Ch. 1 Assessment: Discovering Our Past: A History of the World

How does the Gregorian calendar label events the birth of Jesus?

• B.C.E.

• C.E.

• A.D.

• B.C.

An anthropologist is a historian who studies

• fossils found in sea beds.

• ancient plant life.

• animal behavior.

• the history of human culture.

A historian looks for firsthand evidence about an event in which type of resource?

• a secondary source

• a primary source

• the internet

• an online scholarly journal

A work of scholarly history can be identified by

• its lively writing style.

• its biased point of view.

• its accuracy and lack of bias.

• its relevance to current events.

If you were researching data on the population of India, which online source would most likely contain reliable information?

• www.tourism-india.com

• www.cia.gov/india

• www.beautiful-people-of-india.org

• www.population.com

What is one way to avoid plagiarism?

• Always give credit to someone else for their ideas.

• Never use the Internet for research.

• Read a source three times.

• Always use the library for research.

Historian William H. McNeill wrote an essay explaining why people should study history.

"|We| can only know ourselves by knowing how we resemble and how we differ from others. Acquaintance |familiarity| with the human past is the only way to such self knowledge...

In |studying history|, eternal and unchanging truth does not emerge. Only inspired, informed guesses about what mattered and how things changed through time... Not very good, perhaps; simply the best we have in the unending effort to understand ourselves and others...."

-Excerpt from "Why Study History?" by William H. McNeill

According to McNeill, what do people gain from the study of history?

• They discover absolute truth.

• They discover that the past was not very good.

• They learn more about themselves.

• They learn to give their best effort in what they do.

With which statement would McNeill agree?

• Studying history is a waste of time.

• We have much to learn from history.

• History has no influence on the present time.

• We should look to history for the answers to all of our questions.