Document Analysis Assignment

Document Analysis Assignment
There are many different ways to interpret a primary source document, and a multitude of ways to be creative in the process. In some instances, this might involve telling a story; in other cases it might involve a commentary on the language employed in the document; and in other cases that interpretation might emerge from an attempt to assess motivation, intent, or purpose. Never will simply describing what happened be sufficient as an historical interpretation of a document.
In short, historians are always trying to discover both the meaning and the significance of a piece of historical evidence. Since that evidence usually consists of written documents, these document analysis papers should also seek to find a balance between exposing meaning and significance of the evidence. By meaning, we are trying to reconstitute what that document might have meant (or how it might have been understood) by the historical actors in that era. By significance, we attempt to relate how that evidence contributes to a particular interpretation of past.
For this assignment you will need to use one of the ONLINE databases listed below:
Online Databases