Study Guide

Name:
Date:

Use this guide to take notes as you work through the activity. Taking good notes can help

you remember important ideas. Your notes on this guide will help you prepare for quizzes

and tests. ***Type your answers in RED

1. Use the table to take notes on the different kinds of primary sources and why they

might be helpful to historians.

Letters and journals Autobiographies and memoirs

Letters and journals often contain the private
thoughts and feelings of the authors. This
information can provide helpful details about
an author's ideas and experiences.
Autobiographies and memoirs tell the stories
of people's lives in their own words. These
sources provide historians with important
information about people's thoughts and
experiences.

Speeches and interviews Photographs or works of art

Speeches and interviews contain the public
thoughts of the speakers. Historians often
study transcripts, or written versions, of
important speeches from the past to learn
more about the speakers. For more recent
speeches and interviews, historians can often
use video or audio recordings instead.
Photographs can give historians glimpses of
historical events. And works of art can tell
historians about the cultural preferences of
the period when the works were created.
Some works of art also show historians what
important leaders and everyday people in the
past looked like.

2. For each category below, identify two questions a historian might ask when examining

the historical context of a source. The first category has been completed for you.
 Who wrote this source? What would cause this person to create
this source?
What type of source is this? Is it a primary or a secondary source?

When was this source created? What world events were happening in the
period when this source was created?

Where was this source created? What was happening in this location at
the time?

Why was this source created? Why would the author create this source?

3. Answer the following questions about historical context.

a. Why is studying historical context important to historians?

Studying historical context is important to historians because it helps them
understand more about something they’re studying and trying to understand.

b. Why does it sometimes cause problems to take something "out of context"?

It’s an issue to take things out of context because you’re not getting the full story and understanding.

w.
 4. Briefly describe bias in your own words. Then give an example of bias you've seen or

experienced in your own life.

Bias is when you have a certain view of something because of your experiences and opinions.

An example of bias that I’ve seen is when someone was in a fight and they asked their friend

who they thought was more right. It’s not like the person’s friend can be right because the

friend will most likely take the person’s side.

 5. Circle the two statements that are true. Draw a line through the statements that are

false.

All people are biased in some way. -True

The sources people create do not contain bias. -False

It's not important for historians to understand the bias in a source. -False

A source can be reliable even if it contains bias. -True

6. Point of view is affected by a person's past experiences. Those experiences influence

how a person sees the present and the sources he or she creates. Consider each of the

life experiences in the table below. Then decide whether they would be more likely to

influence an author to write a pro-war or an antiwar article.

Life experience Pro-war article Antiwar article

✅
Grew up in a country experiencing a war;
saw her village destroyed
✅
Became wealthy by working for a
company that builds tanks and fighter
jets
✅
Taught at an underfunded school; felt
too much money went to the military
instead of education

7. Why is knowing an author's bias and point of view important?

It gives you a further understanding of the text if you know the author’s point of view and bias.
a.

8. Briefly define interpretation in your own words. Then, give an example of

interpretation from your own life.

An interpretation is how you perceive something. When I see my cat in the

litter box I interpret that they’re using the restroom, but they could be done.

9. Put the steps of researching and interpreting a firsthand historical account in order by

numbering them 1 through 4.

3
The historian makes an interpretation about the events in the
account.
1
The historian closely examines the account.

4
The historian gathers additional sources of evidence to support his
or her interpretation.
2
The historian learns about the historical context surrounding the
account.

10. Answer the following questions about interpretations of historical events.

a. What are two reasons that there might be very different interpretations of the

same historical event?

Two reasons for different interpretations of an event are different points of view
and different types of sources.
 b. What is an example of an event or idea that we see much differently today than

people might have seen it in the past?

A BLM or LGBTQ+ movement would be seen much differently.

Use this table to write definitions for the key terms from this activity in your own words.

If you're confident you know a term, put a check mark next to it and move on.

✅
bias

✅
historical context

✅
interpretation

✅
point of view

✅
reliable

If you noticed other unfamiliar terms in this activity, use the blank rows to list them and

their definitions.
I have answered all the questions on the study guide and feel confident that I understand
the main ideas of the sections. I'm ready to move on!

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