Every document serves some kind of purpose. It might be trying to convince people to do something, or maybe it's meant to describe events that took place somewhere. By carefully reading through the document, you should get a sense of why the author created it in the first place. Documents that tell people what to do are called prescriptive documents. Documents that describe events are called descriptive documents. For example, an early twentieth-century book of manners - which tells women how to behave in public - is an example of a prescriptive document. A newspaper article that covers the events of the Boston Tea Party is an example of a descriptive document. What is the point the author is trying to get across? Their argument can help you understand where the author is coming from and whether they might have a vested interest in people accepting their argument as true. Keep in mind that the author's argument might be obvious or it might be subtle. For example, the author of a publicity flyer that asks the public to come to a pro-union meeting might say, "Joining the UAW will make your family more financially secure!" That author's argument is pretty obvious - that the United Auto Workers union will help working families. By contrast, the author of a newspaper article about civil rights protests might say "The protesters were met with violence when police officers turned water hoses on them. Many protesters were injured, while the police seemed unconcerned." This sounds like a description of what happened. However, the author's description of injured protesters and unconcerned police suggests that the author's subtle argument is that the protesters were right and the police were wrong. In historical documents, silence often says as much as actual words. Figuring out what gets left out is often called "reading between the lines," and it's something historians do to determine an author's real motivation. For example, if the source is an obituary of Benedict Arnold, what do you know about him that gets left out of the obituary? Does it mention the fact that Americans consider him a traitor? Does it only focus on Americans' perception of him? The things that get left out can tell you a lot about who wrote the document and why. Corroborating the historical document with other sources will help you determine whether the information presented in the document is factual. Look through other sources and note any points of agreement or disagreement between the sources and the historical document you're analyzing.If a variety of sources are in disagreement with the historical document, then it's a sign that the information presented in the document isn't correct. Once you've analyzed a historical document, you need to decide if the document is credible or not. You can determine if a historical document is credible using a variety of methods, like: Verifying any evidence that the document gives for its claims. If you're able to back up the evidence using other sources, then you know the document's claims are valid. Considering the credibility of the author. If your research finds that the author of the document was unreliable or extremely biased, it's a clue that the document isn't credible.

Summary:
Figure out the author's purpose. Determine the author's argument. Pay attention to what isn't said. Corroborate the document with other sources. Determine the document's credibility.