Primary Sources

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Primary sources can be very substantial when doing research on something that has happened in history. Either it be something significant or not, there is so much that a person can learn by looking at primary sources. In class, we looked at many different types of sources that came from a variety of people throughout history. Some primary sources we looked at in class include, pictures, letters, speeches, and some other items that belonged to people years ago. Primary sources contribute so much to helping people learn about historical events and people because it gives them a new perspective and point of view to look at when learning from that actual time. All the primary sources that were presented in class were valuable in their own way. …show more content…

One secondary source that we looked at class was podcasts. One podcast was NPR's Backstory: "Legislation Impossible". This podcast, for example, uses facts that they have learned and uses that to backup the details and opinions they are giving to their audience. The other podcast was from Radiolab, "Detective Stories" season 2, episode . In this podcast they found different facts and items from the past, such as painting and letters. Similar to what we did in class, they put their findings together and told a story from …show more content…

Although learning from a textbook can be important, looking at primary sources is tremendously valid because it allows people to see everyone's perspective, and not just an overview, which is what is given in a textbook most of the time. Looking at pictures, for example, can give people a better understanding of what people went though. They can actually see what people looked like and what they wore depending on how much money they had, or their jobs. Reading letters or diaries can help students learn better because it is real words that someone wrote who experienced something while it was going on. In textbooks, most of the time things are generalized, so it does not give the students personal evidence and stories that can e valuable in learning material. Having primary sources to look at and read gives the person opportunity to go further into this topic, and make stories of what they find in the primary sources. Primary sources can be more important than simply reading in a standard text because they focus on specifics and certain perspectives, although standard texts are valid when just simply looking for the general idea of an

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