US National Archives
Nara: Teaching With Documents: Teaching With Documents
Site from National Archives provides copies of primary documents that can be used while presenting various topics in U.S. history.
Curated OER
Mc Graw Hill: Informational Text: Determine Central Ideas and Supporting Details
Read a short informational text and determine the main idea and supporting details. Click to check your answers then click on Practice.
Curated OER
Mc Graw Hill: Key Ideas and Details: Use Text Evidence
Learn how to analyze primary and secondary sources using text evidence. An example is provided. (Note: Exercises don't load in archived copy.)
Library of Congress
Loc: Sourcing a Document: The First Thanksgiving
In this activity, students discuss the reliability of a painting of the First Thanksgiving to introduce the idea that is crucial to consider a source's date.
Curated OER
Mc Graw Hill: Compare Primary and Secondary Sources
Learn how to analyze and compare the relationship between a primary and a secondary source.
Schools of California Online Resources for Education
Score: Guide to Reading Historical Documents
Here are some questions that serve as a guide while you read and study historical documents. The information at this website was originally written by the National Council for the Social Studies. W.11-12.9b US Doc Analysis
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: How to Choose Your News
Damon Brown gives the inside scoop on how the opinions and facts (and sometimes non-facts) make their way into the news and how the smart reader can tell them apart. [4:48]
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: How False News Can Spread
In previous decades, most news with global reach came from several major newspapers and networks with the resources to gather information directly. The speed with which information spreads now, however, has created the ideal conditions...
BBC
Bbc Skillswise: Fact or Opinion
As part of the BBC's Skillswise unit, this resource covers the basics of separating fact from opinion through a worksheet, a factsheet, and a quiz.
Other
National Council on Public History: Evidence of the Past
Understand how historians are like detectives- studying evidence from the past.
Cyberbee
History Investigation: Old Hand Written Letter
Examine this old hand-written letter to discover information about the author, his plans, and the time he lived in. A transcript of the letter is provided, as well as bonus activities and links to sources to complete the activities.
CNN
Cnn: Newspaper Won't Identify Sources in Bombing
Remember Richard Jewell? He was the man accused of being the Olympic bomber by anonymous sources. Jewell was cleared and sued the paper for libel. Links to related stories allows viewers to follow Jewell's story.
Online Writing Lab at Purdue University
Purdue University Owl: Primary Research
Learn the difference between primary and secondary research as well as some different types of primary sources that can be used when gathering research.
Online Writing Lab at Purdue University
Purdue University Owl: What Is Primary Research and How Do I Get Started?
Learn the difference types of primary sources and how to use them as a part of your research.
Utah Education Network
Uen: Global Issues Using Primary Sources
Lesson introduces students to how to use newspapers to understand what is currently happening in the world today.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Shoals Area Landmarks and Sites of Interest
In this instructional activity young scholars choose a local landmark or site located in the Shoals area and research that site's contribution to history. Students demonstrate their knowledge of a specific Shoals area landmark or site by...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Using Primary Sources
This is an interdisciplinary inquiry-based lesson that focuses on critical thinking. Students are introduced to the true story of the first Thanksgiving with the reading of a NCSS Notable Trade Book Thanksgiving: The True Story. Working...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Main Idea and Details Cloud
Students practice distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant ideas by identifying relevant details in a video segment about a wild horse roundup. Students watch the video, read the transcript, and identify details they believe are...
Other
Central Michigan University: Website Research: Fake News
Critical appraisal tests like CRAAP and RADAR can also be used to evaluate the credibility of news websites and the stories they produce (which often go viral on social media). Here are some more resources to help you check! (CRAAP...
Thinkport Education
Thinkport: Protecting the Rights of the People
Find relationships among primary and secondary sources that identify where information from different sources converges and where it differs.
University of California
University of California, Berkeley: Boston News Letter May 15, 1704
The front page of "The Boston News-Letter," the first newspaper in the English colonies.
University of Washington
Bias in the News
This handy page clearly explains various ways in which bias can creep into news reports. Examples of each method are given.
E Reading Worksheets
E Reading Worksheets: Main Idea: Test 1
In this reading test focusing on the main idea, students read passages and answer questions concerning the main idea.
PBS
Pbs Teachers: Written in Stone
A lesson that takes students through the process of examining tombstones as artifacts, identifying information that can be instrumental in investigating a community's past or an individual's genealogy. Students also make gravestone...