Importance of history in the development of a national identity; Difference between external

and internal criticism; Importance of external and internal criticism in historical research

1. History has a massive impact in the aspect of national identity development. History may either
suggest or dictate whether a nation will drift away from the actions and decisions of its ancestors
or will continue to do what has been done in the past. For example, the clothings of our ancestors
does not necessarily cover most parts of their body, but as time progressed, Filipinos became more
conscious when it comes to wearing revealing attires thus becoming a contributing factor to the
identity of Filipinos as a conservative nation.

2. External criticism examines the authenticity of the document through its physical aspects. On
the other hand, internal criticism is a higher form of criticism which is mainly concerned with the
document’s credibility and context.

3. External and internal criticism has their own respective significance in historical research. They
both assure the reliability of sources to be used in conducting historical research. External criticism
can enhance the legitimacy of a research because of prominent features such as consistency in the
sequence of events in relation to the language used in a text. Meanwhile, internal criticism
contributes to the actual context of the study because it helps readers to fully grasp what the author
of the study wants to convey.