OER Sourcing One-Pager
Sourcing—the act of understanding who wrote a document, where they wrote it, and why they wrote it, for the purposes of analysis or interpretation—is integral to the work of a historian. Without proper understanding of an author’s purpose and perspective, it’s difficult to interpret a document properly. Therefore, students will learn how to discover how an author has framed an event, and how that then impacts the author’s interpretation of that event. To adequately make sense of a historical account, students need to understand the author who is interpreting an event and then writing an account of that event.In OER Project’s Sourcing Activity Progression, students are introduced to the historical thinking skill of sourcing in a low-stakes introduction activity where they examine different perspectives on a change in an off-campus school lunch policy. This exercise will help them discover the different perspectives people have about one event. Next, students begin digging into primary source material using the Sourcing Tool, which provides plenty of scaffolding for their success. By the end of this progression, students will use their sourcing skills, combined with their historical comparison and contextualization skills, to answer a historical questionOER Project Sourcing Activity Progression Placement:Click here to find the sourcing activities in t he course you teach.Thinking Tools: Thinking tools help students become familiar with the steps they should take to engage with each historical thinking skill. Over time, students will rely upon the tools less, but they’re always there to support them. The Sourcing Tool is included in each of oursourcing activities, but can be used any time you want students to practice sourcing historical documents.Feedback Forms: Feedback forms break down the progression of skills that will guide students to success with each skill. Use these to evaluate how well students are progressing, and to guide instructional decisions based on student success or need for specific intervention. Note that sometimes certain portions of the feedback form are grayed out—not every activity asks students to meet all the criteria on the form. The Sourcing Feedback Form is included in the lesson guide for eachactivity. Tips and Tricks from Teachers•Real-world connections are a must whenteaching sourcing.•Name the elephant in the room: Most people struggle with sourcing!•Success in sourcing is a marathon, not a sprint. Try chunking the focus areas of HAPPY.•Regular practice is the key to helping students move from novice to pro at sourcing.Learn more in the OER Project Historical Thinking Skills Guide.HISTORICAL THINKING SKILL: SOURCINGOER Project Sourcing Tool