Caption of sources: provide context
Usefulness: the actual content of the source → can the source be used, valuable
Reliability: origin, purpose, value, limitation → can the source be trusted
Fact: definitely proved information
Opinion: a person’s thoughts, not proved
A source becomes evidence when it is used to answer a question about the past
Primary source: the time studied, raw material, remains from the past
- Is it authentic
- Who wrote or made it
Secondary source: produced after the time, written about the past, based on other sources
- What sources have been used to produce this
- Documents can be altered
- Can be quoted out of context
Visual sources (photos)
- Pictures can be drawn to emphasise and hide things
- Pictures can be drawn from memory after event - unreliable
- Only show one single moment, not whole context
- Photographers choose what they want to show - opinion
- Cartoon is cartoonist’s opinion - own perspective, with agenda
- Was the photograph edited or altered
- Is it staged, were the people in the photo aware the photo was being take
- Eg. 1956 treason trial SA photo was staged
Can add the evaluation of sources in the source-based essay
Bias and Reliability
- Can you trust the source
- Origin, purpose, value, limitation
- Bias can be found in only one section of the source
- Language: use of words, diction, connotation
- Balance in the selection of facts: facts omitted, highlighting points
- Views behind the source: opinions, the general public’s opinions
Source can be useful even if it is unreliable
Usefulness: the actual content of the source → can the source be used, valuable
Reliability: origin, purpose, value, limitation → can the source be trusted
Fact: definitely proved information
Opinion: a person’s thoughts, not proved
A source becomes evidence when it is used to answer a question about the past
Primary source: the time studied, raw material, remains from the past
- Is it authentic
- Who wrote or made it
Secondary source: produced after the time, written about the past, based on other sources
- What sources have been used to produce this
- Documents can be altered
- Can be quoted out of context
Visual sources (photos)
- Pictures can be drawn to emphasise and hide things
- Pictures can be drawn from memory after event - unreliable
- Only show one single moment, not whole context
- Photographers choose what they want to show - opinion
- Cartoon is cartoonist’s opinion - own perspective, with agenda
- Was the photograph edited or altered
- Is it staged, were the people in the photo aware the photo was being take
- Eg. 1956 treason trial SA photo was staged
Can add the evaluation of sources in the source-based essay
Bias and Reliability
- Can you trust the source
- Origin, purpose, value, limitation
- Bias can be found in only one section of the source
- Language: use of words, diction, connotation
- Balance in the selection of facts: facts omitted, highlighting points
- Views behind the source: opinions, the general public’s opinions
Source can be useful even if it is unreliable
