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Historical Research and Critical Thinking

Historical Research and Critical Thinking. How to Think About and Analyze Primary Sources. Archives vs. Libraries. Libraries document a subject Libraries maintain single, published items Patrons do not necessarily require the assistance of a librarian.

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Historical Research and Critical Thinking

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  1. Historical Research and Critical Thinking How to Think About and Analyze Primary Sources

  2. Archives vs. Libraries • Libraries document a subject • Libraries maintain single, published items • Patrons do not necessarily require the assistance of a librarian

  3. “It is no easy matter to tell the truth, pure and simple, about past events; for historical truths are never pure, and rarely simple.” -David Hackett Fischer[i] [i] David Hackett Fischer, Historians’ Fallacies: Toward a Logic of Historical Thought, Harper & Row, New York, 1970, p. 40.

  4. Types of Sources • Primary Source—a source created directly by a person who witnessed the event • Secondary Source—a source created by someone who did not witness the event firsthand and which may have been created long after the original event

  5. Formats of Primary Sources

  6. Primary Sources • Personal Records • Social Records • Legal Records

  7. What Qualifies as a Primary Source? • Original records (vital records, government records, etc.) • Correspondence • Journal/diary entries of a witness • Interview/oral history • Newspaper articles (written by someone who witnessed the event) • Photographs • Audio/video recordings of the event • Contemporary (to the event) published works (books, etc.)

  8. What is not a Primary Source? • Textbooks or other works written by a historian • Accounts written long after the event • Secondary sources can still be important for background information about the topic being researched!

  9. What Is Historical Research? • Solving an historical problem or determining historical truth • A Process of analysis and interpretation of historical evidence

  10. Critical Thinking • Is the source reliable? • Does the creator of the source have any bias towards the event they are recording? • Would the creator have had a motive for misrepresenting the facts? • Consider the creator of the record—were they in a position to know enough information to write about their topic? • Is the author making any assumptions without evidence to support his claims? Are there any unwarranted claims (claims without enough evidence)? • Are there any inconsistencies or fallacies in the source’s logic? • Does the source make a strong argument?

  11. Critical Thinking and Historical Research • External Criticism • Internal Criticism

  12. External Criticism • Where? • When? • Why? • Whom?

  13. Internal Criticism • What is the real and literal meaning of the document? • Can you detect any bias or prejudice that calls into question the author’s argument? • Can you ascertain the truth of the author’s conclusions?

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