Unit 0: Skills - Evaluating Sources

What is a Primary document?

• Records of events or evidence of the events as they happened without commentary.

• Describe or explain the event and can add extra value to the original document.

• Index, organize or compile other sources. Main purpose is to repackage other ideas.

Which of the following is an example of a Primary document?

• Almanacs

• Government reports

• Biographies

• Guidebooks

What is a Secondary document?

• Records of events or evidence of the events as they happened without commentary.

• Describe or explain the event and can add extra value to the original document.

• Index, organize or compile other sources. Main purpose is to repackage other ideas.

Which of the following is an example of a Secondary document?

• Poems

• Biographies

• Almanacs

• Interviews

What is a Tertiary document?

• Records of events or evidence of the events as they happened without commentary.

• Describe or explain the event and can add extra value to the original document.

• Index, organize or compile other sources. Main purpose is to repackage other ideas.

Which of the following is an example of a Tertiary document?

• Guidebooks

• Speeches

• Reviews of law/legislation

• Poems

Match the type of document with its example:

• Almanacs

• Tertiary

• Government reports

• Secondary

• Biographies

• Primary

Look at the image of the handwritten letter. Is this source a Primary, Secondary, or Tertiary source?

• Primary

• Secondary

• Tertiary

Who was present at the signing of the Declaration of Independence?

• The Founding Fathers

• Abraham Lincoln

• George Washington

• Benjamin Franklin

Between a Hollywood movie about the American Revolution made in 2001 and a book written by a famous historian who is an expert on the American Revolution published in 1999, which source would you trust more and why?

• The Hollywood movie, because movies are always accurate.

• The book by the historian, because it is written by an expert.

• Both sources equally, because they provide the same information.

• Neither source, because both are unreliable.