Collecting and analyzing primary sources

Abstract: History, social science, and the humanities commonly utilize the examination of primary sources and the creation of theses in the development of disciplinary knowledge. Social media such as a class blog, wiki, discussion forum, or collaborative document can provide a way for students to form their own collections of visual and textual primary sources, and develop arguable theses, both collaboratively and individually. Social media sites allow students to post their sources during a specific period, after which they can create and post an individual thesis using some of the items from the source collection as support. For a fully online class, this approach is most effective as a pattern for the entire term, with tasks increasing in detail and complexity. For the face-to-face classroom, a version of the technique may be used for individual class sessions.