Source Based Question

1. Source Based Question Reliability

2. Source-Based Questions • When analysing sources, look at provenance, tone, purpose, content • Be open-minded, sometimes ok to react to a cartoon, picture or text • Skills – inferences, compare/contrast, reliability, cross-references, usefulness

3. Source-Based Questions • Inferencing, MUST: • State your inference • Give evidence from the source • Explain the evidence • Link back to the question • OR • Common mistakes: • More than one inference • Evidence from source not related to • inference • No explanation • No link

4. REMEMBER • primary sources (from the time) are immediate and even eyewitness, but they may lack perspective/ objectivity/ may be biased. Secondary sources (written afterwards – eg textbooks) can be dispassionate and use a number of primary sources, but they may be guilty of misinterpreting facts (until the 1960s, history books were often written to carry a message – eg Marxist, Nazi) • sometimes the question may ask you about the 'accuracy' of the source = reliability! 

5. Steps: 1st - Test the information/claims of the source against other sources and your own knowledge.   Does it give the true facts and feelings from the time – use your own knowledge. 2nd - Look at the provenance to establish context, origin and purpose – the situation in which it was written, who wrote it, and whether it is one-sided/propaganda etc. Look at sufficiency – does it give the whole story – what has it missed? Relate what you are saying to the specific context of the source - try to talk not only about generalities such as 'it may be biased', but about the specific situation (e.g. <N> would be biased because...') 3rd - Make sure you come to a CONCLUSION based on facts.

6. REMEMBER when answering: ALWAYS use a quote/ facts from the Sources. ALWAYS use your own knowledge/ FACTS - esp. when it says ‘use your own knowledge’ ATBQ (= 'answer the bloody question')

7. Example 1 • The principal has announced that the school did very well in the recently completed World Scholars Cup. They won the first and third in both the senior and junior divisions. Do you believe what you have just heard?

8. Source-Based Questions What are some of the questions you will ask to assess reliability?

9. Example 2 A salesman is selling vitamins in your school. He claims that taking the vitamins will boost brain power and students who buy them will obtain good results in their examinations. He shows you a video testimony of 2 students who took the vitamins before their PSLE and have gone to the top schools in Singapore. Do you believe what you have just heard?

10. Source-Based Questions What are some of the questions you will ask to assess reliability?

11. Source-Based Questions • Purpose is not simply bias, don’t just assert this is propaganda • Purpose is not simply the message of the source • Purpose is the result the author wishes to achieve through the message, impact of message on audience ie importance of audience

12. Example 3 Imagine that a Secondary 4 Geena has accused her classmate Sheryl of bullying her sister Shannon who is in Sec 1. Just last week, Sheryl had defeated Geena in their schools annual Humanities Quiz. Do you believe Geena’s accusation?

13. Source-Based Questions What are some of the questions you will ask to assess reliability?

14. Source-Based Questions • Reliability: • Cross references – checking against other sources or our own knowledge • When to CR, ask: • Do we need to check? • What is it I want to check? • What is it I am checking against? • Avoid generalisations which omit one or more of the above. Need for specific details for proper CR to CK.

17. Steps Step 1 Analyse the question and identify the issue/topic asked? Step 2 Study the provenance of the source – where it comes from, who the author is, etc. This helps to determine the credibility of the source. Step 3 Evaluate the content of the source – look out for facts, opinions, claims, exaggeration, loaded words, etc.

18. Steps Step 4 Examine the point of view and purpose of the author – is he biased, does he want to influence the reader to agree with his point of view? Step 5 Compare the source in question to other sources and/or your own contextual knowledge – what do the other sources say, do they agree or disagree with what the source says, or is the source consistent with contextual knowledge? Step 6 Weigh the evidence and make conclusions on the reliability of the source.

19. Practice 1 • How reliable is this photo in showing that the PAP lacked support in 2006 elections?

20. Source-Based Questions Provenance – if the picture comes from a blogsite that is critical of the government, is it more or less reliable? Typicality – “this is just one source, so I can’t believe it” Every source is just 1 source. Check if it is typical, can we make a fair generalisation. Source Type – “this source is reliable because it is a photograph and photographs do not tell lies” Is this true?

21. Practice 2 Exercise: Look at the cartoon by Liu Kang, how reliable is the cartoon in showing that the Japanese were ruthless during the Japanese Occupation?

22. A cartoon by Singaporean artist, Liu Kang, who lived during the period of the Japanese Occupation.

23. Source-Based Questions What are some of the questions you will ask to assess reliability?

24. Poser If a source is one sided, is it unreliable?

25. The End