Sourcing
Historical sourcing is a bit like stepping into the shoes of a detective. How do we know the purpose or point of view of a source? How do we analyze the importance of the source? Use these teaching tools and source collections to help your students become experts who can crack the mysteries of primary and secondary sources.
Teaching This Skill
Sourcing One-Pager
Understand the who, where, and why of written documents.
Blog
Coming soon!
Sourcing Tool
A thinking tool that helps students develop their understanding of sourcing.
Quick Sourcing Tool
A quicker approach, for when students need to source multiple documents at once.
OER Primary Source Collection Placement
Quick access to all the primary source collections in OER Project courses.
Sourcing Feedback Form
Provide specific and detailed feedback to build historical sourcing skills.
Sourcing Activities Placement
Locate these activity progressions in all of our courses.
Historical Thinking Skills Guide
Develop the skills needed to analyze and think like a historian.
Explore OER Project Source Collections
Ancient World
Primary Sources – The Ancient World
Article
Primary Sources – The Ancient World
Rulers of ancient states and empires used various tactics to maintain control over their territories. These primary sources help you understand and compare these tactics.
Source Collection: First States and Empires
Article
Source Collection: First States and Empires
Rulers of ancient states and empires used various tactics to maintain control over their territories. These primary sources help you understand and compare these tactics.
Source Collection: Portable Belief Systems
Article
Source Collection: Portable Belief Systems
The source excerpts in this collection explore the diffusion of belief systems across trade routes from c. 6000 BCE to c. 700 CE.
Medieval World
Source Collection: Mongol Empire
Article
Source Collection: Mongol Empire
Savage barbarians or the greatest empire-builders of all time? The Mongols were as interesting to their Eurasian neighbors in the thirteenth century as they are to students today.
Source Collection: The Black Death
Article
Source Collection: The Black Death
The primary and secondary sources in this collection help us understand the origins and spread of the Black Death.
Source Collection: Networks of Exchange
Article
Source Collection: Networks of Exchange
The primary source excerpts in this collection will help you assess the causes and consequences of the exchange of intellectual and cultural ideas and traditions from c. 1200 to 1450 CE.
Revolutions
Source Collection: Revolutions and Nationalism
Article
Source Collection: Revolutions and Nationalism
From Latin America to Eastern Europe, revolutionary ideas were as diverse as the people who embraced them.
Images of the Industrial Revolution
Activity
Images of the Industrial Revolution
Reading about the sweeping changes of industrialization is one thing—but these images let you see the scale of that transformation firsthand.
Sourcing: Reactions to Industrialization
Activity
Sourcing: Reactions to Industrialization
In this activity, you will analyze Ottoman and Qing primary sources to understand different responses to industrialization and imperialism.