DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,

INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

GE Hist 1: Readings in Philippine History

Week 2

Unit 1: Introduction to History: Definition, Issues, Sources

and Methodology

Topic: Sources of Historical Data

Learning Outcomes:
1. Compare and contrast primary and secondary sources,
external and internal criticisms.

Concept Digest

In studying history, historical sources are the historian’s

most important research tools. In general, historical
sources can be classified between primary and secondary
sources.

Primary sources are those sources produced at the same time

as the event, period, or subject being studied. It contains
original information that is not derived from
interpretation, summarizing or analyzing someone else’s
work. Furthermore, they are first-hand and not interpreted
by anyone else, they offer a personal point of view, and are
created by a witnesses of, or participants in, an event.

Secondary sources are those sources, which were produced by

an author who used primary sources to produce the material.
In other words, secondary sources are historical sources,
which studied a certain historical subject.

Both primary and secondary sources are useful in writing and

learning history. However, historians and students of
history need to thoroughly scrutinize these historical
sources to avoid deception and come up with the historical
truth. The historian should be able to conduct an external
and internal criticism of the source, especially primary
sources which can age in centuries.

Internal criticism is the examination of the truthfulness of

the evidence. It looks at the content of the source and
examines the circumstance of its production. It looks at the
truthfulness and factuality of the evidence by looking at
the author of the source; its context; the agenda behind its
creation; the knowledge which informed it; and its intended
purposes, among other.

Other methods also used are as follows:

1
 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

a. Positivism – emphasizes the mantra “no document, no

history”, where historian were required to show written
primary documents in order to write a particular historical
narrative.
b. Post colonialism - emerged in the twentieth century when
formerly colonized nations grappled with the idea of
creating their identities and understanding their societies
against the shadows of their colonial past.

c. Annales School of Thought – challenged the canons of

history, stating that history should not only be concerned
of states and monarchs.

d. Pantayong Pananaw (for us-from us perspective) –

highlights the importance of facilitating an internal
conversation and discourse among Filipinos about our own
history, using the language that is understood by everyone.

External criticism is the practice of verifying the

authenticity of evidence by examining its physical
characteristics; consistency with the historical
characteristic of the time when it was produced; and the
materials used for the evidence. Examples of the things that
will be examined when conducting external criticism of a
document include the quality of the paper, the type of ink
and the language and words used in the material, among
others.

References:

1. 2Candelaria, J.L. et. al. (2018) Readings in

Philippine History. Rex Book Store. Manila.

2
 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

2. History: Pallavi Talekau, Dr. Jyotrimayee Nayak,

Dr.S.Harichan