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So you want to be a historian?
Things to keep in mind when studying history [History]
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So you want to be a historian?

 

12-19-13 08:56 PM
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So I really didn't know what to do an article on since I figure that it is best that I don't just talk about historical events (lest I sound like a Wikipedia page)... and after much pondering I decided I would start with the basics.

Sources
If you have ever ventured into the debate forum, you've seen people provide or ask for sources to verify information. This is also important for historians when looking at historical events. There is even a ranking of how reliable a source is: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary.

  • Primary Sources: A primary source is, to put it simply, an artifact from the event being studied, or closely related to it. This could be something like the journal of a soldier during a war, a piece of pottery from Pompeii, an eyewitness report, or even a portrait or picture. Some events that are really old tend to be more flexible on this and a secondary source can become a primary source. For example, some information that we have on historical figures such as Alexander the Great come from sources written decades after his death, but 20 years after his death is obviously way closer to the event than something written in, say the 1800s. For a long time, the only sources we had on the Trojan War was the writings of Homer, which were created about two hundred or so years after the event occurred but had been passed down via verbal histories. These are the most important sources that historians have because they are the closest to the event.

  • Secondary Sources:A secondary source is usually something like newspaper article, or an article or other publication by a historian... basically a paper that draws 100% of it's evidence from primary sources. Many of these secondary sources are books called historiographies, or entire books about a specific event or person (a biography or book about the battle of Gettysburg for example). To be taken as a credible source, these papers need to be published by reputable academic publishers (companies that make sure facts are accurate and the work is original), obvious ones being university presses like Harvard or Cambridge. Historians will use these in reference to arguments being made by other writers, and sometimes to cite evidence that they themselves cannot gain access to, but they still tend to prefer primary sources.

  • Tertiary Sources: Textbooks and encyclopedias fall into this category, as well as most high school student research papers because they draw on both primary and secondary sources... mainly secondary sources. These are the hardest type of source to fact check and the most prone to error and bias. No academic paper should ever cite a tertiary source.
This brings us to the next big thing that historians have to deal with....

BIAS in Sources
All sources created by human beings are going to have a degree of bias... because humans are biased. To deny that is to deny reality. The job of a historian is to spot the bias and look beyond it to figure out what actually happened. They say that history is written by the victor, and they are right... but the loser also kept a history, and if you're lucky you can get access to it. If not, then you just have to keep in mind the bias of the author. If you had to write a history of your hometown, your report is obviously going to be colored by whether or not you actually like your hometown, right? Same with all other historical sources created by humans. Once you learn to spot the bias of a source (like, for example, reading an account of a war by a solider and keeping in mind which side he fought for) you can start to get a better idea of what actually happened. It is also good, obviously, to have multiple sources for an event from for that reason. The more points of view that you have for an event, the more accurate picture you will have. The same is true today in any event that happens.

I hope this has been informative and given you some insight into what a historian does and what many history classes that you take in school encourage you to look at.
So I really didn't know what to do an article on since I figure that it is best that I don't just talk about historical events (lest I sound like a Wikipedia page)... and after much pondering I decided I would start with the basics.

Sources
If you have ever ventured into the debate forum, you've seen people provide or ask for sources to verify information. This is also important for historians when looking at historical events. There is even a ranking of how reliable a source is: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary.

  • Primary Sources: A primary source is, to put it simply, an artifact from the event being studied, or closely related to it. This could be something like the journal of a soldier during a war, a piece of pottery from Pompeii, an eyewitness report, or even a portrait or picture. Some events that are really old tend to be more flexible on this and a secondary source can become a primary source. For example, some information that we have on historical figures such as Alexander the Great come from sources written decades after his death, but 20 years after his death is obviously way closer to the event than something written in, say the 1800s. For a long time, the only sources we had on the Trojan War was the writings of Homer, which were created about two hundred or so years after the event occurred but had been passed down via verbal histories. These are the most important sources that historians have because they are the closest to the event.

  • Secondary Sources:A secondary source is usually something like newspaper article, or an article or other publication by a historian... basically a paper that draws 100% of it's evidence from primary sources. Many of these secondary sources are books called historiographies, or entire books about a specific event or person (a biography or book about the battle of Gettysburg for example). To be taken as a credible source, these papers need to be published by reputable academic publishers (companies that make sure facts are accurate and the work is original), obvious ones being university presses like Harvard or Cambridge. Historians will use these in reference to arguments being made by other writers, and sometimes to cite evidence that they themselves cannot gain access to, but they still tend to prefer primary sources.

  • Tertiary Sources: Textbooks and encyclopedias fall into this category, as well as most high school student research papers because they draw on both primary and secondary sources... mainly secondary sources. These are the hardest type of source to fact check and the most prone to error and bias. No academic paper should ever cite a tertiary source.
This brings us to the next big thing that historians have to deal with....

BIAS in Sources
All sources created by human beings are going to have a degree of bias... because humans are biased. To deny that is to deny reality. The job of a historian is to spot the bias and look beyond it to figure out what actually happened. They say that history is written by the victor, and they are right... but the loser also kept a history, and if you're lucky you can get access to it. If not, then you just have to keep in mind the bias of the author. If you had to write a history of your hometown, your report is obviously going to be colored by whether or not you actually like your hometown, right? Same with all other historical sources created by humans. Once you learn to spot the bias of a source (like, for example, reading an account of a war by a solider and keeping in mind which side he fought for) you can start to get a better idea of what actually happened. It is also good, obviously, to have multiple sources for an event from for that reason. The more points of view that you have for an event, the more accurate picture you will have. The same is true today in any event that happens.

I hope this has been informative and given you some insight into what a historian does and what many history classes that you take in school encourage you to look at.
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(edited by Elara on 12-19-13 09:01 PM)     Post Rating: 3   Liked By: Juliet, Singelli, sonic23,

04-12-14 01:00 PM
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I really enjoyed this article and I'm looking forward to a new one.  I first wanted to ask you a question?  How strong do you think the bias is in our American textbooks?  Although I've never done the research myself (history has NEVER been a strong suit for me, I've heard that many books contain outright lies.  I think it'd be interesting if our history teachers pointed those out, but I understand they have to follow the curriculum.

Also, what kind of student excels at history?  I always made A's in the subject, but that's because memorization was a mind-numbingly easy task for me.  If you asked what I actually understood, or what I remember now, I'd absolutely sounds like a dunce.  I could never wrap my head around the importance of history, or how events tied together, or who fought who and why.  As an adult, I think it be very interesting to study the nuances of history and really get under the psychology of who and when and why, but I just can't seem to wrap my mind around it every time I try. It seems so overwhelming and beyond me.

What would you suggest, for someone who has no basic knowledge of history?  Where do they start to build a foundation?
I really enjoyed this article and I'm looking forward to a new one.  I first wanted to ask you a question?  How strong do you think the bias is in our American textbooks?  Although I've never done the research myself (history has NEVER been a strong suit for me, I've heard that many books contain outright lies.  I think it'd be interesting if our history teachers pointed those out, but I understand they have to follow the curriculum.

Also, what kind of student excels at history?  I always made A's in the subject, but that's because memorization was a mind-numbingly easy task for me.  If you asked what I actually understood, or what I remember now, I'd absolutely sounds like a dunce.  I could never wrap my head around the importance of history, or how events tied together, or who fought who and why.  As an adult, I think it be very interesting to study the nuances of history and really get under the psychology of who and when and why, but I just can't seem to wrap my mind around it every time I try. It seems so overwhelming and beyond me.

What would you suggest, for someone who has no basic knowledge of history?  Where do they start to build a foundation?
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04-12-14 10:13 PM
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Sorry I took so long to get this posted, Singelli:

I will admit that our textbooks are indeed very biased. It would appear that the publishing companies and school boards think that our children cannot possibly understand the idea that America has done some bad things in the past... the books have gotten a bit better, but there is still lots of whitewashing.

A good book that delves into this is Lies My Teacher Told Me... it's a bit of a dry read at the end when he is talking about how this happened, but it is interesting to see how different books handle subjects like Colombus' treatment of the Arawak Indians.

Having done student teaching in Ireland, I can say that their books tend to be more generalized at the lower level. I taught 7th graders here and 2nd Years there (equal to 8th grade)... we go into WAY more detail because they spend the first couple years going over general world history. They do insert more Irish history than we do... and even though they learn about the American Revolution it is bare bones at most.

The best history students are people that can think critically and is curious. Curriculum mandates that you learn certain events (the names and dates part), but a truly good student understands the WHY and the HOW, not just the WHO, WHAT, WHERE and WHEN. For example, one of the most popular areas of history for the layman to read about is World War II... because it is puzzling to our minds just how and why Hitler came to power and was able to carry out all the evil stuff that he did. We already know when the war happened, and where, who was involved, and what it was... yet there are still books and specials every year that examine the details to try and gain understanding.

Honestly, the best suggestion that I can make for someone like you is to pick an event that you are curious about... the Titanic sinking, Gettysburg, the Persian Wars, the Meiji Restoration, whatever. The nice thing about history is that it is vast so there is no one correct starting point. Once you have a topic that you are interested in, research it. Ask yourself questions that you want answered about that topic... then find the answers. Usually that will lead to connections to other events, and you can then look into those if they interest you and you can see how the two events are connected.

There used to be a television series in the 70s, 80s, and 90s called Connections, in which the host, James Burke, would take two random objects or events and show how the two actually shared a history. Some of it is a bit dated, but it is remarkably interesting and well done. I think it is all on Netflix now. Check it out.
Sorry I took so long to get this posted, Singelli:

I will admit that our textbooks are indeed very biased. It would appear that the publishing companies and school boards think that our children cannot possibly understand the idea that America has done some bad things in the past... the books have gotten a bit better, but there is still lots of whitewashing.

A good book that delves into this is Lies My Teacher Told Me... it's a bit of a dry read at the end when he is talking about how this happened, but it is interesting to see how different books handle subjects like Colombus' treatment of the Arawak Indians.

Having done student teaching in Ireland, I can say that their books tend to be more generalized at the lower level. I taught 7th graders here and 2nd Years there (equal to 8th grade)... we go into WAY more detail because they spend the first couple years going over general world history. They do insert more Irish history than we do... and even though they learn about the American Revolution it is bare bones at most.

The best history students are people that can think critically and is curious. Curriculum mandates that you learn certain events (the names and dates part), but a truly good student understands the WHY and the HOW, not just the WHO, WHAT, WHERE and WHEN. For example, one of the most popular areas of history for the layman to read about is World War II... because it is puzzling to our minds just how and why Hitler came to power and was able to carry out all the evil stuff that he did. We already know when the war happened, and where, who was involved, and what it was... yet there are still books and specials every year that examine the details to try and gain understanding.

Honestly, the best suggestion that I can make for someone like you is to pick an event that you are curious about... the Titanic sinking, Gettysburg, the Persian Wars, the Meiji Restoration, whatever. The nice thing about history is that it is vast so there is no one correct starting point. Once you have a topic that you are interested in, research it. Ask yourself questions that you want answered about that topic... then find the answers. Usually that will lead to connections to other events, and you can then look into those if they interest you and you can see how the two events are connected.

There used to be a television series in the 70s, 80s, and 90s called Connections, in which the host, James Burke, would take two random objects or events and show how the two actually shared a history. Some of it is a bit dated, but it is remarkably interesting and well done. I think it is all on Netflix now. Check it out.
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Oh, there's no need to apologize at all!  You responded on the same day that I posted, and even if you hadn't, I'd understand you taking your time.  hehe. I know how busy us teachers get.  Thank you for offering the show on netflix and the book as some references.  More and more lately, I've been interested in learning, but I am no longer a student of any system and thus have to seek knowledge myself.... something much of today's society is not taught to do.

I guess though, I wasn't so much asking at what POINT in history to start. I appreciate your advice on picking something I'm interested in, but I don't know WHAT I'm interested in to begin with.  I don't even know anything about the Persian wars, and "Meiji Restoration" isn't even a familiar term.  LOL  I guess more of my concern is this:  I can look up (as an example) stuff on World War II and read about it. In fact, my husband has a book on it and I've been trying to read a little bit of it. My knowledge on prior history and politics is so vastly limited though, that it's like reading a foreign language.  I can't begin to fathom why this fact is important, what underlying cause would draw a country to this action, or who in the world certain groups are.  Trying to read any bit of history draws up more questions for me, than answers, and I start to feel overwhelmed by all the stuff I -don't- know.

See, in my field, math is easy to memorize for many students, but it's understanding WHY and HOW things tie together, that really make it learn-able.  For example, if calculus students could just understand that a derivative is the slope of a curve at a particular point..... things would be SO much easier. When I read about a war and I see these three countries were aligned together, I just feel blank about it. I feel like I have to go back further, but even if I go back further, I still don't understand the why behind THOSE events, yadda yadda yadda.

Maybe I just overthink it all?  lol
Oh, there's no need to apologize at all!  You responded on the same day that I posted, and even if you hadn't, I'd understand you taking your time.  hehe. I know how busy us teachers get.  Thank you for offering the show on netflix and the book as some references.  More and more lately, I've been interested in learning, but I am no longer a student of any system and thus have to seek knowledge myself.... something much of today's society is not taught to do.

I guess though, I wasn't so much asking at what POINT in history to start. I appreciate your advice on picking something I'm interested in, but I don't know WHAT I'm interested in to begin with.  I don't even know anything about the Persian wars, and "Meiji Restoration" isn't even a familiar term.  LOL  I guess more of my concern is this:  I can look up (as an example) stuff on World War II and read about it. In fact, my husband has a book on it and I've been trying to read a little bit of it. My knowledge on prior history and politics is so vastly limited though, that it's like reading a foreign language.  I can't begin to fathom why this fact is important, what underlying cause would draw a country to this action, or who in the world certain groups are.  Trying to read any bit of history draws up more questions for me, than answers, and I start to feel overwhelmed by all the stuff I -don't- know.

See, in my field, math is easy to memorize for many students, but it's understanding WHY and HOW things tie together, that really make it learn-able.  For example, if calculus students could just understand that a derivative is the slope of a curve at a particular point..... things would be SO much easier. When I read about a war and I see these three countries were aligned together, I just feel blank about it. I feel like I have to go back further, but even if I go back further, I still don't understand the why behind THOSE events, yadda yadda yadda.

Maybe I just overthink it all?  lol
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