Primary Source Descriptions Outline and Highlights
A primary source is a document or physical object which was written or created during the time under study
These sources were present during an experience or time period and offer an inside view of a particular event.
Primary Sources Include:
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS (excerpts or translations acceptable): Diaries, speeches, manuscripts, letters, interviews, news film footage, autobiographies, official records
CREATIVE WORKS: Poetry, drama, novels, music, art
RELICS OR ARTIFACTS: Pottery, furniture, clothing, buildings
Detailed essay of 500 words plus
Primary source description is the first step in creating a thorough and credible analysis.
Steps:
Observe, deeply, your primary source (a section of the AIDS quilt). Record your observation in writing with the goal of documenting as much objective detail as possible. (Use Double Sided Notebook)0.
Thick description, this will likely comprise at least half of your written entry for this project.
The rest of your primary source description should provide information that would enable your audience, an audience new to the AIDS quilt, to answer the following questions:.
What is this it?
When was it created?
Who created it?
Where was it created?
Why was it created?
Include in your primary source description post three digital images. One of those images must be a of your artifact. The remaining two images can depict relevant detail from your artifact (explained in the post), or images of other objects or documents (such as advertisements, songs,etc)
Excellent posts might integrate more, relevant images into the composition.
After the thick description of the artifact, and a brief accounting of its exigency, compose another paragraph or two reflecting on this question: What are the relevant physical and rhetorical features of this source?
Primary Source Rubric Outline and Highlights
Generally, speaking, this means your submitted draft must be a good faith effort to respond to the prompt and follow the project guidelines.
Highest Points:
Distinctive: 450-500 points (Key: Needs Work, Good, Superior) at least 1000 words
Mature? The level of detail and the appropriateness of the details chosen are impressive.
Persuasive or Original? The descriptions and narratives reflect particularly observant researchers and contribute to the archive project in unique ways.
Creative/Well-designed? Author makes creative use of multiple modes; or layout and design are aesthetically pleasing, rhetorically effective, and well-executed. Metadata is particularly effectively employed.
Polished? Project drafts/reflection provide evidence of multiple revisions to improve clarity and rhetorical appeal, and text is virtually free of grammar/punctuation/usage errors.
Something to Think About
“thorough, credible analysis”
“observe deeply”
“different perspectives”
Three detailed Research Questions
Who are these people and what are there relations to each other?
Why did the creator of each panel choose the images decorating it?
What are the images included in this panel?
Why are the images located here on this panel?
When were these images created?
How were these images put on this panel
What is the message being portrayed in each panel?
