Class: Junior Secondary School 1 (JSS1)
Term: First Term
Week: 6
Age: 12 years
Duration: 45 minutes
Subject: History
Curriculum Theme: History
Previous Lesson: Tertiary Sources, Projects, Bulletins and Memos
Topic: Meaning, Examples and Uses of Secondary Sources
Subject Matter: Meaning, Examples and Uses of Secondary Sources

Specific Objectives

By the end of the lesson, learners should be able to:

define tertiary sources;
identify indexes, encyclopedias, catalogues, timelines, bibliographies and finding aids;
explain how tertiary tools support rather than replace historical research;
use a catalogue or index entry to plan a source search;

Reference Materials

9-Year Basic Education Curriculum for History
Approved JSS1 History textbook and state scheme of work
Teacher-checked library, museum or archive material relevant to the topic

Instructional Materials

sample encyclopedia entry
library catalogue or archive finding-aid extract
index and bibliography pages
research-route worksheet

Rationale for the Lesson

Tertiary sources help researchers locate, summarise or organise information. Learners must understand their value for orientation and their limits as evidence for detailed historical claims.

Prerequisite/Previous Knowledge

Learners can use alphabetical order, headings and simple book indexes to find information.

Lesson Content/Board Summary

Meaning and Examples of Secondary Sources

Secondary sources are later works that interpret primary evidence and earlier research. Examples include a modern book about the Benin Kingdom, an academic article analysing colonial records, a biography based on letters and interviews, or a researched documentary about independence.

Fact, Interpretation and Citation

A secondary work contains both factual statements and interpretation. For example, the date of an event may be well established, while historians disagree about its main cause. Good writers show their evidence through footnotes, endnotes, bibliographies or source lists.

Using More Than One Source

Compare how two authors define the question, which evidence they use and where they agree or differ. Prefer a relevant specialist work over an anonymous summary. Publication date matters when new discoveries have appeared, but an older work can still be important for the history of an argument. Copying a secondary source without acknowledgement is plagiarism.

Agreement and Disagreement

If two books give different explanations, learners should not select the longer one automatically. List the claim made by each author, the primary evidence cited, information omitted and whether the reasoning fits the evidence. A responsible answer may state that the evidence supports one interpretation more strongly or that the question remains debated. Historical disagreement is useful when it is evidence-based.

Citation Example

A useful note does not say only “I got it from the internet”. It records the author or institution, page title, publication or update date, link and date accessed. For a printed book, record author, title, publisher, year and page. These details allow another learner to check the claim and distinguish the writer’s words from copied material.

Teaching Methods/Instructional Techniques

Source-based enquiry, guided observation, modelling, comparison, collaborative analysis and evidence-focused questioning.

Instructional Procedures

Step 1: Finding Information

Time: 5 minutes
Teacher’s Activity: Sets a history question and displays an index, catalogue and encyclopedia.
Learners’ Activity: Choose where to begin and give a reason.
Learning Check: The teacher checks the stated product or explanation before moving on.

Step 2: Meaning and Examples

Time: 9 minutes
Teacher’s Activity: Explains compilation, overview and finding functions.
Learners’ Activity: Classify the tools by function.
Learning Check: The teacher checks the stated product or explanation before moving on.

Step 3: Catalogue Practice

Time: 10 minutes
Teacher’s Activity: Models reading creator, title, date, subject and location fields.
Learners’ Activity: Use an entry to request or locate a source.
Learning Check: The teacher checks the stated product or explanation before moving on.

Step 4: Limits

Time: 9 minutes
Teacher’s Activity: Compares a short overview with the full source it summarises.
Learners’ Activity: Identify information lost in the summary.
Learning Check: The teacher checks the stated product or explanation before moving on.

Step 5: Review

Time: 7 minutes
Teacher’s Activity: Gives a fresh research question.
Learners’ Activity: Plan a route from tertiary tool to secondary reading and primary evidence.
Learning Check: The teacher checks the stated product or explanation before moving on.

Objective-aligned checks:

identify indexes, encyclopedias, catalogues, timelines, bibliographies and finding aids.
explain how tertiary tools support rather than replace historical research.
use a catalogue or index entry to plan a source search.

Step 6: Conclusion

Time: 5 minutes
Teacher’s Activity: Summarises the lesson through the research question and corrects unsupported claims.
Learners’ Activity: State one conclusion, its supporting evidence and one remaining question.

Lesson Keywords

history — evidence-based study of the past
source — material from which information is obtained
evidence — information used to support or question a claim
interpretation — an explanation based on selected evidence
context — the circumstances surrounding a source or event

Lesson Evaluation

Define a tertiary source.
Give four examples.
State two uses and two limitations.
Explain the difference between a bibliography and the sources listed in it.
Use a sample catalogue record to identify the creator, date and location code.

Assignment/Homework

Use an encyclopedia, catalogue, index or bibliography to locate two possible sources on a Nigerian history topic. Record the search terms and full details needed to find each source.

Differentiation

Support: Provide labelled source cards, sentence starters and a partially completed evidence table.
Extension: Learners design a three-stage research route beginning with a tertiary tool and ending with primary evidence.
Accessibility: Permit paired reading, oral recording, enlarged print or tactile-safe replicas where appropriate.

Note for Teachers

Projects, bulletins and memos are not automatically tertiary. Their classification depends on their purpose, content and relationship to the question being studied.