How to analyse and evaluate historical sources
One of the most important aspects of studying history is the need to engage with historical sources.
The goal of historical source criticism is to examine the sources with a critical eye and determine their value as evidence for historical events and developments.
Reading and understanding sources require a specific set of critical thinking skills that will allow you to analyse and evaluate them.
Each skill is vitally important to doing well in the subject.
What is 'source criticism'?
Source criticism is a set of skills that allows you to think carefully about the nature of historical sources.
Rather than simply accepting what sources say, these skills help you to develop a healthy skepticism about the reasons a source was made and whether you can trust it.
There are two types of source criticism skills you can use: analysis skills and evaluation skills.
In order to help you understand how each of these skills relate to each other, they are organised in a table below.
To learn more about each of the skills, click on the hyperlinks in the tables to see more detailed explanations and examples.
| Analysis | Information |
What is the explicit meaning of the source? (Comprehension) What is the implicit meaning of the source? (Interpretation) How does this source corroborate the information from another source? How does this source contradict the information from another source? |
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Origin
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Who created the source? What kind and type of source is it? |
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From what point of view is the source created? |
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When was the source created? What historical events happened at this time that are important to the creation of this source? |
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Who was the intended audience of the source? |
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For what purpose was this source made? |
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| Evaluation |
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How relevant is this source to the topic you are studying? |
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How correct is the information provided by the source?
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How trustworthy is the source? |
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