Blog Post 4

How Do Historians Learn About the Past?  

Historians take several procedures and/or steps to learn about information from the past. The most commonly used method is called the historical method. The very first step in the historical method is to gather several sources and evidence. They need to make sure that they gather primary and secondary sources to get the most variety of information. After they do that the must categorize and determine their sources that they gathered.For example they need to determine if a source that they got is a written or if it is a non-written source. The next step is to evaluate their sources and make sure it is reliable, accurate, and genuine. Historians determine this by using the 5 w's questions: Who was the writer and/or creator? What kind of source is it? When was the source produced? Where was the source produced? Why was the source produced? By utilizing these questions, historians can determine if their sources are accurate, reliable, and genuine. The next step is to interpret their information. It basically means how the historians think the evidence fits together. The very last step is to share their findings or theories. They could do this by putting it in a magazine, online, or in a book.