Transcript Document

How 11 IB will examine documents:




O-Origin
P-Purpose
V-Value
L-Limitations
0: Origin


Examples include: the person responsible for
creating it, the date and the place it came from,
and the person or audience it was intended for. The
more details you can give, the better!
Some source details MAY be given to you.
Questions to ask yourself:






Who created it?
Who is the author?
When was it published?
Where was it published?
Who is publishing it?
Is there anything we know about the author that is
pertinent to our evaluation?
P: Purpose



Describe the aims (goals), give the reason for why it
was produced.
What was the person who said, wrote or produced
it trying to do?
Who was the intended audience?
Questions to ask yourself:






Why does this document exist?
Why did the author create this piece of work?
What is the intent?
Why did the author choose this particular format?
Who is the intended audience? Who was the
author thinking would receive this?
What does the document “say”?
Can it tell you more than is on the surface?
V: Value




In historical context
Go back to O and P: it could be valuable because it is
about an event that the author saw.
You could know the position held by the author, and
can then judge if his/her purpose was to convince or
deceive.
Note that a source that is not reliable, that is, does not
mean what it says, can be of value. Providing you
recognize that it is propaganda, clouding the facts,
covering up the mistakes made, or intended to support
personal gain.
Questions to ask yourself:

What can we tell about the author from the piece?

What can we tell about the time period from the piece?




Under what circumstances was the piece created and how does
the piece reflect those circumstances?
What can we tell about any controversies from the piece?
Does the author represent a particular “side” of a controversy or
event?
What can we tell about the author’s perspectives from the piece?
L: Limitations





Use knowledge of the source’s origin and context
Students often find a source to be of little value
because the writer was not an eyewitness.
BIASED!!!! (not good enough!)
Students often describe content, rather than evaluating
the context
In desperation students suggest limitations based on a
translation, secondary-not a primary source and that it
is biased! (also not good enough!)
L: Limitations Continued






Is there any other information that would help clarify or
fill in the holes?
What part of the story can we NOT tell from this
document?
How could we verify the content of the piece?
Does this piece inaccurately reflect anything about the
time period?
What does the author leave out and why does he/she
leave it out (if you know)
What is purposely not addressed?
And finally….




O,P,V,L should become second nature to you. This is the
method of analysis that will be done in class this year!!
O,P,V,L should ALWAYS be written in paragraph form.
Be sure to use the words ORIGIN, PURPOSE, VALUE
AND LIMITATIONS in your analysis!!
Let’s practice--on a scratch piece of paper, O,P,V,L the
following source. Do this individually and be prepared
to share out.
Feel free to refer back to your notes during your
analysis.
On your own…



On a clean piece of paper that you will be
turning in on your way out of class, please O,P,V,L
the following document.
Please do this one by yourself, this is for me to be
able to see how well you are doing with O,P,V,L.
Turn it in to the silver basket on the way out of
class today!