Your primary-source essay should approach a document as an historian, asking: what do we

learn about a particular place and time from reading this document? What does it help us glean?

What issues (both obvious and unexpected ones) does it illuminate? What kind of perspective

does it provide; what do we need to know about its author, audience, genre, purpose, etc.? What

additional questions does it raise? For more details, see “Primary Source Analysis Guidelines,”