor boy.  [Link to bibliographic record (Links to an external site.)] 5. Dotheboys Hall in session tucked away upstairs over store.Equipped with antique, dilapidated benches and chairs.  [Link to bibliographic record (Links to an external site.)] 6. Some samples (not all) of the children in the "Kindergarten Factory"run by the High Point and Piedmont Hosiery Mills, High Point, N.C. Every child in these photos worked.  [Link to bibliographic record (Links to an external site.)] C: THE WRITE-UP After considering these images, please write a well-structured 3.5- to 5-page essay in which you evaluate these primary source photographs--assessing them as a set, judging their significance, quality, worth as primary sources. Questions to consider before you write include but are not limited to the following: · What does this photo set document? · Who created these photos? · When were they created? · What was happening in U.S. society during this time period? · Why were these photos created? · What was the creator's purpose in creating each photograph? · What did the photographer do to get his or her point across? · Who do you feel the primary source's original audience was? · Do you see any biases or stereotypes in these sources? · What insights did the photographs offer to you as a viewer? · What insights did the bibliographic records add to your knowledge that the photos alone did not provide? · What questions did the bibliographic records answer about the photographs? · What questions remain in your mind as a viewer? · In comparison to examining these photos individually, what did examining them as a set teach you? As you share what you've learned, please offer reasons and specific evidence to support your conclusions, and identify some questions for further investigation on this subject. What strategies might you use to answer these questions? In the conclusion of your essay, please include a subheading titled "Photography as a Communication Medium," and offer a one- to two-paragraph articulating the advantages of photography as a medium. How did photography help the photographer who created these artifacts achieve his purpose? Was it a more effective or less effective tool than prior media from earlier eras would have been? Be sure to cite any sources you use (using APA style) and avoid plagiarism. (Note that Turnitin has been enabled for this assignment.)
Answered 1 days AfterJan 08, 2021

Answer To: PRIMARY SOURCE EVALUATION ASSIGNMENT PART I: BACKGROUND In studying the human past, it is important...

Mehzabin answered on Jan 10 2021
128 Votes
Running Head: Primary Source Evaluation Assignment     1
Primary Source Evaluation Assignment         2
PRIMARY SOURCE EVALUATION ASSIGNMENT
Introduction
    This photo set documents the period betwee
n 1908 and 1924, which shows the lifestyles and labouring situations of the people and especially children residing in the United States. The National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) photographs are beneficial for the education of labour, youngsters or kids, schooling, house environments in city and pastoral locations, commercial and agrarian areas, working class families, reform movements, public health with further features of city and countryside living in the beginning of the twentieth century in America. The creator of these photos was Lewis W. Hine. These photos were created and published in October 1912.
Discussion
    For making most of the manufactured items, hand labour was replaced by power-driven machines in the late 1700s and early 1800s. After England, factories started spreading everywhere in the United States. The owners of these factories, to run their machines, founded new sources of labour. This new source of labour was none other than children. Since the children were cheaper, unlikely to strike and more controllable than adults were, they were ideal for hiring by factory owners. The factory work was exhausting, as children had to work in factories for 12-18-hours-a day for six days a week. In return, the owners of these factories paid them only a dollar for their gruelling labor. Many children were only 7 years old when they started working in factories. They were appointed with jobs like carrying heavy loads or tending machines in spinning mills (Virginia Commonwealth University, 2021).
    By the middle of the 1800s, child labour and its long-term effects on children’s health and education were brought under the inspection of reformers. Similar outrage occurred amongst the churches,...
SOLUTION.PDF

Answer To This Question Is Available To Download

Related Questions & Answers

More Questions »

Submit New Assignment

Copy and Paste Your Assignment Here