The Art of Historical Inquiry

1
The Art of Historical Inquiry
Inquiry A close examination of something, in
order to search for information or truth.

• Adapted from Nicole Gilbertson World History
  Project UCI

2
By the end of this lesson

• You will know what a source is.
• You will know the difference between a primary
  and a secondary source.
• You will understand how a historian uses a source
  to gain information. 
• You will have some idea about how to analyze a
  source.
• You will be able to see the information that can
  be gained from a picture source

3
What are Historical Sources?

• An historical source is something that tells us
  about History. It is evidence.
• It may be a document, a picture, a sound
  recording, a book, a film, a television program,
  or an object.
• Can someone give me an example of a type of
  document?
• 2 main types of historical sources
• Primary Sources and Secondary Sources
• Primary source something that originates from
  the past
• Secondary source something that has been
  written (or made) recently, about the past
• Examples

4
Applying your knowledge

• Go to http//historyonthenet.com/Lessons/sources/
  primarysecondary.htm
• Complete the online lessons
• If you have ANY questions raise your hand and I
  will come around to assist you!

5
What have we learned?

• Primary Source Analysis
• How do historians approach a primary source?
• What questions do they ask the primary source?

Whats great is that using primary sources
allows us not just to read about history,
but to read history itself. From Pages in
History (Smith)
6
Study the source I have passed out to you and
your partner
We call these the 6 Cs. If we get in the habit
of asking ourselves these 6 questions when
looking at historical sources we will begin to
THINK like Historians!

• CONTENT
• Describe what you see in detail to each other
• CITATION
• Who created the text?
• When was the text created?
• CONTEXT
• What was going on in the world when the text was
  created?
• CONNECTIONS
• Can the source be linked to other things you
  already know or have learned about?
• COMMUNICATION
• How does the source express point-of-view?
• Circle or highlight words or images that provide
  EVIDENCE of emotion or persuasion
• CONCLUSION
• How does this source contribute to our
  understanding of history?