APPARTS – Primary Sources

How to Analyze

Primary and Secondary Sources

Primary

Original Artworks

Slave Diary

Poems

Treaties

Videotapes of live events

Secondary

Critique of the Art

Textbook

Articles about specific authors

Essays about a specific topic

Biographies

Examination of Primary Resources

APPARTS TechniqueAuthorPlace and TimePrior KnowledgeAudienceReasonThe Main IdeaSignificance

Author

Who created the source?

What do you know about the author?

What is the author’s point of view?

Place and Time

Where and when was the source produced?

How might this affect the meaning of the source?

Prior Knowledge

Beyond information about the author and the context of its creation, what do you know that would help you further understand the primary source? For example, do you recognize any symbols and recall what they represent?

Audience

For whom was the source created and how might this affect the reliability of the source?

Reason

Why was this source produced at the time it was produced?

The Main Idea

What point is the source trying to convey?

Significance

Why is this source important?

What inferences can you draw from this document?

Ask yourself, “So what?” in relation to the question asked.

Any questions???

Please work with your small groups to analyze the following sources using the APPARTS method.

Let’s Practice

Imagine Dragons – Radioactive

I'm waking up to ash and dustI wipe my brow and I sweat my rust

I'm breathing in the chemicals

I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison busThis is it, the apocalypse

Whoa

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bonesEnough to make my systems blow

Welcome to the new age, to the new ageWelcome to the new age, to the new age

Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactiveWhoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive

I raise my flags, don my clothesIt's a revolution, I suppose

We're painted red to fit right inWhoa

Philistines by Jean-Michel Basquiat,1982

People stand on the flashpoint Taksim square in Istanbul on June 18, 2013 during a wave of new alternative protests (AFP Photo / Bulent Kilic)

Dang Thuy Tram, VietCong Doctor, 1967

"I had to do an appendix operation without enough medicine. Only a few tubes of Novocain, but the wounded young soldier never cried out or yelled. He continued to smile to encourage me. Looking at the forced smile on his dry lips, knowing his fatigue, I felt so sorry for him ... I lightly stroked his hair. I would like to say to him, 'Patients like you who I cannot cure cause me the most sorrow, and their memory will not fade'."