Chapter 1

• History- study of the human past, encompassing everything from the development of early civilizations to modern events.
• Importance of studying history:

  • Understanding root causes

  • Fosters critical thinking skills

  • Cultural awareness
• Different approaches to studying history:

  • quantitative and qualitative analysis

  • oral histories

  • archeological methods
• Historical methods- the process of critically examining and analyzing the records and survivals of the past
• Primary sources - documents, physical objects, and oral/video accounts made by an individual or group.
• Secondary sources- materials made by people long after the events being described had taken place.
• Historiography methods- the imaginative reconstruction of the past from the data derived by that process.
• Traditional method - from libraries and archives
• Modern method- archeology and geography
• Narrative or literatures- chronicles or tracts in narrative form or written.
• Diplomatic sources - document/record of an existing legal situation and it is considered as the purest, or the "best" source.
• Social documents - information pertaining to economic, social, political, or judicial significance.
• Written Sources of History:

  • Narrative or literature

  • Diplomatic sources

  • Social documents
• Non-written Sources of History:

  • Material evidence

  • Oral evidence
• Material evidence - also known as "archeological evidence" and it is one of the most important unwritten evidences.
• Oral evidence  - word of mouth or spoken.
• Where to find sources?

  • listen to stories from the elderly

  • visit museums

  • ask at your local library

  • watch documentaries

  • look up government data
• Historical Criticism Methodologies:

  • source criticism

  • form criticism

  • redaction criticism

  • tradition criticism

  • canonical criticism
• Types of Historical Criticism  :

  • external criticisms

  • internal criticisms
• External criticisms - examination of the authenticity of evidence
• Internal criticisms- examination of truthfulness

  -determines the historicity of the facts contained in the documents.
• Textual criticism

  • Refers to the restorative of the texts to make them as close to the original form as possible.
  • To reconstruct the wording of an original document whose manuscripts no longer existed.
  • Thorough evaluation of a text.
• Isographies- dictionaries of biography giving examples of handwriting
• Paleography - study of ancient writing
• Anachronism - literary device can be used to add humor, create suspense, and make a point about present.