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• History, when studied


  • Can teach many critical skills
• Sources of Historical Data

  • Written sources
  • Non-written sources
• Written Sources of History

  • Narrative or literary
  • Diplomatic or juridical
  • Social documents
• Non-written Sources of History

  • Interviews
  • Films
  • Photos
  • Recordings of music
  • Clothing
  • Buildings
  • Tools
• Primary Source


  • Original item that provides evidence about the past
  • A piece of evidence created during the period under investigation
  • 'Raw materials' often considered as the foundation of historical research and writing
  • Can be an eyewitness account or a firsthand account of a particular event
  • Can either be written or unwritten
• Kinds of Primary Sources

  • Personal journals/diaries/memoirs/parish records
  • Letters, newspaper, magazine
  • Court proceedings, legislative debates
  • Movies, music, art
  • Objects or artifacts (e.g. clothes, jewelry, farming implements)
• Secondary Source


  • Piece of historical entity that is anchored in primary sources
  • Usually an assessment or a commentary of events, people, or institution of the past
  • Offer an analysis or a restatement of primary sources
• Kinds of Secondary Sources

  • Books and articles produced by historians
  • Pieces of art, literature, music, etc. created later to represent life in that time period
• Primary or Secondary?


  • A diary written by a soldier who fought in the war (Primary)
  • A biography of Jose Rizal written by American biographer Austin Craig (Secondary)
  • A TV documentary filmed by a reporter who experienced the onslaught of Typhoon Yolanda (Primary)
  • A newspaper article about the People Power Revolution written on February 25, 1986 (Primary)
  • A 2010 journal article about the Philippine Revolution against Spain with a formal writing style, bibliography at the end, and lots of analysis and interpretation (Secondary)
  • A book about the World War II where the author says things like "I was drafted at age 18..." (Primary)
• Historical Revisionism


  The reinterpretation of a historical account or narrative based on actual facts and authenticated evidence
• Historical Distortion


  When historical accounts or narratives are changed to suit "personal agenda". It involves disinformation and lies to change history