history: working with evidence

• History


  The study of the past and the story of human activity
• Events that happened before you came into class are now part of history
• What historians are interested in about the lives of ordinary people

  • What were their homes like?
  • What food did they eat?
  • What jobs did they do?
  • What did they wear?
  • What games did they play?
• Historic period


  When people used writing
• Prehistoric period


  The time before writing was used
• We rely on archaeology for our evidence from the prehistoric period
• Historians


  Similar to police detectives, they try to piece together the story of what happened from the clues or evidence available
• Source


  A clue about what life was like in the past
• Sometimes the evidence is very good and so the story is accurate, sometimes there are few sources and so our knowledge of an event remains poor
• Types of sources


  • Written document
  • Photograph
  • Object from the past
• Primary sources


  Come directly from the time of the event being studied
• Secondary sources


  Come from a later date
• What historians want to examine

  • Why an event happened (the cause)
  • What happened (the course)
  • The effects of the event (the consequences)
• How historians find sources of information

  1. Visit a place where written sources are stored (archives, libraries, museums)

  2. Interview participants or witnesses to the event

  3. Read books written by other historians

  4. Research the topic using the Internet
• Factors to determine how useful a source is

  • Bias
  • Viewpoint
  • Accuracy
  • Exaggeration
  • Propaganda
• Bias: Is the source one-sided? Does it favour one side's version of events over another's? Sometimes authors or interviewees deliberately leave out facts or details that would not support their view of the event
• Viewpoint: Does the source contain the personal opinions of the author? If the source gives no views about the event it is said to be objective. Historians have to be able to separate fact from opinion, especially when reading diaries, letters, speeches and newspapers
• Accuracy: Some sources supply incorrect information. That is why historians use more than one source. For example, many history sites on the Internet contain errors and falsehoods
• Exaggeration: This can be a major problem, especially with eyewitness accounts. Is the person being interviewed overstating his or her role in an event? The number of people claimed to have been involved in an event also has to be checked carefully as these figures are often inflated
• Propaganda: Does the source make one side look good and another look bad? Propaganda is widely used during war
• Timelines


  • Show the order of events in a person's life
• Historical periods


  • The Middle Ages (AD 500-1500)
  • Early Modern Period (1500-1800)
  • Late Modern Period (after 1800)