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Structuring Source Questions

My history teacher is ill and has set my class an essay, but I don't know how to structure it.

The question is "With reference to these sources and your understanding of the historical context, assess the value of these three sources to a historian studying the severity of the Great Rebellion (1173-1174)."

I just need to know how to assess the value of one source and then I can do that for the other two.

Can anyone help?

(edited 2 years ago)

Make notes

So, I don't do the same A-Level History course, but we do still have to assess the value of three sources.

I would start by reading the content of the source and then seeing how much of it matches up with the information that you already know about the subject. If the information is very similar, with very few differences, then you can argue that the content of the source is of value because it tells the correct information.
Then, you also have to look at the provenance of the source, particularly who it was written by, the time it was written etc. The sources that are of more value are those that were written at the time, so in this case the most valuable sources would have been written at the time of the Great Rebellion. And then, you have to assess whether the author would be bias to a particular side of the Rebellion. I know nothing of the Great Rebellion, but it could be something like, if the author is against the rebellion then they may over-dramatise the events, which can lessen the value because it would be seen as less accurate, if that makes sense?