Secondary Source Worksheet, HIS/WS 375

Introduction:
Much like the thesis of a college essay, authors will usually present a condensed version of their argument in the first
section of their workthe first chapter of a book or the first few pages of a chapter or essay. Focusing only on this initial
section, answer the following:

1) What problem or issue is the author addressing? The answer to this question will often take the form of
allusions to previous research or the posing of an intriguing or hard-to-answer question.

- What was the influence of Ergot on the Witch trials of the 17th Century. Did it push along confessions?
Convince people they were witches? Convince them their neighbors were witches? Ect.

2) What answer(s) does the author provide to this question? In other words, what is the author's thesis? Pay
special attention to any terms that the author creates or defines in order to explain her position as well as the
boundaries (chronological, geographic, etc.) that she places on her study.

- They back up their statements with numerical evidence. She provides charts that document the
reasons people adopted witchcraft. Ergot, or derivatives of it were often on the other side of that
paper.
- She recounts personal stories of the time acknowledging bread, or bear (made from rye), as being
the devil, or a way to get to the devil.
- Actual properties and effects of Ergot. How did it actually effect people.

3) What questions do you have at this point? The introduction is the most important part of scholarly writing, so
it's best not to skip over any confusing words or ideas that appear in this section.\

- Was this idea of hallucinogenic ever considered during the time of the trials?
- Were people more perceptible to suggestion when they were induced by Ergot?
- Are there modern cases of Ergot poisoning?
- Is there evidence of drugs effecting other huge judicial movements?

Body:
In this section, authors present their evidence and explain their argument in more depth. If you keep the introduction in
mind, and if you spend some time figuring out how the author has structured his or her evidence, you'll be able to move
through this section more quickly.

4) How has the author organized his work? Does he offer a series of case studies; tell a historical narrative;
explore a set of small ideas that build into something larger; or something else? In sub-sections, too, the first
and last paragraphs are usually most important, and headings will also help guide your reading.

- They separates them into detailed points that all work towards supporting their argument.
- They start with information about Ergot, and then use that to explain why it had any effect on the
witch trials.

5) Pay special attention to moments when the author refers explicitly to the ideas that he or she presented in
the introduction. Record them here.
 - They provide charts with recorded court sessions. They mention this being a means of evidence in
the introduction.
- Puts emphasis in the body, as well as introduction about the importance of class and social standing
within this study.

Conclusion:
Whether or not authors write a formal conclusion to their work, the last few paragraphs or pages usually serve to
summarize what they've said and, sometimes, to suggest new questions or other applications for their findings. What
seems to be the author's takeaway point(s)?

- Their main take away is the confirmation of their hypothesis. Ergot played a huge and even pivotal
role in the witch trials.
- We still do not have a clear idea of whether specific cases used Ergot knowingly or not.
- Weather and climate affected the number of cases in certain areas. Another piece of evidence
towards Ergot poisoning.

Your Response:
Once you've successfully made it through the reading, go back and find a couple of ideas or pieces of evidence that were
especially interesting or concerning to you. Has the author convinced you?

- I find it intriguing that these people only hallucinated on the things that they knew. For a halogen
like Ergot to be active, your experiences and memories are what it has to go off of in terms of
hallucinating. For these people, I can only imagine that the witchcraft trials, or fear of being a witch
were constantly on their minds. I wonder if this had anything to do with the amount of people
accused.
- The author has convinced me 100% that Ergot was the cause of MANY of the accusations and
confessions made in the witch trials.