T.O.C______
Primary Source Document Analysis: “APPARTS”
Author - Who created the source? What do you know about the author? What is their
point of view? You may not always be able to identify the author by name. Sometimes a
document makes no reference to a particular person. In this case, you must try to identify
other characteristics such as gender, race, ethnicity, political, or religious affiliation.
These characteristics may very well prove to be important in understanding the author’s
motive for writing the document.
Place and Time -Where and when was the source produced? How might this affect the
meaning of the source? Place: The location may or may not be significant. For example,
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense could have been written anywhere in the colonies in
1776 and still would have mobilized the American people for independence. On the other
hand, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (1863) was delivered near a central Pennsylvania
battlefield where hundreds of Union soldiers lost their lives. This is critical to
understanding the content of the document. Time: You should not only be able to identify
the date, but major events that were occurring at the time. This identification is extremely
important to understanding the historical context of the document. For example, you must
know that Harriet Beecher Stowe’s work, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), was written shortly
after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Without that knowledge, her book
becomes irrelevant because it was written in response to that act.
Prior Knowledge - What do you already know that would further your understanding of
this primary source?
Audience - For whom was the source created? Does this affect the reliability of the
source? This provides an opportunity to identify bias and analyze the purpose and/or
effect of such.
Reason - Why was this source produced at the time it was produced? The question of
motive is the most difficult one to answer. If you know the historical context and the
background of the author, determining the motive is much simpler.
The Main Idea - What is the content? What point is the source trying to convey? The
answers to these questions may seem obvious, but the way in which you describe the
document actually indicates your understanding of it. The object here is to analyze the
important issues raised using evidence taken from the analyzed source. This might also
necessitate you to analyze the nature of the document itself: a newspaper account,
personal letter, government transcript, painting, poster, and so on. For example, a
political cartoon can be used to convey something about a particular era that a newspaper
article could hardly address.
Significance – This should prompt you to ask why each of the above is significant in
understanding the source. In addition, analyze why this source is important. This is
another way of asking, “Why is the document important in the broader context of
American history?”
APPARTS: Worksheet
Name:__________________
Author
Place and
Time
Prior
Knowledge
Audience
Reason
The Main
Idea
Significance
Questions: Confusing Vocabulary, Questions, confusing ideas, etc
Re: Your Brains
Heya Tom, it's Bob, from the office down the hall.
Good to see you buddy, how've you been?
Things have been O.K. for me except that I'm a zombie now.
I really wish you'd let us in.
I think I speak for all of us when I say I understand
Why you folks might hesitate to submit to our demand.
But here's an FYI: you're all gonna die screaming.
All we wanna do is eat your brains.
We're not unreasonable, I mean, no one's gonna eat your eyes
All we wanna do is eat your brains.
We're at an impasse here, maybe we should compromise:
If you open up the doors
We'll all come inside and eat your brains.
I don't want to nitpick, Tom, but is this really your plan?
Spend your whole life locked inside a mall?
Maybe that's OK for now but someday you'll be out of food and guns,
Then you'll have to make the call.
I'm not surprised to see you haven't thought it through enough.
You never had the head for all that bigger picture stuff.
But Tom, that's what I do, and I plan on eating you slowly.
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/j/jonathan_coulton/re_your_brains.html ]
All we wanna do is eat your brains.
We're not unreasonable, I mean, no one's gonna eat your eyes.
All we wanna do is eat your brains.
We're at an impasse here, maybe we should compromise:
If you open up the doors
We'll all come inside and eat your brains.
I'd like to help you Tom, in any way I can.
I sure appreciate the way you're working with me.
I'm not a monster Tom, well, technically I am.
I guess I am...
Got another meeting Tom, maybe we could wrap it up?
I know we'll get to common ground somehow.
Meanwhile I'll report back to my colleagues who are chewing on the doors
I guess we'll table this for now
I'm glad to see you take constructive criticism well
Thank you for your time I know we're all busy as hell
And we'll put this thing to bed
When I bash your head open
All we wanna do is eat your brains
We're not unreasonable, I mean, no one's gonna eat your eyes
All we wanna do is eat your brains
We're at an impasse here, maybe we should compromise:
If you open up the doors
We'll all come inside and eat your brains