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What is a historical 'source'? A source is something that provides information about the historical topic you are studying. They can either be written (e.g., books or websites), or non-written (e.g., photographs or artefacts). No matter what you're doing in History, you will use sources.
- Source Creator
The first step in creating an effective analysis of a source...
- Reliability
Reliability is a source evaluation skill which asks you to...
- Source Creator
Mar 17, 2005 · A Historical Overview of Informants. 13 Pages Posted: 17 Mar 2005. Robert M. Bloom. Boston College Law School. Abstract. [This abstract describes the entire work, Ratting: The Use and Abuse of Informants in the American Justice System, by Robert M. Bloom. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2002.
- Robert M. Bloom
- 2005
Jan 22, 2012 · Information vs. Evidence. The information statements we find in sources are not “facts.”. They are only assertions. Many assertions in historical records are false. Many statements are ambiguous or open to interpretation. Many words used in the past carried meanings different from those we apply today. Evidence is our interpretation of a ...
- The Art of War by Sun-Tzucoelacan
- Unravelling The Sources
- Primary Sources
- Written Sources
- Epigraphy
- Settlements, Buildings, & Monuments
- Artefacts
- Bones
- Secondary Sources
To fill in the context of the past we wish to study involves carefully questioning a whole bunch of sources – not just written ones – and avoiding pitfalls as much as possible. The closely connected field of archaeologyoffers a priceless helping hand in achieving this, so these sources will be discussed here, too.
Sources are our way of peering into the past, but the various kinds all present their own benefits and difficulties. The first distinction to make is between primary and secondary sources. A primary source is first-hand material that stems (roughly) from the time period that one wants to examine, whereas a secondary source is an additional step rem...
However cool actual sources from times gone by may be, we cannot simply assume that everything they tell us (or everything we think they tell us) is true, or that we are automatically able to interpret their contents and context correctly. They were made by people, from within their own contexts. Keeping a critical eye and asking questions is thus ...
Some examples of primary written sources are contemporary letters, eyewitness accounts, official documents, political declarations and decrees, administrative texts, and histories and biographies written in the period that is to be studied. Benefits – details; personal side; context The unmatched level of detail presented by written sources in gene...
Epigraphy refers to the study of inscriptions engraved upon various surfaces such as stone, metal, wood, clay tablets, or even wax, which may vary hugely in length from mere abbreviated words and administrative tablets to depicting entire official decrees. Benefits – typically durable; visible Usually, inscriptions tend to be pretty durable because...
Benefits – made to last; indicate structure of societies The daily lives of people become visible through the remains of their houses and the buildings they made use of, such as courts of law, bakeries, or schools. Monuments, also not unusually flashing inscriptions at its audience, can reveal the messages their normally powerful creators cried out...
Benefits – daily lives; use; society & culture Pitfalls – inferring meaning; inferring clues about society Artefacts are man-made things of archaeological interest, often from a cultural context. Examples are pottery, utensils, tools and jewellery, which can alert us to daily lives, style and culture; art – including statues – which can be both pub...
Benefits – morphology; health & related clues; filling in blanks; genetic evidence Studying bones yields clues regarding health, gender, age, size, diet, etc. Retrieval of ancient DNA – though not exactly a walk in the park – is also possible. The context in which bones are found as well as the point in time they came from help to fill information ...
After the maze that is primary sources, we may be tempted to think secondary sources are a sort of safe haven, where skilled researchers have taken all of the above-mentioned issues into account and have already come as close to actual history as possible. However, this would be a tad naïve; the people writing the secondary material are just as bou...
- Emma Groeneveld
Informants are extremely common in every-day police work, including homicide and narcotics investigations. Any citizen who provides crime-related information to law enforcement by definition is an informant. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies may face criticism regarding their conduct towards informants.
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Any sort of artifact from the period in question that conveys information can qualify as a source. There are two main types of historical sources: primary sources and secondary sources. A primary source is something that originates from the past.
