Admin+-+OPVL

A major and essential skill to learn throughout our course is that of evaluating resources for critical historical analysis. Not only is this a necessary trait for any historian in his/her aim to develop a sound body of evidence for arguments made in the writing of good history, but it is a skill that you will be required to master to cope with the demands of the sourcework analysis exercises on Paper 1 of yoru IB exams.

A good formula to go by in analyzing the worth of a resource is the **//OPVL//** method, in which you work on identifying the following:


 * __O__**rigin of a Source - Where does this source come from, what kind of source is it?


 * __P__urpose of a Source** - What is this source aiming to do? What is the purpose of the source you are looking at?


 * __V__alue of a Source** - Given the origin and purpose, what are the main values or benefits of this source for the use of a historian? In what ways does this source assist our study of a topic?


 * __L__imitations of a Source** - Given the origin and purpose, what limitations would a historian using or relying on this source have? What questions does this source leave to be answered?

There are a multitude of different kinds of sources that historians use to make historical arguments. The following chart provides an outline of many kinds of sources you will be confronted with and provides you with things to consider in each of the above categories.