Historian’s Handbook

1. Historian’s Handbook Historian’s Handbook The answers

2. Fact Historian’s Handbook Exact or specific details or data that have happened in the past; can be proven as true In 1922, 233,315 people from Britain came to the Canadian prairies.

3. Inference Historian’s Handbook Conclusions drawn from facts, data, information or sources; predictions or conclusion drawn from facts Example: The population of the prairies more than doubled between 1901-1911. This supports the view that the government immigration plan was successful.

4. Bias (n): to be biased Historian’s Handbook To be partial to one side, making it impossible to judge fairly, based on beliefs, values Canada is the perfect place to live.

5. Presentism Historian’s Handbook Applying our own modern experiences and judgements onto the actions of the past. People should have paid more attention to the news and they should have stopped Hitler sooner.

6. Primary Evidence Historian’s Handbook comes from the time of the eventfirst hand account A diary, a letter, on the spot account, a newspaper interview, sheet music artefacts

7. But… sometime pictures lie Historian’s Handbook Ulysses S. Grant at City Point

8. Historian’s Handbook

9. Secondary Evidence Historian’s Handbook produced after the events, but based on primary evidence, a second hand account Books, journals, magazine articles, movies

10. Tertiary Sources • A tertiary source consists of information which is a distillation and collection of primary and secondary sources. • Use the tertiary sources during your initial stages of research to: • Familiarize yourself with your topic • Gain a broad overview • Guide you to primary and secondary sources

11. Tertiary Sources Examples: NEVER CITE A TERTIARY SOURCE!!!!! Where does Wikipedia fit in?

12. Wikipediais a Tertiary Source The following is taken directly from Wikipedia: Wikipedia can be a great tool for learning information. However, as with all sources, not everything in Wikipedia is accurate, comprehensive, or unbiased. Many of the general rules of thumb for conducting research apply to Wikipedia, including: • Always be wary of any one single source (in any medium–web, print, television or radio), or of multiple works that derive from a single source • Where articles have references to external sources (whether online or not) read the references and check whether they really do support what the article says • In all academic institutions, Wikipedia, along with most encyclopedias, is unacceptable as a major source for a research paper. Other encyclopedias, such as Britannica, have notable authors working for them and may be cited as a secondary source in most cases. For example, Cornell University has a guide on how to cite encyclopedias.

13. Reliability Historian’s Handbook Credible, accuracy, trustworthy, consistency A reliable source can be checked and provides full details about the person responsible and the source of the information eg. A WWI website created by the Canadian government

14. Chronology Historian’s Handbook A timeline of events from the oldest to the most recent WWI occurred before WWII

15. Cause and Consequence Historian’s Handbook For every event or effect an event has on us there are background causes which help us understand why the event occurred and why it is important WWI: one of the causes of WWI was competition between countries for more land this led to numerous conflicts between countries

16. Moral Dimension Historian’s Handbook Implicit judgements: not expressed openly but evident in behaviour, thought or action Explicit judgements: openly stated

17. Significance (1) Historian’s Handbook An event is significant when it results in change such that the event/person/development had deep consequences for many people, over a long period of time The development of the nuclear bomb influenced the Cold War and gave us electricity generated by nuclear power.

18. Significance (2) Historian’s Handbook revealing: the event/person/development sheds light on enduring or emerging issues (problems) in history (the problem might still exist) The Holocaust and Residential Schools revealed the consequences of racist government policies.

19. Significance (3) Historian’s Handbook resonant or relevant: it was important at some stage in history within the collective memory of a group or groups. The 200th –year anniversary of the War of 1812 gave Prime Minister Harper a reason to celebrate Canadian History.