Key Themes in Primary Sources PDF

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Looking for key themes in primary sources...

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U.S. History Discussion

Part 1

After reading the article, "Reading Primary Sources", the first key theme I found interesting was identifying the source. When identifying the source, you want to know the nature of it, or in simpler terms, what kind of source it is. "Knowing that type of source you're dealing with can help you start to think about appropriate questions" (Walbert 2). The best question to start with is figuring out who created the source. After finding this out, you can also look into their background and see if they have any relations or any biases that could determine if the source can be found credible (Walbert 3). After digging more to find more information, we should be able to find out when and where the source is produced. I find this interesting because once we put all of this information together, it gives us a better understanding of everything from a historical perspective.

The second key theme I found interesting was contextualizing the source. After finding out the main information from before, we now want to know about source's historical context. This information can be found almost anywhere, off of the web, "libraries and archives often provide collection descriptions or finding aids for their materials that can provide context" (Walbert 4). Again, you'll need to find more information about the creator and if they have any relations to the source's historical context. For example, if we're looking at a source regarding the Black Lives Matter Movement, and we already found out some basic information about the creator, do we know "his connection to the Movement?" "Was he an activist?" Was he opposed" (Walbert 4)? Finding out these things can make one choose a more creative route to figure out the creator's thought process and then later find out why they created the source in the first place. What I like about this key theme is that it gives you an even more in-depth explanation about the source and you get to learn the history of it.

The third key them I found interesting was evaluating the source. When evaluating a source, you want to see if they compare to other primary and secondary sources, what to believe and disbelieve, what you still don't know and where you can find that information. The main purpose of evaluating a source is to determine if the information given is credible, so in other words, we are looking at the quality of the information. When comparing the source to other primary and secondary sources, it doesn't matter if they don't say the exact same thing, "it may still be entirely truthful" (Walbert 6). Whatever you find in the source that you disbelieve; this gives people the chance to look for more answers in other similar sources which is cool. It's like solving a mystery. I find this this key theme interesting as well because you get to see all the different perspectives when looking at the different sources.

Part 2

"The Aztecs Predict the Coming of the Spanish", is a digital document that describes the foreshadowing omen that an old man narrated to the ruler of the Aztecs, Moctezuma. Reading more into this source, we find out the Moctezuma also has foretelling omens of the Spanish arriving and later resulting in the destruction of the Aztecs. This should be a primary source because it describes what happened before the Spanish arrived and that Moctezuma predicted what would happen afterwards. I can only image that historians find this fascinating because it makes them wonder how powerful these omens were to be able to actually predict the arrival of the Spanish. Then again, it could make them question if the ruler knew something that nobody else did and called it an omen. This just goes to show that the Aztecs really had strong beliefs and these omens were one of them. These foretelling's, "give us insight into the importance placed upon signs and omens in the pre-Columbian world" (Corbett et al., 2017)

Resources: Walbert, K. (n.d.). Reading Primary Sources: An Introduction for Students. Learn NC. Retrieved August 23, 2021, from https://go.view.usg.edu/content/enforced/2275304CO.540.HIST2111.81696.20222/Unit%201/Reading%20Primary%20Sources.pdf Corbett, P., Janssen, V., Lund, J., Pfannestiel, T., & Vickery, P. (2017). The Aztec Predict the Coming of the Spanish. OpenStax. https://go.view.usg.edu/content/enforced/2275304CO.540.HIST2111.81696.20222/Unit%201/The%20Aztec%20Predict%20the%20Coming%20of%20the%2 0Spanish%20(from%20textbook%20p%2013).pdf...