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GUIDELINES FOR PRIMARY SOURCE ANALYSIS

Tutorial Leaders: Mark Abraham, Eric Payseur, Terry Wilde

Your second paper, due in tutorial the week of November 21, is a 3-5 page critical analysis of ONE of the following primary sources:

Nat Turner, "Confession," in The Confessions of Nat Turner and Related Documents, ed. Kenneth S. Greenberg (Boston: Bedford Books, 1996), 44-58.

David P. Conyngham, “Sherman’s March Through Georgia, 1865,” reprinted in The American Record: Images of the Nation’s Past , 3rd ed., eds. William Graebner and Leonard Richards (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995), 314-320.

Both articles are on reserve at Scott Library. No outside reading is required.

In your paper, you should both analyze the primary source and show how it illuminates the issues we have discussed in the course. Begin your study by coming to grips with the document itself. Follow the guidelines in the handout "How to Analyze a Primary Source." Ask yourself about the author’s reason for writing and the intended audience. Think about the language, the imagery, and the important metaphors or symbols in the work. Note the silences as well. What can the document tell us about (for example) slavery, slave resistance, the Civil War, religion, violence, race relations, north-south differences, masculinity, or family ideals? What can’t it tell us? To what extent does the document support or challenge the interpretations in The Enduring Vision?

Having used your skills of critical and literary analysis to understand the document, you should then proceed to analyze its historical significance. Pick out ONE issue to concentrate on; it is impossible in a 3-5 page paper to make more than one point in sufficient depth! The bulk of your paper should be a close analysis of your source that uses concrete examples and quotations from the text to support a clear and well-argued thesis.

There are two types of arguments you might make in this paper. The first focuses on the document itself and assesses its value as a historical source. What can, or can’t, the document tell us about slave resistance or the Civil War? Who actually wrote the document? How did the author shape his story to appeal to a certain audience? Does that shaping affect the document’s credibility as a historical source? What is not discussed in the document, and what does it matter? What are the strengths and weaknesses of this source as a piece of historical evidence?

The second type of paper requires you to use your document to illuminate a specific theme in American history. You could make an argument about (for example) manhood, violence, religion, or race in antebellum or Civil War America. Whatever topic you choose, make sure you state your thesis clearly in the first paragraph and that you use concrete examples from the source to support your point. Do not simply state your opinion without providing evidence to back it up.

Note: Please be considerate and put your paper in proper form. You do not need to use footnotes, but when you refer to or quote from a specific passage, you should put the page number in “parentheses.” (p. 17) Make sure you copy down all quotations correctly. Also, please number the pages, and check for grammar, spelling errors, and typos. Late papers without an extension from your tutorial leader will be penalized. Notes and rough drafts must be turned in with your essay.