Thinking Like a Historian Vocabulary

Sources of information that provide first-hand accounts of the events, practices, or conditions you are researching. In general, these are documents that were created by the witnesses or first recorders of these events at about the time they occurred, and include diaries, letters, reports, photographs, creative works, financial records, memos, and newspaper articles (to name just a few types).

• Primary Source

• Secondary Source

• Thirdary Source

• Unreliable Source

Examples of ___________ sources:

Bibliographies

Biographical works

Reference books, including dictionaries, encyclopedias, and atlases

Articles from magazines, journals, and newspapers after the event

Literature reviews and review articles (e.g., book reviews)

History books and other popular or scholarly books

Works of criticism and interpretation

Textbooks

• Secondary Source

• Primary Source

• Hearsay Source

• Best Source

_______________ sources describe, discuss, interpret, comment upon, analyze, evaluate, summarize, and process primary sources. They are generally one or more steps removed from the event or time period and are written or produced after the fact with the benefit of hindsight.

• Secondary

• Primary

Examples of ________ sources:

Autobiographies and memoirs Diaries, personal letters, and correspondence

Interviews, surveys, and fieldwork

Internet communications on email, blogs, listservs, and newsgroups

Photographs, drawings, and posters

Works of art and literature

Books, magazine and newspaper articles and ads published at the time

• Secondary

• Primary

• Thirdary

• Original

The events, or the climate of opinion, that surround the issue at hand.

What was happening at the time of the event or the decision that sheds some light on it? In what type of society did the event occur? An urban one? A rich one? An educated one? An unstable one?

• Corroboration

• Point of View

• Historical Context

• Interpretation

The act of considering details across multiple sources to determine points of agreement and disagreement. Things you would ask would be:

• What do other documents say?

• Do the documents agree? If not, why?

• What are other possible documents?

• What documents are most reliable?

• corroboration

• interpretation

• point of view

• close reading

Close reading:

• an opinion or perspective presented by the author of a document, influenced by the author’s personal circumstances

• examining the “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” and “why” of a document

• Critically examining significant details and language patterns of a text in order to develop a deep understanding of the author’s claims or point of view

• the circumstances of the time in which an event occurred or in which an author lived that may have influenced his/her point of view

Frame of reference:

• examining the “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” and “why” of a document

• the circumstances of the time in which an event occurred or in which an author lived that may have influenced his/her point of view

• Critically examining significant details and language patterns of a text in order to develop a deep understanding of the author’s claims or point of view

• the personal attributes and life experiences that may influence your point of view or that of an author of a historical document

An opinion or perspective presented by the author of a document, influenced by the author’s personal circumstances.

• Primary Source

• Point of View

• Historical Context

• Interpretation

Often times, historians will come to different conclusions or having different ways of thinking about certain topics due to the way they _______________ the historical evidence.

• interpret

• perspective

• sequence

• source