98 ChApTEr 4 | an atlantiC eMpire | period three 175 4 –18 0 0 TopIC I | Challenging an empire^99n ew sKIll Appropriate Use of Historical Evidence
When historians use primary sources, they are careful to know something about those sources
before they use them. This is called using evidence appropriately. There are many factors
that a historian must consider to use a source appropriately, including the following:Audience: Who did the author or speaker have in mind when she or he created
this source? An audience is more than a demographic (such as the British or the
Americans). An audience is comprised of people who share certain beliefs with the
speaker, oppose the speaker’s beliefs, or are undecided and need convincing.Attitude: What are the author’s biases?Purpose: What is the author’s intent in creating this source? What is the source for?Point of view: Which perspective(s) does the author employ?Format: How has the author presented her or his source? (For example, is it
handwritten or printed? Is it a picture, a cartoon, or an artifact?)Argument: Aligned with purpose is argument, a term that is introduced in Chap-
ter 1. A source’s argument seeks to fulfill its purpose.Context: What events, ideas, and people surrounded the author when this source
was created? Where did this source appear, and how credible was the source?Limitations: Based on all of the above, what are some limitations of this source?
What additional information is needed to know more about the argument, purpose,
or point of view?When considering these factors, historians also must be able to make supportable
inferences and draw appropriate conclusions based on these factors. Recall from Chapter 2
that when historians infer, they make an educated guess that is based on available evidence.
The terms listed above also depend on inference. For example, your understanding of a
writer’s attitude or purpose will help you infer his point of view and audience. Appropriate
conclusions depend on your ability to infer these key features of historical documents and
combine these documents to develop your own argument.
This might seem like a lot of things to keep in mind, but don’t worry. Rather than
memorize this list, when you approach a source, you should be ready to analyze its meaning
beyond what it says. Believe it or not, we do this sort of thing all the time.
Let’s say that you are thinking of seeing a movie and want to read some reviews of the
movie before you go to see it. The movie is called The Dead Who Walk Around. The first
review that you find online is called “Evil Movies for Evil People,” and this paragraph jumps
out at you:The Dead Who Walk Around is a perfect example of all that is wrong with Hollywood.
The film industry is more interested in profits than it is in the future of our children. So
for short-term financial gain, Hollywood produces splatterfests like this movie, where
the shambling hordes from the grave feast on human brains without consideration of
how these images might affect the nation’s children. The fact that this movie is rated
PG-13 is proof that the ratings industry is not doing its job. If you have a child who is
between thirteen and seventeen, you should not let him or her see this movie.05_STA_2012_ch4_085-114.indd 98 26/03/15 10:11 AM