Primary Source Analysis Guide

Object

Observation
What do you see? Describe everything about it: content, style, images, etc.

Analysis

Creator: Can you tell who created the object? What can you determine about the purpose for which it was created?

 

 

Audience: Who was the object for (the intended audience)? What can you infer from the document/object about the use that was made of it?

 

 

Interpretation: What specific information about the lives of the subjects does this object convey? Based on the evidence of this object, what can you infer about this time period? How does this knowledge relate to other evidence from the period?

 

 

Questions: What questions do you now have? What other kinds of information will you need to understand the context more thoroughly?

 

 

Adapted from the Material Culture Analysis Guide by Gretchen Sullivan Sorin, State Univ. of NY at Oneonta, at the American Memory Educators’ Institute, Washington, D. C., July 20, 1999.