Analyzing Maps and Documents

Look For Details & Questions

  • Who created this primary source?

  • When was it created?

  • Where does your eye go first?

  • What do you see that you didn’t expect?

  • What powerful words and ideas are expressed?

  • What feelings and thoughts does the primary source trigger in you?

Inquire!

  • What was happening during this time period?

  • What was the creator’s purpose in making this primary source?

  • What does the creator do to get his or her point across?

  • What was this primary source’s audience?

  • What biases or stereotypes do you see?

  • Did it agree with your assumptions about the past.

  • What other primary or secondary sources offer support? 

Summarize What you Learned

  •  What reasons and specific evidence to support your conclusions?

  • Think about additional questions you might ask and how for and  how they might you might answer them.
This page is adapted from the Library of Congress's, Massachusetts Historical Society's and the National Archives' DOCS Teach map & document analysis tools.