Syllabus
Primary Sources
These are documents written by people who lived during the times we are studying. They are the meat-and-potatoes of historical scholarship, and it's important for you to gain some familiarity with them. Chemists work with chemicals, historians work with primary sources.
At first it looks like there's a lot to read, but most of the sources are hardly more than a page or two, so don't panic. That said, reading primary sources is a lot more difficult than reading modern works. One of the important contributions an introductory history course makes to your education is introducing you not only to primary sources but also to how to read them.
There are a few simple techniques that will be of great help to you, not only in this class but in others as well.
- Read it through
- You'll likely encounter any number of words or phrases that you don't know, or that you thought you knew but read strangely in the context of the document. Try not to get distracted in the first reading. In the first reading, you aren't trying to understand everything, you're just trying to acquaint yourself with the text. If you wish, you can make notes on which passages are difficult for you.
- Make notes
- I like to do this on a second reading, but some may wish to do it on a first. Here I make notes on anything that I need to research, or that strikes me as interesting or odd. I do not highlight. I make notes in a separate notes document.
- Use a dictionary, but with caution
- As noted in the Study Guide, most dictionaries you consult are modern, whereas the documents you are reading are centuries old. Words change meaning and coloration over time, and the historian must be sensitive to subtle shifts. Still, when faced with a word you do not know, a dictionary is one starting point.
- Ask in class
- Once you have tried on your own to discover the meaning of a word, or to interpret a passage, you should ask in the online discussion. You can do this even for matters you believe you actually understand. It's entirely legitimate, for example, to state your interpretation and then ask if anyone in class has a different one.
These are just a few initial ideas. As you work, in this class as well as in others, you may find you add other techniques as well.