The use of Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions can be combined with a banned word list to restrict them from using basic adjectives (“biased”, “happy”, “angry”). Special credit could be given to students who are deemed to have used the widest and most appropriate range of adjectives by the end of the lesson. Once a word has been settled upon, it can no longer be used that lesson. The teacher can then circle each one off if and when it is used by somebody in the class during discussion, with the rest of the class being given the opportunity to challenge its use and suggesting something more appropriate. To get students thinking about analysing the tone of sources in a more sophisticated manner during sourcework analysis exercises (for example, during a silent discussion activity), have an image of Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions on the board and instruct them that only words listed within it can be used in their annotations and later answers.

After all, the tone of a source is a useful indicator of the objectivity and detachment of the author, or conversely of his or her emotional involvement and subjectivity. In reality, however, one of the most useful ways of determining the reliability of a source is through its content, not its provenance. By this logic, the content can be used to provide information and to help us make deductions, whilst the provenance alone can help us put it into context and thereby decide how reliable this content actually is. Too often, when analying historical sources, students treat their content and provenance as two completely distinct features. When assessing the values and limitations of sources, get students to use Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions to explain the tone of the author and thereby evaluate its reliability with a more sophisticated use of vocabulary and reasoning:

Color wheel emoji color wheel emotions