Many instructors will ask you to compare primary sources to emphasize the special nature of primary evidence in history. Primary evidence is the foundation on which all historical works ultimately rest. Your ability to understand what is being said – and how and why it is being said – in primary documents (written and nonwritten) is crucial to your ability to complete this kind of an assignment and in succeeding in history courses in general. See Interpreting Primary Sources.

To understand the how and why of a primary document, you need to know as much as possible about its context. To establish the context of a document, you must ask the following questions:

• When, where and by whom was the document written? For very old evidence, these questions cannot always be answered with precision.
• What was the author's purpose in writing the document?
• In what historical context was the document written? In other words, what important events and historical changes were occurring at the time the document was created?
• How was the author influenced by this historical context?

The more you know about the context of a primary document, the better you will understand its meaning.