1.3.3 Thinking Like a Historian

 

What does the exercise of writing history entail?  This informative video looks into how a historian combines the crafts of storytellers, social scientists, and lawyers.

Guiding Questions

  1. Why is identifying cause and effect necessary for writing history?
  2. Why are theories necessary for practicing history? How would you go about proving your theory about an event that occurred in the past as accurate or inaccurate?
  3. Why do we end up with different interpretations of the same event? How do we decide between better and worse interpretations?

 

Thumbnail: Coat of arms of the Ottoman Empire, Istanbul. Photo Credit: PhotoLanda, 2014. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

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