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Analysis of Primary Sources

This document discusses the analysis of primary sources in history. It emphasizes that primary sources must be analyzed carefully in their original historical context rather than through modern perspectives. To determine context, historians examine things like the source's point of view, its author's potential biases, and how the source relates to other primary sources from the same time period. Properly analyzing these attributes of a primary source is crucial for understanding its meaning and credibility.

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Brendan Lewis Delgado
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481 views

Analysis of Primary Sources

This document discusses the analysis of primary sources in history. It emphasizes that primary sources must be analyzed carefully in their original historical context rather than through modern perspectives. To determine context, historians examine things like the source's point of view, its author's potential biases, and how the source relates to other primary sources from the same time period. Properly analyzing these attributes of a primary source is crucial for understanding its meaning and credibility.

Uploaded by

Brendan Lewis Delgado
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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RPH Module 2:

Analysis of Primary Sources


 Analyzing the content and context of a particular historical material entails critical thinking.
 treating historical evidence or primary sources in the light of contemporary conceptions is erroneous,
and one of the students of history‘s common mistakes
 must be corrected as modern thinking, most of the time, is far removed from what is present in the
past.
 Hence, we must fit on the shoes of people before us and receive past events the way they recognize it.
 one of the most crucial prerequisites of deciphering the content and context of primary sources.
 how society defines a situation of interaction.
 shared meaning that provides “an underlying orientation for subsequent action.”
 historians apply contextualization to determine the material’s context.
 careful and critical placing of a primary source on its historical context.
 determining the source‘s historical context pertains to an activity in which a primary source is analyzed
in the parameters of its original essence
 concepts must be strictly put into consideration as primary sources are conclusively tied to its zeitgeist
 content, refers to the central idea circulating the primary source
 historians evaluate and analyze the material‘s contents to determine its accuracy.
 the author‘s “competence, good faith, bias, and general reputation” is subject for the historians‘
scrutiny.
 strive to discover the material‘s literal and real meaning, and the inconsistencies within the texts.

Material’s Point of View


 crucial in deciphering their outlook or stand on the matter they worked on.
 helps students of history to distinguish the priorities, beliefs, and values the authors possess that might
have influenced how they selected and presented certain historical knowledge.
Analyzing the Material’s Author
it‘s necessary that you constantly doubt a source
one of the historians‘ unique attributes

1. Interest. Does the source exhibits the author‘s interest that could, in any way, have influenced the way
he or she interpreted and analyzed it?
2. Sympathy and Antipathy. Does the source manifest the author‘s sympathy or antipathy toward his or
her chosen topic?
3. Vanity. Does the source radiate the author‘s egotism?
4. Forces of Circumstances. Does the source testify to the fact that the author compromised the essence
of truth history due to various forces of circumstances?
5. Deference to Public Opinion. Does the source give reverence to public opinion which shades its
credibility?
6. Negligence. Does the source radiate the idea that the author became negligent of other historical
evidence that could strengthen it?
7. Indifference. Does the source provide insignificant knowledge?
8. Poor Analysis and Interpretation. Does the source manifest the author‘s poor analysing and
interpreting skills?
9. Literary Distortion. Does the source manifests the author‘s ability to present the truth by distorting his
or her analysis for some reasons such as the pressure to tell fabricated facts in order to consider public
opinion, and literary or dramatic motives?

1. In the process, texts refer to historical documents, while authors are their creator.
2. Identifying the motive of the author in writing the text is crucial in evaluating the text‘s veracity or
truthfulness.
3. The material is reliable when the author is presented the details of his account in consistent manner.
4. The author‘s credibility, technically so as the material, can be determined on the basis of his tone and
reliability. Inconsistently truthful author losses credibility despite the reliability of his texts.
5. Authors who are credible can be unreliable, so as reliable authors are not always credible.
6. In terms of objectivity, let us read Prof. Rael‘s explanation:
“Objectivity refers to an author‘s ability to convey the truth free of underlying values, cultural presuppositions,
and biases. Many scholars argue that no text is or ever can be completely objective, for all texts are the
products of the culture in which their authors lived. Many authors pretend to objectivity when they might
better seek for neutrality. The author who claims to be free of bias and presupposition should be treated with
suspicion: no one is free of their values. The credible author acknowledges and expresses those values so that
they may account for in the text where they appear.”
Deciphering Content of Related Primary Sources
 involves the thorough analysis of various forces that shaped a particular historical material
 will be able to analyse different primary sources
 various levels of analyses are but necessary to decipher a material‘s content and context

1. Who created the primary source (background, biases and stereotypes, points)?
2. Why and when was the primary source created?
3. What is the context of time when the source was created?
4. Are there clues within the primary source that place it to its context?
5. Does the context of the primary source corroborate or contradict with other existing sources?

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