Historical Thinking Skills

What is a primary source?

• Identify the author and the author’s purpose (before you read a document to determine if the source is trustworthy and believable).

• Evaluate language and evidence throughout a document to support the author’s claims

• a serious disagreement or argument dispute, quarrel, squabble, disagreement, dissension, clash

• descriptions or pictures of an event by someone who actually saw or lived through that event (diary or journal entry; photograph)

What is a secondary source?

• Evaluate language and evidence throughout a document to support the author’s claims.

• come from people who were not present at an event (textbook; encyclopedia)

• The act of thinking like a historian by utilizing historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, corroborating, and close reading. • sourcing: Identify the author and the author’s purpose (before you read a document to determine if the source is trustworthy and believable).

• descriptions or pictures of an event by someone who actually saw or lived through that event (diary or journal entry; photograph

What is historical thinking?

• seeming reasonable or probable. credible, reasonable, believable, possible, conceivable

• the available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid. proof, confirmation, verification, substantiation, corroboration, affirmation

• The act of thinking like a historian by utilizing historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, corroborating, and close reading.

What is sourcing?

• Identify the author and the author’s purpose (before you read a document to determine if the source is trustworthy and believable).

• Evaluate language and evidence throughout a document to support the author’s claims.

• Entails a comparison and contrast of the document with other sources to establish its accuracy and validity.

• Use background knowledge to infer the meaning of the document and the setting.

What is evidence?

• prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.

• an agreement or a settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions. agreement, understanding, settlement, deal, trade-off, bargain

• a serious disagreement or argument dispute, quarrel, squabble, disagreement, dissension, clash

• the available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid. proof, confirmation, verification, substantiation, corroboration, affirmation

What is bias?

• prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.

• the quality of being trustworthy or of performing consistently well. dependability, sureness, trustworthiness

• a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view. outlook, view, viewpoint, position, stand, stance

• seeming reasonable or probable. credible, reasonable, believable, possible, conceivable

What is reliability?

• an agreement or a settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions. agreement, understanding, settlement, deal, trade-off, bargain

• the available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid. proof, confirmation, verification, substantiation, corroboration, affirmation

• the quality of being trustworthy or of performing consistently well. dependability, sureness, trustworthiness

What is perspective?

• seeming reasonable or probable. credible, reasonable, believable, possible, conceivable

• the quality of being trustworthy or of performing consistently well. dependability, sureness, trustworthiness

• a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view. outlook, view, viewpoint, position, stand, stance

The textbook, newspaper, eyewitness and photo are all good _____________ when you want to get information

• Sources
• Information
• Places
• things

The same accident looked different to the three witnesses because they each had a different ____________ of the accident.

• Perspective
• Angle
• Motive
• Opinion