Workshop
:
Evaluati
ng
Reliabil
ity
Exam Preparation
Learning goal
Students will continue to practice
critically evaluating the reliability
of historical sources by considering
origin, perspective, context,
audience and motive (OPCAM).
Relevant performance standard
Application and Evaluation
AE1: Application of the skills of
historical inquiry to examine and
evaluate sources and
interpretations.
Usefulness v Reliability
(simplified)
• A source’s usefulness is primarily based
upon the information it provides and its
relevance to your topic or inquiry.
• The reliability of the source depends on how
trustworthy the source is. Reliability is
primarily based upon what you know about the
creator of a source.
Discuss: What do you think makes a source more or less
reliable?
Primary sources are more
reliable than secondary
sources.
True
False
Myth Buster
• Being a primary or secondary source alone doesn’t
automatically make a source more (or less)
reliable.
• Each source should be looked at carefully to
decide how much we can trust the information.
Knowing whether a source is primary or secondary
is only the first step in checking if
it's trustworthy.
Remember: No type of source is always better than the
•other.
Both types
of to
sources
havesource
their on
strengths
and
You need
judge each
a case-by-case
basis.
limitations when it comes to reliability.
Degrees of reliability
It is rare that we are completely sure that
sources are 100% reliable.
Therefore, when we talk about reliability of
sources, we can talk in terms of ‘degrees of
reliability’.
Not very
Somewhat
Extremely
What reasons can be
provided to justify
a source's
reliability (or
unreliability)?
Remember
, you
need to
analyse
to
evaluate
!
Guiding questions to evaluate
reliability
Origin
Who created the source? Was the creator of the
source present at the time of the event? Is
the creator of the source sufficiently
educated on the topic?
Perspectiv What opinion is shared? Is there evidence of
e
subjectivity and bias?
Context
What role did the creator of this source play in
the key events of the period?
Audience
Who was the source was made for?
Motive
Why was this source was made? Was the source made
to be entertaining or to simply give an opinion,
rather than focus on the facts about the topic?
An example evaluation showing how the analysis
skills are embedded into the justification...
Source A is a very reliable source regarding the
experience of Australian troops at Gallipoli
because it is a letter was written by James
Smith, an Australian soldier who fought on the
front line. This source was written a few days
after the Gallipoli landing on the 25th of April
1915 and was intended to be a recount of his
experiences to be read by his family in
Australia. As a result, it is likely to be a
Pair
work:
trustworthy
account of a soldier’s experience of
1.
What
analysis skill
does each colour represent?
the
Gallipoli
landing.
Key idea:
You won't explicitly be asked to ‘analyse
the sources,’ but you need to analyse the
sources in order to evaluate the
reliability.
How do I construct
a written response
to a reliability
question in the
exam?
How reliable is source 1
for understanding
colonialism (2 marks).
2 marks = 2 reasons.
To be ‘critical’, you
need to provide a reason
why its reliable and a
reason why it’s not so
reliable (a
counterargument is
required).
Generic structure and sentence
starters
The information in source is very/somewhat/not
reliable because…. The evidence to support this
is….
However, we also need to be aware that it is
also reliable/unreliable because….The evidence
to support this is….
Practice
How reliable is source 1 for
understanding colonialism (2
marks).
Since we’ve already analysed this source in class, we’re going
to skip the analysis step today in the interest of time and just
focus on reliability.
Instructions
Go to OneNote > Imperialism
> Evaluating Reliability:
Modelled Response.
Spend 3-5 minutes reviewing
the Pears’ Soap
advertisement (“The White
Man’s Burden”) from earlier
this term, as well as the
notes summarising our
analysis.
This will give you important
context for our practice
Example response
Your turn!
Instructions:
Step 1: Choose your option:
or SPICY
mild
Step 2: Analyse source using OPCAM
and/or guiding questions provided.
Step 3: Use your response write a
response judging the reliability
of the source, using the generic
structure/sentence starters
provided.
Exit ticket
One thing I learned about source
reliability today is…