HPS100: Intro to History & Philosophy of Science

Fall 2025

Assignment Guidelines:

History Paper - Primary Source Analysis

(worth 20% of course grade)

Assignment Learning Objectives:

1.   Demonstrate analytical skills for critically reading and interpreting historical primary sources.

2.   Contextualize historical information by identifying and using relevant course materials and additional library research.

3.   Demonstrate university-level writing skills in a concise and organized essay using correct citations and bibliography.

Instructions:

Write a short essay (approximately 750 words) analyzing one of the historical primary sources provided. Explain the specific historical context of this source, and explain its significance to the broader history of science by connecting it to one or more ofour course themes.

Step-by-Step Guidelines:

STEP 1: Choose ONE (1) out of the 4 source options listed on the last page of this handout. To read the sources, click on provided hyperlinks or download the PDF files available on Quercus. Read your chosen source carefully and take notes of interesting quotes and any questions you have about unknown or confusing names, events, or terms to look up.

Now turn to your course readings and lecture notes as well as U ofT library resources to answer your questions and make sure you understand your chosen source.

You are required to use U ofT’s Library Search or U ofT Library databases tool to find at least one additional secondary source, outside of the course readings, to find contextual information about your chosen primary source. You must refer to and cite this additional secondary source in your paper. You MUST use academic sources—use your new library skills. Acceptable sources are peer-reviewed journal articles, books, or entries from edited encyclopaedias. Read and take notes on these secondary sources.

UNACCEPTABLE sources include Wikipedia, newspaper articles, personal blogs, output from ChatGPT, YouDao, DeepL or any similar generative AI tools, AI-generated summaries of books or articles, etc). The use of unacceptable sources will earn you a low mark, even worse, it might constitute an academic offence. If you are not sure whether a source is acceptable—ask us in office hours!

STEP 2: Now that you have collected your background information, re-read your chosen primary source alongside the questions listed in the bullet points below. Take notes trying to answer as many of the questions as you can. The questions listed in each point are guidelines to help you analyze your source—some of them might not apply to your particular source.

•   Introduce and identify the source: Who is the author or creator of the source? When

was it written? For what purpose or audience? What is the source about? Which theme(s) from our class lectures/readings are relevant to understanding this primary source?

•   Interpret the source: If the source is an argumentative text, what argument(s) does the author make and what scientific debate(s) are they participating in? If the source is a text for sharing information, how did the author obtain the information they present in the source? How has the author’s own background, and/or their intended audience, influenced the way they make their arguments and present information?

•   Contextualize the source: How is this source useful for understanding the broader

political, economic, and social conditions of the time period when it was produced? How does it reflect the evolving relationships between scientific knowledge, technological developments, and political or economic interests?

•   Conclude with next directions for research: Conclude your essay with an evaluation

about what this source can and cannot tell us about the historical period in which it was produced. Based on what you have learned from lectures or secondary sources, do you think the primary source author is a reliable narrator of information? What other kinds of primary sources should a historian look for to corroborate or to challenge the information within this single source?

STEP 3: Write your essay by synthesizing your notes addressing the above questions. Your responses to each point should “show your work” in terms of analytical skills. Explain how specific words or phrases in the primary source (correctly cited) are leading you to particular interpretations, understandings, or further questions to investigate. Cite your secondary sources for the background information that you used to help you understand and contextualize the primary source.

You must cite all sources that you use and make clear, through the use of citations, when you are using information from other sources versus your own ideas and interpretations. An essay which relies mainly on the interpretations of secondary sources, rather than your own analysis, will receive a low mark.

Formatting Requirements:

•   Your essay must be submitted as a .doc or .docx file. Use 12-point Times New Roman font, double spacing, and 1-inch margins.

•   Your essay should be minimum 600 and maximum 800 words long. This word count

does NOT include the bibliography. Please type in the final word count at the end of the essay.

•   CITE YOUR SOURCES using in-text, parenthetical citations. Cite assigned readings with the author’s surname(s), year of publication, and page number, following the example below:

Example: (Daston & Galison 2007, 58)

Cite lecture notes for our class following the example below (your lecture notes should NOT be cited in your bibliography):

Example: (HPS100 lecture, January 9, 2023)

•   YOU MUST INCLUDE A BIBLIOGRAPHY at the end of your essay. Please format each reference in your bibliography according to the following examples:

Formatting for a book:

Daston, Lorraine, and Peter Galison. 2010. Objectivity. New York, NY: Zone Books.

Formatting for a journal article:

Li, Jianhui, and Zheng Fu. 2015. “The Craziness for Extra‐Sensory Perception: Qigong Fever and the Science–Pseudoscience Debate in China.” Zygon 50 (2): 534–47.

For more explanations and other kinds of references, please consult the Chicago Manual of Style at https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-2.html.

PRIMARY SOURCE OPTIONS

1. Margaret Cavendish, Observations upon Experimental Philosophy. London: A. Maxwell, 1668. Pages 95-100 of reprint edited by Eileen O’Neill, Cambridge University Press, 2001.

2. Letters transcribed by the Wallace Correspondence Project:

•   “WCP390”, Letter from Alfred Russel Wallace to Thomas Sims, January 20, 1851:

https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP390

•   “WCP781”, Letter from Alfred Russel Wallace to George Robert Waterhouse, May 8, 1855:https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP781

3. Jan Ehrenwald, “Psychiatry and Parapsychology.” Journal of Parapsychology 12, no. 1 (1948): pp. 6-11.

4. Ernst Haeckel, Freedom in Science and Teaching. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1879. Pages 62-71.