History vs. Film (HIS 131 and 132)

Use the 5 W's:

• Who: ...wrote it? Are they an expert?
• What: ...is the purpose of this resource?
• Where: ...was this information published? ...does the information come from?
• When: ...was this published or last updated?
• Why: ...is this resource useful? ...is this resource better than other ones?

Learn more!

The Evaluating Information guide covers lateral reading, fact-checking, how to Google like a pro, and more.

Think about Context:

• How might the circumstances in which the document was created affect its content?
• What was different then? What was the same?

Compare and Corroborate:

• What do other documents or people say?
• Do they agree? If not, why?
• What documents are most reliable?

Close Reading:

• What claims does the author make?
• What evidence does the author use?
• How does the document's language (words) show the author's perspective?

Adapted from the Historical Thinking Chart by the Stanford History Education Group

Search Examples

• To find U.S. government (state and federal) websites:  
  • site:.gov “World War I” chemical warfare
• To find higher education websites (archives, colleges, and universities): 
  • site:.edu James A. Garfield assassination Guiteau
• To find organization based websites minus Wikipedia pages:  
  • site:.org archives "Korean war" video -wikipedia

Helpful Tips

• DO NOT PAY for articles that you find on the Internet. The Library can usually get them for FREE. Just ask!
• Look for primary resources from government, library, museum, or other trusted sources.
• If you are not sure if a primary source found on the Internet is authentic, ask a teacher or librarian BEFORE writing the paper.

Search the Internet