The historical method: how to use evidence from primary and secondary sources

Learning objectives 

The student will:

• Understand the importance of the historical method and the development of critical thinking in history
• Use the inquiry process to draw upon evidence from both primary and secondary sources
• Analyze written and visual sources to determine their credibility and historical value
• Clearly communicate ideas through teamwork and group discussions.

Background 

The ability of students to study history is strongly influenced by their understanding of the very nature of historical accounts, as narrative constructs open to interpretation and assessment. The development of historical thought requires a particular way of understanding the realities of the past, in terms of either content or narrative. Students must develop their critical thinking skills, as all stories are reconstructions of the past inspired by certain contemporary perspectives. As a result, students cannot understand history without mastering the processes of critical thinking, along with the historical method of studying stories about the past.

The content of this virtual exhibition and the historical sources it presents offer a unique opportunity to study French life in the capital city of Ottawa using the tools of the historical method. In this lesson, students will be called upon to understand the use and interpretation of various historical sources. This lesson is intended to be transversal insofar as it enables students to acquire skills in the historical field that can be used to study different components of this virtual exhibition. It is therefore useful to refer to it throughout the visit and while working on the various proposed activities. More specifically, this lesson aims to answer the following question: how can we use the inquiry process to access evidence from primary and secondary sources?

Activity description

Scenario

The teacher reviews the process of inquiry necessary to develop the capacity for critical thinking in history. This process seeks to guide students in responding to the analytical question presented in each activity of the virtual exhibition. The process includes the following steps:

• Formulate analytical questions (What is my initial question? What should I address?)
• Collect sources and organize information (What sources and data are available?)
• Analyze and interpret the information collected (What do the sources reveal? What is the evidence?)
• Evaluate and draw conclusions (What conclusions can be drawn from this analysis?)
• Communicate the inquiry results (What is my response to the question?)

Methodology

The teacher tells students about the work to be completed during this activity, which is to understand the historical method and, more particularly, to use the evidence from historical sources available in written and visual forms.

The teacher starts by explaining the connections, but also the fundamental difference between memory and history. History is the story told of the past based on an inquiry process and a contemporary perspective on historical issues. Memory is a continuous phenomenon of acquisition and retention of recollections and stories specific to certain societies. While history is a reconstruction that is always experimental and subject to revision, memory is an absolute that depends on the dialectic of memory and amnesia, fueled by commemoration and the social frameworks that structure memory.

To fully understand the nature of history, it is important to grasp the foundations of its process, which involves a particular way of thinking about history. In order to adapt historical thinking to teaching purposes, researchers have drawn up a summary list of concepts that allow students to develop the capacity for historical thinking. Each concept can be considered as an angle for analyzing history, which takes the form of an intellectual operation. These concepts are developed throughout the virtual exhibition in the various lessons that accompany the historical components.

In a more focused manner, the teacher explains to students that the historical method is based on the study and analysis of primary and secondary sources. Primary sources such as letters, period newspapers, photos, and artifacts, are first-hand records (specifically, traces produced at the particular time we seek to study) that enable us to unveil certain secrets of the past, establish how the witnesses lived, or discover what they thought. For example, a photograph taken at a student rally protesting Regulation 17 in 1916 is an authentic record from the time in question. Secondary sources, for their part, are traces or testimonials produced in response to the events. They offer a complementary perspective (e.g. newspaper articles, history books, textbooks). An article published by a historian in 2017 on the topic of Regulation 17 is therefore a secondary source.

Reading a source to find historical evidence is complex. It involves establishing the validity of the source (seriousness, credibility), its reliability (how much we can trust it), the author, the context, and the message which is often “encoded” by the language and the culture of the time, meaning that the meaning is peculiar to the context. Evidence from the historical sources is based on notions of validity, interpretation and use of sources in the construction of historical arguments. This leads to the following questions: How can we establish what happened? Which version of the events should we accept? Is it a reliable historical source?

Application 

The teacher: 

• Explains the work to be completed during this activity to analyze historical sources and extract evidence for the development of arguments or stories.
• Provides each team with Worksheet 1: Analyzing historical sources (written).
• Explains to students that their work seeks to determine the importance and credibility of historical sources based on the following criteria:
  • Identification: what kind of source is it?
  • Attribution: who produced the source and why?
  • Contextualization: what is the perspective presented?
  • Validation: can the argument and the facts presented by the source be confirmed?
• Invites students to consult the historical source “Come back to Lower Town,” found in the SPACE theme, “Lowertown in the time of expropriation.” 
• Observes and guides students in their analysis of the written source.
• Encourages students to read and decode information from the source, as well as additional details provided in the virtual exhibition (e.g. reference, historical context).
• Ensures that each student completes Worksheet 1 and provides detailed answers based on elements of the virtual exhibition.

Discussion

The teacher:

• Invites a few students to present their results based on their Worksheet 1 answers.
• Asks other members of the class to join the student who presents results similar to their own (the teacher can assign students to groups as needed).
• Encourages students to compare similarities and differences among responses obtained by the members within each group.
• Facilitates a discussion with the class about the answers provided, with a view to exploring the reasons that can explain different findings among student responses.
• Invites students to revise their responses in the light of the discussion on historical method and critical thinking.
• Collects worksheets to provide written feedback.

Suggestions to encourage learning  

To promote use of the historical method, the teacher invites students to interpret visual sources. The teacher :

• Explains that visual sources such as images or photos, are excellent sources for learning about a historical event or period as they offer a unique “look” into the past. A particular type of analysis is, however, required to read and decode the information concealed in images. Visual sources often, in fact, present information in a language different from the writing in texts. That is why it is important to understand how to analyze this type of historical source.
• Provides each team with Worksheet 2: Analyzing historical sources (visual).
• Explains to students that their work seeks to determine the importance and credibility of historical sources based on the following criteria:
  • Attribution: who produced the source and why?
  • Contextualization: what is the perspective of the individual who created the image?
  • Validation: Can the message and the facts be confirmed?
• Invites students to view the introductory image “Queen Street, during the great fire of 1900” in the SPACE theme, “LeBreton Flats ill-treated by history.”
• Observes and guides students in their analysis of the visual source.
  • Encourages students to read and decode information from the source, as well as additional details provided in the virtual exhibition (e.g. reference, snapshot date, foreground and background elements, etc.).
  • Ensures that each student completes Worksheet 2 and provides detailed answers based on elements of the virtual exhibition.
  • Leads a class discussion of the responses to explore reasons that can explain differences in the analysis of historical sources and the importance of the historical method for understanding past events.
  • Invites students to use other visual sources from the virtual exhibition to understand the importance and the particular approach to analyzing sources in history.