1. Aim: How Should I Think as an Historian?
Do Now: You are a reporter working on a story about Vladimir Putin. What are the most reliable sources you should use to write an unbiased news article?
Common Core RS 1, 6, WS 2

2. I What is history?
History tells the chronological story of events of our human past.
Chronology: Events that happen in order of time, from past to present.
A timeline is used to show chronology.
AD = Anno Domini “In The Year of Our Lord”
BC = Before Christ
Instead of using these religious terms, historians also can use
CE = Common Era
BCE = Before the Common Era
Answer the following :
Julius Caesar died in 44 BCE. How many years ago did he die?
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon in How many years ago did they land on the moon?
1 BC/ 1 BCE
1 AD/1 CE

3. What is history? Continued…
Julius Caesar died in 44 BCE. How many years ago did he die?
Answer: = 2063 years ago
2. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon in How many years ago did they land on the moon?
Answer: 2019 – 1969 = 50 years ago

4. II Analyzing Historical Sources
Analysis: To examine something carefully by breaking it down to its most essential parts.
Historians must determine if sources have bias (personal opinion).
Bias is often expressed in the following ways:
“loaded” language that is overwhelmingly positive or negative
author intentionally adds and emphasizes or leaves out information to support their opinion
language that is offensive based on gender, race, sexual orientation, nationality, ethnicity, or other characteristics

5. Historical Analysis Activity: Sourcing
You will analyze the following sources.
Who made this source? Where did it come from?
Determine if the source is primary or secondary.
Determine if the source is biased. If yes, how is it biased?
Is the source reliable? Why or why not?

6. Types of Sources for Current Events
Liberal
Conservative
CNN
MSNBC
Daily Show
Buzzfeed
NY Times
BBC
Politico
The Economist
NPR
Fox
Sean Hannity
Breitbart
Glenn Beck
Drudge Report
The Blaze
Wall Street Journal
International
RT – Russian News
Al Jazeera – Arab News
SCMP – South China Morning Post

7. Analyzing Historical Sources: Context
Historical Context: The political, social, cultural, and economic environment related to historical moments, events, and trends. Historical artifacts and sources were created within particular worlds and are tied to the political, social, and economic conditions of those worlds.
Geographical Context : Where a historical event took place and why it took place there; includes location, location relative to other places, geographic features, and climate.

8. Activity: Contextualizing
Describe the historical and geographical context of your sources.
Historical Context Questions:
Who produced the source?
When was it produced? How does the timing of its production relate to other events?
How might political, social, religious, or economic events occurring at the same time have influenced the production of the source?
How might common beliefs or trends during this time period have influenced the production of the source?
What terms or phrases are unclear? Is this because of the time period?
Geographical Context Questions:
Where did it happen?
What geographic features were nearby? How did those features affect how it happened?
What political region did it take place in?
What regions were nearby? What was the relationship between those regions?

9. Analyzing Historical Sources: Corroboration
Corroborating Sources: Examine if your sources support the same statement, theory, or finding. When a second source provides the same or similar information to the first, the second source is considered to corroborate (support, or agree with) with the first. Finding corroboration between sources strengthens your conclusions, especially when you are making a historical argument. Any information provided by one source that is not found in the other cannot be used in corroboration.

10. Analyzing Historical Sources: Corroboration Continued…
Activity: Examine your sources. Do the sources support the same statement, theory, or finding? Support your answer with evidence from the sources.
Information Found in Source 1
Information Found in Source 2
Information Found in Both Sources
What do you do if not all of your sources corroborate?
Reexamine the reliability of your sources.
Look for additional sources.
*Be careful to not just look for sources that support your historical argument. Try to be as objective as possible when choosing new sources.

11. III Historical Revisionism
A) Revisionist history reexamines history from a new perspective.
Focusing on the role of women or minorities
B) When Historical Revisionism Goes Wrong: When the goal is to hurt a group of people by rewriting history.
Holocaust revisionists deny that the Holocaust ever happened.
Key denial assertions are that the murder of approximately six million Jews during World War II never occurred, that the Nazis had no official policy or intention to exterminate the Jews, and that the poison gas chambers in Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp never existed. Common distortions include, for example, assertions that the figure of six million Jewish deaths is an exaggeration and that the diary of Anne Frank is a forgery.

12. MLA Format for Citations
Within the paper:
Numerous well-known children’s books include characters from a wide range of races and ethnicities, thus promoting diversity and multiculturalism. (Gutman 5).
Works Cited Page:
Austin, James, and Garry Coventry. Emerging Issues on Privatized Prisons. Bureau of Justice Assistance, Feb. 2001,
Beck, Allen J., and Paige Harrison. Prisoners in Bureau of Justice Statistics, Nov. 2004,

13. Key Vocabulary AD/BC Revisionist History Analysis Secondary Sources
BCE/CE
Sourcing
Bias
Chronology
Corroboration
Geographical Context
Historical Context
History
Holocaust Denial
Primary Sources