Grades 6-8 · Worksheet
Primary Source Analysis Worksheet
Use one copy of this worksheet per source. It walks you through the four questions historians ask of any source — where it comes from, why it exists, whose view it shows, and how far it can be trusted. Written for the Chinese zodiac unit, but it works with any primary source.
By ChineseZodiac.com · Reviewed for cultural accuracy
Your Source
- Title of the source
- Who created it
- When it was created (or your best estimate)
- Where you found it
Origin
Start with the facts of where this source comes from.
- Who made this source, and when?
- What kind of source is it (an object, a text, an image, a record)? How close in time and place was its creator to the events it describes?
Purpose
Every source was made for a reason.
- Why do you think this source was created? Who was meant to see or use it?
- What is the source trying to do: record, persuade, decorate, teach, sell, or something else? What makes you say so?
Point of View
A source shows the world from somewhere.
- Whose voice or perspective does this source carry? Whose is missing?
- How might the source look different if someone else — another culture, another time, another role — had made it?
Reliability
Decide how much weight this source can hold.
- What can this source reliably tell us? What can it NOT tell us on its own?
- What other source would you want to check it against?
- Rate the source for your research question: strong, useful with care, or weak — and defend your rating in one sentence.
Pull It Together
In two or three sentences: what does this source add to what you know about how people have used the zodiac or its calendar, and what question does it leave open?
Free to use & share (CC BY 4.0)
"Primary Source Analysis Worksheet" is published by ChineseZodiac.com under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. You are free to download, print, copy, adapt, and use it in classrooms, libraries, and homes, including for free Lunar New Year and cultural-studies activities.
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