How would you approach a question examining a primary/contemporary source?

When looking at primary or contemporary sources (sources written at the time), it's important to examine 3 key areas; provenance, tone and content. Provenance focuses on the origin of the source - what actually is the source? Who wrote it? When was it written? This may also include whether a source is biased or not towards a particular person, group of people or organisation. The tone of the source may also affect the value of the source. For example, if the source was written by a member of Hitler Youth and had a tone of adornment, it may suggest that the source is biased towards the Nazis and a student could then talk about their knowledge of the indoctrination of the youth in Nazi Germany. Finally, the content of the source must be analysed. This essentially involves looking at what the source says and using your own knowledge to either prove or argue against what the source is saying based off your own knowledge. A student may also wish to talk about what the source fails to mention but, again, the student must use their own knowledge of the historical context to support their response.
In planning a source question, a student may want to draw a table using the three key areas - provenance, tone, content - as headings as well as noting down both the value (what is good) and limitations (what is bad) about each area. This would provide the basis for a strong essay plan.