Secondary Source

Below you will find a Sample Secondary Source Analysis Worksheet to reference while filling out your worksheet. Please note that this is a sample, and that your worksheet should be based on another secondary source article from the library guide. Complete the Secondary Source Analysis Worksheet for the secondary source that you selected.

1. Full APA citation?
Morton, L. (1957). The decision to use the atomic bomb. Foreign Affairs. Retrieved from https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/1957-01-01/decision-useatomic-bomb

2. Identify author and describe potential biases?
Louis Morton was a military historian at Dartmouth College. For a decade he served as a member of the U.S. Army’s Office of the Chief of Military History. In those positions he wrote
numerous books on the Pacific theater of World War II. His position in the army’s historical unit
could bias him in favor of the military, but that does not seem to be the case in this article.

3. Identify thesis and arguments?
Many policymakers issued statements soon after the detonation of the atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A decade later, Louis Morton revisited these statements in light of
recently released documents.
Morton found that there were many justifications for detonating the atomic bombs over
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. An invasion of the Japanese home islands would have inflicted heavy
casualties on both sides. The Americans wanted to end the war before the Soviet Union
entered the Pacific theater. The military government of Japan seemed resistant to any thought
of surrender. The Manhattan Project had cost billions of dollars, and many policymakers did not
want to see that money wasted.
The Japanese decision to surrender was based on many factors, only one of which was the use
of the atomic bombs. American air and naval power had already reduced much of Japan to ruin.
The Soviet Union’s entry into the war ended Japan’s hope for mediation. The Japanese emperor
ordered his government to surrender, over the protests of some advisers. Morton argued that
some combination of all of these led to the Japanese surrender.

3. What primary sources did the source rely on?
Congressional hearings; books, memoirs, and articles published by participants; military
documents such as bombing surveys; memoranda and letters written by members of the
military and the Truman administration; recent history books and articles on the bomb and the
end of the war.

3. Is the source reliable and convincing? Why or why not?
The source is reliable. The author does not seem to favor any reason over another and is
careful to say that it was probably some combination. He seems healthily suspicious of any
justifications provided by decision makers.

4. How does the source relate to your project topic? How does it add to what you already know about the topic?
The decision to use the atomic bomb is central to any study of the end of World War II. The
decision to use the bomb was the result of many factors, and the Japanese decision to
surrender was the result of many factors.

Worksheet:

1. Full APA citation:
Jackson, P. B., Williams, D. R., Stein, D. J., Herman, A., Williams, S. L.., & Redmond, D. L. (2010). Race and psychological distress: The South African stress and health study. Journal of health and social behavior, 51(4), 458-477.

2. Identify author and describe potential biases.
[Insert text.]

3. Identify thesis and arguments.
[Insert text.]

4. What primary sources did the source rely on?
Louw, P.E (2004). The rise, fall and legacy of apartheid.Westport, Praeger, CT and London.

5. Is the source reliable and convincing? Why or why not?
[Insert text.]

6. How does the source relate to your project topic? How does it add to what you already know about the topic?
[Insert text.]