How do historians analyze sources, evidence, and geography to build an argument about the past?
Demonstrate historical and geographical analysis skills: analyze and interpret primary and secondary sources, evaluate the credibility of evidence, sequence events, use maps and charts, and communicate a supported argument (Virginia 2015 History and Social Science SOL VUS.1).
A SOL-level answer on the historical thinking skills for the VUS exam: analyzing primary and secondary sources, judging the credibility of evidence, identifying point of view and bias, sequencing events, reading maps and charts, and building a supported argument, the VUS.1 skills tested on almost every item.
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What this topic is asking
Standard VUS.1 is the skill standard, and it is the most heavily tested part of the whole exam because it is woven into almost every item. The VUS test is built around sources: a quotation, a political cartoon, a map, a chart, or a photograph sits above the question, and you must analyze it before you can answer. VUS.1 asks you to handle primary and secondary sources, judge the credibility of evidence, identify point of view and bias, sequence events in time, read maps and charts, and build a supported argument.
Primary and secondary sources
The test loves to make you sort sources into these two boxes. The trap is the date: a beautifully written modern history book is still a secondary source because it was created after the event. A scrappy letter from a soldier in 1863 is a primary source because it comes from the moment.
Evaluating evidence: sourcing and point of view
No source is neutral. A historian sources every document by asking three questions:
- Who created it (and what was their position or interest)?
- When was it created (during the event, or long after)?
- Why was it created (to record, to persuade, to sell newspapers)?
A recruiting poster is propaganda designed to persuade; a private diary is candid but limited to one viewpoint; a government report may downplay failures. Recognizing point of view and possible bias is how you judge reliability. This is exactly the move a stimulus question rewards.
Geographic and chronological reasoning
VUS.1 is geographical too. You must read maps (settlement patterns, troop movements, the spread of slavery, immigration routes) and connect geography to events. You also need chronological reasoning: putting events in the right order and telling cause from effect. On the computer this often appears as a drag-to-order technology-enhanced item, where you sequence several events on a timeline.
Building a supported argument
The highest skill is using evidence to support a claim. A good historical answer states a position and then backs it with specific evidence from the sources. On a multiple-choice test this means choosing the answer that the document actually supports, not the one that merely sounds true, and answering only what is asked from the evidence in front of you.
Try this
Q1. Distinguish a primary source from a secondary source, with one example of each. [2]
- Cue. Primary: firsthand, from the period (a 1776 letter). Secondary: a later interpretation (a textbook chapter). The difference is when it was made and whether the creator experienced the event.
Q2. State the first question a historian should ask to judge a source's reliability. [1]
- Cue. Who created it and why, because the author's identity and purpose reveal the point of view and possible bias.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of VDOE exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
VA VUS SOL (released item style)1 marksA historian is studying the causes of the American Revolution. Which of these would be the best primary source?
(A) A textbook chapter written in 2010 about the Revolution.
(B) A letter written in 1775 by a colonist describing British taxes.
(C) A documentary film made in 1990.
(D) An encyclopedia article summarizing the war.
Show worked answer →
A single-select item testing the difference between primary and secondary sources (VUS.1).
Correct answer: (B). A primary source comes from the time being studied and from someone who experienced it. The 1775 letter is firsthand evidence from the period.
A, C, and D are secondary sources: they were created later by people interpreting the event, not living through it. The test rewards spotting that a primary source is firsthand and from the era.
VA VUS SOL (released item style)1 marksA political cartoon from 1765 shows a colonist refusing to buy British goods after the Stamp Act. To judge how reliable this cartoon is as evidence, a historian should first ask
(A) how colorful the drawing is.
(B) who made it and what point of view it expresses.
(C) how many people are in the picture.
(D) whether it is drawn neatly.
Show worked answer →
A single-select item on evaluating evidence and point of view (VUS.1).
Correct answer: (B). Every source has an author with a purpose and a point of view, and identifying them is the first step in judging reliability and bias.
A, C, and D are surface details that do not bear on reliability. Markers reward the sourcing move: ask who made it and why before you trust it.
Related dot points
- Explain how early European exploration and colonization, and the Columbian Exchange, produced cultural and biological interactions among Europeans, Africans, and American Indians (Virginia 2015 History and Social Science SOL VUS.2).
A SOL-level answer on early exploration for the VUS exam: the motives for European exploration (God, gold, glory), the major colonizing powers and their patterns, the Columbian Exchange of plants, animals, people, and disease, and the catastrophic impact on American Indian populations.
- Describe the founding of Jamestown and the Virginia colony, the role of the Virginia Company, the House of Burgesses (1619) as the first elected assembly, the arrival of the first Africans (1619), and the tobacco economy (Virginia 2015 History and Social Science SOL VUS.2, VUS.3).
A SOL-level answer on Jamestown for the VUS exam: the Virginia Company and the 1607 founding, the early struggles and tobacco's rescue of the colony, the House of Burgesses (1619) as the first elected legislature in English America, the arrival of the first Africans (1619), and Virginia's foundational role.
- Describe the three colonial regions (New England, Middle, Southern), how geography shaped their economies, the development of representative self-government, and the growth of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade (Virginia 2015 History and Social Science SOL VUS.3).
A SOL-level answer on colonial society for the VUS exam: the three regions and how geography shaped New England, Middle, and Southern economies, the spread of self-government, the shift from indentured servitude to chattel slavery, and the transatlantic slave trade and Middle Passage.
- Explain the causes of the American Revolution: British policies after 1763, taxation without representation, the influence of Enlightenment ideas and Common Sense, and the Declaration of Independence (Virginia 2015 History and Social Science SOL VUS.4).
A SOL-level answer on the causes of the Revolution for the VUS exam: British taxation after the French and Indian War, no taxation without representation, escalating protest, the Enlightenment and Locke, Paine's Common Sense, and the Declaration of Independence and its natural-rights argument.
- Describe the major events, turning points, and reasons for American victory in the Revolutionary War, including Washington's leadership, Saratoga, French aid, and Yorktown (Virginia 2015 History and Social Science SOL VUS.4).
A SOL-level answer on the Revolutionary War for the VUS exam: George Washington's leadership, the turning point at Saratoga and the resulting French alliance, the hardship at Valley Forge, the victory at Yorktown, and the reasons a smaller force defeated the British Empire.
Sources & how we know this
- Standards of Learning Documents for History and Social Science, Adopted 2015 — Virginia Department of Education (2015)
- SOL Practice Items (All Subjects) — Virginia Department of Education (2024)