History

History

How Historians Gather and Interpret Information

We study world history because what happened to

a society affects what will happen today and in the future.

History is more than just studying what happened in the past.

When you study a historical event, you

 also study a society’s culture, religion, politics,

and economics.

Multiple Choice

Why do we study world history?

• to have experience of it

• what happened to

  a society affects what will happen today and in the future.

Historians look for causes and effects that help to explain how and why events happened. They try to see the past through the eyes of the people who lived it. When they study the past, historians ask themselves questions. The answers to the questions help historians draw conclusions about the past. For example, historians ask questions such as how societies are similar and different. They also ask how leaders governed societies.

Multiple Choice

What do Historians look for that help to explain how and why events happened.

• history

• things

• causes and effects

Historian Tools

What methods do historians use to help them answer questions about what happened in the past?

Historians use tools to help them do their job. Some of these tools are primary sources. A primary source is something written or created by a person who saw a historical event. Letters, diaries, speeches, and photographs are examples of primary sources.

Multiple Choice

What is a primary source?

• A primary source is something written or created by a person who did not saw a historical event.

• A primary source is something written or created by a person who saw a historical event.

Artifacts such as tools are also primary sources. Other tools that historians use are secondary sources. They are written after a historical event by people who did not witness the event. Books and paintings that are based on primary sources and appear after an event are examples of secondary sources. Yet another tool that historians use is oral history. This is made up of all the unwritten verbal accounts of events. Historians depend on oral history when studying cultures that have no written records. Oral histories include the stories, customs, and songs that people in a culture have passed down from generation to generation.

Multiple Choice

Oral history is

• made up of all the written accounts of events.

• made up of all the unwritten verbal accounts of events.

Multiple Choice

Secondary sources

• are written after a historical event by people who witness the event.

• are written after a historical event by people who did not witness the event.