Some aids for reading primary source
documents.
1) Know how English was used at the time the
document was written. Some words and phrases may have had different meanings then than
now.
2) Know the history of the times in which the document
was written. If there is any mention made in the document, about a person or event that
you do not know about, look it up.
3) Read the document
from the perspective of the values that were held by people in the time that it was
written, not the values of today. Look for indications in your document of that
society's values.
4) You can't judge the document fairly
unless you read all of it, so as not to take any part of it out of context, which you
might do if you do not read all of it.
5) You can't read
all of the important primary documents of history, so for those that you need to know
about, but cannot read all of, find a work by someone who has read all of the document
and then commented upon or summarized it in his work. Read what he says about the
document.
I got these suggestions from How to
Study History by Cantor and Schneider. The LLCN is D16.2.C32. Go to that
area of you library and see if there are any other books with chapters about how to read
historical texts.
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