LibGuides: Revolutions: China 1912-1949: Evaluation of historical sources

Making sense of documentary photography: "A picture may be worth a thousand words, but you need to know how to analyze the picture to gain any understanding of it at all. Making Sense of Documentary Photography provides a place for students and teachers to grapple with the documentary images that often illustrate textbooks but are almost never considered as historical evidence in their own right. Written by James Curtis, this guide offers a brief history of documentary photography, examples of what questions to ask when examining a documentary photograph, and an annotated bibliography and list of online resources for documentary photography."

Critiquing primary sources
How to critique historical primary sources from The Cynical Historian.
History Skills: Source criticism
A table explaining the four kinds of critical thinking skills with examples of corresponding historical skills.
Interpreting photographs
Interpreting a visual source, like a photograph, is very different to interpreting words on a page, which is the case with written sources. Therefore, you need to develop a different set of skills.
Political cartoons
Interpreting a visual source, like a political cartoon, is very different to interpreting words on a page, which is the case with written sources. Therefore, you need to develop a different set of skills.
Interpreting propaganda posters
Interpreting a visual source, like a propaganda poster, is very different to interpreting words on a page, which is the case with written sources. Therefore, you need to develop a different set of skills.

Source criticism skills poster
A source criticism skills poster from history.com - a visual guide to source analysis and evaluation skills, presented in a way to aid memorisation with the acronym OPCAM.
Source criticism reference sheet
This is a table of all source criticism skills from historyskills.com. A reference tool for students as it includes hyperlinks to additional information for each skill.

History Skills: How to analyse a historical source

Video: How to analyse a historical source

A step-by-step explanation for how to analyse historical sources in History. It uses the IOP CAM acronym to help structure your written response, which is particularly useful for assessment pieces, including exams, essays and short response exams. Works for all kinds of sources, including written documents, photographs, cartoons, propaganda posters, and more.

Source: History Skills

History Skills: What is the difference between perspective and bias?

Video: What is the difference between perspective and bias?

An explanation for the difference between bias and perspective when analysing historical sources.

Source: History Skills

History Skills: How to find contradictions in historical sources

Video: How to find contradictions in historical sources

How to identify contradiction between historical sources.

Source: History Skills

History Skills: Contestability in History Explained

Video: Contestability in History Explained

Learn how to evaluate the contestable nature of historical sources. This is particularly useful when analysing a source to identify different interpretations.

Source: History Skills

History Skills: How to evaluate historical sources for usefulness

Video: How to evaluate historical sources for usefulness

Learn how to correctly evaluate historical sources for usefulness or relevance in History.

Source: History Skills

History Skills: How to analyse a source's historical context

Video: How to analyse a source's historical context

When analysing a source for History class, one of the first skills to master is the ability to contextualise the source. The ability to identify a source's context is based mostly on determining when it was created, where it was created, and what significant events occurred at that time.

Source: History Skills

History Skills: How to analyse a historical source's origin

Video: How to analyse a historical source's origin

An explanation for how to analyse the historical origin of a source in history. As a historical criticism skill, it allows you to work out who the creator of a source is and what kind and type of historical source it is. It is one of the six source analysis skills that make up the IOP CAM acronym used by History Skills.

History Skills: How do you know if a historical source is biased?

Video: How do you know if a historical source is biased?

Learn how to analyse historical source for bias.

Source: History Skills

History Skills: How do you determine a source's perspective?

Video: How do you determine a source's perspective?

Learn how to critically analyse a historical source for perspective.

Source: History Skills

History Skills: How to analyse a source's purpose

Video: How to analyse a source's purpose

Learn how to successfully determine the purpose of a historical source.

Source: History Skills

History Skills: How do you discover a historical source's intended audience?

Video: How do you discover a historical source's intended audience?

Understand how to analyse a historical source to determine its intended audience.

Source: History Skills

History Skills: Historical source evaluation explained

Video: Historical source evaluation explained

Learn all about source evaluation with this short video. It explains how to use historical source analysis skills to justify your evaluation, particularly with the IOP CAM structure.

Source: History Skills