Thinking like a
Historian
Cause and Effect
What were the
causes of past
events?
What were the
effects?
Using the Past
How does the
past help us
make sense of
the present?
Through Their
Eyes
How did people
in the past view
their world?
Change and
Continuity
What has changed?
Thinking
like a
Historian
What has remained
the same?
Turning Points
How did past
decisions or
actions affect
future choices?
What Questions Do We Ask of the Past?
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Cause and Effect
What were the causes
of past events?
What were the effects?
Who or what made
change happen?
Who supported
change?
Who did not support
change?
Which effects were
intended?
Which effects were
accidental?
How did events affect
people’s lives,
community, and the
world?
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Change and
Continuity
What has
changed?
What has
remained the
same?
Who has
benefited from
this change?
Who has not
benefited? And
why?
Turning Points
• How did past
decisions or
actions affect
future choices?
• How did
decisions or
actions narrow
or eliminate
choices for
people?
• How did
decisions or
actions
significantly
transform
people’s lives?
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Using the Past
How does the
past help us
make sense of
the present?
How is the past
similar to the
present?
How is the past
different from
the present?
What can we
learn from the
past?
Through Their
Eyes
• How did
people in the
past view
their world?
• How did their
world view
affect their
choices or
actions?
• What values,
skills, or forms
of knowledge
were needed
to succeed?
Tools of the
Historian
Primary and Secondary Sources
WHAT IS A PRIMARY
SOURCE?
Primary Sources
• Primary sources are the original sources
of information recorded at the time and
event occurred.
• First-hand accounts of events
• Data collected for scientific studies
• Historical documents
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WHY USE PRIMARY
SOURCES?
Why use primary sources?
WHAT ARE SOME
EXAMPLES OF
PRIMARY SOURCES?
Primary Source Examples
Diaries
Poetry
Personal Interviews
Government Documents
Autobiographies
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles
Photographs
Artifacts/Ephemera
Image taken from: http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Declarlnd.html
Examples of
Primary Sources
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC
WHAT IS A SECONDARY
SOURCE?
Secondary Sources
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WHY USE
SECONDARY
SOURCES?
Why use
secondary
sources?
• To get expert opinions in order to evaluate what
really happened.
• To gain insight by examining the same event from
different perspectives.
• To form your own opinion.
• To save time by reading information collected from
a number of different sources.
WHAT ARE
SOME
EXAMPLES OF
SECONDARY
SOURCES?
Secondary Source
Examples
Dictionaries
Encyclopedias
Articles that review other sources
Textbooks
Biographies
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Examples of
Secondary Sources
• Biographies
• Textbooks
• Encyclopedias
• Historiographies
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
Ask these basic questions about every source, no
matter how obvious the answer might seem.
Who wrote this?
Reading
Sources
What does it say?
When was it written?
Where was it written?
Why was it written?
Summing it Up
It is important to determine the type of information you are looking at.
• Primary sources are original sources of information
• Secondary sources summarize, analyze, or critique primary sources
• Both primary and secondary sources can be good sources of information, but you need
to critically evaluate them.