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xiv EVALUATING AND INTERPRETING PRIM ARY DOCUMENTS 3. Where was it produced? What country, what region, what locality? 4. How was the source written or produced? What form did it originally take? Was it based upon any preexisting material? Does the source survive in its original form? 5. Why was the source written or produced? What was its creator trying to do, and for whom? 6. Who was the source written or produced for? Who was its audience, and why? What do we know about the audience? 7. What is the evidential value of its contents? How credible is it? Readers of the document selections contained in this volume should apply these same questions to the selections they read or study. When analyzing a primary document, scholars also seek to identify the key words and phrases used by the author and try to understand what the author meant by those terms. They will also try to summarize the main thesis of the source to under- stand what point the author was trying to make. Once the author’s thesis is under- stood, historians evaluate the evidence the author provided to support that argument and try to identify any assumptions the author made in crafting those arguments. Historians also examine the source within the context of its time period by asking if the document is similar to others from the same period, or how widely was it circu- lated, or what tone, problems, or ideas it shares with other documents of the period. Scholars will also seek to determine if the author agrees or disagrees with other con- temporary authors on the same subject and whether or not the source supports what they already know or have learned about the subject from other sources. Primary sources offer modern readers and researchers the actual words of peo- ple who lived through a particular event. Secondary sources, like textbooks, offer an interpretation of a historical person or event by someone who did not know the person or witness the period. Reading primary sources allows us to evalu- ate the interpretations of historians for ourselves and to draw our own conclu- sions about a past personage or events. Asking the questions listed earlier will help users of this volume better understand and interpret the documents provided here. Because of unfamiliar and archaic language or terminology, or very different modes of expression or styles of writing, some primary sources can be diffi cult to read and hard to understand. However, an important part of the process of reading and using historical sources is determining what the documents can tell about the past and decid- ing whether one agrees with the interpretation offered, both by the author of the original source and by later creators of secondary works based on the original document. By using primary sources, modern readers become aware that all his- tory is based on sources that are themselves interpretations of events rooted in the interpreter’s own opinions and biases. This awareness allows modern students to recognize the subjective nature of history. Thus, reading primary sources provides modern readers with the tools and evidence needed to make informed statements about the world of the past and of the present.