Distinguish primary and secondary sources by discipline (CCSS W.7.8; RI.7.1)
Exercise Difficulty 2 ~8 min eng.g7.f.ex_07

Primary Secondary Sort

Prompt

Sort 10 sources for a research question on the Civil Rights Movement. Primary, secondary, or relative-depends-on-question? Sources: (1) MLK's I Have a Dream speech text, (2) 2010 biography of MLK, (3) 1963 New York Times coverage of the March on Washington, (4) 2020 documentary about the movement, (5) FBI surveillance records of King, (6) Modern scholarly article analyzing MLK's rhetoric, (7) Letter from Birmingham Jail, (8) Photograph by Charles Moore from Birmingham 1963, (9) Encyclopedia entry on Civil Rights Movement, (10) Interview with a movement participant conducted in 1985.

M-7-F-RES-EX-07-A Manipulative Physical / non-image

Sort deck of 10 source cards with descriptions; envelopes labeled primary/secondary. Print-ready card stock.

Answer criteria
type classification
correct
  1. primary
  2. primary
  3. secondary
  4. primary
  5. secondary
  6. primary
  7. secondary
  8. primary
  9. primary
  10. secondary
Hints
  1. Letters, speeches, government records, photographs from the time = primary.
  2. Biographies, documentaries, scholarly analyses = secondary.
Misconceptions to watch
  • Treats interview from 1985 (post-event memoir) as secondary — it's a primary oral-history source.
  • Treats 2010 biography as primary because it's about MLK.
Used in lessons