Lesson 1 

History: Introduction and Historical Sources 

  
A. ​Definition 
History refers to the study and interpretation by a historian on the data 
and other sources of the past human activity, people, societies and 
civilizations leading to the present day. There are three important concepts 
in the definition. First history as we all know is based on past events. Second 
it is interpreted by someone usually by historians. They gather, discard and 
interpret the sources that they encounter. And finally and the most 
important history relies on data and documents which historians call as 
historical sources. 
 
B. ​History’s Subject Matter. 
Like other social science the subject matter of history is the life of people 
and humanity. But history has always been known as the study of the past. 
While this definition of history is not wrong, it is incomplete. Etymologically, 
the word history came from the Greek word Historia which means inquiry. 
Clearly the word Historia does not mean past events. It denotes asking 
questions or investigation of the past done by a person trained to do so or 
by persons who are interested in the human past. We can say that historical 
accounts must be based on all available relevant evidence. Therefore a 
version of the past that cannot be supported by the evidence is worthless. 
 
C. ​History and the Historian 
Historian is an expert or student of history, especially that of a particular 
period, geographical region or social phenomenon. There are many duties of 
a historian. These historians seek not only historical evidence and facts but 
also to interpret these facts. He also gives meaning to these facts and 
organizes them chronologically. A person who must be able to recognize the 
evidence, decide how useful it is and come to a conclusion based on what he 
has found out. The historian therefore is responsible for reconstructing the 
past. According to Gottschalk, historians are many times removed from the 
events under investigation. He added that only a part of what was observed 
in the past was remembered by those who observed it, only a part of what 
was remembered was recorded; only a part of what was recorded has 
survived, only a part of what was survive has come to the historian attention 
Moreover only a part of what is credible has been grasped, and only a part 
of what has been grasped can expounded or narrated by the historian. 
 
 
Some authors define history as a study of historical perspective. In 
reconstructing the past, a historian can be subjective; after all he is human, 
fallible and capable error. People’s memories are filled with bias, self 
righteousness, pride, vanity, spinning, obstruction and outright lies. Each has 
his own frame of reference or a set of interlocking values, loyalties 
assumptions, interest and principle of action. The historian is influenced by 
his own environment, ideology, education and influence. His interpretation 
of the historical fact is affected by his context and circumstances. It’s like 
the Indian parable of an elephant and the blind men, historians have 
different historical perspectives 
 
Because certain events happened so long ago and because sometimes the 
evidence is incomplete, historians have different approaches and views 
about what happened in the past. This is the subjective nature of history, 
one historian claims an event happened a certain way, while another 
disagrees completely. 
 
Historiography is the study of how history was written, by whom and why it 
was recorded as such. It is concerned with how historians have presented 
history. Interpretation about the past can be objective or true as long as 
they are free of inherent contradictions, are not contrary to the laws of 
nature and are based on actual remains from the time period referred to. 
One big advantage of historiography is that the liars of history are usually 
quite transparent. Another way for a historian to be objective is to follow 
the historical method. It is the core protocols historians’ use for handling 
sources. An agreed ground rules for researching and writing academic 
research or professional history. An objective historian must verify sources, 
to date them, locate the place of origin and identify their intended 
functions. It is important for a historian to base their accounts on source 
materials. 
 
D.​ Sources of History 
Historical sources are tangible remains of the past. It is an object from the 
past or testimony concerning the past on which historians depend in order 
to create their own depiction of the past. There are three kinds of sources 
namely: primary, secondary, and tertiary sources. 
 
Primary Sources 
A primary source is a testimony of an individual who was a participant in or 
a direct witness to the event that is being described. It is a document or 
physical object which was written or created during the time under a study. 
Those sources were present during an experience or time period and offer 
an inside view of a particular event. 
 
Primary sources are characterized by their content, regardless of whether 
they are available in original format, in microfilm, in digital format or in 
published format. There are five main categories of primary sources. It 
includes written sources, numerical records, oral statements, relics, and 
images. The most common are written sources or documents. They are 
written or printed materials that have been produced in one form or 
another sometime in the past. They may be published materials such as 
travelogue, transcription of speech, autobiographies, journals or newspapers 
(La Solidaridad). They can be also in manuscript form or any handwritten or 
type record that has not been printed. Examples of these are archival 
materials, memoirs, diary, personal letter or correspondence. The next 
category is the numerical records which include any type of numerical data 
in printed or handwritten form. The third category is oral statements which 
include any form of statement made orally by an eyewitness. It may be 
through video recordings, audio recordings, or transcription. Another 
category is the relics or any objects whose physical or visual characteristics 
can provide some information about the past. These include artifacts, ruins 
and fossils. The last category of primary sources is the images. It includes 
photographs, posters, paintings, drawing cartoons and maps. 
 
Secondary Sources 
A secondary source interprets and analyzes primary sources. These sources 
are one or more steps removed from the event. It is prepared by an 
individual who was not a direct witness to an event, but not who obtained 
his or her description of the event from someone else. Secondary sources 
may have pictures, votes or graphics of primary sources in them. Some types 
of secondary sources are history textbook, printed materials (serials or 
periodicals which interpret previews research), biographies, nonfiction text 
such as newspaper, magazine, journals, works of criticism and interpretation. 
 
Tertiary Source 
The last kind of sources is the tertiary source. It provides third hand 
information by reporting ideas and details from secondary sources. An 
eyewitness is more reliable than testimony at second hand, which is more 
reliable than hearsay or tertiary sources. This does not mean that tertiary 
sources have no value, merely that they include potential for an additional 
layer of bias. Some examples of this kind of source are encyclopedia, 
almanac, Wikipedia, YouTube, dictionaries, message boards, social media 
sites and other search sites. 
 
 
 
 

Lesson 2 
Historical Criticism 
A.​ Definition 
It is also known as the historical-critical method, Historical criticism is a 
branch of criticism that investigates the origin of text or source in order to 
understand the word behind the text. The primary goal of historical criticism 
is to discover the text primitive or original historical context and its literal 
sense. The secondary goal seeks to establish a reconstruction of the 
historical situation of the author and recipients of the text. Moreover, in 
order for the source to be used as evidence in history, basic matters about 
its form must be settled. These are two types of historical criticism namely: 
external criticism (investigates the documents form) and internal criticism 
(investigates the content of the documents). 
 
B. ​What is the goal of Historical Criticism? 
Historical criticism seeks greater understanding of texts by analyzing the 
historical and social contexts in which they developed. The goal of historical 
criticism, traditionally, has been to try to understand the text’s meaning in 
its original context and to answer questions about the text, such as: Who 
wrote it? When was it written? What else, what happened at the time of its 
writing? How did it come to be in the form we have it today? What did it 
mean to the people who first read or heard it? 
 
C. ​External Criticism 
This type of criticism looks for the obvious sign of forgery or mis- 
representation. This type of criticism tests the authenticity of the sources. It 
is interested in the writing styles of the eyewitness and his ignorance of the 
facts. The historian also analyzes the original manuscript; its integrity, 
localization and the date it was written. To ascertain if a particular data is 
fabricated, forge, fake, corrupted or a hoax, that source must undergo 
the test of authenticity. Since external criticism is concerned with the explicit 
sign of misrepresentation, it is the first test the historian employs to 
ascertain sources validity. 
 
D. ​Test of Authenticity 
The first step to test a source is to determine the date of the document to 
see whether it is anachronistic. Anachronism means out of time or order, 
something that could not have been there at that particular time. It could 
be a person, thing or idea placed in a wrong time. Being able to spot 
anachronism is important because it helps us test the reliability of a source. 
If a source is unreliable then we probably should not use it. 
 
The second step is to determine the author’s handwriting, signature or seal. 
We can compare the handwriting of a particular author to his other 
writings. Obvious signs of forgery include patch writing, hesitation as 
revealed by ink blobs, pauses in the writing, tremor causing poor line quality 
and erasures. But some people are highly skilled in imitating others' 
handwriting. The act of writing however a skill is learned through repetition 
until it becomes a habit. Thus, there is natural variation in everyone's 
handwriting. In addition, no one can duplicate all of the intricate 
subconscious writing 
habits of another in an extended writing sample. 
 
The third test in determining the authenticity of a source is by looking for 
the anachronistic style. In this test we will examine idiomatic expression or 
the orthography used in the documents. An idiom is an expression, word or 
phrase that has a figurative meaning conventionally understood by native 
speakers. When we say ‘break a leg’ we all know that it means good luck. 
Orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language. It includes 
norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis and 
punctuation. 
 
 
The fourth test is the anachronistic reference to events. For example if the 
event cited in the document is prior to the actual event, then the document 
must be forged or fake.  
 
The fifth test of authenticity is the provenance or custody of the document. 
Provenance is the place of origin of earliest known history of documents. It 
traces the roots of any source. 
 
The other two tests of authenticity are the semantics and hermeneutics. 
Semantics is the linguistic study of meaning. In this test semantics determine 
the meaning of the text and words of the source. We may ask: is the 
meaning of the statements different from its literal meaning? Hermeneutics 
on the other hand is theory and methodology of interpretation. 
Hermeneutics is more than interpretation or method used when immediate 
comprehension fails. In historical criticism we determine ambiguities which 
are a word or expression that can be understood in two or more possible 
ways. Historians may look also if the statement is meant to be ironic (i.e. 
mean other than what it says). 
 
E. ​Internal Criticism 
This type of criticism looks for deeper or more intense study of sources. 
Usually historians first apply external criticism before undergoing the test of 
credibility because of internal criticisms' implicit character. It is important 
that the document must be verisimilar or as close as what really happened 
from a critical examination of best available resources. It refers to the 
accuracy of the content of a document. Internal criticism has to do with 
what the document says. It investigates the content or substance of a 
document and the author’s point of view. This type of criticism tests the 
credibility of the source. 
 
F. ​Test of Credibility 
The first step is the identification of the author. It determines if the witness 
is reliable or if he is consistent by comparing his other works. In these steps 
historians also examine the mental processes of the witness, if he is capable 
of telling the truth, or if he is mentally challenged. Finally we will look for his 
personal attitudes, if he is telling something beyond what he saw or 
bragging about it. Many historians use some kind of rubric to test the 
credibility of the author. 
 
The second step in testing the credibility of the eyewitness is to determine 
the approximate date. 
 
The third step in testing the credibility of the source is its ability to tell the 
truth. Historians examine how near an eyewitness is to the event. The closer 
a source is to the event which it purports to describe, the more one can trust 
it to give an accurate historical description of what actually happened. 
Historians also look for the competence of the eyewitness. Basically they 
look for the background of the author like education, health, age or social 
status. The last test for this step is the degree of the attention of the 
eyewitness. Whether the sources witness the event only partly or if he 
witnesses the event from the start to finish. 
 
The fourth step is the willingness to tell the truth. If the eyewitness is 
coerced, forced or somebody threatens him to tell something then his 
account is not valid. If the eyewitness wants to hide something for personal 
reasons.  
 
The last step is to look for corroboration. This particular step rests upon the 
independent testimony of two or more reliable sources. The words 
independent testimony must be emphasized 
 
 
 
 
 
 
HISTORICAL RESEARCH 
- It “comprises the techniques and guidelines by which historians use 
primary sources and other evidence, including the evidence of 
archeology, to research and then to write histories in the form of 
accounts of the past.” (Historical Method Wikipedia, 2017) 
 
Key, 1997 
The historical approach “is employed by researchers who are interested in 
reporting events and/or conditions that occurred in the past. An attempt is 
made to establish facts in order to arrive at conclusions concerning past 
events or predict future events.”  
 
Clinfowinki, 2011 
Historical research is a qualitative technique. It studies the meaning of past 
events in an attempt to interpret the facts and explain the cause of events , 
and their effect in the present events.  
 
Koppa, 2013 
Historical research enables you to explore and explain the meanings, phases 
and characteristics of a phenomenon or process at a particular point of time 
in the past. We differentiate historical research as a research strategy from 
the research of history, which refers to research in the discipline of history.  
 
Roy, 2017 
It is a procedure supplementary to observation in which the researcher seeks 
to test the authenticity of reports or observations made by others.  
 
Examples of Historical Research  
● From chalkboard to Whiteboard: A Historical Study of Teaching 
Instruction 
● A Study of the Evolution of Print Journalism in the Philippines 
through Study of Collections of Newspapers (BSPS, 2010) 
● A Study of the Effects of the Historical Decisions of the Philippines 
Supreme Court on Philppine Prison.  
 
Purposes of Historical Research 
T- ​to uncover the unknown 
​A​- aid people learn from past failures and successes  
​R​- research insights or conclusions about past persons or occurrences 
​G​- generates understanding of the culture where we belong in 
 ​ ​- examine events of the past to understand the present and anticipate 
E
potential future effects.  
​T​- teach us to reinterpret prior historical works by revising existing 
understanding and replacing them with new.  
 
1. The unique characteristics of historical research is that it focuses 
exclusively on the past.  
2. It is not a mere accumulation of facts and data, even portrayal of 
past events.  
3. It involves the process of collecting and reading the research 
material collected and writing the manuscript from the data 
collected. 
4. It deals with the discovery of data that already exists. 
5. It is analytical in ways that it is being interconnected to logical 
induction. 
6. It is a variety of foci such as issues, events, movements and 
concepts. 
 
Advantages 
1. It permits the investigation of topics. It is the only method that can 
study the evidence from the past. 
2. It is well suited for trend analysis. 
3. It is not physically involved in the situation under study. 
4. No danger of experimenter-subject interaction. 
5. Documents are located by the researcher, data is gathered and 
conclusions are drawn out of sight.  
 
Disadvantages 
1. A disadvantage is that controlling for many threats to internal 
validity is not possible in historical research. 
2. Researchers cannot control threats for internal validity. 
3. Limitations are imposed.  
4. Researchers cannot ensure representation of the sample. 
5. There is bias in interpreting sources.  
6. Interpreting sources is very time consuming. 
7. Availability of sources may be a problem.  
8. There is lack of control over external variables. 
 
Steps in Historical Research  
1. Identify a topic /subject and define the problem of hypothesis. 
2. Search for sources of data and other relevant source materials. 
3. Summarizing and evaluating the sources the researcher is able to 
locate. 
 4. Analyze, synthesize and interpret the evidence obtained and then 
draw conclusions about the problem or hypothesis generated.  
LINEAR VIEW OF HISTORY 
 
● It implies acceptance of subscription to linear time. It views that 
history is progressive, moving forward and not having a cyclical 
return. 
 
● Most often revolved around religion and people that chose this 
view often adopted as God's view. 
 
● It consists of notions of fate. There is a plan for everyone and each 
individual plan is propelled towards an end. 
 
Augustine 
● He saw history as the unfolding plan of God, a process that would 
end in the "Final Judgement". 
● CIVITAS DEI (THE CITY OF GOD) 
● 3 Pagan Ideas 
● Blind Fate 
● Cyclical View of History 
● Religious Dualism 
 
Voltaire 
● He views history as being linear, but in a more secular way. He 
envisioned four great ages of man culminating in the scientific 
enlightenment of Newton. 
 
Marxist 
● They see history as a series of class struggles that inevitably ends 
in a worker's revolution. 
 
● Marx argued that class struggles are caused by revolutionary 
transitions from one mode of production to the next -- slavery to 
feudalism to capitalism and communism will be the last stage in 
social evolution. 
 
H.G. Wells 
 
● Described history as a race between education and disaster, either 
as a world cataclysm or a world state. 
 
 
THEORIES OF HISTORY 
 
A. Cyclical View of History  
- It is considered as the histories of the Greeks. 
- The Greeks thought that events recurred on a regular basis. 
 
Herodotus (484-424 BCE) 
➢ Herodutus work Histories, is the story of men and states as recurring 
cycles. 
 
Thucydides (460-404 BC) 
➢ He envisioned time as recurring in a cyclical fashion, a process which 
men were unable to perform. 
 
Petrach (1304-1374) 
➢ He revived the cyclical concept of history in the fourteenth century. He 
differed slightly from the Greeks in suggesting the basis of history was the 
actions of people rather than the whims of Gods. 
 
Machiavelli (1469-1527)  
➢ He saw the history as being cyclical and suggested that history could be 
seen as a casebook of political strategy. 
 
Arnold Toynbee(1884-1975) and Oswald Spengler (1880-1936) 
Based on their work on the premise that history is cyclical: civilizations rise 
and fall, each one rising to a greater level. 
 
B. Linear View of History  
- It implies the acceptance or subscription to a linear time. 
- It views that history is progressive, moving forward and not having a 
cyclical turn.  
 
Augustine ( 350-430 BCE) 
➢ He saw history as being unfolding of the plan of God, a process that 
would end in Final Judgement. 
 
Voltaire (1694-1788) 
➢ He saw history as being linear, but more secular. He envisioned 
four great stages of man culminating in the scientific enlightenment of 
Newton. 
 
C. The Great God View of History  
- The most primitive attempts to explain the origin and development of the 
man and the world are the creation of myths to be among pre literate 
people.  
- We are the best acquainted with the one in Genesis which ascribes the 
making of heaven and earth with all its features and creatures to a Lord 
God who worked on a six-day schedule. 
- These fanciful stories do not have any scientific validity.  
 
D. Great Man View of History 
- The “Great Man” theory suggests that dominant personalities determine 
the course of history.  
- History is the record of the deeds of great people 
- There are also numerous incarnations according to the values attached at 
different times by different people to the various domains of social activity, 
 
Antiquity  
● Divine Monarch 
● Tyrant  
● Lawgiver (Solon) 
● Military Conqueror 
● Dictator (Caesar) 
● Hero-emancipator (David) 
● Religious Leader (Christ, Buddha, Mohammad) 
 
Thomas Carlyle’s (4 December 1975 - 5 February 1881) 
➢ Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, translator, and historian. 
He is considered as one of the most social commentators of his time.  
 
➢ States that “everyman” view of history is one which sees history as being 
a record of collective experiences of the ordinary person. “Universal 
history, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at 
bottom the history of the great men who have worked here.” 
 
Walter Scott (15 August 1771 - 21 September 1832) 
➢ Was a Scottish historical novelist, poet, playwright and historian. He 
showed how people lived through the significant events and he 
advanced the idea that history was the story of other people's lives. 
 
➢ Novels showed how people lived through significant events and he 
advanced the idea that history was the story of ordinary people’s lives. 
 
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (23 February 1868 - 27 August 1963) 
➢ He was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, 
Pan-Africanist, author, writer, and auditor. In his histories, Black 
Reconstruction in America, Crisis and The Souls of Black Folk, rejected 
the idea of history as the record of the Western European events and 
advanced a view of history as the records of the lives of subject people.  
 
E. The Best People View of History 
- This view believes that some elite, the best race, the favored nation, the 
ruling class alone make history. 
- The old testaments assumed that the Israelites were God’s chosen people. 
- Israelites - a member of the ancient Hebrew nation, especially in the 
period from the Exodus to the Babylonian Captivity (c. 12th to 6th Centuries 
BC.) 
- The Greeks regarded themselves as the acme of culture, better in all 
aspects than the Barbarians.  
- Acme - the point at which someone or something is best, perfect or most 
successful. 
- Plato and Aristotle looked upon the slave holding aristocracy as naturally 
superior to the lower holders. 
- Acme - the point at which someone or something is best, perfect or most 
successful. 
- Hitler - thought that the Arian/Aryan race was the best among the races. 
 
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 - 30 April 1945)  
➢ Was a German politician and leader of the Nazi Party (National 
sozialistische Deutsche Abeiterpartei; NSDAP). He rose to power as 
Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and later ​Führer in 1934. During his 
dictatorship from 1933 to 1945, he initiated World War II in Europe by 
invading Poland on September 1 1939. He was closely involved in 
military operations throughout the waar and was the central to the 
perpetration of the Holocaust.  
 
F. Ideas of the Great Mind View of History 
-  This  view  of  history  is  one  in  which  the  driving  force  in  history  is  people’s 
ideas. The conditions that create history are created or changed by ideas.  
-  A  Great  Mind  Theory:  A  more  sophisticated  and  philosophical  variant  of 
the  Great  God-Man  line  of  thought  is  the  notion  that  history  is  drawn 
forward  or  driven  ahead  by  some  ideal  force  in  order  to  realize  its 
preconceive ends. 
 
Anaxagoras 
- A Pre-Socratic Greek Philosopher  
- “Reason (Nous) governs the world.” 
 
Aristotle  
- A Greek Philosopher 
- God is the prime mover of the universe and the ultimate animator of 
everything within it.  
 
 
 
G. W.F Hegel (1770-1831) 
➢ View history as the continual refinement of intellectual understanding. 
➢ He wrote: “Spirit, or Mind, is the only motive principle of history.” 
➢ Goal of the world spirit > laborious development > idea of freedom. 
*Some 18th Century rationalists believed that “opinion governs mankind.” 
 
G. The Human Nature View of History  
- This view believes that history, in the last analysis, has been determined by 
the qualities of human nature, good or bad.  
- Human nature is the general psychological characteristics, feelings and 
behavioral traits of humankind.  
- Human nature, like human itself, was regarded as rigid and unchanging 
from one generation to another.  
 
Thucydides 
➢ “Human nature and human behaviour were​—essentially fixed qualities, 
the same in one century as another.” 
 
David Hume  
➢ “Mankind is so much the same, in all times and places, the history 
informs us of nothing new or strange in this particular. Its chief use is 
only to discover the constant and universal principles of human nature.”  
 
E,B Taylor  
➢ “Human institutions, like stratified rocks, succeed each other in series 
substantially uniform over the globe, independent of what seems the 
comparatively superficial differences of race and language, but shaped 
by similar human nature.” 
 
H. Economic View of History 
- The economic views see economic factors as the most important 
determinant of history.  
- The production and exchange of goods and services is the basis of all 
social structures and processes. 
- The economic factor is the foundation for the superstructure of culture and 
government. 
 
Karl Marx (1818-1883) 
➢ A German Philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political 
theorist, journalist, and socialist revolutionary. 
➢ The foremost proponent of economic view of history.  
 
➢ He disagreed with Hegel “It was not ideas that created material 
conditions, but rather the reverse.”  
 
I. Gender History 
- Gender history looks at the past from the perspective of gender. It 
considers in what ways historical events are periodization impact women 
differently from men. 
- Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to, and differentiation 
between, masculinity and femininity. 
Joan Kelly  
➢ A prominent American historian who wrote on the Italian Renaissance.  
 
➢ She annually receives a Memorial Prize Award for the book in women’s 
history and/or feminist theory. 
➢ Questioned the notion of a Renaissance in a seminal article in 1977, “Did 
Women have a Renaissance?” 
 
- In the 80’s, with the rise of feminist movement, the focus shifted to un- 
covering women’ oppression and discrimination. Nowadays, gender history is 
more about charting female agency and recognizing female achievements 
in several fields that were usually dominated by men.  
 
J. Post-Modern View of History 
- The Postmodern view of history differs dramatically from that of all other 
world views.  
- The radical Postmodernists see no ultimate purpose in history. 
- They view history as “what we make of it.”  
- Historical facts are inaccessible. 
- Use the term historicism.  
 
Jacques Lacan (1910-1981) & Michael Foucault (1926-1984) 
 
“Each Historical period has its own knowledge system and individuals are 
unavoidably entangled within these systems.” 
 
K. Other Views of History  
- There are a number of other theories that attempt to explain history. 
Historians suggest that history was determined in many ways.  
 
Such that:  
● Geographic Factors 
● Wars  
● Religion 
● Race 
● Climate  
 
Friedrich Nietzsche (1822-1900) 
➢ History has no beginning or end, just chaos that could only be 
understood by the powers of the mind.  
 
Michel Foucault (1926-1984) 
➢ The visitors of the social struggle use their political dominance to 
suppress a defeated adversary’s version of historical events. 
 
 
CHAPTER 2  
SOURCE OF HISTORY 
 
PRIMARY SOURCES 
 
Autobiographies and Memories 
 
Autobiography​ - is an account of a person’s life written by that person. 
Autobiographical works can take many forms, from the intimate writing 
made during life that were not necessarily intended for publication 
(including letters, diaries, journals, memoirs, and reminiscences) to formal 
book-length autobiography.  
 
Memoir​ - is a history or record composed from personal observation and 
experience. Closely related to, and often confused with, autobiography, a 
memoir usually differs chiefly in the degree of emphasis placed on external 
events. 
 
COMPARISON  
Autobiography  
Writers of autobiography are concerned primarily with themselves as 
subject matter. 
 
Memoir  
Writers of memoir are usually persons who have played roles in, or have 
been close observers of, historical events and whose main purpose is to 
describe or interpret the events. 
 
Diaries, Personal Letters and Correspondence 
 
Diary​ - a form of autobiographical writing, is a regularly kept record of the 
diarist’s activities and reflections. Written primarily for the writer’s use 
alone, the diary has a frankness that is unlike writing done for publication. 
 
Personal Letter ​- is a type of letter (or informal composition) that usually 
concerns personal matters (rather than professional concerns) and is sent 
from one individual to another. 
 
Correspondence​ - is a body of letters or communications. If you’ve ever had 
a pen pal or an email buddy, you’ve written plenty of correspondence.  
 
Interviews, Surveys and Fieldworks 
 
Interview​ - is a conversation where questions are asked and answers are 
given. In common parlance, the word “interview” refers to a one-on-one 
conversation with one person acting in the role of the interviewer and the 
other in the role of interviewee. Interviews usually involve a transfer of 
information from interviewee to interviewer, which is usually the primary 
purpose of the interview, although information transfers can happen in both 
directions simultaneously. 
 
 
Survey​ - is a list of questions aimed at extracting specific data from a 
particular group of people.  
Surveys may be conducted by phone, mail, via the Internet, and sometimes 
face-to-face on busy street corners or in mails. Survey research is often used 
to assess thought, opinions, and feelings. Surveys can be specific and 
limited, or they can have more global, widespread goals. 
 
Field Research/Fieldwork​ - is the collection of information outside a 
laboratory, library or workplace setting. Field research involves a range of 
well-defined, although variable, methods: informal interviews, direct 
observation, participation in the life of the group, collective discussions, 
analysis of personal documents produced within the group, self-analysis, 
results from activities undertaken off- or on line, and life-histories. 
 
Photographs and Posters 
 
Photographs and Posters​ - are often considered as primary sources, 
because photographs and posters can illustrate past events as they 
happened and people as they were at a particular time. 
 
Works of Art and Literature 
 
Art -​ In fine art, an artwork, or a work is a creation, such as song, book, 
print, sculpture, and painting that has been made in order to be a thing of 
beauty in itself or a symbolic statement of meaning, rather than having a 
practical function.  
 
Paintings ​- a form of visual art where paint or ink is used in canvas or, more 
often in the past, wooden panels or plaster walls, to depict an artist’s 
rendering of a scene or even of an abstract, non-representing image. 
 
Drawing​ - a form of visual art in which a person uses various drawing 
instruments to mark paper or another two-dimensional medium. Instruments 
include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax colored pencils, 
crayons, charcoal, pastels, various kinds of erasers, markers, styluses, various 
metals (such as silverpoint) and electronic drawing. 
 
Literature​ - a body of written works. The name has traditionally been 
applied to those imaginative works of poetry and prose distinguished by the 
intentions of their authors and the perceived aesthetic excellence of their 
execution. Literature may be classified according to a variety of systems, 
including language, rational origin, historical period, genre and subject 
matter. 
 
Speeches and Oral Histories 
 
Speech​ - is a form of communication in spoken language, made by a 
speaker before an audience for a given purpose. 
 
Other types of primary sources include books, magazine and newspaper 
articles and ads published at the time of the event and artifacts of all kinds, 
such as tools, coins, clothing, furniture etc. 
 
SECONDARY SOURCE 
- Created by someone who did not experience first hand or 
participate in the events or conditions you’re searching for. 
● Bibliographies 
● Biographical works 
● Periodicals 
- newspaper 
- magazine and journals 
● Literature reviews and review articles 
- Film review 
- Book review 
● Other types of secondary sources 
 
Bibliographies 
➢ Organized list of sources followed by a brief note or the “annotation” 
➢ These annotation do one or more of the following: 
- Describe the content and focus of the book or article 
- Suggest the source’s usefulness to your research 
- Evaluate its method, conclusions, or reliability 
- Record your reaction to your source 
 
Periodicals 
➢ Newspaper, magazines, and scholarly journals which are published 
“periodically”. 
➢ It can be printed, some are in electronics and some use both formats. 
 
a. Newspaper - periodical publication containing written information 
about current events. Covers a wide variety of fields.  
 
Biographical Works  
➢ Description of a real person's life, including factual details as well as 
stories from the person’s life. 
➢ Biography comes from the greek word “bios” meaning life and “graphia” 
meaning writing.  
➢ Include information about the subject’s personality and motivations and 
other kinds of intimate details excluded in a general overview of the 
profile of a person’s life. 
  
Literature Reviews and Review Articles 
➢ Literature Review is an evaluative report of information found in the 
literature related to your selected area of study. 
➢ It should give a theoretical base for the research and help you 
determine the nature of your research. 
➢ Review article summarizes the current state of understanding on a 
topic. 
➢ Surveys and summarized previously published studies, rather than 
reporting new facts or analysis. 
➢ Also called surveys articles or overview articles. 
➢ Review journals are academic publications that specializes in review 
articles. 
 
Film Review 
➢ Popular way for critics to assess a film’s overall quality and determine 
whether or not they think the film is worth.  
➢ Differs with scholarly film articles. 
 
 
Book Review 
➢ Form of literary criticism in which a book on content, style and merit. 
 
➢ Books can be reviewed for printed periodicals, magazines, and 
newspapers, as schoolwork, or for book websites on the internet. 
➢ Such a review may evaluate the book on the basis of personal taste. 
 
Other Sources:  
➢ History Books 
➢ Scholarly Books 
➢ Works of Criticism and Interpretation  
➢ Commentaries and Treatises 
➢ Textbooks  
➢ Video Documentaries 
➢ Multimedia Reports 
 
TERTIARY SOURCES 
- General references such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, 
and atlases. 
- Crowd sources Wikipedia, Youtube, Message Boards, and social 
media sites like Twitter and Facebook.  
- Search Sites 
 
Repositories of Primary Sources  
 
• No single repository of primary sources. 
• Located in archives, libraries, museums, historical societies, and 
special collections.  
Library  
• Is a collection of information and similar resources, accessible to a 
defined community for reference or borrowing. 
• Provides physical or digital access to materials and; 
• Physical building or room, or a virtual space or both. 
• Include books, periodicals, newspapers, manuscripts, films, maps, 
audiobooks, databases, and etc. 
• Range in size from a few shelves of books to several million items.  
 
Archive 
• Is an accumulation of historical records or the physical place they are 
located. 
• Professional archivists and historians generally understand archives to 
be records that have been naturally and necessarily generated as a 
product of regular legal, commercial, administrative , or social activities.  
• Metaphorically defined as “​the secretions of an organism​” and 
distinguished from documents that have been consciously written or 
created to communicate a particular message to posterity. 
 
Museum  
• Is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects 
of artistic cultural, historical, or scientific importance.   
• For the public was available through exhibits that may be permanent or 
temporary. 
 
Historical Society  
• Is an organization dedicated to preserving, collecting, researching, and 
interpreting historical information or items.  
 
• Created as a way to help future generations understand heritage.  
 
Special Collections  
• In library science are libraries or library units that house materials 
requiring specialized security and user services. 
• Can be in any format and characterized by art factual or monetary 
value, physical format, uniqueness or rarity, institutional commitment to 
long term preservation and access. 
• Include association with important figures or institutions in history, 
culture, politics, sciences or arts. 
 
Documentation Collection 
- Used in historical Research and in other research design in 
combination with other ways of data collection. 
 
1. Found Documents: Produced by Organizations  
a. Formal records: personnel, sales records, shareholder reports, 
minutes of the meeting. 
b. Informal communications: notes memos, email. 
c. Public records: electoral registers, registers of births, marriages 
and details. 
 
2. Found Documents: Produced by Individual 
a. Personal papers: diaries, logs, phone texts, emails. 
b. Documents from everyday lives: shopping lists, bus & train 
tickets. 
 
3. Found Documents: Produced by Publications 
a. Academic Literature  
b. Popular Literature 
c. Guides, manuals 
 
4. Found Documents: Secondary Data  
a. Research data and field notes form previous studies 
b. Publicly funded surveys 
c. Internal organizational research 
 
5. Found Documents: Multimedia  
a. Photos, videos, comic strips, signposts, models 
b. Sound and music 
c. Electronic services - screenshots, websites, online communication 
 
6. Researcher Generated Documents 
a. Field notes 
b. Photographs 
c. Diagrams 
d. Storyboards 
e. Use case scenarios  
 
EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL CRITICISM 
 
Historical Data  
- Has to be examined for its authenticity and truthfulness. 
 
Criticism 
- Done by asking and researching to help determine truthfulness, bias, 
omission, and consistency in data. 
 

 
 
2 Kinds of Criticism 
 
External Criticism  
- Authenticity of a document 
- Refers to the genuineness of the documents a researcher uses in a 
historical study. (Fraenkel & Wallen, n.d) 
 
Series of Questions to establish the genuineness of a document or Relic 
(Key,1997) 
 
1. Does the language and writing style conform to the period in 
question and is it typical of other work done by the author?
2. Is there evidence that the author exhibits ignorance of things or 
events that man oh his training and time should have known?
3. Did he report about things, events, or places that could not have 
known during that period? 
4. Has the original manuscript been altered either intentionally or 
unintentionally by copying?
5. Is the document an original draft or copy? If it is a copy, was it 
reproduced in the exact words of the original?
6. If the manuscript is undated or unknown, are there any clues 
internally as to its origin? 
 
Provided questions by Gilbert Garraghan (1946) 
 
1. When was the source written or unwritten, produced? (date) 
2. Where was it produced? (localization) 
3. By whom was it produced? (authorship) 
4. From what pre-existing material was it produced? (analysis) 
5. In what original form was it produced? (integrity) 
 
Internal Criticism 
- What the document says 
- Refers to the accuracy of the contents of a document. (Fraenkel & 
Wallen, n.d) 
 
Questions to Check the Content of a Source of Information (Key, 1997) 
1. What was meant by the author by each word and statement? 
2. How much credibility can the author's statement be given? 
 
Questions for Internal Criticism  
1. What is the evidential value of its content? (credibility) 
 
“For each particular of a document the process of establishing credibility 
should be separately undertaken regardless of the general credibility of the 
author” - Louis Gottschalk (1950) 
 
General Principle for Determining Reliability  
 
General Principles in Determining Reliability (Olden-Jorgensen, 1998 & Thuren, 
1997) 
 
1. Human sources may be relics such as a fingerprint of a narrative 
such as a statement or a letter. Relics are more credible sources than 
narratives. 
2. Any given source may be forged or corrupted. Strong indications of 
the originality of the sources increase its reliability.  
3. The closer a source is to the event which it purports to describe, the 
more one can trust it to give an accurate historical description of 
what actually happened. 
4. An eyewitness is more reliable than testimony at second hand, which 
is more reliable that hearsay at furter remove and so on. 
5. If a number of independent sources contain the same message, the 
credibility of the message is strongly increased. 
6. The tendency of a source is its motivation for providing some kind of 
bias. Tendencies should be minimized or supplemented with opposite 
motivations.  
7. If it can be demonstrated that the witness or source has no direct 
interest in creating bias then the credibility of the message is 
increased. 
 
Contradictory Sources  
 
7 Step Procedure for Sources Criticism in History by Bernheim (1889) & 
Langlois & Seignobos (1898) 
 
1. If the sources all agree about the event, historians can consider the 
event proved. 
2. However, the majority does not rule even if most sources relate 
events in one way, that version will not prevail unless it passes the 
test of critical textual analysis. 
3. The source whose account can be confirmed by reference to outside 
authorities in some of its parts can be trusted in its eternity if it is 
impossible to similarly confirm the entire text.  
4. When two sources disagree on a particular point, the historian will 
prefer the source with the most “authority” - that is the source 
created by the expert or by the eyewitnesses.  
5. Eyewitnesses are, in general, to be preferred especially in 
circumstances where the ordinary observer could have accurately 
reported what transpired and more specifically when they deal with 
facts known by contemporaries. 
6. If two independently created sources agree on a matter, the 
 reliability of each is measured. 
 
7. When two sources disagree and there is no other means of 
evaluation, the historians take the source which seems to accord best 
with common sense. 
 
Eyewitness Evidence 
 
Series of Questions in Order to Evaluate Eyewitness Testimony:  
 
1. Is the real meaning of the statement different from its literal 
meaning? Are words used in senses not employed today? Is the 
statement meant to be ironic? (i.e other than what it says?) 
2. How well could the author observe the thing he reports? Were his 
senses equal to the observation? Was his physical location suitable to 
sight, hearing, touch? Did he have the proper ability to observe. Did 
he understand the language, have other expertise required (e.g law, 
military)? Was he not being intimidated by his wife or the secret 
police? 
3. How did the author report? And was his ability to do so? 
a. Regarding his ability to report, was he biased? Did he have 
proper time for reporting? Proper place for reporting? 
Adequate recording instruments?  
b. When did he report in relation to his observation? Soon? 
Much later? Fifty years is much later as most eyewitnesses 
are dead and those who remain may have forgotten 
relevant material. 
c. What was the author’s ​intention ​in reporting? For ​whom ​did 
he report? Would the audience be likely to require or 
suggest distortion to the author? 
d. Are there additional clues to intended veracity? Was he 
indifferent on the subject reported, thus probability not 
seeking to distort? Did he give incidental or casual 
information, almost certainly not intended to mislead? 
5. Do his statements seem inherently improbable: e.g., contrary to 
human nature, or in conflict with what we know? 
6. Remember  that  some  types  of  information are easier to observe and 
report on than others. 
7. Are there inner contradictions in the document? 
 
 
 CHAPTER 3 
CONTENT AND CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS 
 
CONTENT/TEXTUAL ANALYSIS 
 
Content Analysis  
➢ is a research method for studying documents and communication 
artifacts, which can be texts of various formats, picture, audio or 
video. 
 
Practices and philosophies of content analysis vary between scholarly 
communities. 
 
Computers are increasingly used in content analysis, to automate the 
labeling of documents. 
 
A. Goals of Content Analysis 
According to Klaus Krisppendorff, 6 questions must be addressed in 
every content analysis: 
 
1. Which data are analyzed? 
2. How are the data defined? 
3. From what population are data drawn? 
4. What is the relevant context? 
5. What are the boundaries of the analysis? 
6. What is to be measured? 
 
The simplest and most objective form of content analysis considers 
unambiguous characteristics of the text. 
 
Dictionary-based approaches set up a list of categories derived from the 
frequency list of words and control the distribution of words and their 
respective categories over texts. 
 
Qualitative content analysis focuses more on the intentionality and its 
implications. 
 
B. Kinds of Texts 
 
1. Written text 
2. Oral text 
3. Iconic text 
4. Audio-visual text 
5. Hypertexts 
 
C. Types of Content Analysis 
 
Conceptual Analysis 
➢ Can be thought of as establishing the existence and frequency of 
concepts in a text. 
 
 
Relational Analysis 
➢ Builds on conceptual analysis by examining the relationships 
among concepts in a text. 
 
D. How to Use Content Analysis  
 
1. Prepare a coding schedule  
2. Produce a coding manual to accompany the coding schedule that 
will list the codes for each dimension. 
3. Coding - use of categories to describe and organize elements of the 
content.  
4. Analyze data and report findings. 
5. Quantitatively analyze the coded content for trends, patterns, 
relationships, similarities, differences and etc.  
 
E. Issues of Reliability and Validity 
 
Reliability refers to: 
● Stability of content analysis or the tendency for coders to 
consistently recode the same data in the same way over a period of 
time. 
● Reproducibility or tendency for a group of coders to classify 
categories membership in the same way.  
● Accuracy or extent to which the classification of text corresponds to 
a standard or norm statistically. 
 
Contextual Analysis  
➢ It is an analysis of a text that helps us to assess the text within the 
context of its historical and cultural setting, and also in terms of its 
textuality. 
➢ Combines features of formal analysis with features of “cultural 
archeology”. 
 
A. How to Use Contextual Analysis 
 
1. What does the text reveal about itself as a text? 
2. What does the text tell us about its apparent intended audiences? 
3. What seems to have been the author’s intention? 
4. What is the occasion for this text? 
5. Is the text intended as some sort of call to – or for – action? 
6. Is the text intended rather as some sort of call to – or for – reflection 
or consideration rather than direct action? 
7. Can we identify any non textual circumstances that affected the 
creation and reception of the text? 
 
Importance of Context in Analysis and Interpretation 
 
Historical Context 
➢ is an important part of life and literature and without it, memories, 
stories and characters have less meaning. 
➢ it is essentially the details that surround an occurrence.  
 
Context is what gives meaning to the details. 
Cause​ - is the action that creates an outcome.  
Context - ​is the environment in which that action and outcome occurs. 
 
Subtext 
➢ The subtext of a document or object refers to its secondary and 
implied meanings.  
➢ It embraces the emotional or intellectual messages embedded in, or 
implied by the document or object. 
 
Summary 
 
Text 
● What is visible/readable, i.e., what information is provided by the 
source? 
 
Context 
● What was going on during the time period? What background 
information do you have that helps explain the information found 
in the source? 
 
Subtext  
● What is between the lines? Ask questions about the following: 
▪ Author 
▪ Audience 
▪ Reason 
 
CHAPTER 4 
IDENTIFICATION OF THE HISTORICAL 
IMPORTANCE OF THE TEXT 
 
Historical Significance 
➢ Is the process used to evaluate what was significant about selected 
events, people,and developments in the past. Historians use 
different sets of criteria to help them to make judgements about 
significance. 
 
Criteria on Assessing the Historical Significance of Sources 
 
Relevance 
1. Is it important/ relevant to the people living at that time? 
2. Is something still relevant to our present lives even if it has only 
passing importance? 
 
Resonance 
1. Who were/have been affected by the event? Why was it important 
to them? 
2. How were people's lives affected?Do people like to make analogies 
with it? 
3. It is possible to connect with experiences, beliefs or attitudes across 
time and place? 
 
Remarkable 
1. Was the event remarked on by people at the time or since? 
Remembered 
1. Was the event/ development important at some stage within the 
collective memory of a group or groupings? 
 
Revealing 
1. Does it reveal some other aspects of the past? 
 
Resulting in Change 
1. Does it have consequences for the future? 
 
Durability 
1. For how long have the people’s lives been affected? A day, week, a 
year or all their lives? 
 
Quantity 
1. How many people were affected?Did the event affect many, 
everyone or just few? A whole barrio, province,a country or entire 
village? 
 
Profundity 
1. Was the event superficial or deeply affecting?How deeply people’s 
lives were affected? How were people's lives affected? 
 
Issues on Assessing the Historical Significance 
 
1. Our views about historical significance are often shaped by 
contemporary context and can be dependent upon our own values, 
interests and knowledge. 
2. History is written by the victor. Historical Significance is how we 
define the past events that the current writer of history deems 
important and relevant. 
3. Historical Significance is relative and varies from location to 
location, generations to generations or sometimes to ideological 
orientation or political affiliation of the one doing the evaluation 
assessment. 
 
CHAPTER 5 
EXAMINATION ON THE AUTHOR’S MAIN 
ARGUMENT AND POINT OF VIEW 
 
1. Determining the Author's Purpose 
 
A. Purposes in Writing 
To Persuade 
- The author wants you to believe, do or buy something. 
- This type of writing is called persuasive writing. 
 
To Inform 
- The author wants to give you information and instructions. 
- This type of writing is called expository writing. 
 
To Narrate or Recount 
- The author wants to relate a story or recount past events. 
- This type of writing is called narrative writing. 
 
To Describe 
- The author wants you to visualize or experience what something or 
someone looks like, sounds like or feels like. 
- This type of writing is called descriptive writing. 
 
To Explain 
- The author wants to tell you how to do something or how something 
works 
- This type of writing is called expository writing 
 
To Entertain 
- The author wants to amuse you or for you to enjoy the writing itself. 
- This type of writing is creative writing. 
 
B. A Combination of Purposes 
 
C. Persuasive text 
❏ A persuasive text is any text where the main purpose is to present a 
point of view and seeks to persuade a reader. 
❏ The purpose of persuasive text is to convince you of something. 
Either to believe an idea, or a product, or to do something. 
❏ Can be a form of advertisements, sponsored articles or editorial in 
a newspaper. 
❏ Highlights only specific information in order to convince you of 
something. 
 
D. Why identify purpose? 
❏ Helps you evaluate it better. 
❏ When you understand why a source was created, it helps you think 
critically about what information is there, what information is 
missing, and what you can expect to take away from the source. 
 
E. How to identify the Purpose 
Step 1. Ask “ Why did the author create/Write this text?” 
Step 2. If the author's purpose isn’t obvious ask “How did this make me 
feel?” 
Step 3. Look for clue words to find the author's purpose. 
● Compare - both, similarly, in the same way, like, just as 
● Contrast - however, but, dissimilarly , on the other hand 
● Criticize - look for words that show the authors negative opinion 
● Describe/Illustrate - look for words that provide descriptive details 
● Explain - Author wants to break down an idea into a simpler terms 
● Identify/List - Author wants to tell the reader about an idea or 
series of ideas without providing much description or opinion. 
● Intensify - Author wants to make an idea greater; 
● Suggest - Author wants to propose an idea 
 
 
F. Underline the Clue Words 
❏ Helps you get better ideas. 
❏ Then compose a sentence using keywords (compare, explain, 
illustrate). Then choose the best answer. 
 
2. Determining the Author's Main Argument 
 
One of the most fundamental things we use language for is argument. 
 
Argument/Arguing means claiming something is true and trying to persuade 
other people to agree with your claim presenting evidence to sustain it. 
 
3 Components of Argument Statement: 
 
1. A point of view, a claim, something we are arguing in favor of 
2. The actual argument,the evidence we are using to argue with 
3. A statement that links the initial claim to the argument and ensures 
that we understand how the argument functions. 
 
Warrant is a statement that connects the initial claim and argument 
 
A. Stephen Toulmin’s Argument Model 
 
1. Claims (Thesis Statement/Conclusion) 
➢ The claim may be also referred to as a thesis statement. Sometimes 
the author will direct an open discussion towards the claim. The 
claim therefore can also be referred to as a conclusion. 
2. Arguments ( Evidence) 
➢ An Argument that substantiates a claim is also known as evidence. 
3. Warrant ( Research Method) 
➢ The link between an argument and a claim is sometimes called a 
warrant. Another word is research method. 
4. Counter Arguments/ Objections 
5. Backing( Foundation/ Support) 
6. Qualifiers 
➢ Used by the authors when presenting the claim. 
 
CHAPTER 6 
ASSESSMENT AND ANALYSIS OF SOURCES 
 
HISTORICAL SOURCES FOR ASSESSMENT AND ANALYSIS 
 
A. Chronicle 
➢ A factual written account of important or historical events in the 
order of their occurrence. 
Customs of the Tagalogs 
From the Philippine islands, 1493- 1898. Volume 7, 1588-1591 
by Juan de Plasencia, O.S.F. 
 
B. Declaration of Principles 
Kartilya ng Katipunan ni Emilio Jacinto 
  
C. Memoirs 
➢ A historical account or biography written from personal knowledge 
or special sources. 
Paghirang sa Supremo Bilang Hari 
Dakilang Pangaral sa Pagdating ng Supremo 
(hango mula sa MGA GUNITA NG HIMAGSIKAN) 
ni Heneral Emilio Aguinaldo 
D. Proclamation 
➢ A public or official announcement, especially one dealing with a 
matter of great importance. 
The Act of Declaration of Philippine Independence 
translation by Sulpicio Guevara 
 
E. Cartoons 
➢ A simple drawing showing the features of its subjects in a 
humorously exaggerated way, especially a satirical one in a 
newspaper or magazine. 
POLITICAL CARICATURES OF THE AMERICAN ERA 1900-1941 
by Alfred McCoy and Alfredo Roces 
 
F. Speech 
➢ A formal address or discourse delivered to an audience. 
Speech before the Joint Session of the 
United States Congress (1986) by Corazon Aquino 
 
G. Paintings 
➢ The process or art of using paint, in a picture, as a protective 
coating, or as decoration. 
Spoliarium (1884) By Juan Luna 
Oil on canvas 4.22 m x 7.675 m (13.8 ft x 25. 18 ft) 
National Museum of Fine Arts, Manila 
 
H. Films 
➢ A motion picture; a movie. 
RAIDERS OF THE SULU SEA (2008) 46 MINS 
DOCUMENTARY