Sources and interpretation

A source does not answer every question

Begin with the question you want the evidence to answer, because an object, a person’s testimony or a document may tell us a great deal about one question and very little about another. Ask who made it, for whom and under what circumstances. The Library of Congress recommends this attention to context, along with comparison against other evidence. [1]

A primary source provides direct evidence relevant to an inquiry; a secondary source examines or interprets such evidence. These labels describe a source’s relationship to the question. They do not tell us which claim is reliable: an eyewitness may have missed something that a later researcher can establish by comparing accounts.

For a written work, distinguish three dates when they differ:

• Setting: when the events or conversation in the work are supposed to take place.
• Composition: when the work was written.
• Surviving witness: when a particular copy that has come down to us was made.

A manuscript can be copied long after a work was composed, and a writer can set a conversation in an earlier age. Dating the copy therefore does not settle when the work was composed or whether the conversation occurred. Keeping these questions separate lets us use the evidence without asking it to prove too much.

Sequence, comparison and influence

In this course, sequence means that one lesson follows another. Comparison examines a resemblance or difference between particular ideas or works. Influence means that one thinker or tradition helped shape another; it is a historical claim that needs evidence of a connection. Two works can be close in time or address similar questions without either having influenced the other, so placing them side by side invites a comparison but does not establish influence.

Scope reminder. One author or institution does not speak for an entire tradition. We also respect limits on what communities choose to share: the course will not reconstruct restricted practices or sacred knowledge merely to make its coverage look complete.

Source and scope

[1] Library of Congress, “Getting Started with Primary Sources”, introductory guidance, for the advice on context and comparison. The distinctions and limits above describe how this course uses sources. The linked teaching materials were not reviewed.