One way to think about analyzing these sources and keeping a critical distance is to follow three steps: 

1. Identify the Message 

2. Mark the Trail 

3. Slice Up The Material For Analysis 

We will discuss each step, and then look at some questions that help you at each stage. For help on each step, click on the heading. 
 

Step One: Identify the Message. First look at the big picture and discover the source's message. In a secondary source, this is likely to be a thesis or "argument" that the author is trying to make. The author believes that she has something to say that will change our opinion of how the world works. She seeks out the experiences, words and thoughts of others, interprets them and then writes about the collected material in a way that supports the thesis. 
 

With a primary source, rarely is the thesis "a point" that a writer first constructs and then attempts to support. More often it is "the message" that the artist divulges over the course of the entire work. So if you are reading a book, you'll have to keep asking yourself about the message as you read but you probably won't have a strong opinion until you're finished. A novelist sometimes will have no "answer" but seek only to investigate a particular question and its nuances. Or a painter will seek to evoke a feeling rather than prove a point. In this case, the thesis becomes the creator's main question and what she considers the important parts of the question to consider. A key part of discovering the message is to ask yourself why the book or diary or photograph was produced. 

Questions to help with Step One 
Back to top 

Step Two: Mark the Trail. Both artists and scholars take you on a journey. Novelists and filmmakers create scenes that tell a story. In a secondary source, scholars buttress their argument by leading you through the rationale, or body of ideas, that proves their thesis. Either way, you need to keep track of the path. Ask yourself how the author supports his claim. What are the specific points that underpin the thesis? In a primary source, ask what significant events occur. Who stars in the book, film or photo? What events did the artist use to highlight qualities of the main character? Equally important: why are they significant and to whom? 
 
Questions to help with Step Two 
Back to top 

Step Three: Slice Up The Material For Analysis. Here you examine the material from every angle you can think of. You are not dealing with minor detail here. You want to take on the work's big ideas and crack them open to see what makes them tick. Try to isolate the things that the author thought important to making the argument or telling the story. These are the concepts -- or the tools -- that either you or the author believes are import to his analysis. We will call them angles of analysis. These angles can be what the writer, filmmaker or painter thinks about important issues, like the status of women, the importance of race, the role of the laborer or the responsibilities of the government toward the common person. In the end, what do the observations, interpretations and other knowledge contained in the source say about the times? How and specifically what do they contribute to understanding the overall period, or context? What is their relevance to the topic at hand? Create headings for each new angle as you read and constantly re-evaluate them. Constantly ask yourself: Why is this significant? 

Questions to help with Step Three 
Back to top 

For examples of how various writers have analyzed fiction, non-fiction, photography, and even clothing and tables, click here.