Historical Research

Historical research answers the question, “How did things use to be?” When examining documents, historical researchers are faced with two key issues: primary versus secondary sources and external versus internal criticism.

A primary source was prepared by someone who was a participant or direct witness to an event. A secondary source was prepared by someone who obtained his or her information about an event from someone else.

External criticism refers to the authenticity of the document. Once a document has been determined to be genuine (external criticism), researchers need to determine if the content is accurate (internal criticism).

Del Siegle, Ph.D.
University of Connecticut
del.siegle@uconn.edu
www.delsiegle.info

updated 10/14/2009