National History Education Clearinghouse

Using Primary Sources

SCIM-C: Historical Source Analysis

Website: http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php

In this short video, created by the Historical Inquiry project at Virginia Tech, Education Professor David Hicks describes the five steps of SCIM-C, a model for analyzing historical sources and placing them within a historical narrative. The steps ask students to:

• Summarize
• Contextualize
• Infer
• Monitor, and
• Corroborate

For a more detailed explanation of the SCIM-C method, check out this section of Historical Inquiry: Scaffolding Wise Practices in the History Classroom.