CRITICAL

EVALUATION
OF SOURCES
“IF YOU DON’T KNOW
HISTORY, THEN YOU
DON’T KNOW
ANYTHING. YOU ARE
A LEAF THAT
DOESN’T KNOW IT IS
PART OF A TREE.”
– MICHAEL CRICHTON
 1. First pay attention to when the source was created. Can
you determine if it was created within the time period
under study?
HOW DO YOU 2. Did the creator witness the event or participate in the
KNOW IF IT IS A event when it happened?
PRIMARY 3. Did you find this primary source at a reputable
information unit such as a library, museum or on the
SOURCE? website of a library, museum, educational institution, or
government organization?
EXTERNAL
CRITICISM

– REFERS TO THE
GENUINENESS OF
THE DOCUMENTS A
RESEARCHER USES
IN A HISTORICAL
STUDY
INTERNAL
CRITICISM

– REFERS TO THE
ACCURACY OF THE
CONTENTS OF A
DOCUMENT.
 1. HUMAN SOURCES MAY BE RELICS SUCH AS
FINGERPRINTS; OR NARRATIVES SUCH AS A
GENERAL STATEMENT OR LETTER.
PRINCIPLES
2. STRONG INDICATIONS OF THE ORIGINALITY
FOR OF THE SOURCE INCREASE ITS RELIABILITY.
DETERMINING
RELIABILITY

OLDEN-JORGENSEN (1998) AND THUREN

(1997) HAVE FORMULATED THE
FOLLOWING GENERAL PRINCIPLES IN
DETERMINING RELIABILITY
3. THE CLOSER A SOURCE IS TO THE EVENT WHICH IT
PURPORTS TO DESCRIBE; THE MORE ONE CAN TRUST
IT TO GIVE AN ACCURATE HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION
OF WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED.
4. AN EYEWITNESS IS MORE RELIABLE THAN TESTIMONY
AT SECOND HAND.
5. IF A NUMBER OF INDEPENDENT SOURCES CONTAIN
THE SAME MESSAGE, THE CREDIBILITY OF THE
MESSAGE IS STRONGLY INCREASED.
6. THE TENDENCY OF A SOURCE IS ITS MOTIVATION FOR
PROVIDING SOME KIND OF BIAS.
7. IT CAN BE DEMONSTRATED THAT THE WITNESS OR
SOURCE HAS NO DIRECT INTEREST IN CREATING BIAS
THEN THE CREDIBILITY IS INCREASED.
 1. IF THE SOURCES ALL AGREE ABOUT AN EVENT,
HISTORIANS CAN CONSIDER THE EVENT
PROVED.
2. HOWEVER, MAJORITY DOES NOT RULE; EVEN IF
CONTRADICTORY MOST SOURCES RELATE EVENTS IN ONE WAY,
SOURCES THAT VERSION WILL NOT PREVAIL UNLESS IT
PASSES THE TEST OF CRITICAL TEXTUAL
ANALYSIS.
3. THE SOURCE WHOSE ACCOUNT CAN BE
CONFIRMED BY REFERENCE TO OUTSIDE
SEVEN-STEP PROCEDURE FOR
SOURCE CRITICISM IN AUTHORITIES IN SOME OF ITS PARTS CAN BE
HISTORY BY BERNHEIM (1889) TRUSTED IN ITS ENTIRETY IF IT [IS IMPOSSIBLE
AND LANGLOIS & SEIGNOBOS
(1898) MIGHT BE HELPFUL: SIMILARLY TO CONFIRM THE ENTIRE TEXT.
3. WHEN TWO SOURCES DISAGREE ON A PARTICULAR
POINT, THE HISTORIAN WILL PREFER THE SOURCE WITH
MOST “AUTHORITY” – THAT IS THE SOURCE CREATED BY
THE EXPERT OR BY THE EYEWITNESS.
4. EYEWITNESSES ARE, IN GENERAL, TO BE PREFERRED
ESPECIALLY IN CIRCUMSTANCES WHERE THE ORDINARY
OBSERVER COULD HAVE ACCURATELY REPORTED WHAT
TRANSPIRED AND, MORE SPECIFICALLY, WHEN THEY
DEAL WITH FACTS KNOWN BY MOST CONTEMPORARIES.
5. IF TWO INDEPENDENTLY CREATED SOURCES AGREE ON A
MATTER, THE RELIABALITY OF EACH IS MEASURABLY
ENHANCED.
6. WHEN TWO SOURCES DISAGREE AND THERE IS NO OTHER
MEANS OF EVALUATION, THEN HISTORIANS TAKE THE
SOURCE WHICH SEEMS TO ACCORD BEST WITH COMMON
SENSE.
  GOALS OF CONTENT ANALYSIS:

1. WHICH DATA ARE ANALYZED?

CONTENT
2. HOW ARE THE DATA DEFINED?
ANALYSIS 3. FROM WHAT POPULATION ARE DATA DRAWN?
4. WHAT IS THE RELEVANT CONTEXT?
5. WHAT ARE THE BOUNDARIES OF THE
ANALYSIS?
6. WHAT IS TO BE MEASURED?
- IS A RESEARCH METHOD FOR
STUDYING DOCUMENTS AND
COMMUNICATION ARTIFACTS,
WHICH CAN BE TEXTS OF VARIOUS
FORMATS, PICTURES, AUDIO OR
VIDEO.
  HOW TO USE CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS:

1. WHAT DOES THE TEXT REVEAL ABOUT ITSELF AS

CONTEXTUAL A TEXT?
ANALYSIS 2. WHAT DOES THE TEXT TELL US ABOUT ITS
APPARENT INTENDED AUDIENCE(S)?
3. WHAT SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN THE AUTHOR’S
INTENTION?

- IS AN ANALYSIS OF A TEXT (IN WHATEVER

MEDIUM, INCLUDING MULTI-MEDIA) THAT HELPS
US TO ASSESS THAT TEXT WITHIN THE CONTEXT
OF ITS HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL SETTING, AND
ALSO IN TERMS OF ITS TEXTUALITY – OR THE
QUALITITES THAT CHARACTERIE THE TEXT AS A
TEXT.
HOW TO USE CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS:

4. WHAT IS THE OCCASION FOR THIS TEXT?

5. IS THE TEXT INTENDED AS SOME SORT OF CALL TO – OR FOR –
ACTION?
6. IS THE TEXT INTENDED RATHER AS SOME SORT OF CALL TO –
OR FOR – REFLECTION OR CONSIDERATION RATHER THAN
DIRECT ACTION?
7. CAN WE IDENTIFY ANY NON-TEXTUAL CIRCUMSTANCES THAT
AFFECTED THE CREATION AND RECEPTION OF THE TEXT?