1 / 12

Think Like a Historian

Think Like a Historian. World Regional Studies. What is a historian?. A historian is a detective They gather various sources (usually primary) and ask questions about them They look at those sources and try to determine what happened Must have multiple sources to determine what happened.

karsen
Download Presentation

Think Like a Historian

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Think Like a Historian World Regional Studies

  2. What is a historian? • A historian is a detective • They gather various sources (usually primary) and ask questions about them • They look at those sources and try to determine what happened • Must have multiple sources to determine what happened

  3. How do they do it? • Five steps to thinking like a historian • First: Sourcing • Second: Contextualization • Third: Close reading/viewing • Fourth: Corroboration • Five: Rinse and Repeat

  4. Step 1: Sourcing • Questions to answer: • Who created it? • Why was it created? • When was it created? • Is the source believable? Why or why not? • This step gives us insight into the creator

  5. Step 2: Contextualization • Questions to answer: • What was happening at the time of creation? • What was it like to be alive at this time? • What things were different back then? • What things were the same back then? • This step puts the document in a bigger “frame”

  6. Step 3: Close Reading/Viewing • Questions to Answer: • What claims does the author make? • How does this document make me feel? • What words/phrases does the author use to convince me that he/she is right? • What information is left out? • This step allows us to evaluate the document

  7. Step 4: Corroboration • Questions to answer: • What do other pieces of evidence say? • Am I finding different versions of the story? • What pieces of evidence are most believable? • This step allows us to figure out what is “true”

  8. Historians think like a detective and write like a journalist!

  9. What happened on 9/11? • You will work with a group and analyze one of six firsthand accounts of 9/11 • You will use the Reading Like a Historian Handout to answer the guiding questions and determine what happened that day • We will discuss the results and corroborate the material as a group after each group has shared their information

More Related