Definition of HISTORY:

• Louis Gottschalk- history came from the Greek word “iotopia” meaning learning.
• Greek Philosopher Aristotle- wasn’t able to distinguish its difference from the word
“scientia”.
• defined as a systematic account of a set of natural phenomena.
• Branch of knowledge dealing with past events having a continuous, systematic
narrative of past events as relating to a particular people, country, period, person
usually written as a chronological account.
• History repeats itself.
• For more understanding of the definition of history, kindly refer to this
link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7SsZSVlb5s

Why study History:

• Helps to understand people and societies.

• Contributes to moral knowledge.
• Provides identity.
• Essential for good citizenship.

Sources of History:

1. Primary Sources

- provides and contains direct or firsthand evidence about an event, object, person, or work
of art.

-provides compelling and direct evidence of human activity.

- things that were created or in use during the period which is being studied.

-these sources are actual records that have survived from the past.

Examples:

Autobiography Photograph

Eyewitness Accounts Videos

Diary Legal Documents

Fossils Ornaments

Relics Clothing

Letters Tools
 Memoirs Speeches

2. Secondary Sources

- created later or after the historical event which is being studied and provided by the
people who were not present on that event.

-describes, discuss, interpret, comment upon, analyze, evaluate, summarize, and process
primary source.

-usually created by historians and scholastic writers based on their interpretations of the
primary sources.

Examples:

Biography Movies

Encyclopedia News Reports

Textbooks News Articles

Thesis Transcriptions

Dissertations Almanacs

Interviews Dictionaries

Scholarly Journals

Authenticity of Documents:

The problem of forged documents is one of the greatest obstacles for historians. They need
to secure themselves and protect their reconstruction of historical events basing from
forged documents, they must be able to distinguish hoax from genuine documents.
Misleading documents are usually created because of the following reasons: a) to bolster a
false claim; b) to sale counterfeited documents; c) to promote political propaganda; d)
some documents were based on practical jokes.

In order to test the authenticity of a document:

• External Criticism

- identifying who composed the historical material was produced, and establishing the
material’s evidential value.
- applies experimental science to certify the authenticity of the material that holds the data
in which historical information will be based.

- entails such physical and technical test as dating of paper where a document is written on.

- involves knowledge of when certain things are possible or impossible to exist.

• Internal Criticism

- focuses on understanding the substance and message that the historical material wants to
convey by examining how the author framed the intent and meaning of a composed
material.

- includes looking at the apparent or possible motives of the person providing the data.

- indicates the accuracy and trustworthiness of the materials to which historical data will
be based.

Content and Contextual analysis of selected primary sources Guide Questions:

• What is the main idea of the document? (Content)

• Who was the author/creator? (Citation)
• What is the idea the author trying to convey? (Communication)
• What was happening when the document was written? (Context)
• What is your newly acquired knowledge? (Connection)
• How did it contribute to history? (Conclusion)