Read: The American Yawp Reader, Colliding Cultures Reader

1. What type of primary source is it?

2. What is the date or approximate date of the source and where was it created?

3. Who is the author/creator of the source?

4. What was their intention for creating the source, and who was/were the intended audience(s)? What persons or groups were excluded?

5. What does it say?

6. How might certain factors (e.g. fear of censorship, attempt to curry favor) affect the content, style, or tone of the document?

7. What type of blind spots, biases, weaknesses, or assumptions might the author have that affects his/her/their argument or objective?

8. How are you (the historian) reading this document differently than the intended audience would have read it?

9. Can you infer any effects or influences the document would have had in its own time?

10. What does the document tell you about the period you are studying?