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PROFESSOR: Welcome to another history skills video. Today, we're looking at corroboration of sources.

When you are analyzing a historical source, it is helpful to discover what information it provides when compared with other sources about the same topic. Finding similarities between multiple sources can be used in your assessment pieces to demonstrate corroboration. Most importantly, corroboration is an analysis skill that helps you to more successfully evaluate your sources, especially in regards to their accuracy.

So what is corroboration? Corroboration is the ability to compare information provided by two separate sources and identify similarities between them.

When a source provides similar information to another source, the second source is considered to corroborate the first. Please note that both sources don't need to use exactly the same words in order to corroborate. They can express the same information in different ways and still be used for corroboration.

For example, one source might say that a historical personality died before they turned 40 years old, while another source might say that the same person died some time after their 36th birthday. Even though these two sources expressed the same idea in two different ways, what is similar is that both sources state that the person died in their late 30s. Therefore, ensure that you read your sources carefully to find information that is similar, even if it is expressed in different ways.

Once you have mastered the skill of identifying corroborating sources, you can use it to strengthen your historical arguments, particularly in your written essays. As a general rule of thumb, when choosing which sources to corroborate, select those that are the most reliable, which will strengthen your historical argument.

So how do you find corroboration? In order to identify what information is agreed upon by two different sources, use the following steps. Step 1-- read the first source and summarize the key points of historical information it provides. Using quotes, particularly indirect quotes, will be helpful for this.

Secondly, read the second source and summarize the key points of historical information it provides. Again, using direct and indirect quotes will help here.

Thirdly, compare the two different summaries you have written and identify similar information in both lists. Please remember that different sources can express the same information in different ways.

Step 4-- any similar information can be used as evidence for corroboration.

Finally, choose which of the two sources you will use as your original evidence, and use the other one as the corroborating source.

But what happens when you find two sources provide conflicting information? While finding similarities between sources, you may find that the two provide information that conflict with each other. On such occasions, you may have discovered potential contradiction between sources. However, contradiction is a different source analysis skill, which will be covered in a separate video.

Now that you know what corroboration is and how to identify it, let's look at an example to solidify your learning. Our example sources will come from 1917, during the World War I Battle of Passchendaele. The first source is written by Thomas, an eyewitness of the battle, who describes the weather conditions of the conflict as follows. "Floods of rain and a blanket of mist have doused and cloaked the whole of the Flanders plain. The newest shell-holes are now flooded to the brim. The rain has so fouled this low, stoneless ground spoiled of all natural drainage by shell-fire, the men could scarcely walk in full equipment."

The second source also comes from someone who saw the events firsthand. This time, a soldier known as Phillips describes the same battle in this way. "The weather changed for the worst last night. The rain was heavy and constant, with a thick blanket of mist completely shutting off the battlefield. The roads, fields, and footways were covered with semi-liquid mud, and the torn ground beyond Ypres had become in places a horrible quagmire."

When read together, it is clear that even though they used different words, the two sources describe the weather conditions in very much the same way. Therefore, one source can be used to corroborate the information of the other source. For this example, we can use Phillips's account to corroborate Thomas's description that the battlefield of Passchendaele was flooded due to heavy rainfall.

Now you have a better understanding of corroboration. I hope that you feel more confident in your studies. If you need further explanations, examples, and advice, head over to historyskills.com, and I'll see you next time.