H.I.P.P.Oing – Document Analysis
The following skills will allow students to use content on multiple choice, short answer, and document
based essay questions in all Social Studies classes. These skills allows students to evaluate the
usefulness, reliability, and/or limitations of a primary/secondary source in answering particular historical
questions.
*H = Historical Context:
Context is the "setting" for an event that occurs, and it will have an impact on the relevance of the
event. Context is an important factor to consider when examining a document or historical character or
time period. History should be looked at through the lens of Historical Context.
*I = Intended Audience:
Each historical document, political cartoon, graph/chart, textbook, etc. has an intended audience and as
a student you should recognize who and why was a document written to a specific group of people.
*P = Purpose:
Every historical source has a given purpose and students should be able to explain to the Reader why
was a particular document created?
*P = Point of View:
Point of view is the angle of considering things, which shows us the opinion and/or feelings of the
individuals involved in a situation.
*O = Outside Information:
Explain to the Reader one piece of outside information that is not contained in the document (but can
be spurred from the document), and then explain how that piece of outside information is
distinguishable from the historical source and how this outside information helps to explain the
question or time period being discussed.
No UBIs (Useless Bits of Information)!!! Make sure that your outside information helps support your
argument in your answer.
US History H.I.P.P.O.ing Example:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.-That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from
the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these
ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its
foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely
to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established
should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that
mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing
the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing
invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it
is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
H: The historical context of the Declaration of Independence was that it was written over a year after
the American Revolution has started and it shows that the American colonists were reluctant
revolutionaries. It was only after King George III usurped and declared war on the colonists that Thomas
Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston gathered together and
helped to create the Declaration of Independence.
I: The intended audience of the Declaration of Independence was written first to the American Colonists
letting them know that the 2nd Continental Congress has unanimously chosen to separate from the
British Empire, and secondly it was written to King George III to explain the many reasons why the
colonies were choosing this path of separation.
P: The purpose of the Declaration of Independence is to formally separate the thirteen British colonies
from their allegiance with the British crown and show the rationale for this separation.
P: The point of view of the Declaration of Independence is from a very frustrated group of British
colonists that are finally fed up with all of the injuries and usurpations by King George III and the British
government by July of 1776.
O: John Adams was one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence, but he also will be someone
very interested once the American Revolution is over that the newly separated colonies still have a
relationship with the British Empire. This is why John Adams will be made the first minister to Great
Britain and will be the first American to great King George III as an American representative following
the conclusion of the American Revolution. (notice…completely outside the document).