Understanding POV
Directive Words
 Analyze
 to explain something by breaking it down into parts and showing how each part relates to the whole
and furthers an understanding of the whole.
 Assess
 to decide on the value or significance of something.

Compare
 note similarities and differences.

Contrast
 focus on the differences only.
 Generally you are asked to compare and contrast.
 Describe
 give a full account of; give a word picture.
 Lesser version of describe is identify which means just that – a brief description.
 Discuss
 to tell all you know about a subject; write about in full detail; consider by argument or from various
points of view; debate; present the different sides.
 Evaluate
 consider both sides (pro and con); give the good points and the bad; give an opinion regarding the
value of; discuss the advantages and disadvantages.
 Explain
 to give reasons for something; make clear or plain in detail; tell the meaning of; make clear the cause
or reason.
Example

Understanding Documents through the use
of C.C.P.
 Context
 Everything has a context and in history the place and time is as important to why the document is
significant and, how to interpret its content. Additionally, the context tells us much about the author’s
point of view.





The 4 Ws of CONTEXT:
WHO
WHAT
*WHERE – (not geographical)
WHEN
 Content
 Identify the key main ideas.
 Point of View (P.O.V.)
 Everything is written for a reason. Understanding the purpose of an historical document is critical to
analyzing the strategies that the author employs within it.
 Every author has a point of view, and exposing the assumptions of the document is an essential task for the
reader.You must treat all claims skeptically. All documents, unintentionally, reveal things about their
authors and about their era. Make sure you can answer these questions:





Why are they saying what they are saying?
What motivated them to write this document in the first place?
What do they want the audience to hear and to know and to understand?
Does the author want to sway people’s opinion on the topic?
“So what?” i.e. what about this document is relevant to the question or prompt?
Why is Context Important?
Example Document
 Source: ?
 NEW YORK—With polls showing him trailing in New York's
Republican primary race for U.S. Senate, candidate David
Malpass told reporters Friday he planned to accuse his
opponent Bruce Blakeman of racism just to see if it caught on
with anybody. "It couldn't hurt, so I might as well give it a
shot," said Malpass, explaining that his campaign had
whipped up an ad accusing Blakeman of making disparaging
remarks about Hispanic-Americans. "I'll just kind of float the
idea and see if it gets any traction. If it does, fantastic; if not,
well, I wasn't really married to it anyway." According to
sources, Malpass then shrugged.
Example Document
 NEW YORK—With polls showing
him trailing in New York's Republican
primary race for U.S. Senate,
candidate David Malpass told
reporters Friday he planned to accuse
his opponent Bruce Blakeman of
racism just to see if it caught on with
anybody. "It couldn't hurt, so I might
as well give it a shot," said Malpass,
explaining that his campaign had
whipped up an ad accusing Blakeman
of making disparaging remarks about
Hispanic-Americans. "I'll just kind of
float the idea and see if it gets any
traction. If it does, fantastic; if not,
well, I wasn't really married to it
anyway." According to sources,
Malpass then shrugged.
 Source: John Smith,
writer for the NewYork
Times, August 17, 2010
 Source: John Smith, writer
for the satirical news
organization The Onion,
August 17, 2010
Prompt
 “Identify and analyze
the attitudes towards
the role of women in
society.”
Activity
 Using a small white board,
CCP the document with
your group.
 When reading and
analyzing a document, be
mindful of the prompt, it
will help to guide you.
 *Assessment for today’s
activity will be based on
cooperation.
Quote
 In every thing, therefore, that women attempt, they should show their
consciousness of dependence. If they are learners, let them evince
[demonstrate] a teachable spirit; they give an opinion, let them do it
in an unassuming manner.There is something so unpleasant in
female self-sufficiency that it not unfrequently deters instead of
persuading, and prevents the adoption of advice which the judgment
even approves.
 Remember that context often colors how you read the
content of a document and therefore how you understand
POV. Be mindful of this when analyzing documents.
Debrief Questions:
Please write on a separate sheet of paper that will be turned in.
What did each group think that the document was about?
(Content)
2. What did each group think the author’s point of view was?
(POV)
3. Compare the other groups’ responses to your own and
identify the differences.
4. What accounts for the differences?
1.
 Source: Elizabeth Poole Sanford, Women in Her Social and Domestic





Character 1842, she was active in the cult of domesticity that sought to
counsel middle class women on their proper role and behavior in
Victorian England.
Source: Martin Luther, author of the 95 Theses and leader in the
Protestant Reformation in a sermon to his flock in Wittenberg Germany,
1528
Source: Mary Wollstonecraft, English Enlightenment thinker and early
advocate for women’s rights, wrote AVindication of the Rights ofWomen,
excerpt from a letter to her father, 1793
Source: Joseph Goebbels, propaganda minister for the Third Reich under
Hitler, from an article in FrauenWarte a Nazi women’s magazine, 1936
Source: MedievalWomen, author unknown but attributed to various
members of the Order of Poor Clare a Franciscan order primarily found
in France and Italy, 14th century
Source: Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Front an ultra
conservative right wing party founded in France by her father in 1972,
current member of the European Parliament, from a speech to party
activists, 2005