Source analysis for Years 7 to 10

Source questions look like reading comprehension and are marked as analysis. This method works in History, Geography and Commerce, and it is the skill senior study is built on.

Four questions to ask every source

1. 01Who made it, and when? Origin sets the limits of what the source can tell you.
2. 02Why was it made? Purpose explains what has been emphasised and what has been left out.
3. 03What does it actually say? Quote the specific detail, not the general impression.
4. 04How useful is it for this question? Usefulness depends on the question asked, not on the source alone.

Reliability is not the same as usefulness

A biased source can be extremely useful, because bias is evidence of what people believed at the time. Saying a source is unreliable because it is biased, and stopping there, earns very little. Say what the bias shows.

Writing about a source

Use a simple three part sentence: the source shows [specific detail], which suggests [inference], and this is useful because [link to the question]. Practise it until it is automatic, then it can carry into Year 11 and 12 without change.