Preparing for source based assessments in Global Studies 10

1. preparing for source-based
assessments
Global Studies 10
Mr. Allan

2. Origin
Date: What if there are conflicting dates? (date of the
event, i.e., 1857; date its description was first written
down, i.e., 1868; and date the of the publication of the
written document, i.e., 2008?)
What if the source is a diary that is published online at
www.cooldiaries.com? Do you cite the diary or the
website?
What if the author cannot be clearly identified?
What if there is no date?

3. Purpose
how do you assess the author’s or source’s purpose?

4. Here are some helpful hints. Use:
Clues in the caption: “M. Gandhi, A speech given to the
people of Delhi explaining the goals of the Salt March,
1931.”
in-text clues (tone; language; argument; direct reference
to the intended audience, etc).

5. Values
What can we learn about the event through this source?
What can we learn from the intentions of the historical
actors?
What can we learn from the source about the climate or
atmosphere of the times and what people were thinking?
If it is a secondary source, what can we learn about how
others viewed the event?

6. Limitations
What does the source leave unsaid?
Whose voices are not heard?
What culture/viewpoint/biases does the author have?
How well-researched and credible is the source?
To what extent is the author in a position to know or be
an expert on this event?

7. And now, some practice -- visual sources

8. What message is conveyed by the
following source?
Punch Magazine (UK), 5 September 1857.

9. What message is conveyed by the
following source?
Punch Magazine (UK), 22 August 1857.

10. What message is conveyed by the
following source?
British man gets a pedicure from an Indian servant. Date
unknown.

11. What message is conveyed by the
following source?
The Imperial Airways 'Hanno' Hadley Page passenger airplane carries the
England to India air mail, stopping in Sharjah to refuel (c. 1930)