PRIMARY-SOURCE METHODS

DIRECTIONS

The purpose for composing and submitting the primary-source essay is for the student to gain appreciation about the importance of a primary source in history. It will prepare the student to use the appropriate method of gathering information for the Research Paper. It will also enable the student to gain additional knowledge about a specific topic. Below are the format for the primary-source essay and examples of the methods to be used in the essay.

FORMAT

Title of primary source

Description of primary source and the application of one method

Significance of the primary source and event

Source Footnotes: The book, article, or website from which the primary source is derived as well as the pertinent page or pages in the textbook. See The Bedford Handbook, 739-755, for the format to be used in accordance with The Chicago Style. Do not forget to include the retrieval date for a website-based entry. The format used in citing the source must comply with The Chicago Style.

Name: Your last name will be sufficient.

EXAMPLES OF THE METHODS

Method (Quoting): According to Thomas Emerson, “There is little basis for reconstructing the nature of the political relationship between such rural elite and the rulers of Cahokia. It seems reasonable, however, to suggest that rural elite must have been directly appointed to their positions by the Cahokian paramount. There is evidence from ethnohistoric and ethnographic accounts that hierarchical southeastern native societies retained numerous elite ‘offices’ such as these into the historic period.”

Source (according to The Chicago Style): Thomas E. Emerson, Cahokia and the Archaeology of Power (Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, 1997), 186.

Comment: Note the quotation marks at the beginning and end of the information, and the signal phrase at the beginning of the quote. Note also the source format—author’s first name, last name, title of the book, location of the publisher, publisher, date of publication, and the page number. Note the comma, italics, parentheses, and colon.

Method (Full quote): The Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 specified the following: France and Great Britain are prepared to recognize and protect an independent Arab state or a confederation of Arab states (a) and (b) marked on the annexed map, under the suzerainty of an Arab chief. That in area (a) France, and in area (b) Great Britain, shall have priority of right of enterprise and local loans. That in area (a) France, and in area (b) Great Britain, shall alone supply advisers or foreign functionaries at the request of the Arab state or confederation of Arab states.

Source: MidEast Web Historical Documents, The Sykes-Picot Agreement: 1916, 18 August 2004, http://www.mideastweb.org/mesykespicot.htm

Comment: Note the indentation of the entire quote and the omission of the quotation marks. Note also the retrieval date for the website address.

Method (Paraphrasing): Edwin Reischauer explains that before the Mongols and their Korean allies were able to land their forces on Japanese soil, they were struck by a typhoon, which destroyed their fleet. The Japanese called this typhoon the “divine wind,” or kamikaze, and believed that it protected Japan from foreign invaders. Japanese then and later believed that this kamikaze meant that their land was sacred and inviolable.

Source: Edwin O. Reischauer, Japan: The Story of a Nation, Revised Edition (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Publisher, 1974), 65

Comment: Note the signal phrase at the beginning of the information.

Method (Blending paraphrase and quote): Gordon Wood argues that Franklin was completely devoted to the revolutionary cause despite the suspicions of some Americans. He was no longer loyal to the British Empire. He was totally devoted to what he termed “a miracle in human affairs and the greatest revolution the world ever saw.”

Source: Gordon S. Wood, The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin (New York: The Penguin Press, 2004), 190.

Method (Summarizing): According to Albert Hourani, Wahhabism began in Central Arabia early in the eighteenth century with the teachings of a religious reformer, who preached a return to strict adherence to the Qur’an. The reformer, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab, formed an alliance with Muhammad ibn Sa’ud, the ruler of a small market town, who forged a new state that claimed adherence to the Shari’a and attempted to bring surrounding areas under its guidance. The new state rejected the Ottoman protection of authentic Islam and by the first years of the nineteenth century occupied the holy cities of Hijaz [Mecca and Medina] and expanded to southwestern Iraq.

Source: Albert Hourani, A History of the Arab Peoples (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1991), 257-258.

Comment: The summary above, condensed information in my own words, is based on a long paragraph of about 10 sentences. It articulates the author’s main idea and key points as simply and briefly as possible, without sacrificing accuracy.

OTHER EXAMPLES: The examples below are taken from the same paragraph of a source in order to illustrate each of the methods described above. The source is: Steven T. Ross, European Diplomatic History, 1789-1815: France Against Europe (Malabar, Florida: Robert E. Krieger Publishing Co., 1969), 242-243. Here is the information from which examples were drawn, particularly the first three sentences of the paragraph:

“Bonaparte also decided to divest himself of Louisiana, which he could not defend, and to avoid the possibility of the region falling into British hands, he arranged for a neutral power to take possession of the mid-continent area. The American President, Jefferson, had already expressed an interest in gaining control of New Orleans in order to secure an outlet for America’s western trade, and when the First Consul offered all of Louisiana for the paltry sum of fifteen million dollars, Jefferson seized the chance to expand his nation’s frontiers beyond the Mississippi. Bonaparte thus won some sympathy in the United States and avoided possibility of further British imperial expansion, although his more grandiose policy of reasserting French influence in the New World was a costly failure.”

Quoting: Steven Ross writes, “Bonaparte also decided to divest himself of Louisiana, which he could not defend, and to avoid the possibility of the region….”

Paraphrase: Steven Ross explains that Bonaparte also wanted to relinquish control over Louisiana because he could not defend it and did not want England to occupy it. Since he knew that President Jefferson of the neutral United States wanted New Orleans as an outlet for western trade, he offered all of Louisiana for the small sum of fifteen million dollars. Jefferson jumped at the opportunity to expand American territory beyond the Mississippi River.

Blending: According to Steven Ross, Bonaparte also wanted to relinquish control over Louisiana, “which he could not defend,” because he did not want England to occupy it. Since he knew that President Jefferson of the neutral United States wanted New Orleans as an outlet for western trade, he offered all of Louisiana for the small sum of fifteen million dollars. Jefferson “seized the chance to expand his nation’s frontiers beyond the Mississippi.”

Summarizing: Unable to defend Louisiana and fearful of British occupation of the territory, Steven Ross points out that Bonaparte offered it to President Jefferson of the United States for the small sum of fifteen million dollars. Napoleon thus won some sympathy from America and possibly prevented further British imperial expansion.