This document discusses key concepts for historians in evaluating primary and secondary sources. It defines primary sources as those created during the time period being studied, and secondary sources as those created afterwards. When determining usefulness, reliability, and limitations, historians consider factors like the author, date, intended audience, message, and completeness of information. While primary sources have the advantage of being contemporaneous, both primary and secondary sources can be useful or unreliable depending on thorough analysis. The reliability of a source may also depend on balancing multiple perspectives.

1. Primary Sources
 A primary source is one created during the period that
the historian is investigating

2. Secondary Sources
 A secondary source is a source that was created after
the time the historian is investigating

3.  Primary sources were created during the time that is
being investigated.
 Secondary sources are produced after the time period
that is being investigated.
Primary and Secondary
Sources

4. Is this a Primary Source...
..if I am investigating World War 2?
Trenches from the Somme
Trenches as they are now

5. Is this a secondary source…
…if I am studying Gladiators in Ancient Rome?
Many gladiatorial games were given in that year,
some unimportant, one noteworthy beyond the
rest — that of Titus Flamininus which he gave to
commemorate the death of his father, which
lasted four days, and was accompanied by a
public distribution of meats, a banquet, and scenic
performances. The climax of the show which was
big for the time was that in three days seventy
four gladiators fought. Livy

6. Usefulness
 A useful source helps to explain something you are
investigating
 We ask;
- how useful is this source to a historian studying….?
- What could this source be useful for? (what information
does it tell us?)
- Students need to specifically say why a source is useful for
what is being investigated

7. What questions do we need to ask to determine
usefulness?
 How useful is this source for a historian studying
WW2?
About events from
1914-1918

8. Students need to specifically say why a source is
useful for what is being investigated
 Show NOT Tell.
 ‘This is useful because it provides evidence on how
people first lit their homes.’ Rather than ‘it is useful
because it told me what I needed to know.’

9. Retroactive 1
• Using Retroactive 1, read
Chapter 1.4 Sources: the
historian’s clues pp, 14 –
15
• Answer the following
questions on p. 15 under the
tab titled “Primary and
Secondary Sources”:
• Check Knowledge and
Understanding Qu 1 – 3
• Develop Source Skills Qu 4

10. Who can we trust?

11. Reliability
 How close to the whole ‘truth’ is this
source?
- Is it complete or incomplete?
- Is the information accurate? Cross
Reference with a book because a book has
to go a much more rigorous process
- Does it state facts or opinions?
- Does the author use language to persuade?
Eg exaggeration, emotive language etc
- Shows a clear bias/prejudice for one way or
the other; exaggerates some elements and
omits others
- Perspective is related to reliability

12.  Archaeological sources can be fabricated – there is a
huge market for forgeries

13. Which is more reliable; a
primary or secondary
source?

14. Whether a source is primary or secondary has
nothing to do with reliability or usefulness;
 this is just when a source was created. Both primary
and secondary sources can be useful and reliable or
unreliable and of little use depending on the factors
mentioned above and what a historian is investigating.

16. How can I remember this?
What can impact reliability?
Ask ADAM ANT
-Author
-Date
-Audience
-Message

17. The Reliability Spectrum
• We do not use definitive language when discussing reliability i.e. It is
reliable because…..but it is not reliable because…..
• The reliability is impacted by…..
• It could be less reliable because….
• It can be more relied on because…..

18. Are primary sources more reliable than secondary?
1. Incident in the playground. Michael hit Simon,
Michael’s friends witnessed the event. They gave an
eyewitness account – bias?
2. If you wrote an account of WW2 there would not
have been an account of the Holocaust because it had
not been revealed by then. Most government
documents get lifted many years later that reveal a lot
of information about the past.

19. Non representation in sources
 Women and the poor. Wealthy educated males
created the sources
 So have to cross reference to archaeological findings to
find out about those people.

20. Caesar and Tacitus
 Caesar writes in the third peron
 Tacitus was a senator
 Biased against anyone who had power in Rome
however Tacitus’ accounts do have value.

21. Unreliable but useful
 For a Historian studying
propaganda (information,
especially of a biased or
misleading nature used to
promote a political cause or
point of view)
 An unreliable source can still
be useful! For example,
propaganda is not a message
that is close to the truth but is
good evidence for how people
could be persuaded to think in
different ways eg WW1
recruitment posters.

22. Do not answer about reliability using definitives
 Reliability is impacted by the fact that this source was
not there at the time witnessing the event, however
this source is valuable beacause…
 Eyewitness on the ground in a war will always have a
limited perspective as they cannot have the vision
from above.

23. Your Turn!

24. Retroactive 1
• Using Retroactive 1, read
Chapter 1.5 Analysis and
use of sources pp, 16 – 19
• Answer the following
questions on p. 19 under the
tab titled “Primary and
Secondary Sources”:
• Check Knowledge and
Understanding 1 – 5

25. Retroactive 1
• Using Retroactive 1, read
Chapter 1.7 key historical
concepts Perspectives,
empathetic understanding,
significance &
contestability. pp, 24-26
• Answer the following
questions on p. 27 under the
tab titled “Check Knowledge
and understanding”:
• Check Knowledge and
Understanding Qu 3