CHAPTER 1:

INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY: DEFINITION, ISSUES,

SOURCES, AND METHODOLOGY
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• To understand the meaning of history as an academic discipline and to
be familiar with the underlying philosophy and methodology of the
discipline.
• To apply the knowledge in historical methodology and philosophy in
assessing and analyzing existing historical narratives.
• To examine and assess critically the value of historical evidences and
sources.
• To appreciate the importance of history in the social and national life of
the Philippines.

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Class Activity:
• Sharing of life history

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Pre-test
1. History is the study of the past
2. Historical sources that were not written should
not be used in writing history.
3. The subject of historiography is history itself.
4. History has no use for the present, thus, the
saying “past is past” is true.
5. History is limited to the story of the hero versus a
villain.
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Pre-test
6. Only primary sources may be used in writing history.
7. There are three types of sources: primary, secondary and
tertiary sources.
8. External criticism is done by looking at a source’s quality of
paper and type of ink, among others.
9. Internal criticism is done by examining the physical
characteristics of a source.
10. The historians are the only source of history.

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Definition and Subject Matter
HISTORY
study of the past
Derived from the Greek word “Historia” which
means knowledge acquired through inquiry or
investigation
Traditional Historians - Account of the past through
written documents, “No document, No History”

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Definition and Subject Matter
The loophole of using written documents
History became more inclusive by using other
historical sources other than the written
documents like oral, artifacts, etc.

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Questions and Issues in History
• As a discipline: history versus historiography
• History is the study of the events happened in the
past
• Historiography is the study of history itself
(historian, method, perspective, sources)
• As a narrative, history is taught and written for its
intended audience

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Questions and Issues in History
Positivism – school of thought that requires
empirical, observable, and objective evidence in
arriving to conclusions
- no document, no history
Postcolonialism - school of thought that focuses on
the history and identity of the society and criticizing
the colonialism

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HISTORY AND THE HISTORIAN
• Is history an objective discipline?
• History is heavily influenced by the historian
• Facts cannot speak for themselves
• Historians give meanings to the facts
• History is subjective
• If that is so, can history still be considered as an
academic and scientific inquiry?

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HISTORY AND THE HISTORIAN
• The study of history remains scientific because of
the rigor of research and methodology that
historian employ.
• Data should be validated through oral and written
evidences.
• Bias and subjectivity is avoided if the Researcher
maintains the rigor of a research

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• WE ONLY GET A FRAGMENTARY, DISTORTED
VIEW; IT IS LIKE TRYING TO COMPLETE A
PUZZLE WITH A LOT OF ODDLY SHAPED &
MISSING PIECES.

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HISTORY AND THE HISTORIAN
• Annales School of History – school of history that
focuses on the social history, peasantry, medicine
and environment instead of the state and the
monarchs.

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Historical Sources:
• PRIMARY SOURCES – sources produced at the
same time as the event, period, or subject being
studied.
original research or information that have not been
interpreted, summarized, or analyzed for you
Example:
• original films, music, photographs, artworks, and
other creative works
• diaries, memoirs, letters, and personal journals
• interviews and eyewitness accounts
• government documents and public records
• newspaper articles or multimedia news reports
• original published research
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Historical Sources:
• SECONDARY SOURCES – sources which were produced
by an author who used primary sources to produce the
material.
sources have been evaluated, analyzed, or summarized
already to form some sort of conclusion.
Example:
• book reviews
• critical analyses
• second-person accounts
• biographical or historical studies
• research articles or studies that are based
on other original research
• textbooks
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Historical Sources:
• TERTIARY SOURCES – sources which were
produced by an author who used the secondary
sources.
sources are based on primary or secondary
sources, and may or may not be written by experts
in the field.
Example: wikipedia, encyclopedia, websites, dictionaries,
manuals, guidebooks, and handbooks, bibliography

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• The definition of primary, secondary, and tertiary resources
can vary depending on context. For example, criticisms of
original works are considered secondary resources;
however, if your research focus is a particular critic's
methods, then the critic's works would be considered
primary.
• Classification of sources between primary and secondary
sources depends on the historical subject being studied

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Historical Sources:
• One need to thoroughly scrutinize the historical
sources to avoid deception and to come up with
the historical truth.

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Historical Sources:
• EXTERNAL CRITICISM – verifying the authenticity of
evidence by examining its physical characteristics;
consistency with the historical characteristic of the
time when it was produced and the material used
for the evidence.
Example: the paper used, ink, penmanship,
language used

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Historical Sources:
• INTERNAL CRITICISM – examination of the
truthfulness of the evidence by looking at the
content of the source, author of the source,
context, agenda behind its creation , intended
purpose, etc.
 Validating historical sources is important because the use of
unverified, falsifiable, and untruthful historical sources can lead
to equally false accusations.

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Scandalous Cases
• Code of Kalantiaw
• Ferdinand Marcos as WW II soldier

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Philippine Historiography
Filipino Historian Zeus Salazar introduced the new
guiding philosophy for writing and teaching history:
“PANTAYONG PANANAW” (for us-from us
perspective).

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Post-test
1. Historical sources that were not written should
not be used in writing history.
2. History is the study of the past
3. History is limited to the story of the hero versus a
villain.
4. The subject of historiography is history itself.
5. History has no use for the present, thus, the
saying “past is past” is true.
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Post-test
6. Internal criticism is done by examining the physical
characteristics of a source.
7. The historians are the only source of history.
8. Only primary sources may be used in writing history.
9. There are three types of sources: primary, secondary and
tertiary sources.
10. External criticism is done by looking at a source’s quality of
paper and type of ink, among others.

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