Sources and their respective values and limitations

Private letters and diaries

Values:

• can offer insight into personal views of the sender

• can indicate the effects of an event or era on an individual

• can suggest motives for public actions or opinions

• can, through tone, use of language and expression give insight into perspective, opinion or emotions

Limitations:

• only give individual opinion, not a general view or government opinion

• may offer an opinion that changes due to later events or may give a view held in public

• might have the purpose of persuading the audience in a certain way (private letter)

Memoirs to be published

Values:

• can offer insight into personal views, suggest motives for public actions and might benefit from hindsight — evaluation of events after the period

• might show how the individual wants his or her motive or actions to be viewed by the public

Limitations:

• may revise opinions with the benefit of hindsight, i.e. now the consequences of the actions are known

• may want to highlight the strengths of his or her own actions to enhance the author’s public image or legacy

Newspapers, television or radio reports

Eyewitness account

Values:

• could reflect publicly held views or popular opinion

• might offer an expert view

• can give insight into contemporary opinion

Limitations:

• could be politically influenced or censored by specific governments or regimes

• may only give “overview” of a situation

• might only give a one-sided narrow perspective

• could emphasize only a minor part of an issue

• may have limitations because of tone, use of language and expression

• (Note that eyewitnesses are not useful just because they are at an event, each eyewitness will notice different aspects and may miss key points altogether, which could be a limitation)

Novels or poems

Values:

• could inform contemporary opinion

• might offer insight into emotional responses and motives

Limitations:

• could provide a “dissenting” voice, i.e. not popular opinion

• could exaggerate the importance of an event or individual

• could have political agenda

• may have limitations because of tone, use of language and expression

Statistics

Values:

• can offer insight into growth and decline

• might suggest correlations between indicators, e.g. unemployment and voting patterns

• might suggest the impact of an event or its results over time

• make comparisons easier

Limitations:

• are gathered for different purposes (e.g. political, economic) and could be deliberately distorted

• might relate only to one location or time period

• might suggest incorrect correlations; there could be another causal factor not included in some sets of statistics

Photographs

Values:

• can give a sense of a specific scene or event

• can offer insight into the immediate impact of an event or a particular place, or people’s immediate response

• might offer information on the environment

Limitations:

• are limited as we cannot see beyond the “lens”

• might distort the “bigger” picture because of what they include or exclude

• might be staged

• might reflect the purpose of the photographer; what did he or she want to show?

Cartoons or paintings

Values:

• can inform public opinion as cartoonists often respond to popularly held views

• can portray the government’s stance when there is censorship

Limitations:

• could be censored and not reflect public opinion

• often play on stereotypes (particularly cartoons) and exaggeration

• could be limited to the viewpoint and experience of the cartoonist or artist (or the publication the cartoon or painting appeared in)

• may have limitations because of tone, use of language and expression

Government record and documents, memoranda, speeches

Values:

• might show the government’s position on an issue

• might reveal the motives for government decisions

• can show what the public has been told about an event or issue by the government

• might be a well-informed analysis

Limitations:

• often do not offer insight into the results of policies and decisions

• might not reveal dissent or divergent opinion

• might not show public opinion

• can be used to keep sensitive information be kept classified for many years

• may not explain the motives for decisions and policies

• may have limitations because of tone, use of language and expression