How should I answer a question that asks me to analyse a source?

Primary source analysis requires you to use examples of how people in the past wrote about or depicted different phenomena. FIrst, it is important to link the particular source to a wider historical period or topic. Thus, you are enabled to move between micro- and macro-level discussion. What I mean by this is that by extrapolating from your source, you can engage in describing a larger topic, be that a concept, a period, a person, or an event in history. Good historical writing, in my opinion, is often characterised by fluid transition between small-scale analysis, and showing how that analysis fits a large-scale narrative. Secondly, it is crucial that you give evidence of thinking critically about the primary source you are given. Identifying biases in a text, for example, is a great way to show awareness of how the intersectional phenomena of class, gender, race, religion etc. had an impact on the author. Thus, you can prove your skills in critical thinking as well as familiarity with these concepts.