Critical Analysis of History Documents

Before Initial Reflection Posts

1. Have you read (or, at least, carefully skim) all primary sources for the unit?
2. Have you communicated with other Group Members to choose two (2) unique documents to analyze?
3. Have you read the Unit Discussion article?
   Initial Reflection Posts
4. Analyzing Primary Sources
   a. Have you identified the historical significance of each individual primary source document?
   b. Have you identified the major issue or theme that connects your two primary source documents to each other?
5. Analyzing Secondary Sources
   a. Have you identified the major argument of the Unit Discussion article? Can you articulate the connections between the primary sources and the discussion article?
   b. Have you used the course themes and lecture materials to contextualize and analyze the discussion article and primary source readings?
6. Conclusion
   a. Can you tie together the lecture materials/course themes, unit discussion article, and primary sources together to make a coherent argument about U.S. history?
   b. Do you have any personal reflections on the readings, arguments, and themes? Are there any further points of interest that you want to comment upon regarding the readings?
7. Organization
   a. Does your Initial Reflection Post have a clear organizational structure? Have you checked for any noticeable grammatical or mechanical errors?
   b. Have you cited all materials properly?
   c. Is your Initial Reflection Post at least 250-600 words?
   Response Posts
8. Read two groupmates initial reflection posts. Are you familiar with their primary sources? If not, you are advised to re-read/skim them.
9. Response Post #1
   a. Have you provided constructive feedback on your fellow student’s initial reflections, identifying argumentative strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement?
   b. Did you find and articulate any connections between your readings and the readings of your classmate? Do these new findings alter your initial reflections?
10. For Response Post #2, repeat steps for Response Post #1.
11. Are your response posts respectful, courteous, and helpful?