Analyzing Primary Sources: Political Parties

In a fantastic series of posts on the Teaching with the Library blog, Educational Resources Specialist Colleen Call Smith details a number of different ways to dig into the Library’s Political Parties primary source set.

Political Parties and Primary Sources: Civic Participation
Consider ways in which oral histories provide a unique source for thinking about civic participation.

Political Parties and Primary Sources: Fostering Student Inquiry
Discover how to break up a primary source into component parts to facilitate inquiry and analysis.

Primary Sources and Political Parties: Reading Complex Texts
Uncover a number of methods for facilitating analysis of complex texts, including:

  • determining the central idea and how an idea develops over the course of a text
  • determining an author’s point of view
  • determining theme, purpose, and rhetorical features
  • examining claims and evidence

Primary Sources and Political Parties: The Role of Third Parties
Access an outline for helping students consider the various roles that third parties have played in U.S. history.

Primary Sources and Political Parties: Ten Ideas for Teaching with Graphs and Maps
Learn how maps can help students discover trends and patterns in presidential elections.

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