Workshop 2 – Gathering
Evidence
Understanding Evidence
 Historical Sources
 Note-Taking

What is Evidence?

EVIDENCE is the data or pieces of information that
we use to help us build knowledge
– For historians, that data comes from historical
documents and accounts
– For this class, your evidence comes from lectures,
readings, and discussions
– Beyond history, evidence can be data your
company has compiled on quarterly sales,
interviews that a journalist conducts, a patient’s
history, etc.
How do we use Evidence?


Evidence is the building-block of our interpretations,
arguments, or understanding
– Evidence is how we know what we know
– Without evidence, all we have is an opinion
Evidence must be used in a factual and truthful manner
– Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their
own facts
– If your evidence is inaccurate, your conclusions,
interpretations, argument, or understanding will also
be inaccurate
Types of Historical Sources
Primary Sources
– Produced at the time of the event
– Newspapers, diaries, government documents, speeches,
pamphlets, etc
 Secondary Sources
– Produced by a scholar who studies the event
– Interpret the event; make an argument
– Historical monographs and articles
 (Tertiary Sources)
– Summarize the scholarship
– No original argument or interpretation
– Wikipedia, any encyclopedia, Khan Academy, any homework
site
– Not valid for use as historical sources in class

Reading Historical Sources
1.
2.
Read the document through once, for
comprehension
Read it through again, taking notes and
answering the critical questions
Critical Questions
These are the basic questions to ask when reading,
analyzing, and seeking to understand a source:
 Who wrote/created this? (What authority/knowledge
do they have on the subject? Requires more than a
name. Original author/creator/producer)
 What is their topic/subject? (What is this about?)
 What is their argument/purpose? (What do they
want you to know about the subject?)
 How do they support their argument/achieve their
purpose? (What is their evidence?)
 Why is this significant for our understanding of
history? (“So what?”)
Note-Taking
Note-taking is way to gather evidence from all
types of historical sources
 Goals of note-taking
– Be able the access the information in a
meaningful way at a later time
– Process and learn the information you are
hearing
 Note-taking is NOT
– Transcribing, or repeating, word-for-word
– Passive

Fundamentals
Content
– ORGANIZE – main idea, supporting ideas, supporting
evidence
– Identify the basics: who, when, what…. but don’t bog
down in details
– Concentrate on causation, significance, impact MEANING
of information
– Concentrate on NEW information, NOT writing down what
you already know
 Approaches to different types of note-taking
– Lectures: Use outline to help orient yourself to main ideas
versus supporting ideas versus supporting evidence
– Readings: Read it through once for comprehension,
second time for notes

Fundamentals


Organization (Organization is KEY to good notes!)
– Group information logically; keep it organized
– THINK while you write - this will help you know what to write
down, as well as understand and remember it
– Your goal is to be able to identify the main point, supporting
point(s), and supporting evidence
Logistics
– DO NOT use complete sentences!!!!!
– ABBREVIATE, ABBREVIATE, ABBREVIATE
– Leave out unnecessary words from phrases - leave out
unnecessary LETTERS from words
– Develop your own “shorthand” symbols, abbreviations, or
phrases for common terms (create a “legend”)
Additional Tips


ASK QUESTIONS
– when you need clarification – ask, or just shoot me
an email and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!
Using the Powerpoints
– Take notes on each bullet point as it comes
– Do not write down everything on a slide when the
slide first is shown, and then quit
Using Your Notes



After the lecture:
– Go back and FILL IN when necessary: fix abbreviations and
phrases, define terms you might forget, clean up messy
handwriting, etc. Make sure YOU KNOW what YOU MEAN in
your notes.
– Process what you learned. Highlight any main points. Draw
arrows to connect points, use stars to draw attention to a piece
of info, etc.
– Write a brief recap or summary of each section to sum up what
you’ve learned
– THINK about the information as you go over it!!
DON’T plan on taking poor notes to start with, and then going back
and re-doing them.
DON’T plan on transcribing the lecture, and making sense out of it
later.