Hi everyone! Here are the details for our first writing assignment, Primary Source Analysis Post #1.
What to do:
Pick one newspaper ad from the online database, Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery.
The site is organized by location and newspaper. It might be interesting to browse by location to see if you see any major distinctions depending on where the ad was placed. Read through a selection of ads before you decide on one to analyze.
Once you find an ad that is interesting to you, consider these questions for your post:
What do you notice? What do you wonder? These questions are just to get you thinking and writing about your initial impressions of the ad. What stands out to you about the ad you chose? (This might be why you chose it in the first place.) What questions do you have about the content of the ad?
Time/Place: Using what you know about the region and/or time period in which this ad was placed, provide some context for the content of the ad.
Implications/Conclusions: What can the ad tell us about a larger trend, time period, or event? Can you answer one of the questions you had about the ad using historical context?
Post to the forum with your response to these three questions. (1-2 paragraphs per question.)
For the first question, feel free to write in the first person. (“I first wondered…” “I noticed that…”)
For the second question, draw upon the module blog posts, other readings we've done for class, and the reference readings from the American Yawp for context. You do not need to conduct any Internet research outside of what we've already read for class.
To cite any sources you use, you can either link to them directly (highlight a piece of the text and select the link icon) or reference the source in parentheses. You should cite direct quotes from another source, any time you paraphrase an idea from a source, or direct references to information from a source.
For the third question, you will be drawing a conclusion about the larger historical moment using the ad as evidence. You might be answering one of the questions you initially posed. This doesn't have to be a monumental, earth-shattering argument. It just has to be an informed, definitive statement that the ad helps support.
The goal of this assignment is to introduce you to primary source analysis. Start with the big questions you have associated with the source, then move on to putting the source in context, and then draw some conclusions from your analysis.
To conclude the blog post, pose a discussion question relating to your ad. This question should be one that has more than one possible answer. (If you'd like, you can make a poll or word cloud. Or, you can just pose an open-ended discussion question.)
If you'd like to create an actual poll, you can do so through Slido (it is free, although you do need to create an account).
If you'd like to create a word cloud question, I recommend Answer Garden. (You do not need to create an account to use Answer Garden.)
Unfortunately, it isn't possible to embed the polls or word clouds into the forum posts, but you can link to them!
Post your analysis to this forum. Then, comment on at least two classmates' posts to answer the question they posed.
Due Dates:
Your analysis posts are due September 25. Once you post your analysis to the forum here, make sure you complete the "Declaration" in Canvas so you can see your points in the Gradebook.
Comments on others' posts (and a short reflection) are due September 29. You'll be completing the reflection through Canvas. I'll also be giving you more detailed individual feedback about your analysis through Canvas.
Any questions about this assignment? Feel free to leave a comment below. If you know the answer to a question I haven't responded to yet, feel free to answer! 😀
Could you show an example?