ORIGIN – PURPOSE – VALUE LIMITATION
Document Analysis
ORIGIN
• When and where was the source
produced?
• Author/creator?
• Primary or secondary source?
ORIGINS
• Date of original publication
• Date of any additional additions
• Location of publication
• How might the time, place, and author of
this work affect the work produced?
• For example: George Washington writing about Valley Forge will
have a different interpretation than General Cornwallis.
Primary Sources
• Closest to the event
• Any examples?
• Original documents, creative works, and
artifacts
• Ex: Eyewitness accounts, diaries, records
Secondary Sources
• Based on primary sources-one step
removed from event
• An researcher’s (historian’s) interpretation
of the primary sources
• Examples?
• Magazine or newspaper articles, history
essays or books, biographies
Tertiary Sources
• Made up of secondary and primary
sources
• One more step removed
• What could be tertiary?
• High school textbooks, encyclopedias
Beware!
• The lines can be blurry
PURPOSE
• Why was source produced?
• What is the immediate historical context for it?
• Who is the intended audience?
• What does it “say” at surface level?
• What does it say below the surface?
PURPOSE
Why did the author write/draw/compose this
work?
* Consider the audience
* Does this author have something to hide?
* Is he/she trying to convince anyone of
something?
* For example: Is this a textbook that is written
to inform a high school student or a press
conference given to reassure the Canadian
public?
VALUE
• What can it tell historians about the timeperiod or topic?
• Flashlight in a dark room – what does the
source illuminate for the historian?
• Use origins and purpose to help
• Important ideas:
• Perspective of creator based on position, influence,
geography, relationships, etc.
• Time period importance – contemporary or produced
at a later date (primary v. secondary)?
• Public v. private source
VALUE
• How is this source useful to your investigation?
• What is the author’s purpose and how can
that perception aid your investigation?
• Has this work been particularly well
researched?
• Is this a secondary source? If so, does that
allow the author distance to create a subjective
argument?
• Is this a primary source? If so, does that allow
the author to provide a viewpoint that no one
else can (since they experienced it for
LIMITATIONS
• What can’t it tell historians about the time
period or topic?
• Flashlight/dark room – What might be outside
the beam? What can we not see?
• Important ideas:
• What the source is!
• Bias ( opinion ) of the source based on social class, gender, race, position,
nationality, religion, etc.
• Time of production: again primary or secondary
LIMITATIONS
• What about this source hinders your
investigation?
• Does this author only present part of the
story?
• Is this a secondary source? If so, does the
author deliver only part of the story?
• Is this a primary source? If so, what
viewpoint does the author present?
What is missing from his/her side of the
story?
Limitations Explained
• The task here is not to point out weaknesses of the source, but rather
to say: at what point does this source cease to be of value to us as
historians?
• With a primary source document, having an incomplete picture of
the whole is a given because the source was created by one person
(or a small group of people), naturally they will not have given every
detail of the context. Do not say that the author left out information
unless you have concrete proof (from another source) that they
chose to leave information out.
• Also, it is obvious that the author did not have prior knowledge of
events that came after the creation of the document. Do not state
that the document “does not explain X” (if X happened later).
http://edublogs.misd.net/khall87/using-opvl-with-documents-guide/
• Origins?
• Purpose?
• Value?
• Limitations?
Example-Don’t write this down
• A historian is analyzing a private entry in President Truman’s
diary concerning the possible use of atomic weapons on Japan.
The following is a general OPVL review. More specific analysis
would make reference to details in the document.
• Origin: President of the US, a private, primary source. Context =
World War II and the aftermath of Germany’s surrender and the
looming invasion of Japan.
• Purpose: personal journal meant for later reflection and recall.
Private, not public. Interpretation of what it says (literally) and
what it may reflect would be based on specific document.
Example
• Value: private diary entry and thus likely to be honest and
revealing; from one of the major leaders concerned with making
the decision. Again, interpretations and explanations would be
based on specifics within the document.
• Limitations: only the private perspective of a high ranking
government official from the US. May not reflect other
individual’s opinions who were also involved in the decisionmaking process. Informs about the immediate decision but not
later concerns. May reflect but is not the official public US
government policy position or necessarily the same as US public
opinion on the issue.
Read the Iroquois Legend and
analyze the document