Description

Review Writing Guidelines for Written Assignments in Nexus Content for further writing instructions. 

A primary source is evidence used by historians that was created during the period under study.  Examples of primary sources include letters, records, diaries, legal notices, accounts or other documents, photographs, artefacts and stories, as in “oral history.” 

In your primary source workshop in Week 8, you learned what primary sources are and how to assess them. In this assignment, you will combine your primary source skills with the writing skills you’ve been practicing throughout the term to write an essay-style Primary Source Analysis paper

The goal of a primary source analysis in this course is to explain what the document is about, and how and why it is important to understanding twentieth-century Indigenous history in Canada.

I. THE DOCUMENTS 

Choose one of these documents as the basis for your primary source analysis (located in Writing Assignment 2 Primary Source Analysis Instructions, Content, Nexus) 

  • Indian Control of Indian Education policy paper, National Indian Brotherhood, 1972
  • Iskwew magazine, Saskatchewan Native Women’s Association, 1975
  • New Breed magazine, Metis Society of Saskatchewan, July/Aug 1970
  • Citizens Plus (The Red Paper) policy paper, Indian Chiefs of Alberta, June 1970

I. ASSESSING A PRIMARY SOURCE

There are three aspects of a primary source analysis:

  1. Examine: Critically examine the primary source.
  2. Describe: Describe what the source tells us about the history of Indigenous history in the twentieth century
  3. Evaluate: Evaluate its potential use to the historian. 

 A. EXAMINE: When examining the primary source, consider its origin and context. 

  • Who made the source?  What do you know about that individual/group?  Does the author have any reason to willfully falsify information contained within the source?
  • When was the source made?
  • Where was the source made?
  • Why was the source made?  What was the intention? 
  • Were there any special circumstances within which the individual/group made the source?
  • Is the information in the document corroborated by other evidence?
  • How does the document reflect the time when it was written or created?
  • Who is the intended audience? Were there multiple audiences? How might the audience have shaped what the author(s) says?

B. DESCRIBE: When describing the source, consider what it tells us about the History of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.

  • How does this document contribute to my understanding of this historical period?
  • What areas of social, sport, intellectual, political, urban/rural, labour, family, economic, legal and/or other histories does this source speak to? 
  • What does it say about the events underway at the time?
  • Does the author make an argument? If so, what is it? How does that argument connect to other historical events or trends?

C. EVALUATE: What does the sources tell us about histories of Indigenous peoples?

  • How does the source help to bring Indigenous peoples’ lives and experiences into focus in a particular historical context?
  • Does the source reaffirm or challenge what we know about Indigenous history?
  • Does the source have limited value in interpreting all angles of the situation?
  • From what perspective did the individual or group perceive this situation?
  • Is the document limited by its author’s social/cultural distance from the subject?

II. HOW DO I WRITE A PRIMARY SOURCE ANALYSIS?

1. Read the document.  

Begin your assignment by reading the primary source document. The first time you read it, read it through without making notes to get a sense of what it is about and what some of the key components are. The second time you read it, look for key components and themes and flag them as you read.

2. Answer the questions.

Now answer the questions above individually. You will be able to answer some of these questions better than others. That’s ok. I suggest beginning your analysis by identifying and interpreting/analyzing authorship and when the document was created to get the basic contextual information down first before you proceed.

3. Do your research.

Are there questions that you have about the document or the historical events surrounding the document? Do some research to find those answers. You might find those answers in the course materials, or you might need to do outside research to find those answers. When you do this, use credible web sources. Canadian Encyclopedia Online and Dictionary of Canadian Biography online are both good sources for background research. You can also search for book chapters or journal articles in the UWinnipeg Library databases, as you practiced in your library workshop. Remember that you can reach out to the librarians for assistance online. You will need to cite these additional sources in your footnotes and bibliography. 

Once again: You must cite your sources with footnotes and provide a bibliography.