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Historical Source Research Guide

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Historical Source Research Guide

You are a history investigator. Read each source carefully, then use evidence—not guesses—to decide what it can tell you. A primary source comes from the time being studied or from someone directly involved. A secondary source explains or interprets the past later.

Case File: The Boston Tea Party

The Boston Tea Party took place in 1773, when colonists protested British taxes by throwing tea into Boston Harbor. Study these invented practice excerpts. They are written for this worksheet and are not historical documents.

1.Practice Source A: “I watched from the wharf as men boarded the ships. By morning, tea leaves floated in the water.” It is presented as the diary of a Boston resident written in December 1773. Is Source A primary or secondary? Explain what makes it that type.

2.Practice Source B: “The protest became a powerful symbol of colonial resistance and helped increase tensions between Britain and the colonies.” It is from a history textbook published in 2022. Is Source B primary or secondary? Give one reason.

3.You want to learn what a protester personally thought on the night of the Boston Tea Party. Which source would be the best starting point?

A diary entry written by a protester in 1773
A modern textbook chapter about the protest
A historical novel set in Boston
A website summarizing several colonial protests

4.A classmate says, “Primary sources are always accurate because they were made at the time.” Is this claim true or false? Explain one reason a primary source might still be incomplete or biased.

5.Match each example with primary or secondary. A. A 1773 newspaper report about the tea protest. B. A museum article written in 2020 explaining the protest. C. A letter written by a ship’s worker in 1773. D. A documentary made in 2015 about colonial protests.

A. 1773 newspaper report
B. 2020 museum article
C. 1773 worker’s letter
D. 2015 documentary

Primary
Primary
Secondary
Secondary

Credibility Checkpoint

Historians ask who made a source, when it was made, why it was created, and what evidence supports its claims. A website address alone does not prove that every statement is reliable.

6.An undated online post says, “Everyone in Boston supported the destruction of the tea.” Name two questions you would ask before trusting this claim.

7.You find a government website ending in .gov with a page about the Boston Tea Party. What does the .gov ending suggest, and what should you still check before using the page as evidence?

8.Practice Source C: “The destruction of the tea was a disgraceful attack on property.” It is presented as a short opinion piece printed in a Boston newspaper in 1774. What viewpoint does the sentence show? What might this source be useful for studying?

9.You are investigating why colonists protested British taxes. Name one primary source and one secondary source you could seek. Explain how using both could improve your research.

10.Choose one question about the Boston Tea Party that a historian could investigate. Then name a kind of source that could help answer it.