Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2004 Modern History Notes Student
2004 Modern History Notes Student
ask-
The degree of usefulness is determined by its reliability. The more reliable the
more useful.
However, in the case of propaganda it is different- because while the information may
not be entirely accurate, the source is still useful in showing propaganda.
The degree of usefulness is also determined by its perspective. Ie. A soldiers diary
may only give a limited perspective (one soldier in one trench, one battle) whereas a
generals memoirs/biography might give a broader perspective and hence might be
more useful. The broader the perspective, the greater the reliability. Historians tend to
be more reliable as they are not emotionally involved & more objective. A secondary
source could be more reliable than 1st hand or primary source because of hindsight.
2 opposing views on the same event might be more useful than 2 presenting the same
argument because there is more than 1 perspective.
Photographs- produced for a purpose- therefore may affect its reliability & usefulness.
- Photos are record of 1 moment in time from one persons perspectivetherefore affects usefulness
Things to consider are:
- has it been posed for
when dealing with WWI photoskeep in mind the fact that many photographs were taken by official photographers
who were given specific tasks by the government & tended to be subjective.
Ask yourself these questions- what is being depicted
- who took the photograph
- under what circumstances was it taken, why was it taken
Cartoons- aim of a cartoon is to express an attitude (opinion) about an event.
- Does not present a reasoned argument, because it is too brief. So as a source it
may not be more useful than a written source.
- In order to understand them, the viewer usually has to have extra knowledge
Ask questions- who is being depicted
- what publication did it appear in
- what event is being depicted
- what is the nationality of its publication (origin)
- who is the audience
In visual sources the tone/mood of the source can be determined by the actions &
appearance of the characters.
PostersLike cartoons they are deliberately published for publication. As either
propaganda/advertising & are therefore bias
- purpose is to encourage a pre-determined response & so the artist will use
techniques such as exaggeration, emotive language, Imagery, in order to
create this response.
- Posters can not appeal to reason or present a balanced/logical argument
because they are seen very briefly. They use exaggeration thus distorting the
reliability
- Propaganda posters deliberately distort the truth (present one-sided view) so
are not reliable
- Useful in showing attitude at the time
- Posters that are less political ie. Enlistment may just try to encourage people
rather than give a distorted view
Memoirs- should be treated with caution when determining reliability
- while they are account of a persons experience it is made for publication
therefore it is unlikely that people will write badly of themselves (can justify own
actions).
- these writers have the benefit of hindsight. Knowing what happened after the
event encourages the writer to be more objective
Diaries, however should be treated with caution
Ask questions- who is writing
- what position they held