Thinking Like a Historian
Human life began many thousands of years ago and historians have a big job in front of them: To tell our story. They spend countless hours studying artifacts, reading and researching, making inquiries, and forming inferences based on the knowledge they gather. They have taken their research and created timelines for us to easily see our history and the history of the world in an organized way. Because of the hard work of historians, we know quite a bit about our human past. If you like learning about the past, perhaps you will study more about your family history or the history of your community. You, too, can be a historian!
historians have a lot of sources available to them when doing their research. All of those sources fit into one of two categories, primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are first-hand documents, like journals and diaries, pictures, artifacts, and other resources that come directly from the past. Studying primary documents and artifacts allow historians to reach conclusions about historical events and people. Reading secondary accounts can also be helpful because we can learn about what other historians think. historians also work with secondary sources. These might be textbooks, websites, biographies, artworks, or other documents that were written or created by a second person about the event or historical person. historians can be very "high tech" these days. They have many websites they use to find primary and secondary documents to help them with their work. Two common sites for them are the National Archives and the Library of Congress.
Even with all these wonderful websites, historians have to be careful about what they choose to study. It is important to know that not everything online is true! Believe it or not, some people put information online that is not historically accurate, but they make it look like it is. Because of this, you need to be careful about information a site claims is true. There are many credible websites in the world; you just have to know where to find them. Websites that include works like wikis or have information that anyone can comment on are generally websites to steer away from. On these sites, anyone can comment on anything. For example, someone who isn't a doctor could tell you how to fix a broken bone. Most of us would rather get that solution from a credible source, like a doctor!
historians also go to paper sources for information. Your library probably has a wonderful non-fiction section full of many books, magazines, and newspapers with great information as well. These resources may take a little more effort to find. It is important to note that many resources have been digitized, meaning that although they were only available in paper copy in the past, you can now find them on the web.
historians divide human history into two parts, BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era). BCE are things that happened very long ago. An important thing to realize is that you will often see times in history listed by their century. For example, many events in books you read happened in the 18th century. You may think this means they happened from 1800-1899. However, this is not the case. The 1st century is the years 1-99, the 2nd century starts with the year 100, and so on, so everything seems to be 100 years off, although it is not. This means that 18th-century events and people took place in the 1700s.
historians have a lot of sources available to them when doing their research. All of those sources fit into one of two categories, primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are first-hand documents, like journals and diaries, pictures, artifacts, and other resources that come directly from the past. Studying primary documents and artifacts allow historians to reach conclusions about historical events and people. Reading secondary accounts can also be helpful because we can learn about what other historians think. historians also work with secondary sources. These might be textbooks, websites, biographies, artworks, or other documents that were written or created by a second person about the event or historical person. historians can be very "high tech" these days. They have many websites they use to find primary and secondary documents to help them with their work. Two common sites for them are the National Archives and the Library of Congress.
Even with all these wonderful websites, historians have to be careful about what they choose to study. It is important to know that not everything online is true! Believe it or not, some people put information online that is not historically accurate, but they make it look like it is. Because of this, you need to be careful about information a site claims is true. There are many credible websites in the world; you just have to know where to find them. Websites that include works like wikis or have information that anyone can comment on are generally websites to steer away from. On these sites, anyone can comment on anything. For example, someone who isn't a doctor could tell you how to fix a broken bone. Most of us would rather get that solution from a credible source, like a doctor!
historians also go to paper sources for information. Your library probably has a wonderful non-fiction section full of many books, magazines, and newspapers with great information as well. These resources may take a little more effort to find. It is important to note that many resources have been digitized, meaning that although they were only available in paper copy in the past, you can now find them on the web.
historians divide human history into two parts, BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era). BCE are things that happened very long ago. An important thing to realize is that you will often see times in history listed by their century. For example, many events in books you read happened in the 18th century. You may think this means they happened from 1800-1899. However, this is not the case. The 1st century is the years 1-99, the 2nd century starts with the year 100, and so on, so everything seems to be 100 years off, although it is not. This means that 18th-century events and people took place in the 1700s.