What practices do historians use to examine sources?

August 27, 2025

Open in google classroom: What practices do historians use to examine sources?

Objective: SWBAT (Write objective in notebook along with date)

• Describe sourcing and source a source from the lunchroom fight. 

• Describe annotating and annotate a source from the lunchroom fight. 

• Describe close reading and close read a source from the lunchroom fight. 

If someone came to you with information about the lunchroom fight, what would you do to make sure that what you’ve heard is truthful? 

Lunchroom Fight Introduction

➡ Directions: Respond to the question below on your google doc. Prepare to paste your answer to the Quizizz on the next slide (Voice Level 0)

Open Ended

If someone came to you with information about the lunchroom fight, what would you do to make sure that what you’ve heard is truthful? 

​➡ Directions: WITH YOUR TEACHER, annotate Source 1 using the annotation key. 

Draw

➡ Directions: INDEPENDENTLY, annotate Source 2 using the annotation key above. Prepare for COLD CALL

➡ Directions: Examine the documents below and answer the questions that follow on your google doc. Prepare to paste your answers on the next few slides 

Sourcing Practice #1

This is another account of the lunchroom fight from the introduction to this lesson. Max wrote this account because the principal asked all witnesses to write down what they saw.

Max "That kid is psycho. He turned around and punched me out of nowhere. Me and my friends were standing in line just joking around, and he turned around and punched me for no reason. He's messed up and creepy. Ask anyone."

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Sourcing Practice

Open Ended

1. Who wrote this? What do you know about the author?

Open Ended

2. Why was it written? What was the author’s purpose?

Open Ended

3. What is the point of view of the author concerning why the lunchroom fight happened?

➡ Directions: Examine the documents below and answer the questions that follow on your google doc. Prepare to paste your answers on the next few slides 

Sourcing Practice #1

The image to the right was made in 1910. It depicts the type of clothing worn by doctors when treating patients who had the plague, a disease that was deadly and spread quickly. The plague killed large numbers of people in Europe in the 14th century (1300s) and 17th century (1600s). The artist based the drawing on information about doctors’ clothing in a book written in 1721 by Jean Jacques Manget.

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Sourcing Practice

Open Ended

1. Why might the artist have drawn an image? What was the author’s purpose?

Open Ended

2. When was this drawn?

Open Ended

3. Is this a primary source or a secondary source? How do you know?

Close Reading Practice

➡ Directions: Read the passage , then answer the close reading questions on your google doc. Prepare to paste on next slides.

Open Ended

1. What claim does the author make about home-cooked food?

Open Ended

2. What evidence does the author use to support his/her claim?

Open Ended

3. In addition to evidence, how does the author try to persuade the reader in lines 13 through 17?

Exit Ticket SQ 3: What practices do historians use to examine sources? Complete on google forms in google classroom

Task 1

➡ Directions: Describe how historians evaluate sources with sourcing, annotating, and close reading.

Task 2

➡ Directions: Read the statement below from Max’s mother , then use it to annotate, source, and close read.