Evaluating Visual Materials
Whether using primary or secondary sources, in print or online, an essential step in the research process is evaluating your sources. Good scholarship requires careful reading and critical analysis of information.
Basic Evaluation Criteria for All Sources
The following questions were adapted from The Information-Literate Historian by Jenny L. Presnell (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007):
Author Authority
Who created the item? What is his or
her affiliation? What is his or her relationship to the information
contained in the source?
Audience and Purpose
Who is the intended audience? Why was the item created?
Accuracy and Completeness
Is the evidence reliable? Are the important points covered? How does the source compare to other similar sources?
Footnotes and Documentation
Are the author's sources clearly identified with complete citations to allow you to find the original source yourself?
Perspective and Bias
How do the author's bias and perspective inform the arguments and evidence presented?
Additional Evaluation Criteria for Visual Materials
In addition to the basic questions above, ask the following questions, which were adapted from A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, 6th ed. by Mary Lynn Rampolla (New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009).
Photographs
Where was the image first displayed or published?
Do the angles, lighting, or cropping suggest a particular bias?
Art Works
Is it a single work or part of a larger movement?
Where was it first displayed and what was the critical reception?
Cartoons
In what type of publication was the cartoon published?
When? What is the historical significance?
What is its message?
Visual Materials as Primary Sources
Visual materials cover the whole range of non-text and non-audio materials, everything from original art, prints, photographs and films. The term visual materials encompasses a wide range of forms, including photographs, cinema and video films, videotapes, paintings, drawings, cartoons, prints, designs, and three-dimensional art such as sculpture and architecture. Some can be categorized as fine art, others as documentary record. Some are unique documents, while others are reproducible to a limited or unlimited extent. Examples of the latter include illustrations in books and magazines.
Original Art
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Single paintings, drawings, watercolors, graphic art, prints, sculpture, and architectural drawings and plans fall under the heading of original art. Museums, art galleries, and libraries are easily accessible repositories for art. If their holdings are not fully on display, catalogs are generally available. Examples include:
- Louvre Museum Atlas Database
The Atlas database covers all the works exhibited in the museum - some 30,000 items.
Internet users, like museum visitors, will find the usual explanatory texts that accompany museum exhibits, compiled under the authority of the museum curators. - Museum of Modern Art
Photographs
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Photographs have a considerable evidential value which makes them a particularly productive resource. Even poor photographs can have value as a unique record. Like all other forms of visual resources, they convey information about vanished worlds, demolished buildings, forgotten customs and ways of life. Examples may be found online:
Moving Images
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Moving images are a relatively new format. There is a rich world of documentary films and newsreels, though some of it has unfortunately been lost forever. At its best, this medium allows the closest of all approaches to the past. Examples include:
Prints
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Prints are art works reproduced in multiple copies. These include graphic art, etchings, engravings, lithographs, woodcuts, mezzotints, posters, trade cards, artists' prints, computer-generated graphics, and book illustrations. Book illustration in general is an important information source, not to be overlooked. Sources include:
Notable Sources Online
Vast collections of images are available online, both within subscription databases and via freely available websites. Large public and university librararies are particularly good sources.
Notable collections of images include:
American Memory, Library of Congress
Digital Libraries (links to digitial libraries arranged by country)
Library of Congress: Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (contains links to digitized collections of photos, prints, and posters)
New York Public Library Digital Collections
State Digital Resources: Memory Projects, Online Encyclopedias, Historical & Cultural Materials Collections (Library of Congress Web Guide)