Source Investigator Worksheet An important part of being an historian is acting as a detective and investigating your sources before using them in a paper. In this activity, you are the detective! To use a source effectively, you will need to understand everything you can about it, including author, the relation of the author to the subject he or she is writing about, what the source says, and so on. Be sure to properly cite each source in APA formatting. Answering these questions below is an important first step in writing your final paper! Part I: Primary Source Investigation! Instructions: Choose one of your primary sources and answer the questions below in your own words. With the exception of Question 1, all answers should be at least 100 words. 1. What is the name of your source and when was it produced? 2. Who was the author/creator of this document and how is the author related to the event he/she is writing about? 3. How credible is the author on his/her subject and what are some potential biases the author may have had? 4. List three things in the document that are important to your topic’s focus. 5. Why do you think the document was written? 6. How will this source contribute to your paper’s focus? Part II: Secondary Source Investigation! Instructions: Choose one of your secondary sources and answer the questions below in your own words. All answers should be at least 100 words. 1. What is the name of your chosen document? 2. Who was the author of this document and why is the author qualified to write about this topic? 3. What historical event/topic is the author writing about and what is his/her main argument? 4. List three things in the document that are important to your topic’s focus. 5. How will this source contribute to your paper? Topic Exploration Worksheet All historians have areas of interest that they choose to study. This is what you will be doing in your final paper! First, however, you must decide what will be the focus of your paper. In this activity, you will be exploring your chosen topic and then narrowing your focus. Finally, you will begin thinking about your sources and how they might connect to your paper. Answering these questions below is the first step in writing your final paper! Step 1: Select your topic and focus question! Read the topics from the list on page 2 of this document and choose the topic and focus that interests you. Fill out the box below. What is your topic and focus question? 1. Topic: Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s Focus Question: The Civil Rights Movement, once unified, splintered in the early 1960s. What contributed to this split, and what happened to the movement as a result? In mid-1960s, numerous black activists began to lose faith in the civil rights developments that had targeted the most obvious forms of discrimination. The end of court-mandated segregation didn’t give immediate equality upon blacks or reform a political system that.

1. Source Investigator Worksheet
An important part of being an historian is acting as a detective
and investigating your sources before using them in a paper. In
this activity, you are the detective! To use a source effectively,
you will need to understand everything you can about it,
including author, the relation of the author to the subject he or
she is writing about, what the source says, and so on. Be sure to
properly cite each source in APA formatting.
Answering these questions below is an important first step in
writing your final paper!
Part I: Primary Source Investigation!
Instructions: Choose one of your primary sources and answer
the questions below in your own words. With the exception of
Question 1, all answers should be at least 100 words.
1. What is the name of your source and when was it produced?
2. Who was the author/creator of this document and how is the
author related to the event he/she is writing about?
3. How credible is the author on his/her subject and what are
some potential biases the author may have had?
4. List three things in the document that are important to your
topic’s focus.

2. 5. Why do you think the document was written?
6. How will this source contribute to your paper’s focus?
Part II: Secondary Source Investigation!
Instructions: Choose one of your secondary sources and answer
the questions below in your own words. All answers should be
at least 100 words.
1. What is the name of your chosen document?
2. Who was the author of this document and why is the author
qualified to write about this topic?
3. What historical event/topic is the author writing about and
what is his/her main argument?
4. List three things in the document that are important to your
topic’s focus.
5. How will this source contribute to your paper?
Topic Exploration Worksheet
All historians have areas of interest that they choose to study.
This is what you will be doing in your final paper! First,

3. however, you must decide what will be the focus of your paper.
In this activity, you will be exploring your chosen topic and
then narrowing your focus. Finally, you will begin thinking
about your sources and how they might connect to your paper.
Answering these questions below is the first step in writing
your final paper!
Step 1: Select your topic and focus question! Read the topics
from the list on page 2 of this document and choose the topic
and focus that interests you. Fill out the box below.
What is your topic and focus question?
1. Topic: Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s
Focus Question: The Civil Rights Movement, once unified,
splintered in the early 1960s. What contributed to this split, and
what happened to the movement as a result?
In mid-1960s, numerous black activists began to lose faith in
the civil rights developments that had targeted the most obvious
forms of discrimination. The end of court-mandated segregation
didn’t give immediate equality upon blacks or reform a political
system that left blacks economically and politically crippled.
King’s nonaggressive approach had dominated in the 1950s and
early 1960s, numerous blacks, particularly in the North,
implemented a more revolutionary stance. As an upsurge of
nationalist sentiment grew inside the movement, groups such as
SNCC and CORE had more militant agendas.

4. Step 2: In 50 words or more, state why you chose the topic and
focus that you chose. It could be how the topic is of interest to
you and that you have studied it previously or that you want to
learn more about something of which you do not have
knowledge.
I choose this topic because the Civil Rights movement always
interested me, I also wanted to learn and know more than just
the basics that many know. There’s so much that played into the
Civil rights movement. There were specific events that
happened that sparked the movement and those are the stories
that everyone seems to know. Like I said before, there is so
much more. The event that perhaps didn’t get the attention that
other events did. All paved the way for this movement to
commence. Writing this paper will allow me to investigate and
learn the past events and allow me to further understand the
movement.
Step 3: List the two primary source and two secondary sources
that you have chosen in the boxes below.
Primary Source #1
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
Dudley, M. E. Brownv. Board of Education (1954). New York:
Twenty-First Century Books, 1994.
Primary Source #2
Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have A Dream" (1963)
Secondary Source #1
Wolfson, A., & Moynihan, D.P. (2003). The Martin Luther King

5. We Remember. Public Interest 152(Summer 2003), 39-64.
Secondary Source #2
Litwack, L. F. (2009). "Fight the Power!": The Legacy Of The
Civil Rights Movement. Journal of Southern History 75(1), 3-
28.
Step 4: In 50 words or more, describe your initial thoughts
about how your sources relate to your chosen topic and focus
question. Make sure to provide specific examples from each of
the four sources that illustrate how well they will help you
answer your focus question. This will help you begin to think
about the form of your paper!
My first initial thought for that focus question was. I have to do
a lot of reading! Then once I got that out of the way. I asked
myself there has to be events in history that caused things for
the Civil Rights movement to slow down and cause the people
perhaps to lose momentum. I will have to do some investigating
making sure to log every event that cause it to be able to come
up with my conclusion as to why it occurred.
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
*In 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously strikes down
segregation in public schools, sparking the Civil Right
movement.
Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have A Dream" (1963)
*The official event was called the “March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom.” On June 11, 1963, President John F.
Kennedy made a nationally televised address calling for a drive
for more civil rights. That same night, NAACP leader Medgar
Evers was murdered in Mississippi.
Wolfson, A., & Moynihan, D.P. (2003). The Martin Luther King
We Remember. Public Interest 152(Summer 2003), 39-64.

6. Litwack, L. F. (2009). "Fight the Power!": The Legacy Of The
Civil Rights Movement. Journal of Southern History 75(1), 3-
28.
Topic instructions: Select a topic from this list (see descriptions
located in your Blackboard course). Once you have done this,
select your specific focus and sources from the next list.
1. The Progressive Era: The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
2. The New Deal and the Great Depression: The Social Security
Act
3. World War II: The Internment of Japanese Americans
4. Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s
5. Feminism and the Women’s Movement
6. Starting at Stonewall: The Gay Rights Movement
Focus and source instructions: Now that you have your topic,
select your desired focus option. Then, it will list the sources
that can be used for this topic. Choose two primary and two
secondary sources. Think about your choices and then fill out
the worksheet on page 1!
1. The Progressive Era: The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
a. Focus Question: The Triangle Shirt Waist Factory fire
highlighted problems in workplace safety, building code
enforcement, and women's labor. What changes were made to
federal and state occupational safety laws as a result of the fire?
Primary Sources:
1. "141 Men and Girls Die in Waist Factory Fire." New York
Times, March 26, 1911
2. Photos of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.
3. Excerpts from Trial Testimony

7. 4. Trial Summations
5. 1912, Preliminary Report of the New York Factory
Investigating Commission
Secondary Sources:
1. Pool, H. (2012). The politics of mourning: The triangle fire
and political belonging. Polity, 44(2), 182-211.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/pol.2011.23
2. Burt, E. V. (2005). Working Women And The Triangle Fire:
Press Coverage Of A Tragedy. Journalism History, 30(4), 189-
199.
3. Hulden, V. (2012). Employer Organizations' Influence On
The Progressive-Era Press. Journalism History, 38(1), 43-53.
4. Linder, D. (2002). The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Trial. Famous
Trials: The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Trial, 1911.
2. The New Deal and the Great Depression
a. Focus Question: The New Deal revolutionized the
relationship between the federal government and the governed
in the United States. Using comparison and contrast, what were
the arguments of those in favor of—and those against—the New
Deal in the 1930s.
Primary Sources:
1. FDR’s Speech on Signing the Social Security Act
2. The Social Security Act (1935)
3. Alf Landon Opposes the Social Security Act (1936)
4. Helvering v. Davis (1936)
Secondary Sources:
1. Quadagno, J.S. (1984). Welfare Capitalism and the Social
Security Act of 1935. American Sociological Review 49(5),
632-647.
2. Rose, N.E. (1989). Work Relief In The 1930s And The
Origins Of The Social Security Act. Social Service Review
63(1), 63-91.

8. 3. Kooijman, J. (1999). Soon Or Later On: Franklin D.
Roosevelt And National Health Insurance, 1933-1945.
Presidential Studies Quarterly 29(2), 336-350.
4. Kennedy, D.M. (2010). A New Deal Compromised. American
Heritage 60(2), 26-28.
3. World War II: The Internment of Japanese Americans
a. Focus Question: The Constitution guarantees American
citizens no imprisonment without due process of law, yet has
been violated by the federal government in at least two
American wars. How did the government justify interning
Japanese-American citizens in World War II?
Primary Sources:
1. Executive Order 9066
2. Korematsu v. United States (1944)
3. The War Relocation Authority and the Incarceration of
Japanese Americans during World War II
4. FDR Presidential Library Documents (selections)
Secondary Sources:
1. Shaffer, R. (1999). Opposition to Internment: Defending
Japanese American Rights During World War II. Historian,
61(3), 597-619.
2. Fox, S. C. (1988). General John DeWitt and the Proposed
Internment of German and Italian Aliens During World War II.
Pacific Historical Review 57, 407-438.
4. Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s
a. Focus Question: The Civil Rights Movement, once unified,
splintered in the early 1960s. What contributed to this split, and
what happened to the movement as a result?
Primary Sources:
1. Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
2. Robert C. Weaver, "The Negro as an American" (1963)
3. Martin Luther King, Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail"
(1963)

9. 4. Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have A Dream" (1963)
5. George C. Wallace, "The Civil Rights Movement: Fraud,
Sham, and Hoax" (1964)
6. Malcolm X, "The Ballot or the Bullet" (1964)
7. Malcolm X, "Untitled Speech" (1963)
Secondary Sources:
1. Wolfson, A., & Moynihan, D.P. (2003). The Martin Luther
King We Remember. Public Interest 152(Summer 2003), 39-64.
2. Litwack, L. F. (2009). "Fight the Power!": The Legacy Of
The Civil Rights Movement. Journal of Southern History 75(1),
3-28.
5. Feminism and the Women’s Movement
a. Focus Question: The Women's Movement, taking cues from
the Civil Rights Movement, sought to breach existing barriers to
women in all areas of society: social, political, and economic.
What legislation finally helped women achieve at least some
degree of parity in these areas?
Primary Sources:
1. "An Account of the Proceedings of the Trial of Susan B.
Anthony on the Charge of Illegal Voting, at the Presidential
Election-Nov. 1872 (excerpt)"
2. Petition from Susan B. Anthony to U.S. Congress
3. Dorothy Kenyon, "Equal Rights for Women"
4. League of Women Shoppers Pamphlet, circa 1937
5. Press Statement by the Women’s Action Alliance
6. Redstockings Manifesto
7. Socialist Feminism: A Strategy for the Women’s Movement
Secondary Sources:
1. Meyerowitz, J. (1993). Beyond The Feminine Mystique: A
Reassessment Of Postwar Mass Culture, 1946-1958. Journal of
American History 79(4), 1455-1482.
2. Freeman, J. (1973). The Origins Of The Women's Liberation
Movement. American Journal of Sociology 78(4), 792-811.

10. 6. Starting at Stonewall: The Gay Rights Movement
a. Focus Question: What really happened at the Stonewall Café
in New York City in June 1969? Why did the Gay Rights
movement take so long to get started, and what has been its
progress during the past 40 years?
Primary Sources:
1. Stonewall and Beyond: Lesbian and Gay Culture
2. Stonewall Riot Police Reports, June 18, 1969
3. Garance Franke-Ruta, "An Amazing 1969 Account of the
Stonewall Uprising"
Secondary Sources:
1. Hall, S. (2010). The American Gay Rights Movement And
Patriotic Protest. Journal of the History of Sexuality 19(3), 536-
562, 604.
2. Hall, S. (2008). Protest Movements in the 1970s: The Long
1960s. Journal of Contemporary History 43(4), 655-672.
3. Cohan, A.S. (1982). Obstacles to Equality: Government
Responses to the Gay Rights Movement in the United States.
Political Studies 30(1), 59-76.
4. Armstrong, E.A., & Crage, S.M. (2006). Movements and
Memory: The Making Of The Stonewall Myth. American
Sociological Review 71(5), 724-751.
5. Kantrowitz, R.M. (2009). 40 Years of Gay Rights: New
York's Stonewall Rebellion. Massachusetts Bar Association
Lawyers Journal 16(9), 8-9.
6. Marotta, T. (2006). What Made Stonewall Different. Gay &
Lesbian Review Worldwide 13(2), 33-35.