Reflection: Primary Resources

Introduction to Primary Resources

Another way to diversify your syllabus is to add content and learning around primary resources. This way, students are approaching a topic from a completely unique perspective. Studying primary sources from historically marginalized perspectives can supplement, challenge, or reilluminate existing narratives, and gives the students a chance to think creatively.   This is also an effective way to encourage students to respond authentically to prompts and develop topics without using AI.

King Library's metadata team is working on ways to search more easily for primary records in our collections. Two tags have recently been added to our search engine: Archived Materials and Primary Sources.  Here is a 90-second video showing how to conduct a search for primary resources at the King Library:

Step 1: Reflect (Optional)

This optional exercise is designed to guide you in reflecting on how primary resources Links to an external site. such as letters, diaries, images, oral history audio files, or advertisements might offer students a chance to develop their own interpretations. Thank you for reading about the value of primary resources. 

Step 2: Post Your Reflection (Optional)

Select the reply button below and post a brief reflection on primary resources if you'd like to. What were your main takeaways? Feel free to read through and reply on your colleagues' posts.

Additional resources on teaching with primary resources

Tanaka, K., Abosso, D., Appiah, K., Atkins, K., Barr, P., Barrutia-Wood, A., Baydoun, S., Xu, L. (2021, March 23). Teaching with Primary Sources: Looking at the Support Needs of Instructors. https://doi.org/10.18665/sr.314912 Links to an external site. 

Library Of Congress. (2015) Analyzing a Primary Source. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, -01-01. [Video] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021689436/ Links to an external site.

Five reasons why primary sources should be used for teaching. (2021, August 24). THE Campus Learn, Share, Connect. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/five-reasons-why-primary-sources-should-be-used-teaching Links to an external site. 

Works for document, image, poster, artifact, and recording analysis lessons from the National Archives: https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets Links to an external site.

Next 

In the next module, you will have a chance to build a student feedback survey to hear directly from your students regarding your course materials.