HISTORY 11

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

MODULE FOR PRELIMINARY PERIOD

FIRST SEMESTER 2020-2021

BY
RENATO C. VALDEZ
IETT
Module Overview
Readings in Philippine History aims to equip/expose students with critical thinking and reading
skills by applying historical methodologies in the study of Philippine history. This module emphasizes
on the use of primary sources to view the past in the lens of eyewitnesses. The module’s approach is
focused on the analysis of the context, content, and perspective of selected primary sources, through
which students of history could be able to gain a better understanding of the past, deepening their sense
of identity, and locating themselves in the greater narrative of the nation.

Course Title: Readings in Philippine History

Course Description: The course analyzes Philippine History from multiple perspectives through the
lens of selected primary sources coming from various disciplines and different
genres. Students are given opportunities to analyze the authors background and
main arguments, compare different point of view, identify biases and examine the
evidences presented in the document. The discussion will tackle traditional topics
in history and other interdisciplinary themes that will deepen and broaden their
understanding of Philippine political, economic, cultural, social, scientific and
religious history. Priority is given to primary materials that could help students
develop their analytical and communication skills. The end goal is to develop the
historical and critical consciousness of the students so that they become versatile,
articulate, broadminded, morally upright and responsible citizens.
This course includes mandatory topics on Philippine Constitution, agrarian
reforms and taxation.

Units / Credit Equivalent: 3.0 units

Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, students should be able to:
1. Describe, analyze, and appreciate the rich history of the Filipino people, from pre-colonial times
to present through the lens of selected primary sources,
2. Critically examine from various perspective, primary sources that will enable them to understand
deeper the social, political, economic, religious and other major problems now faced by the
Filipino people,
3. Analyze and comprehend the context and perspective of selected primary sources to determine
their meaning, significance and relevance in terms of the sources’ contribution to our
understanding of Philippine history.
4. Effectively communicate and articulate using various techniques and genres, their historical
analysis of particular event or issue that could help other people to understand and manage
present day issues and concerns; and
5. Propose recommendations/solutions to present- day problems based on their understanding of
their root causes and their anticipation of an alternative future scenarios.

CHAPTER 1
Introduction to History: Meaning, Issues, Sources, Philosophy, Methodology and
Relevance
Learning Objectives:
• To understand better the term 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.
• Evaluate primary sources for their credibility. Authenticity and provenance.
• Analyze the context, content and perspective of different kinds of primary sources.
• To familiarize oneself with the primary documents in different historical periods of the
Philippines.

Chapter Outline

1. Definition, Questions and Issues in History

a. Defining History
b. Some comments about History
c. Why study History?
d. History Dedifferentiated

2. Theories of History
a. Cyclical View of History
b. Linear View of History
c. The Great God Views of History
d. The Great Man View of History
e. The Best People View of History
f. Ideas or the Great Mind View of History
g. The Human Nature View of History
h. Economic View of History
i. Gender History
j. Post Modern View of History
k. Other Views of History

3. Defining Historical Research

a. The Purpose of Historical research
b. Characteristics of Historical Research
c. Advantages and Disadvantages of Historical Research
 d. Steps in Historical Research

4. Sources of History
a. Distinction of Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources
b. Types of Primary Sources
c. Types of secondary Sources
d. Types of Tertiary sources
e. Repositories of Primary Sources
f. External and Internal Criticism

Prelim Period
Introduction
This chapter introduces history as a discipline and as a narrative. It presents the definition of
history, which transcends the common definition of history as the study of the past. This chapter also
discusses several issues in history that consequently opens up for the theoretical aspects of the
discipline. The distinction of primary and secondary sources is also discussed in relation to the historical
subject matter being studied and the historical methodology employed by the historians. Historical
criticism is also discussed in this chapter namely, external and internal criticisms. These are important
aspects in ascertaining the authenticity and reliability of primary sources upon which narrative are
created. Ultimately, this chapter also tackles the task of the historians as the arbiter of facts and
evidences in making his interpretation and forming historical narratives.

Lesson 1 Definition, Questions and Issues in History

A. What is History? How is it different from other discipline or other forms of writing? How is it
the same?
Take a look at the following definitions of history. Which one do you agree with?
History is ….
• History is a Greek and Latin word ioτopia, historia which means: information, a learning or
knowing by inquiry, narrative of the past, an account, a tale or story and a process of creation or
a formation of culture specifically a natural culture.
• An account of the unchanging past. (Nick Joaquin)
• The unending dialog between the past and the present…. The study of the past events. (Aristotle)
• The recorded struggle of people for ever increasing freedom and for higher realization of human
person. (Renato Constantino)
• Offers the key to national identity and the basis for future developments. (Dr. Jose P. Rizal)
 • Reflects the progress of civilization and societies. Man responds to situation placed before him.
The failure of the civilization to survive was a result of its inability to respond to challenges.
The general pattern is: GROWTH---- BREAKDOWN----DISSOLUTION (Arnold Toynbee)
• A recitation of unrelated facts that do not contribute to a larger story.
• An agreed upon set of facts or forever-fixed story that never subjected to changes and updates.
• A simple acceptance of what is written about a historical topic, events, or person.
• A simple chronology of famous dates, incidents and people.
• A strict reliance solely on the past with no examination of how the past has influenced the
present or how it may influence the future.
• About one absolute truth, one particular perspective, or one set of facts and figures.
• A chronological story telling in its finest form; it sequentially weaves together many related
historical and contemporary events and ideas that are linked to a larger story.
Here are some definitions of the nature of history:
• History is interpretative; it invites students to debate multiple perspectives, offer their opinions
and educated interpretations and challenge existing beliefs.
• History is revisionist in scope; it is on on-going conversation and a constant process or
reexamining the past and deconstructing myths based upon new discoveries, evidence, and
perspectives.
• History is a constant process of questioning; it requires questioning the texts, examining them
with a critical eye, and asking new questions.
• History is integrative of many disciplines; it especially incorporates geography, literature, arts,
sociology, economics and political science.
• History is inclusive; it ensures that the experiences of all classes, regions, and ethno-racial
groups, as well as both genders are included.
• History incorporates historiography; it includes many interpretations of historical events written
by many historians.
• History is relevant; it uses past experiences to explain what is important in our lives today.

It seems that a definition of history should include all things that ever happened. That definition
would include all physical events and occurrences. It would also seem that the definition of history
would be synonymous with a definition of the past- the sum total of all things that have ever happened.
But Robert C. Williams points out that the past is not history. Things may have happened in the past that
were not observed or recorded. History is therefore only the subset of the past. As a discipline, history is
a study of the past, but it will only reveal a portion of the past and should be done so as objectively as
possible.
There have been many different approaches to the study of history. Idealism is the belief that
history can be described in terms of ideas- what people thought and the intent behind their actions. The
idealist of the mid-to late 1800s cared not only about events, but on what those events meant. Attaching
meaning is not easy and entails problems associated with interpretation if those interpretations are biased
or incomplete. The problem with this view point is that we can’t always know what was intended.
Idealism can be limiting in accurately portraying events as they really happened.
Another approach by which to describe history is Historicism. Its premise is that “the autonomy
of the past must be respected” (John Tosh). Each age has its own values and events should be described
within the context of those values. One of the problems with historicism is that its approach is
tantamount to legitimization of events by respecting the values of the time. That approach inhibits our
ability to fully learn from mistakes of the past. Robert c. Williams stated that some of it has nurtured
totalitarianism- the political concept that the citizen be totally subject to an absolute state authority.
When meaning takes on life of its own and affects viewpoints that lead to ideologies that lead to
atrocious actions, then you have what humanity experienced with the Nazi Germany.
Relativism is the belief that there is no absolute truth and that all views of history are valid. The
metaphor of a cut diamond with many facets, each of which represents a unique view of the whole is
what relativism is like: each individual sees the world individually and each view is valid. Relativism
shows its inherent weakness when viewpoint attempts to deny history, especially in the overwhelming
proof. A view that the Holocaust never happened is not a view that should be accepted as relevant nor
should that view be worthy of respect.
Despite the approach taken, historians have many issues to deal with. One issue that a historian
must face is that of social memory. John Tosh describes social memory as being “based on consensus”.
But beliefs based on consensus can lead to error. Just because majority believes in something does not
make it valid. Perhaps the greatest problem for historians is in the accurate reporting of history. This
includes problems with perception and interpretation. One action or event may be interpreted differently
by different groups and by different individuals within a group.
Thomas Hobbes wrote in 1651, “The register of knowledge of fact is called history”. This
sentence can be broken down into reveling component parts:
“register” refers to the need of history to be recorded in some lasting medium (e.g., print, film, audio).
“knowledge of” refers to the importance of us needing to know about something. If we don’t know
about it, then won’t get reported or recorded.
“fact” is important in that we need truth not suppositions.
Another issue facing historians is understanding causation. Causation is the act or process of
causing something to happen or exist. To understand causation, it is important to understand what is the
difference between what is necessary and what is sufficient. When certain necessary factors are in place,
additional factors are sufficient to cause the event to occur.
Another issue that historians must consider is in how they present history to us. A sound and
convincing argument must be presented. Speculations must be kept to a minimum. Historians should not
manipulate evidence for revisionist purposes. For an argument to be valid, it should be based on sound
evidence. Logic should be employed to present a case such that evidence support premises and the
conclusions that are made.
 Historians must ask many questions during their research. Asking what, who, where, when,
how and why help ferret out the facts. Consider the following hypothetical example of basic questions
associated with a car bomb explosion: What? A bomb exploded in a car. Where? It happened in the
parking lot of ER Supermall in Mati Davao Oriental. Who? A father and three of his children inside the
car were killed. When? The bomb exploded on July 1, 2020 at approximately 5:30 in the afternoon.
How? The bomb was set off by use of a timer device.
Each one of the five answers above needs further refinement. For example, to obtain greater
detail for the who question, it must be asked if there were any other passengers in the car who survived.
Also, it should be ascertained if any bystanders were killed or injured.
Perhaps the most difficult question to answer in this example is the sixth question Why? The
first five questions relate to verifiable facts. The why question must go into the exploration of potentially
nebulous areas of the study of motivation such as ideology, religious fanaticism, and political
viewpoints. Interpretation must be thoughtfully performed to get true understanding.
Siegfried Krakauer wrote that a historian “is both passive and active, a recorder and creator”.
The historian researches, studies and collects data, and records it. But the in which it is recorded and
subsequently presented to the public is where the essence of creation comes in. the historian discovers
information’ and then constructs the method or medium through which to present it. Issues and events of
the past come together in the present mind of the historian to form the discipline of history. The present
is needed to acquire information, verify sources, piece the narrative together chronologically, and
present in such a way that the past is accurately depicted and comes alive as history. (Underwood,2008)
Some Comments about History from different scholars
“History is not just a catalog of
events put in the right order like a
railway timetable”—A.J.P. Taylor
“If you don’t know history, then
you don’t know anything. You
are a leaf that doesn’t know you
are a part of a tree” —Michael
Crichton
“To be ignorant of what
occurred before you were born is
to remain always a child.”—
Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Study the past if you would
define the future”—Confucius
“History is a wheel, for the
nature of a man is
fundamentally unchanging.
What happened before will
perforce happen again”
—George R.R. Martin
“A generation which ignores
history has no past- and no
future”—Robert A. Heinlein
“History is written by the
winners”
—Napoleon Bonaparte
“Those who cannot
remember the past, are
condemned to repeat it.”
—George Santayana
“The most effective way
to destroy people is to
deny and obliterate their
own understanding of
their history”
—George Orwell
“The history of all
hitherto existing society
is the history of class
struggles.”—Karl Marx
“He who cannot draw on
three thousand years is
living from hand to
mouth”
—Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe
“If are to make progress,
we must not repeat
history but make new
history. We must add to
inheritance left by our
ancestors.”
—Mahatma Gandhi
 “We are not makers of history. “Let us study things that
We are made by history.”— are no more. It is
Martin Luther King, Jr. necessary to understand
them, if only to avoid
them.”—Victor Hugo

“History is a guide to
navigation in perilous times. The lack of a sense of
History is who we are the history is the damnation
way we are.”—David of the modern world.”
McCullough —Robert Penn Warren

“A people without the

knowledge of their past “History will be kind to
history, origin and culture is me for I intend to write
like a tree without roots.”— it”
Marcus Garvey —Winston S. Churchill

Why study history?

"A future with your past"
History will give you a combination of skills and insights that will help you to:
• Prepare you for work
• Enable you to participate fully in society
• Develop you as a person
• History is very relevant to modern life
• Many books, films, and plays are inspired by historical events
• Many people enjoy history as a hobby, as can be seen in the popularity of history books, films and
documentaries.
• History also helps us to understand many of the issues that affect the world today
• By broadening your knowledge of current affairs, you are developing yourself personally and
preparing yourself more fully for adult and working life
• History is unique in that it investigates how human life has changed over time
• You will develop your understanding of change through the perspectives of political, social, cultural,
economic, religious and scientific history.

Relevance to life
• You will develop an appreciation of the society in which you live and of other societies, past and
present
• You will also develop a greater awareness of your own identity and traditions
• You will learn more about the particular role of women in shaping the past.

Relevance to careers
a. Employers tends to see those with a history education as:
• Independent thinkers
• Open-minded and objective
• Disciplined
• Good communicators
• Able to analyze issues and problems
• Able to put together logical arguments
b. Historians are regarded as having had an education that trains their minds to assemble, organize and
present facts and opinions and this is a very useful quality in many walks of life and careers … history is
excellent preparation for very many other jobs.

Communication skills
• The study of history is not just about interpreting the past but also presenting your thoughts
• History helps you to write in an organized, coherent, logical way, supporting your views with evidence
• This will help you in your other subjects, as well as in life and work later.
Research skills
Your study of the past will introduce you to many different types of evidence, such as:
• Maps • Photographs • Political cartoons • Diary entries • Memoirs
• Official records
• By exploring these types of evidence, you will enhance your research skills
• You will become skilled at locating historical data from different sources, evaluating it and recording
and presenting your findings
• You will also realize the importance of looking at issues from more than one point of view

Analytical skills
• You will also develop your ability to think critically, to evaluate the usefulness of sources, to detect
bias or propaganda

Information and Communication Technology ICT skills

• History allows you to access ICT, developing skills that are relevant to life and work today
• The Internet offers a huge range of appropriate historical web sites
• Many other electronic resources also exist for the study of histories, such as CD-ROMs, library
databases and catalogs
• The use of modern digital media makes studying history very enjoyable and stimulating.

" History is who we are and why we are the way we are "(David McCullough)
In conclusion, choosing history allows you to acquire a combination of skills and insights that will
• broaden your understanding of the world
• develop you as a person
• prepare you for a future career
• enable you to participate fully in society

History Differentiated
1. History vs. Past
The past is not the same as history. The past involves everything that ever happened since the
dawn of time-every though and action of man and woman on earth, every leaf that fell in the tree, and
every chemical change in the universe and others.
History, by contrast, is a process of interpreting evidence or records from the past in a thoughtful
and informed way. History is the narrative that gives meaning, sense, and explanation to the past in the
present.
2. History vs. Prehistory
History and prehistory show differences between them in their nature and substance. The main
difference between history and prehistory is the existence of records. History is the record of significant
events that happens in the past whereas prehistory is period of human activity prior to the invention of
writing systems.
3. History vs. The Other Discipline
 No discipline is an island. In the past hundred years or so, the ways that we study, write and
teach history have changed dramatically, often because of influence from other disciplines. Where does
history stand today in its relationship with its close relatives in the social science and humanities? Do
other disciplines use historical methodology? Does this alone make them historians?
4.History, Historicity, and Historiography
In a nutshell, history is a narrative account used to examine and analyzed past events.
Historicity is the authentication of characters in history as opposed to legend or myth.
Historiography is the writing of history and the understanding how the interpretations of the
historians change over time. But what is the difference among history, historicity and historiography?
Are they compatible enterprises? And if compatible, how dependent are they among each other?
5.History vs Herstory
The word “history” (from Greek word ioτopia, historia meaning, “inquiry, knowledge acquired
by investigation”) is etymologically unrelated to the possessive pronoun his. Traditionally, history has
been defined as “the study of the past as it is described in written documents.” Feminist argued that it
has been men (“his”, “story”) who usually have been the ones to record the written past.
Herstory, by contrast, is history from a feminist perspective, emphasizing the role of women, or
told by woman’s point of view. It is a neologism coined as a punt with the word “history”, as part of a
feminist critique of conventional historiography, which in their opinion is traditionally written as “his
story,” i.e., from the masculine point of view. What about women? Should an event in the past that was
written down be called “herstory?” (History,” 2018; Herstory,” 2018)

Lesson 2 Theories and Philosophies of History

Even among historians, philosophers, thinkers and social scientist, there are different views
on how history develops or progresses. Here are some of these views:

1.Cyclical View of History

A cyclical view of history stems from the histories of the Greeks. The Greeks thought that
events recurred on a regular basis.
Herodotus’ (484-424 BCE) work Histories, is the story of men and states recurring cycles.
Thucydides (460-404 BC) envisioned time as recurring in a cyclical fashion process which man
were unable to control.
Petrarch (1304-1374) revived the cyclical concept of history in the fourteenth century. He
differed slightly from the Greeks in suggesting the basis of history was the actions of people
rather than the whims of the gods.
 Machiavelli (1469-1527) saw history as being cyclical and suggested that history could be seen
as a casebook of political strategy.
Arnold Toynbee (1884-1975) and Oswald Spengler (1880-1936) based their work on the
premise that history is cyclical: civilization rise and fall, each new one rising to a greater level

2. Linear View of History

The linear view of history implies the acceptance or subscription to linear time. It views that
history is progressive, moving forward and not having a cyclical return.
Augustine (350-430 BCE) saw history as being the unfolding of the plan of God, a process that
would end in the Final Judgment.
Voltaire (1694-1788) saw history as being linear, but in some secular way. He envisioned four
great ages of man culminating in the scientific enlightenment of Newton.
Marxist historians also subscribe to linear view of history in the sense that they see history as a
series of class struggles that inevitably ends in workers’ revolution.
H.G.Wells (1886-1946) describe history as a race between education and disaster, either as
world cataclysm or a world state.

3.The Great God View of History

The most primitive attempts to explain the origin and development of the world and man are the
creation myths to be found among preliterate peoples. We are best acquainted with the one in Genesis
which ascribes the making of heaven and earth with all its features and creatures to the Lord God who
worked on six-day schedule. These fanciful stories do not have any scientific validity.
Just as the royal despots dominated the city states and their empires, so the will, passions, plans
and needs of the gods were the ultimate causes of events. The king is the agent who maintains the world
in being by means of an annual contest with the powers of chaos. This theological theory was elaborated
by the Sumerians, Babylonians and Egyptians before it came down to the Greeks and Romans. It was
expounded in the Israelite scriptures whence it was taken over and reshaped by the Christians and
Mohammedan religions and their state. (Novack, n.d.)

4.Great Man View of History

The “Great Man” theory suggest that dominant personalities determine the course of history.
Rulers, warriors, statemen, are the decisive forces in history and history is the record of the deeds of
great people.
The Great Man view has had numerous incarnations according to values attached at different
times by different people to the various domains of social activity. In antiquity, these ranged from the
divine monarch, the tyrant, lawgiver (Solon), the military conqueror (Alexander), the dictator (Caesar),
the hero-emancipator (David), and the religious leaders (Jesus Christ, Buddha, Mohammed). All these
were put in place of the Almighty as the prime mover and shaper of human history. (Novack, n.d.)
5.The Best People View of History
This view believes that some elite, best race, the favored nation, the ruling class alone make
history.
The old Testament assumed that Israelites were God’s chosen people.
The Greeks regarded themselves as the acme of culture, better in all respects than the
barbarians.
Plato and Aristotle look upon the slave-holding aristocracy as naturally superior to the lower
orders. (Novack, n.d.)
Hitler thought that the Arian race was the best among races.

6.Ideas or the Great Mind View of History

This view of history is one in which the driving force in history is people’s ideas. The conditions
that create history are created or changed by ideas.
The Greek Anaxagoras said: “Reason (Nous) governs the world”.
Aristotle held that the prime mover of the universe and the ultimate animator of everything
within is God, who is defined as pure mind engage in thinking about itself.
G.W.F. Hegel (1770-1831) view history as the continual refinement of intellectual
understanding. The progress of mankind consisted in the working out and consummation of an idea. He
wrote: “Spirit or Mind, is the only motive principle of history.” The underlying goal of the World Spirit
and the outcome of its laborious development was the realization of the idea of freedom.
Some 18th century rationalist believed that “opinion governs mankind.” They looked toward an
enlightened monarch to introduce the necessary progressive reconstruction of the state and society.

7.The Human Nature View of History

This view believes that history, in the last analysis, has been determined by the qualities of
human nature, good or bad. Human nature, like nature itself, was regarded as rigid and unchanging from
one generation to the other. The historian’s task was to demonstrate what this invariant trait of human
constitution and character were, how the course of history exemplified them, and how the social
structure was molded or had to be remodeled in accordance with them. (Novack, n.d.)
Thucydides, believe that human nature “human nature and human behavior were-essentially
fixed qualities, the same in one century as another.”
David Hume asserts that “Mankind are so much the same, in all times and places, that history
informs us nothing new strange in this particular. Its chief use is only to discover the constant and
universal principles of human nature.”
 E.B. Tylor wrote in 1889: “Human institutions, like stratified rocks, succeed each other in series
substantially uniform over the globe, independent of what seems the comparatively superficial
differences of race and language, but shaped by similar human nature.”

8. Economic View of History

The economic view of history sees economic factors as the most important determinant of
history. The production and exchange of goods and services is the bases of all social structures and
processes. The economic factor is the foundation for superstructure of culture and government.
Karl Marx (1818-1883) is the foremost proponent of this view. He disagreed with Hegel by
saying that it not ideas that created material conditions, but rather the reverse.

9. Gender History
Gender history looks at the past from the perspective of gender. It considers in what ways
historical events and periodization impact women differently from men.
Joan Kelly questioned whether the notion of a renaissance was relevant to women in a seminal
article in 1977, Did women have Renaissance?
Gender historians are interested in how gender difference has been perceived and configured at
different times and places, usually with the assumption that such differences are socially constructed.
In the 80’s with the rise of feminist movement, the focus shifted to uncovering women’
oppression and discrimination. Now a days, gender history is more about charting female agency and
recognizing female achievements in several fields that that were usually dominated by men. (Wikipedia,
2018)

10. Post-modern View of History

The postmodern view of history differs dramatically from that of all other worldviews. While a
Christian worldview sees history as the grand unfolding of God’s divine plan to redeem the fallen
humanity, the radical Postmodernist on the other hand sees no ultimate purpose in history.
Postmodernist view history as “what we make of it.” They believe that historical facts are
inaccessible, living the historians to his or her imagination and ideological bent to reconstruct what
happened in the past. They used the term historicism to describe the view that all questions must be
settled within the cultural and social context in which they are raised.
Both Jacques Lacan (1901-1981) and Michel Foucault (1926-1984) argued that each historical
period has its own knowledge system and individuals are unavoidably entangled within these systems.
Answers to life’s questions cannot be found by appealing to some external truth, but only the norms and
forms within each culture that phrases the question.
 Most postmodernist doubt that an accurate telling of the past is possible because they blur the
difference between fact and fiction-some even claim that all historical accounts are fiction. Foucault is
one of the originators of this Postmodern approach to history, which offers a profound challenge to the
norm. (All About Worldview, n.d.)

11.Other Views of History

There are a number of other theories that attempts to explain history. Some historians suggest
that history is the result of geographic factors, and others suggest that wars determine history. Still
others suggest that religion, race, or climate determine the course of history.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) saw history as having no beginning or end, just chaos that
could only understood by the powers of mind.
Michel Foucault (1926-1984) posited that victors of social struggle used their political
dominance to suppress a defeated adversary’s version of historical events in favor of their own
propaganda, which may go so far as historical revisionism, as in the cases of Nazism and Stalinism.
(“Philosophy of History-By Branch/ Doctrine-The Basics of Philosophy,” n.d.)

Lesson 3 Historical Research and Important Sources of History

1. Defining Historical Research
Historical research “comprises the techniques and guidelines by which historians use primary
sources and other evidence, including the evidence of archaeology, to research and then write histories
in the form of an account of the past.” (“Historical Method-Wikipedia,” 2017)
The historical approach “is employed by researcher who are interested in reporting events and/or
conditions that occurred in the past. An attempt is made to establish facts in order to arrive at
conclusions concerning past events or predict future events” (Key, 1997)
Examples of Historical Research
1. From Chalkboard to Whiteboard: A Historical Study of Teaching Instruction
2. A Study of the Effects of the Historical Decisions of Philippine Supreme Court on Philippine
Prisons.
3. A Study of the Evolution of Print Journalism in the Philippines through a Study of
Collections of Newspapers (BCPS,2010)

a. The Purpose of Historical Research

The main purpose of Historical Research is to describe and examine events of the past to
understand the present and anticipate the potential effects of the future.
 The purpose of historical research is to reach insights or conclusions about past persons or
occurrences. Historical research entails more than simply compiling and presenting factual information.
(“Historical Research Methods,” n.d.)

Educational researchers conduct historical studies for a variety of reasons, but perhaps the most
frequently cited is to help people learn past failures and successes.
When well-designed and carefully executed, historical research can lead to the confirmation or
rejection of relational hypothesis. (Fraenkel and Wallen, n.d.)

Typically, histories focus on particular individuals, social issues and links between the old and
the new. Some historical researches are aimed at reinterpreting prior historical works by revising
existing understanding and replacing them with new, often politically charged ones. (“Historical
Research Methods,” n.d.)

Histories are powerful because they both create and reinforce collective identities. Without a
history it is difficult to know who one is, where one comes from or where one is headed. It is difficult to
belong or have direction. History is like a collective memory, which historians produce about the past
(Marwick, 2001). Having a history is important because what happened in the past profoundly affects all
aspects of our lives and will affect what will happen in the future. (Bryant et al., 2013, p.4)

b. Characteristics of Historical Research

1. The unique characteristic of historical research is that it focuses exclusively on the past.
(Fraenkel and Wallen, n.d.)

2. Historical research is not a mere accumulation of facts and data or even a portrayal of past
events. It is a flowing, vibrant report of past events which involves an analysis and
explanation of these occurrences with the objective of recapturing the nuances, personalities
and ideas that influenced these events.

3. Conducting historical research involves the process of collecting and reading the research
material collected and writing the manuscript from the data collected. The researcher often
goes back-and-fort between collecting. Reading, writing. the process of data collection and
analysis are done simultaneously are not two distinct phases of research.

4. It deals with discovery of data that already exist and does not involve creation of data using
structured tools.

5. It is analytical in that it uses logical induction.

6. It has a variety of foci such aa issues, events, movements and concepts.

7. It records and evaluates the accomplishments of individuals, agencies or institutions.

(University of Calicut, n.d.)
c. Advantages and disadvantages of Historical Research

Advantages:
1. The main advantage of historical research is that it permits the investigation of topics that could
be studied in no other way. It is the only research method that can study evidences from the
past. (Fraenkel and Wallen, n.d.)

2. The historical method is well suited for trend analysis

3. The research is not physically involved in the situation under study.

4. No danger of experimenter-subject interaction

5. Documents are located by the researcher, data is gathered, and conclusions are drawn out of
sight.

Disadvantages

1. A disadvantage is that controlling for many of the threats to internal validity is not possible in
historical research. Many of the threats to internal validity are likely to exist in historical
studies. (Fraenkel and Wallen, n.d.)

2. The researcher cannot control for the threats to internal validity.

3. Limitations are imposed due to the content analysis

4. Researcher cannot ensure representation of the sample.

5. There is bias in interpreting historical sources.

6. Interpreting sources is very time consuming.

7. Availability of the sources of historical materials may be problematic.

8. There is lack of control over external variables.

c. Steps in Conducting Historical Research

There are four essential steps involved in conducting historical study. These includes:
1. Identifying topic/subject and defining the problem or hypothesis to be investigated.
2. Searching for sources of data and other relevant source materials.
3. Summarizing and evaluating the sources the researcher is able to locate.
 4. Analyzing, synthesizing and interpreting the evidences obtained and then drawing
conclusions about the problem or hypothesis.

Since most of historical studies are largely quantitative in nature, the research for sources of
data, evaluating, analyzing, synthesizing and summarizing information and interpreting the
findings may not always be discreet, separate, sequential steps i.e. the sequence of steps in
historical research is flexible. (Fraenkel and Wallen, n.d. University of Calicut, n.d.)

Lesson 4. Important Sources of History

a. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES

Most historical source materials can be grouped into four basic categories. These are: documents,
numerical records, oral statements and relics.

1. Documents are written or printed materials that have been produced in one form or another
sometime in the past.
2. Numerical records include any type of numerical data in printed or handwritten form.
3. Oral statements include any form of statement made orally by someone.
4. Relics are any objects whose physical or visual characteristics can provide some
information about the past.

The main emphasis in historical research is on interpretation of documents, diaries and the like.
Historical data are categorized into primary and secondary sources.
A primary source is one prepared by an individual who was a participant in, or a direct witness
to, the event that is being described.
Primary sources include first-hand information, such as eye witness repost and original
documents.
A secondary source is a document prepared by an individual who was not a direct witness to an
event, but who obtained his or her description of the event from someone else.
Secondary sources include secondhand information, such as a description of an event by
someone other than eye witness or a textbook author’s explanation of an event or theory.
Primary sources may be harder to find but generally more accurate and preferred by historical
researchers. A major problem with such historical research is excessive reliance on secondary sources.
2.DISTINCTION OF PRIMARY, SECONDARY AND TERTIARY SOURCES

Historians encounter a large variety of sources during the course of their studies. Sources can be
labeled primary, secondary and tertiary sources depending on their distance from the information they
share.
1. Primary Sources
 Primary sources give firsthand, original and unfiltered information. Examples are eyewitness
account, personal journals, interviews, surveys, experiments, historical documents and artifacts.
These sources have a close, direct connection to their subjects.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Primary Sources

Primary sources directly address your topic and often provide information that is unavailable
elsewhere. For example, the questions you compose for an interview or a survey will likely target your
unique interest in the topic. Similarly, to test a particular hypothesis, you can design your own
experiment.
On the other hand, some primary sources such as eyewitness accounts may be too close to the
subject, lacking a critical distance. Others such as interviews, surveys, and experiments are time
consuming to prepare, administer and analyze.
2. Secondary Sources

Secondary sources are one step removed from the topic. While they can be just as valuable as
primary sources, you must remember that secondary information is filtered through someone else’s
perspective and may be biased.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Secondary Sources

Secondary sources provide a variety of expert perspectives and insights. Also, peer review
usually ensures the quality of sources such as scholarly articles. Finally, researching secondary sources
is more efficient than planning, conducting and analyzing certain primary sources.
In contrast, because secondary sources are not necessarily focused on your specific topic, you
may have to dig to find applicable information. Information may be colored by the writer’s own bias or
faulty approach.
3. Tertiary Sources

Tertiary sources provide third-hand information by reporting ideas and details from secondary
sources. This does not mean that tertiary sources have no value, merely that they include the potential
for an additional layer or bias.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Tertiary Sources

Tertiary sources offer a quick easy introduction to your topic. They may point to high-quality
primary and secondary sources.
Conversely, because of their distance, tertiary sources may oversimplify or otherwise distort a
topic. By rehashing secondary sources, they may miss new insights into a topic.

Differences between Primary Sources and secondary sources

 Sources of information are often categorized as primary or secondary depending upon their
originality. What are the differences between primary sources and secondary sources?
Primary Sources Secondary Sources
• Created at the time of the event, or very • Created after event; sometimes a long
soon after time after something happened
• Created by someone who saw or heard • Often uses primary sources as examples
an event themselves • Expresses an opinion or an argument
• Often one-of-a kind, or rare about a past event
• Letters, diaries, photos and interviews • History text books, historical movies and
(can all be primary sources) biographies (can all be secondary
sources)

3.Types of Primary Sources

People use original, first-hand accounts as building blocks to create stories from the past. These
accounts are called primary sources, because they are the first evidence of something happening or being
thought or said. Some example of primary sources formats includes:
1.Autobiographies and Memoirs

An autobiography is an account of a person’s life written by that person. Autobiographical

works can take many forms, from the intimate writings made during life that were not necessarily
intended for publication (including letters, diaries, journals, memoirs and reminiscences) to a formal
book-length autobiography. (Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d.)
A memoir is a history or record composed from personal observation and experience. Closely
related to and often confused with autobiography, a memoir usually differs chiefly in the degree of
emphasis placed on external events; whereas writers of autobiography are concern primarily with
themselves as subject matter, writers of memoir are usually persons who have played roles in or have
been close observers of historical events and whose purpose is to describe or interpret the event.
(Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d.)
2.Diaries, Personal Letters, and Correspondence

A diary, a form of autobiographical writing is a regularly kept record of the diarist’s activities
and reflections. Written primarily for the writer’s use alone, the diary has frankness that is unlike writing
done for publication. (Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d.)
A Personal letter is a type of letter (informal composition) that usually concerns personal
matters (rather professional concerns) and is sent from one individual to another. (Nordqvist, 2013)
A correspondence is a body of letters or communications. If you’ve ever had a pen pal or an
email buddy, you’ve written plenty of correspondence. (Vocabulary, n.d.)
3.Interviews, Surveys and Fieldwork
 An interview is a conversation where questions are asked and answers are given. In common
parlance, the word “interview” refers to one-on-one conversation with one person acting in the role of
the interviewer and interviewee. The interviewer asks questions, the interviewee responds, with
participants taking turns talking. Interviews usually involve a transfer of information from interviewee to
interviewer, which usually the primary purpose of interview, although information transfers can happen
in both directions simultaneously. (Wikipedia, 2018)
A survey is a list of questions aimed at extracting specific data from a particular group of people.
Surveys may be conducted by phone, mail, via internet, and sometimes face-to-face on busy street
corners or in malls. Survey research is often used to assess thoughts, opinions, and feelings. Surveys can
be specific and limited, or they can have more global, widespread goals. (Wikipedia, 2018)
A field research or fieldwork is a collection of information outside a laboratory, library or
workplace setting. Field research involves a range of well-defined, although variable, methods: informal
interviews, direct observation, participation in the life of the group, collective discussions, analyzes of
personal documents produced within the group, self-analysis; results from activities undertaken off-or
on-line, and life-histories. (Wikipedia, 2018)
4.Photographs and Posters

Photographs and posters are often considered as primary sources, because photographs and
posters can illustrate past events as they happened and people as they were at a particular time.
5.Works of arts and Literature

In fine arts, a work of art, an artwork, or a work is a creation, such as song, book, print sculpture
or painting that have been made in order to be a thing of beauty in itself or a symbolic statement of
meaning, rather than having a practical function. Art can take the form of:
Paintings: a form of visual art where paint or ink is used on a canvas or more often in the past,
wooden panels or plaster walls, to depict an artist’s rendering a scene or even of an abstract, non-
representational image.
Drawing: a form of visual art in which a person uses various drawing instruments to mark paper
or another two-dimensional medium. Instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes,
wax colored pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, various kinds of erasers, markers, styluses,
various metals (such as silverpoints) and electronic drawing.
Literature: a body of written works. The name has traditionally been applied to those
imaginative works of poetry and prose distinguished by the intentions of their authors and the perceived
aesthetic excellence of their execution. Literature can be classified according to the variety of systems,
including language, national origin, historical period, genre, and subject matter.

6.Speeches and Oral Histories

 A speech is a form of communication in spoken language made by a speaker before an audience
for a given purpose. (Dictionary, n.d.)
Other types of primary sources include books, magazines and newspaper articles and ads
published at the time of the event and artifacts of all kinds, such as tools, coins clothing and furniture,
etc.

4.Types of secondary Sources

Secondary sources were created by someone who did not experience first-hand or participate in
the events or conditions you’re researching. Some types of secondary sources include: bibliographies,
nonfiction texts such as biographical works, periodicals, newspapers, magazines, journals, history
books, works of criticism and interpretation, commentaries and treaties, textbooks, video commentaries
and multimedia reports.
1.Bibliographies

An annotated bibliography is an organized list of sources, each of which is followed by a brief

note or “annotation.” These annotations do one or more of the following: describe the content and focus
of the book article, suggest the source’s usefulness to your research, evaluate its method, conclusions or
reliability and record your reactions to the source. (University of Wisconsin System, 2018)
2.Biographical Works

A biography is a description of real person’s life, including factual details as well as stories
from the person’s life. The word biography comes from the Greek works bios, meaning “life” and
graphia, meaning “writing”. Biographies usually include information about the subject’s personality and
motivations, and other kinds of intimate details in a general overview or profile of a person’s life.
(Literary Devices, 2026)
3.Periodicals

Periodicals are newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals- all of which are published
“periodically.” Some periodicals are in print, some are electronic, and some use both formats (often with
added information or multimedia elements in the electronic version.)
A. Newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events.
Newspapers can cover wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports and arts and often include
materials such as opinion columns, weather forecast, and reviews of local services, obituaries, birth
notices, crosswords, editorial cartoons, comic strips and advice columns. (Wikipedia, 2018)
B. Magazine and Journal
Unlike daily newspaper, magazines and journals may be published weekly, monthly, quarterly,
annually or at some other interval. Print editions use better papers and more color than newspapers do.
The main difference between magazines and journals is their audience. Journals are written by scholars
for scholars; magazines are produced by professional writers and editors for general readership.
4.Literature review and review articles (e.g., movie reviews, book reviews)

A literature review is an evaluative report of information found in literature related to your

selected area of study. The review should describe, summarize, evaluate, and clarify this literature. It
should give theoretical base for research and help you (the author) determine the nature of your research.
(Central Queensland University., 2018)
A review article summarizes the current state of understanding on a topic. A review article
surveys and summarizes previously published studies, rather than reporting new facts or analysis.
Review articles are also called survey articles or in news publishing overview articles. Academic
publications that specialize in review articles are known as review journals. (Wikipedia, 2018)
Film Review
The film review is a popular way for critics to assess a film’s overall quality and determine
whether or not they think the film is worth remembering. Film reviews differ from scholarly film articles
in that they encompass personal and idiosyncratic reactions to and evaluation of a film, as well as
objective analysis of the film’s formal techniques and thematic content. (Duke Thompson Program, n.d.)
Book Review
A book review is a form of history criticism in which a book is analyzed based on content, style,
and merit. A book review may be a primary source, opinion piece, summary review or scholarly review.
Books can be reviewed for printed periodicals, magazines, and newspapers, as a school work, or for
book web sites on the Internet. A book review’s length may vary from a single paragraph to a substantial
essay. Such a review may evaluate the book on the basis of personal taste. Reviewers may use the
occasion of a book review foe an extended essay that can be closely or loosely related subject of the
book, or to promulgate their own ideas on the topic of a fiction or non-fiction work. (Wikipedia, 2018)

Other types of secondary sources include history books and other popular or scholarly books,
works of criticism and interpretation, commentaries and treaties, textbooks, video documentaries, and
multi-media reports.

5.Types of Tertiary Sources

1. General references such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, and atlases
2. Crowd sources Wikipedia, YouTube, message boards and social media sites like Twitters and
Facebook
3. Search Sites
6.Repositories of Primary Sources
There is no single repository of primary sources. Primary sources are usually located in archives,
libraries, museums, historical societies and special collections.
A library is a collection of sources of information and similar resources, made accessible to a
defined community for reference or borrowing. It provides physical or digital access to material and
maybe a physical building or rooms, or a virtual space or both. A library’s collection can include books,
periodicals, newspapers, manuscripts, films, maps, prints, documents, microforms, CD’s, cassettes,
video tapes, DVD’s, Blu-ray Disc, e-books, audio books, databases, and other formats. Libraries range
in size from a few shelves of books to several million items. (Wikipedia, 2018)
An archive is an accumulation of historical records or the physical place they are located.
Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or
organization’s lifetime and are kept to show the function of that person or organization. professional
archivist and historians generally understand archives to be records that have been naturally and
necessarily generated as a product of regular legal, commercial, administrative or social activities. They
are metaphorically defined as “the secretion of an organism” and are distinguished from documents that
have been consciously written or created to communicate a particular message to posterity. (Wikipedia,
2018)
A museum is an institution that cares for (conserves) a collection of artifacts and other objects of
artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these items available
for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. (Wikipedia, 2018)
A historical society (sometimes also called as preservation society) is an organization dedicated
to preserving, collecting, researching and interpreting historical information or items. Originally, these
societies are created as a way to help future generations understand their heritage. (Wikipedia, 2018)
In library science, special collections (Spec. Coll. Or S.C.) are libraries or library units that
house materials requiring specialized security and user services. Materials housed in special collections
can be in any format (including rare books, manuscripts, photographs, archives, ephemera, and digital
records), and are generally characterized by their artifactual or monetary value, physical format,
uniqueness or rarity, and/or an institutional commitment to long-term preservation and access. They can
also include association with important figures or institutions in history, culture, politics, sciences, or the
arts. (Wikipedia, 2018)

Document Collection
Document is used in Historical Research and in other research deigns in combination with other
ways of data collection. Here are some documents that can be used by the researcher as a source of data.
1. Found Documents: Produced by Organizations
a. Formal Records: personnel, sales records, shareholder reports and minutes of the meeting.
b. Informal Communications: notes, memos and emails.
c. Public Records: electoral registers, register of births, marriages and deaths.
 2. Found Documents: Produced by Individuals
a. Personal papers: diaries, logs, letters, phone texts and emails.
b. Documents from everyday lives: shopping list, bus plane and train tickets.

3. Found documents: Publications

a. Academic literature
b. Popular literature
c. Guides, manuals

4. Found Documents: Secondary Data

a. Research data and field notes from previous studies
b. Publicly founded surveys
c. Internal organizational research

5. Found Documents: Multimedia

a. Photos, videos, comic strips, signpost, models
b. Sound and music
c. Electronic sources-screenshots, websites, online communities’ archives

6. Researcher Generated Documents

a. Field notes
b. Photographs
c. Diagrams
d. Storyboards
e. Use case scenarios

7.External and Internal Criticism

“If you don’t know history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is a
part of the tree”
Researches cannot accept historical data at face value, since many diaries, memoirs, repost and
testimonies are written to enhance the writer’s position, stature or importance.
Because of this possibility, historical data has to be examined for its authenticity and
truthfulness. Such examination is done through criticism; by asking and researching to help determine
truthfulness, biases, omissions and consistency in data. (“Historical Research Methods,” n.d.)
The historian’s primary tool of understanding and interpreting the past is the historical sources.
Historical sources ascertain historical facts. Such facts are then analyzed and interpreted by the historian
to weave historical narrative. Using primary sources in historical research entails two kinds of criticism.
The first one is External Criticism and the second is Internal criticism.
External criticism- refers to the genuineness of the documents a researcher uses in a historical study.
(Fraenkel and Wallen, n.d.)
It asks if the evidence under consideration is authentic. The researcher checks the genuineness or
validity of the source. Is it what it appears or claims to be? Is it admissible as evidence?
Internal Criticism- refers to the accuracy of the contents of a document. Whereas external criticism has
to do with authenticity of a document, internal criticism has to do with what the document says.
(Fraenkel and Wallen, n.d.)
After the source is authenticated, it asks if the source is accurate, was the writer or creator competent,
honest and unbiased? How long after the event happened until it was reported? Does the witness agree
with other witnesses?

Key (1997) enumerates a series of questions to establish the genuineness of a document or relics:
1. Does the language and writing style conform to the period in question and is it typical of other
work done by the author?
2. Is there evidence that the author exhibits ignorance of things or events than man of his training
and time should have known?
3. Did he report about things, events, or places that could not have been known during that
report?
4. Has the original manuscript been altered either intentionally or unintentionally by copying?
5. Is the document an original draft or a copy? If it is a copy, was it reproduced in the exact
words of the original?
6. If manuscript is undated or the author unknown, are there any clues internally as to its origin?
(Key, 1997)

Gilbert J. Garraghan (1946) provides the following questions:

1. When was the source, written or unwritten, produced (date)?
2. Where was it produced (localization)?
3. By who was it produced (authorship)?
4. From what pre-existing material was it produced (analysis)?
5. In what original form was it produced (integrity
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Internal-and-External-Criticism-from-Neuman-2003-p421_fig1_279943052

The ‘External Criticism’ is of a less intellectual type of criticism of the documents. It includes
examinations of documents like manuscripts, books, pamphlets, maps, inscriptions, and monuments.
The problem of authenticity of document arises more in the case of manuscripts than the printed
documents because the printed document has already been authenticated by the editor.
Historian has to resort to a number of tests to determine the authenticity of a particular document
in his proposed area of research such as— ‘Authorship’ the first question while examining the
authenticity of a document is its author. Even the anonymous writings can provide us useful and
important knowledge. But the discovery of an author’s or writer’s name adds the authenticity of the
information because of the character, connections and trustworthiness of the author determine the
authenticity.
Secondly, “Date of Document”, i.e. the time, place of publication of the document must be
inquired to determine the authenticity of the document. In the modern publications year and place of
publication is indicated on the book or document on the title page or backside (overleaf). However, in
the old manuscript where the data and place are absent, it can be found out from the language or from
the date of birth and death of the author.
Thirdly, the historian confronts the textual errors which may be either unintentional or
deliberately committed. Unintentional error can take place in the copies of the documents (originals are
not available). These mistakes may be caused by the scribe, typist or printer.
An intention error may creep in when the effort is made to modify, supplement or continue the
original. This problem can be overcome through textual criticism. Under this technique, the effort is
made to collect as many copies of dubious text as possible and they are compared.
If the ideas and style do not match or resemble the idea and style of the author it can be safely
assumed that they were not parts of the original manuscript and were forged by the later ones. Further’
more, the textual accuracy can be solved with the help of “sciences auxiliary” to history such as “Paleo
graphists” have authenticated numerous documents of the medieval period by their handwriting and
have published easily legible printed versions.
 The “archaeologists” provides rich information to the historians, the “numismatists” by dating
the coins, medals and deciphering their inscriptions render valuable assistance. Fourthly, after the
confirmation of the authenticity of the source’s historians confronted with the different terms used in the
document.
The meaning of words often changes from generation to generation. Therefore, historians must
find out the meaning and sense in which it has been used in the document. The misinterpretation of
terms may lead to a misunderstanding of historical development.
In this way, even after the historian established the authenticity of the documents and discovered
the meaning of the text his duty is not over. He is confronted with another important problem with the
credibility of the document.

b. Internal Criticism
Internal Criticism- refers to the accuracy of the contents of a document. Whereas external criticism has
to do with authenticity of a document, internal criticism has to do with what the document says.
(Fraenkel and Wallen, n.d.)
After the source is authenticated, it asks if the source is accurate, was the writer or creator competent,
honest and unbiased? How long after the event happened until it was reported? Does the witness agree
with other witnesses?
Key (1997) provides the following questions to check the content of a source of information:
1. What was meant by author by each word and statement?
2. How much credibility can the author’s statements be given? (Key (1997)

While collecting the material, it must be remembered that a document contains the idea of the
man who wrote. A historian must analyze the contents of the documents with a view to determining the
real meaning. He must try to avoid the laps such as avoid the reading into meaning which author did not
mean to convey, etc., and make a sincere effort to find out the facts even if they are contrary to his set
notions and theories.
He must be able to understand the literal and real meaning of the document which is termed as
‘Positive Criticism’. It reveals us with the author’s conceptions and general notion which he represents.
On another hand, historian sometimes comes across documents which contradict each other. Hence the
need for eliminating statements and facts which are obviously wrong and false arises.
Therefore, historians have come to hold the view that all that cannot be proved must be
temporarily regarded as doubtful because of the incompetence and unreliability of the author which
prevents him from telling the truth even when he knows. To assess the correctness of the fact, the
historian must ascertain whether the author had the opportunity to know the facts as an eyewitness or
not.
What was his source of information and how much time elapsed between the event and the
record? But the dependable testimony depends on a number of factors such as ability and willingness to
tell the truth, the accuracy of the report and independent corroboration. However, it may be noted that
there is a possibility that a skillful liar may deliberately create the condition, i.e. ability and willingness
to tell the truth with accuracy to establish the credibility of his statements.
Therefore, in those cases, the credibility must not be accepted without proper investigation.
Moreover, if there is an agreement between documents, we cannot draw the conclusion that the facts are
definitive but we must ensure that the facts are harmonious and prove each other are interconnected.

Chapter Exercises
Exercise 1.1 Answer the following questions below. Give a concise/discussion on the following items.
1. How do you give meaning to the so called “history”? Explain.
2. Explain the difference of history from the past?
3. Differentiate history from prehistory. Where does one end and where does one begin?
4. Give a reaction on this philosophical philosophy that: “If you don’t know history, then you don’t
know nothing. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of the tree.”
5. Explain how important historical writings are to a person, group/race and country?

Exercise 1.2 What source? Read the following scenarios and classify the sources discovered as
Primary, Secondary, and tertiary sources.
1. Sam was exploring the library in his new school at DOSCST. He wanted to study the history of
Davao Oriental, in the 20th century. In one of the books, he saw an old photograph of a man
standing in front of the church, clipped among the pages. At the back of the photo was an
inscription that says, “Davao Oriental 01 de Julio 1968.”
Is the photograph a primary, secondary, or tertiary source? Justify your answer
 2. Gemma was a new teacher of Social Studies in MNCHS. Her colleagues gave her the new
textbook that she ought to use in class. Before the classes started Gemma studied the textbook
carefully. She noted that the authors used works by other known historians in writing the
textbook. She saw that the bibliography included Teodoro Agoncillo’s The Revolt of the Masses
and many other well-known historians.
Is the textbook a primary, secondary or tertiary source? Justify your answer.
3. It was Saturnino’s first day in his first year of college at DOSCST. His excitement made him
come to class early and he found their classroom empty. He explores the classroom and sat at the
instructor’s table. He looked at the table’s drawer and saw a book entitled U.G. An Underground
Tale: The Journey of Edgar Jopson and the First Quarter Storm Generation. He started reading
the book and realized that it was a biography of a student leader turned political activist during
the time of President Ferdinand E. Marcos. The author used interviews with friends and family
of Jopson and other primary documents related to his works and life.
Is the book a primary, secondary or tertiary source? Justify your answer.
4. Julia loved to travel around the country. She likes to bring with her a travel brochure that informs
her of the different sites worth visiting in the area. Her travel brochure was produced by the
tourism department of the province. It shows pictures of destinations visited by tourists and a few
basic information about the place like origin of the name, the historical significance of the place
and other information acquired by the office’s researchers and writers.

Is the travel brochure a primary, secondary or tertiary source? Justify your answer.

Exercise 1.3 My Primary Source. Using the examples of a primary source in the module, give a
primary source that can be used in the writing of your life history. Discuss how it qualifies as a primary
source.

Exercise 1.4 Historical Criticism. Explain and discuss the following items below.
1. What is historical criticism?
2. Discuss the importance of historical criticism.
3. Do you believe that writing history is subjective? Why? Explain.
4. How can the writing of history objective? Explain
5. What criteria do historical researcher use to validate their sources of data?

SUGGESTED ACTIVITY
The teacher may divide his/her students into group and require them to research on the processes
of deciphering and dating historical manuscripts (paleography) and of critically analyzing a historical
document (diplomatic criticism). Ask the students to present their output to the class and present
examples for the class to appreciate.

References:
Candelaria JL. and Alporha V. (2019). Readings in Philippine History. 1st edition, Rex Book Store, Manila, Philippines

Carr, E. (1991). What is History. London, United Kingdom: Penguin.

Primary Sources in Philippine History http//philhist.pbworks.com/w/page/16367040/FrontPage

Solmerano, E.T., Palencia, M. and Galicia R. (2018) Readings in Philippine History, 1st edition. Fastbooks Educational
supply Inc.
Tosh, J. (2002). The Pursuit of History: Aims, Methods and new directions in the Study of Modern History (revised 3rd
Edition) London, United Kingdom: Pearson Education Ltd.
Using Primary Sources.
http: philhist.pbworks.com/w/page/163667056/UsingPrimarySources#WhyUsePrimarySourcesinTeaching

https://jcsibayan.wordpress.com/

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Internal-and-External-Criticism-from-Neuman-2003-p421_fig1_279943052
CHAPTER 2
Content and Contextual Analysis of Selected Primary Sources;
Identification of the historical importance of the text; and examination of
the author’s main argument and point of view.

Learning Objectives:

• Analyze the context, content and perspective of different kinds of primary sources.
• Determine the contribution of different kinds of primary sources in understanding
Philippine history.
• Develop critical and analytical skills with exposure to primary sources
• To learn history by using primary sources
• To understand the context behind each selected document.

Introduction
The complete knowledge of the past through credible and reliable sources is essential to the
understanding and learning of the students of their own history. History must be studied carefully; hence
it necessitates the application of historical method.
The intent of the application of historical method is to make students competent in their
interpretation of facts and critical analysis of historical narrative or account. For this to be achieved, the
students will be engaged in content and contextual analysis of selected primary sources.
Content analysis is a systematic evaluation of the primary source which can be a text, paintings,
caricature, and/or speech that in the process students could develop and present argument based on their
understanding of the evidences from their readings. The students will identify pertinent information
from the text/document and explain its importance to their understanding of history in the Philippine
setting. Contextual analysis on the other hand, considers specifically the time, place and situation when
the primary sources was written. The analysis as well includes the author’s background, authority on the
subject and intent perceptible, and its relevance and meaning to people and society today.
The approach is essential to the enhancement of student’s analytical and critical thinking skills
and their ability to articulate their own views on the specific primary sources. For this to be realized, the
selected primary sources which will be utilized are provided and introduced separately with a brief
description for each.
In this chapter, the guidelines and techniques in evaluating and analyzing the content and context
of a document is discussed and presented in order to help the students answer their substantive
questions. This chapter also discusses several issues of reliability and validity of the text, advantage and
disadvantage of content and contextual analysis. Identification of the importance of the text and the
examination of the author’s argument and point of view is also discussed in this chapter.

Lesson 1 Content and Contextual Analysis of Selected Primary Sources

Content, Contextual and Subtext Analyses are methods of data analysis in historical research.
1.Content/textual analysis
Content analysis is a research method for studying documents and communication artifacts,
which can be text of various formats, pictures, audio or video.
Social scientists use content analysis to qualify patterns in communication, in a replicable and
systematic manner. One key advantage of this research method is to analyze social phenomena in a non-
invasive way, in contrast to stimulating social experiences or collecting survey answers.
Computers are increasingly used in content analysis, to automate the labeling (or coding) of
documents. Simple computational techniques provide descriptive data such a word frequencies and
document lengths. (Wikipedia,2018)

a. Goals of Content Analysis

Content analysis is best understood as a brood family technique. Effective researchers choose
techniques that best help them answer their substantive questions. That said, according to Klaus
Krippendorff, six questions must be address in every content analysis:
1.Which data are analyzed?
2.How are the data defined?
3.From what population are data drawn?
4.What is the relevant context?
5.What are the boundaries of the analysis?
6.What is to be measured

The simplest and most effective form of content analysis considers unambiguous characteristics
of text such as word frequencies, the page area taken by a newspaper column, or the duration of a radio
or television program. Analysis of simple word frequencies is limited because the meaning of a word
depends on surrounding text. A further step in analysis is the distinction between dictionary-based
quantitative approaches and qualitative approaches. Dictionary based approaches set up a list of
categories derived from the frequency list of words and control the distribution of words and their
respective categories over the text. While methods in quantitative content analysis in this way transform
observations found categories into quantitative statistical data, the qualitative content analysis focuses
more on the intentionality and its implications. There are strong parallels between qualitative content
analysis and thematic analysis. (Wikipedia,2018)

b. Kinds of Text
 There are five types of text in content analysis:
1.Written text, such as books and papers
2.Oral text, such as speech and theatrical performance
3.Iconic text, such as drawings, paintings, and icons
4.Audio-visual text, such as tv programs, movies and videos
5.Hypertexts, where texts found on the internet

c. Types of Content Analysis

There are two general categories of content analysis: conceptual analysis and relational analysis.
1. Conceptual analysis can be thought of as establishing the existence frequency of concept in text.
2. Relational analysis builds on conceptual analysis by examining the relationship among concepts in a
text.

1.Conceptual Analysis
Traditionally, content analysis has most often been thought of in terms of conceptual analysis. In
conceptual analysis, a concept is chosen for examination and the number of its occurrences within the
text recorded. Because terms may be implicit as well as explicit, it is important to clearly define implicit
terms before beginning of counting process. To limit the subjectivity in the definitions of concepts,
specialized dictionaries are used.
As with most other research methods, conceptual analysis begins with identifying research
questions and choosing a sample or samples. Once chosen, the text must be coded into manageable
content categories. The process of coding is basically one of selective reduction, which is the central
idea in content analysis. By breaking down the contents of materials in meaningful and pertinent units of
information, certain characteristics of the message may be analyzed and interpreted.
An example of a conceptual analysis would be to examine a text and to code it for the
existence of certain words. In looking at this text, the research question might involve examining the
number of positive words used to describe an argument, as opposed to the number of negative words
used to describe a current status or opposing argument. The researcher would be interested only in
qualifying these words, not in examining how they are related, which is a function of relational analysis.
In conceptual analysis, the researcher simply wants to examine presence with respect to his/her research
question, i.e. whether there is a strong presence of positive or negative words used with respect to
specific arguments or respective arguments.

2.Ralational Analysis
As stated above, relational analysis builds on conceptual analysis by examining the
relationships among concepts in a text. And as with other sorts of inquiry, initial choices with regards to
what is being studied and/or coded for often determine the possibilities of that particular study. For
relational analysis, it is important to first decide which type of concept type(s) will be explored in the
analysis. Studies have conducted with as few as one and as many as 500 concept categories. Obviously,
too many categories may obscure your results and too few can lead to unreliable and potentially invalid
conclusions. Therefore, it is important to allow the context and necessities of your research to guide your
coding procedures.
There are many techniques of relational analysis available and this flexibility makes for its
popularity. Researchers can devise their own procedures according to the nature of their project. Once a
procedure is rigorously tested, it can be applied and compared across population over time. The process
of relational analysis has achieved a high degree of computer automation but still is, like most forms of
research, time consuming. Perhaps the strongest claim that can be made is that it maintains a high degree
of statistical rigor without losing the richness of detail apparent in even more quantitative methods.

d. How to Use Content Analysis

1. The first step involves preparing a coding schedule. This consist of a table where each row is a unit
for which data being collected. (e.g. an assignment or discussion contribution might be a unit of data
collection). Each column is a dimension or theme for the analysis that will depend on your evaluation
questions. For discussion contribution for example these dimensions might be the type of contribution,
the contributor and the timing of the contribution. There should be no overlaps in dimensions. Themes
are therefore predefined, unlike the qualitative approach of template analysis where themes may emerge
during the analysis.

2. A coding manual is the produced to accompany the coding schedule, listing the codes for each of the
categories that are valid for each dimension to ensure reliability and consistency in the coding. For
example, for the contributor dimension, valid codes and might be 1-student, 2-tutor. There should be no
overlap in the categories. Codes for each observation of a category are entered in the appropriate cells in
the schedule.
3. Elements of contents are described and organized using these categories. This process is called coding
and particularly if an appropriate software is used to aid the process, enables more efficient sorting and
retrieval of data by each category.
4. Categories are used to describe the information that is emerging from this data. The unit of analysis
may different than the use for data collection. This is the level at which data is analyzed and findings
reported. In the example of the discussion forum already used, the purpose of the analysis is to provide
insight into the interaction between the participants and therefore analysis at the level of a single
contribution would be meaningless. The unit of analysis would need to be the whole discussion.
5. The coded content is quantitatively analyzed for trends, patterns, relationships, similarities,
differences and etc. this may suggest further avenues of inquiry using qualitative approaches that seek
insights into possible reasons for these relationships and trends. (University of Sheffield, 2014)

e. Issues of Reliability and Validity

The issue of reliability and validity are concurrent with those addressed in other research
method. The reliability of a content analysis study refers to its stability, or the tendency for coders to
consistently re-code the same data in the same way over a period of time; reproducibility, or tendency
for a group of coders to classify categories membership in the same way and accuracy, or the extent to
which the classification of a text corresponds to a standard or norm statistically.
The over searching problem of concept analysis research is the challengeable nature of
conclusions reached by its inferential procedures. The question lies in what level of implications is
allowable’ i.e. do the conclusions follow from the data or are they explainable due to some other
phenomenon? For occurrence-specific studies, for example, can the second occurrence of a word carry
equal weight as the ninety-ninth? Reasonable conclusions can be drawn from substantive amount of
quantitative data, but question of proof may still remain unanswered.
The generalizability of one’s conclusions, then, is very dependent on how one determines
concept categories, as well as on how reliable those categories are. It is imperative that one defines
categories that accurately measure the idea and/or items one is seeking to measure. Akin to this is the
construction of rules. Developing rules that allow one, and the others, to categorized and code the same
data in the same way over a period of time, referred to as stability is essential to the success of a
conceptual analysis. Reproducibility, not only of specific categories but of general methods applied to
stablishing all sets of categories makes a study and its subsequent conclusions and results more sound.

f. Advantages of Content Analysis

Content analysis offers several advantages to researchers who consider using it. In particular,
content analysis:
a. looks directly at communication via texts or transcripts, and hence gets at the central of social
interaction.
b. can allow for both quantitative and qualitative operations
c. can provide valuable historical/cultural insights over time through analysis of texts
d. allows a closeness to text which can alternate between specific categories and relationships and also
statistically analyzes the coded form of the text
e. can be used to interpret texts for purposes such as the development of expert system (since knowledge
and rules can both be coded in terms of explicit statements about the relationships among concepts).
f. is an unobtrusive means of analyzing interactions
g. provides insight into complex models of human thought and language use
h. when done well, is considered as a relative “exact” research method (based on hard facts, as opposed
to Discourse Analysis)

g.Disadvantages of Content Analysis

Content analysis suffers from several disadvantages, both theoretical and procedural. In
particular, content analysis:

a. can be extremely time consuming

b. is subject to increased error, particularly when relational analysis is used to attain a higher level of
interpretation
c. is often devoid of theoretical base or attempts too liberally to draw meaningful inferences about the
relationships and impacts implied in a study
d. is inherently reductive, particularly when dealing with complex texts
e. tends too often to simply consist of word counts
f. often disregards the context that produced the text, as well as the state of things after the text is
produced
g. can be difficult to automate or computerize

2.Contextual Analysis
A contextual analysis is an analysis of a text (in whatever medium, including multi-media)
that helps us assess the text within the context of its historical and cultural setting and also in terms of
textuality-or the qualities that characterize the text as a text.
A contextual analysis combines features of formal analysis with features of “cultural
archeology” or the systematic study of social, political, economic, philosophical, religious and aesthetic
conditions that were (or can be assumed to have been) in place at the time and place when the text was
created.
While this may sound complicated, it is reality deceptively simple: it means “situating” the
text within the milieu of its times and assessing the roles of author, readers (intended and actual), and
“commentators” (critics, both professional and otherwise) in the reception of the text. (Behrendt,2008)

a. How to Use Contextual Analysis

A contextual analysis can proceed along many lines, depending upon how complex one wishes
to make the analysis. But it generally includes several key questions:
1.What does the text reveal about itself as a text?
• Describe (or characterize) the language (the words, or vocabulary) and the rhetoric (how words are
arranged in order to achieve some purpose). These are the primary components of style.
2.What does the text tell us about its apparent intended audience(s)?
• What sort of reader those the author seems to have envisioned, as demonstrated by the text’s language
and rhetoric?
• What sort of qualification does the text appear to require of its intended reader(s)? How can we tell?
• What sort of readers appear to be excluded from the text’s intended audiences? How can we tell?
• Is there, perhaps more than one intended audience?
3.What seems to have been the author’s intention?
• Why did the author write this text? And why did the author write this text in this particular way, as
opposed to other ways in which the text might have been written?
• Remember that any text is the result of deliverance decisions by the author. The author has chosen to
write (or paint, or whatever) with these particular words and has therefore chosen not to use other words
that he or she or he might have used. So, need to consider.
4.What the author said (the words that have been selected)
• What the author did not say (the words that have not selected); an
• How the author said it (as opposed to other ways it might or could have been said).
5.What is the occasion for this text? That is, is it written in response to:
• some particular, specific contemporary incident or event?
• some more “general” observation by the author about human affairs and/or experiences?
• some definable set of cultural circumstances?
6.Is the text intended as some sort of call to – or for – action?
• If so, by whom? And why?
• And also, if so, what action(s) does the author want the reader(s) to take?
7.Is the text intended rather as some sort of call to -or for – reflection or consideration rather than
direct action?
• If so, what does the author seem to wish the reader to think about and to conclude or
decide?
• Why does the author wish to tell readers to do this?
• What is to be gained, and by whom?
7.Can we identify any non-textual circumstances that affected the creation and reception of the
text?
• Such circumstances include historical or political events, economic factors, cultural practices, and
intellectual or aesthetic issues, as well as the particular circumstances of the author’s own life.
(Behrendt, 200)8)
 Importance of Context in Analysis and Interpretation
By Grace Fleming, edited by Stacy Jagodowski
January 28, 2018

Historical context is an important part of life and literature and without it, memories, stories and
characters have less meaning.
But what exactly is historical context? It’s essentially the details that surround an occurrence.
In more technical terms, historical context refers to social, religious, economic, and political conditions
that existed during a certain time and place.
Basically, it’s all the details of the time and place in which situation occurs, and those details
are what enable us to interpret and analyze works or events of the past, or even the future, rather than
merely judge them by contemporary standards.
A strong understanding of the historical context behind a work’s creation can give us better
understanding of and appreciation for the narrative. In analyzing historical events, context can help us
understand what motivates people behave as they did.
Put another way, context is what gives meaning to details. It’s important, however that you
don’t confuse with cause. “Cause” is the action that creates an outcome; “content” is the environment in
which that action and outcome occurs. (Fleming,2010)
…Whether dealing with facts or fiction, historical context is important when interpreting
behavior and speech. (Fleming, 2010)
… No work of literature can be fully appreciated or understood without historical context. What
may seem nonsensical or even offensive to contemporary sensibilities, might actually be interpreted in a
completely different manner by considering the era it is from. (Fleming, 2010)
… Scholars and educators rely on historical context to analyze and interpret works of art,
literature, music, dance and poetry. Architects and builders rely on it when designing new structures and
restoring existing buildings. Judges may use it to interpret the law, historians to understand the past. Any
time critical analysis is required you may need to consider historical context well.
Without historical context, we are only seeing a piece of scene and not fully understanding the
influence of time and place in which situation occurred. (Fleming, 2018)

3.Subtext
The subtext of the document or object refers to its secondary and implied meanings. The
subtext embraces the emotional or intellectual messages embedded in, or implied by the document or
object.
 The epic poems of the ancient Greeks, for instance, which glorify prowess and physical
courage in battle, suggest that such virtues are exclusively male. The state portraits of Napoleon
Bonaparte carry the subtext of unassailable and absolute power. Andy Warhol’s serial adaption of soup
cans and Coca-Cola bottles offer wry commentary on the supermarket mentality of postmodern
American culture. Identifying the implicit message of an artwork helps us to determine the values and
customs of the age in which it was produced and to assess these values against others.

Summary
Text
• What is visible/readable. i.e. what information is provided by the source?

Context
• What was going on during the time period? What background information do you have that helps
explain the information found in the source?

Subtext
• What is between the lines? Ask questions about the following
Author: Who created the source, and what do we know about that person?
Audience: For whom was the source created?
Reason: Why was the source produced when it was?

Lesson 2 Identification of the Importance of the text

Historical Significance
What is historical significance? Historical significance is the process used to evaluate what was
significant about selected events, people, development in the past. Historians use different sets of criteria
to help them make judgements about significance.
Significance has been called the forgotten concept in history, no doubt because it can be
challenging for both teacher and students. (Northern Ireland Council for Integrated education, n.d.
“Teachers often tell students what is important instead of asking them to consider what is
significant. The key to understanding significance is to understand the distinction between teaching
significant history and asking students to make judgements about significance.” (Bradshaw, 2004)
The past consists of everything that ever happened to everyone everywhere, but there is much
too much history to remember or to learn. Consequently, at the core of the study of history are questions
about what events and people from the past are important and why they are important. In other words,
when considering historical significance, we ask: What and who should be remembered, researched and
taught? Historians, authors and educators must select what and whom to study, decide what details to
include in their descriptions and determine how important these events and people are in relation to
other aspects of the past.
So, how do we make choices about what is worth remembering?

a. Criteria on Assessing the Historical Significance of the Sources

There are number of criteria that historians’ use that can be applied to establish the
significance of events. These criteria are interrelated with each other.
Relevance ▪ Is it important/relevant to people living at time?
▪ Is something still relevant to our present lives even if it had only a
passing importance?
Resonance ▪ Who were/have been affected by the event? Why was important to
them?
▪ How were people’s lives affected? Do people like to make analogies
with it?
▪ Is it possible to connect with experiences, belief or attitudes across
time and place?
Remarkable ▪ Was the event remarked on by people at the time or since?
Remembered ▪ Was the event/development important at some stage within the
collective memory of a group or groups?

Revealing ▪ Does it reveal some other aspects of the past?

Resulting in ▪ Does it have consequences for future?
Change
Durability ▪ For how long does people’s lives been affected? A day, a week, a
year, or all their lives?
Quantity ▪ How many people were affected? Did the event affect many, everyone
or just a few? A whole barrio, a town, a province, a country or the
entire race?
Profundity ▪ Was the event superficial or deeply affecting? How deeply people’s
lives were affected? How were people’s lives affected

b. Issues on Assessing the Historical Significance

1.Our views about historical significance are often shaped by contemporary contexts and can dependent
upon our own values, interest and knowledge.
2.History is written by the victor. Historical significance is how we define past events that the current
writer of history deems important/relevant.
3.Historical significance is relative and varies from location to location, generation to generation or
sometimes to ideological orientation or political affiliation of one doing the evaluation or assessment

Lesson 3 Examination of the Author’s Main Arguments and Point of

View

1. Determining the Author’s Purpose

What is the author’s purpose? The author’s purpose is the REASON the source was created. The
author’s purpose is his or her reason for or intent in writing a text, in line, a paragraph, an easy, a story,
etc. There are many reasons why people write: it may be to amuse the reader, to persuade the reader to
inform the reader to satirize a condition and a lot more.

a. Purpose in Writing
When we look at why people write texts, we can categorize them into the following:
PURPOSE DIFINITION EXAMPLES
to Persuade The author wants you to believe, do, or buy Advertisements, Campaign
something Speeches, persuasive Letters,
opinions, etc.
This type of writing is called persuasive
writing.
to Inform That authors wants to give you information or Documents, Contracts,
instructions, Agreements, Law, Rules,
This type of writing is called expository Expository Essay or articles,
writing. Instructions or Directions,
Encyclopedia and other reference
texts, Business letters, textbooks,
etc.
to Narrate The author wants to relate a story or recount History texts, non-fiction books,
or Recount past events. biographies, anecdotes,
newspapers, etc.
This type of writing is called narrative writing
to Describe The author wants you to visualize or Stories, Poems, Dramas, Songs,
experience what something or someone looks etc.
like or feels like. to Explain
This type of writing is called descriptive
writing
to Explain The author wants to tell you how to do Instructions, Directions, step-by-
something or how something works. step procedures, How-to-recipes,
Operations Manual, etc.
This type of writing is called expository
writing
 to Entertain The author wants to amuse you or for you to Novel, Stories, Poems, Dramas,
enjoy the writing itself. Songs, etc.

This type of writing falls under creative

writing.

The author’s purpose is not always clear. Sometimes, the author intentionally states the purpose
in the text itself, sometimes, not at all. But the author’s purpose is always reflected in the way he writes
about the topic or subject matter. For example, if his purpose is to amuse, he will use jokes or anecdotes
in writing.
We can also find clues to an author’s purpose through its titles, prefaces, and the author’s
background.

b. A Combination of Purposes
Sometimes a text has more than one purpose, but a combination of two or more purposes.
Political cartoons both inform and entertain. Newspaper editorials can inform and at the same time
persuade. A TV commercial might be very informative or very entertaining, but its primary purpose is to
convince and persuade the viewers to eventually buy the product.
However, the combination of purpose has its limitations. The value of the value the information
in a political cartoon may be limited because it is made in such a way to make it funny. The same can be
true for the information in all editorial- you can definitely learn something from the editorial, but take
note that it was written to persuade you to think or to believe in a certain way. In the same way,
information given in a TV commercial is very limited-just the good side of it – because it is primarily
intended to persuade its viewers to buy the product.
The first thing to take note of when you are determining the author’s purpose is the genre you
are reading. You can usually identify the purpose correctly, if you are able to understand the genre.
(“Author’s Purpose,” n.d.)
You should understand that Inform and Explain both go together with the Nonfiction
(Informational) text genre. However, explaining is more like how-to or procedural text and informing is
when the writer wants you to learn information from them. It is important to note that when you explain,
you are still informing. (“Author’s Purpose,” n.d.)
Persuasive text is used to persuade or convince the reader of something. You may still do this by
informing the reader of facts or describing emotions, but their overall goal is to convince the reader of
something. (“Author’s Purpose,” n.d.)
The fiction genre and the author’s purpose of entertaining go together. Author’s create works of
fiction with the sole reason of providing their reader with an entertaining story. (“Author’s Purpose,”
n.d.)
 Literary Non-Fiction, meaning Biographies, Autobiographies, Personal Narratives and Memoirs,
have a separate intent. The author’s purpose in these is to describe or share and express. They may seem
like they are informing you, but if you think about, an author telling you about someone else or their
own experiences during their lifetime actually describes who they are as a person OR it share their
feeling with you (the reader) and expresses their emotions to you (the reader). Sometimes non-fiction
reads like fiction. This when you have to pay close attention to author’s and may clues that will tell you
what the genre is, like how much story is zoomed, the language, or the use of first-person point-of-view.
(“Author’s Purpose,” n.d.)
You should be aware that the author’s purpose does cross boundaries soon. As an author, I can
entertain you, while I persuade you. However, you need to thin the author’s MAIN intent overall.
(“Author’s Purpose,” n.d.)

c. Persuasive Texts
You should be especially critical of persuasive text. Sometimes they’re spot-persuasive texts can
be in the form of advertisements, sponsored articles on site, or editorials in a newspaper.
The purpose of persuasive texts is to convince you something. Either to buy an idea, or buy a
product or do something.
When you identify the purpose of a text as persuasive, you have to be careful what you take
away from it. The authors of these texts may only leave out information only highlighting specific
information, in order to convince you of what the text. (“Determining Author’s Purpose - Easy Bib
Blog,” n.d.)

d. Why Identify Purpose?

When you understand why a source was created, it helps you think critically what information is
there, what information is missing, and what you can expect away from the source. (“Determining
Author’s Purpose - Easy Bib Blog,” n.d.)
As reader, knowing the purpose or intent that the writer has for creating piece of work helps you
EVALUATE it better. For example, if you know that an author trying to persuade you, then as a reader,
you would want to be cautious about everything they tell you. They could be using faulty reasoning on
you or tag at your strings to make you believe what they say. (“Author’s Purpose,” n.d.)
If I’m trying to learn more about Philippine History, I know that a comic with the same subject,
which was created primarily to entertain, is not going to be informative.

e. How to Identify the Purpose

Identifying the author’s purpose can at times be challenging. There are questions you can ask
yourself as you read a text that will help you identify purpose.

Step 1
First, ask, “why did the author create/write this text?
 Sometimes, the reason is very obvious. The author may state it or maybe to tell from the type of
media used.

Step 2
If the author’s purpose is not obvious, ask “How did this make me feel?”
Author’s usually try to elicit very specific emotions from their readers. Do you suddenly feel
compelled to go buy a product that was mentioned? Are you rolling on the floor laughing? How you
react to the text is great hint as to the author’s purpose. (“Determining Author’s Purpose – Easy Bib
Blog,” n.d.)

Step 3
Look for Clue Words to find the author’s purpose.
Compare: Author wants to show similarities between ideas.
Clue Words: both, similarly, in the same way, like, just as

Contrast: Author wants to show differences between ideas

Clue Words: however, but, dissimilarly, on the other hand

Criticize: Authors want to give a negative opinion of an idea

Clue Words: Look for words that show the author’s negative opinion. Judgement
words like “bad”, “wasteful and “poor” all demonstrate negative opinion.
Describe/Illustrate: Authors wants to paint a picture of an idea
Clue Words: Look for word that provide descriptive detail. Adjectives like “red,”
“lusty,” “morose,” “striped,” and “crestfallen” are all illustrative.

Explain: Authors wants to breakdown an idea into simpler terms

Clue Words: Look for words that turn a complicated process into simple language. A
“descriptive” text will use adjectives. An “explanatory” text will usually be used with a
complicated idea.

Identify/List: Authors wants to tell the readers about an idea or series of ideas
Clue Words: Text that identifies or list, will name an idea or series of ideas without
providing much description or opinion.

Intensify: Author wants to make an idea greater

Clue Words: Texts that intensifies will add more specific details to the idea. Look for
superlative adjectives and “bigger” concepts. A baby sadly crying is descriptive, but
baby mournfully howling red – cheeked for 30 minutes is more intense.

Suggest: Authors wants to propose ideas

 Clue Words: “Suggest” answers are usually positive opinions and try to sway the reader
to believe. The author will provide a point, then use details to prove it. (Roell, 2011)

f. Underline the Clue Words

It helps to use that pencil in your hand when you’re reading if you’re unsure what the author’s
purpose is. As you read, underline the clue words in the text to help you get a better idea. Then, either
compose a sentence using the key words (compare, explain, illustrate) to show why the author wrote the
piece or select the best answer from the choices given (Roell, 2011)

2.Determining the Author’s Main Argument

One of the most fundamental things we use language for is argument. Arguing means claiming
that something is true and trying to persuade other people to agree with your claim by presenting
evidence to substantiate it. An argument is statement with three components:
1. A point of view, claim, something we are arguing in favor of
2. The actual argument, the evidence we are using to argue with
3. A statement that links the initial claim to the argument and ensures that we understand
how argument functions.
The statement that connects the initial claim and argument is referred to as the warrant. The
warrant is thus an argument for the connection between the initial claim and the argument. (University
of Bergen, University of Oslo, Norwegian School of Economics and Bergen University College, 2014)
Studying involves reading and writing argumentative texts. Your task as a student includes
analyzing the function of the arguments in the text you read. Understanding how the text sets forth its
argumentation enables you to see “what it is saying.” At the same time, you are learning to adopt a
critical stance to the text you are reading.

a. Stephen Toulmin’s Argument Model

Looking for argumentation in a text means asking the text certain types of questions. Ask:
1.Claims (Thesis Statement/Conclusion)

What claims are contained in the text? What is the author arguing in favor of?
The claim may also refer to as the thesis statement. Sometimes the author will direct an open
discussion towards the claim. The claim can therefore also be referred to as the conclusion.
Often the author presents the claim early on (“I will Argue that”), follows it by arguments
(discussion, debate, analysis, review) and then finally presents the claim again, this time as a conclusion
(Against the background we may conclude that” or “As shown above”).
2.Arguments (Evidence)
 What arguments are contained in the text? How do the authors substantiate their claims? What
evidence are authors using to substantiate their arguments?
An argument that substantiate a claim is also known as evidence. What evidence do the authors
have for claiming that? Under what underlying assumptions do the arguments support the author’s
claim? Why do these arguments appear to be relevant in this context?
3.Warrant (Research Method)

The link between an argument and claim is sometimes called a warrant. Another word is research
method. (Reinecker, 2012, p.312)
In scholarly (academic, scientific) texts, the warrants will often point general assumptions, basic
principles or research methods in the relevant field. Common to all fields are warrants along the lines of
“research builds upon previous research.”
4.Counter Arguments/Objections

What are the possible counter arguments or objections? Do the authors take possible
counterarguments into account? Do they discuss both sides of the debate before reaching conclusions?
Or do they argue one – sidedly in favor to their claim, only adducing such research and empirical
evidence (findings, data) as will support their claim? Do the authors adequately justify their methods? If
their arguments rely on data, are there enough data? Are the data sufficiently representative? If they
based their claims on interviews, did they conduct enough interviews? Were the interviews sufficiently
thorough? Or do the authors draw wider conclusion that are justified by the scope of underlying
evidence?
5.Backing (Foundation/Support)

Ask whether the use of a method is adequately justified, analyze if the method presented has
sufficient backing. Look for this backing (also referred to as foundation or support) in various places.
When you ask what backing there is for a claim, this is the same as asking what arguments exist in
support of the claim or what evidence support it. For each argument, ask:” What is there to support this
argument? What is the backing of this argument?” the term “backing” however, is often reserved for
questions about the backing that exist for the warrant.
6.Qualifiers

What types of qualifiers are used by the authors when presenting the claim? Look for qualifiers
in the formulation of the arguments.
If arguments contain moderating expressions such as “probably”, “perhaps” “in most cases” or
“as shown in some studies,” you can criticize the claim that follows if it does not include qualifier that
takes these modifications into accounts. You can say: “the author’s claims exceed the evidence available
to them.” You could also level this type of criticism if for example, you are aware of studies other than
those referred to by the authors, which contradicts the author’s claim. In that case, you should say: “The
authors should have taken those studies in account.” What they are claiming is more problematic than
they would lead us to believe.”
 A thorough critique of a text must build upon a thorough reading where you present you
counterarguments in a balance manner. (University of Bergen, University of Oslo, Norwegian School of
Economics and Bergen University College, 2014)

Overview of esson: 1

The period of discovery and expansionism began in the 15th century, henceforth from Europe came to
East huge vessels loaded with merchandise and men under command to discover and covet lands in the east.
This is an eventuality which adjoined people and nations and such encounter had far-reaching consequences
until 19th century.
The Philippine islands in 1521 has been “rediscovered” by the Spanish commissioner authority,
Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese navigator who gained confidence and support from the monarchy of Spain.
This information of rediscovery which the world is cognizant of is attributable to an Italian chronicler, Antonio
Pigafetta. The details of the world’s first circumnavigation were accurately recorded in his journal. This chronicle
serves as the lens through which the voyage and circumnavigation of the world can be apprehended with
certainty. It specifically furnishes important details on the discoveries of the islands and people inhabiting the
place, these people were to be Filipino’s great ancestors who live peacefully and with abundance in the area.
The comprehensibility of the cultural life of these people was made possible through the chronicle of Pigafetta.
The narrative of the voyage which translated by Lord Stanley of Alderley is presented below. However,
only the necessary and important detail of the narrative were taken based on what useful for the students. In
brief the narrative as it was written, commence with the description of the preparation for the voyage, the
captain and his men, the dates as to when it left Spain, the time when the oceans were crossed like the Atlantic
Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Indian Ocean. In particular, Pigafetta were appertaining to the description of the
different places he had seen, the people he met and their distinct and interesting culture. The historic voyage
began I 1519 and was successfully completed in 1522.

The First Voyage Round the World

by Antonio Pigafetta, translated by Lord Stanley of Alderley
Pigafetta’s Account of Magellan’s Voyage
Source: http://archive.org/details/firstvoyageround00piga

Since there are several curious persons (very illustrious and very reverend lord) who not only are pleased to listen
to and learn the great and wonderful things which God has permitted me to see and suffer in the long and perilous
navigation, which I have performed (and which is written hereafter), but also they desire to learn the methods and fashions of
the road which I have taken in order to go thither, [and who do] not grant firm belief to the end unless they are first well
advised and assured of the commencement. Therefore, my lord, it will please you to hear that finding myself in Spain in the
year of the Nativity of our Lord, one thousand five hundred and nineteen, at the court of the most serene king of the Romans,
with the reverend lord, Mons. Francis Cheregato, then apostolic proto-notary, and ambassador of the Pope Leon the Tenth,
who, through his virtue, afterwards arrived at the bishopric of Aprutino and the principality of Theramo, and knowing both
by the reading of many books and by the report of many lettered and well-informed persons who conversed with the said
proto-notary, the very great and awful things of the ocean, I deliberated, with the favor of the Emperor and the above-named
lord, to experiment and go and see with my eyes a part of those things. By which means I could satisfy the desire of the said
lords, and mine own also. So that it might be said that I had performed the said voyage, and seen well with my eyes the things
hereafter written.
Finally (very illustrious lord), after all provisions had been made, and the vessels were in order, the captain-
general, a discreet and virtuous man, careful of his honour, would not commence his voyage without first making some good
and wholesome ordinances, such as it is the good custom to make for those who go to sea. Nevertheless, he did not entirely
declare the voyage which he was going to make, so that his men should not from amazement and fear be unwilling to
accompany him on so long a voyage, as he had undertaken in his intention. Considering the great and impetuous
storms which are on the ocean sea, where I wished to go; and for another reason also, that is to say that the masters and
captains of the other ships of his company did not love him: of this I do not know the reason, except by cause of his, the
captain-general, being Portuguese, and they were Spaniards or Castilians, who for a long time have been in rivalry and ill
will with one another. Notwithstanding this all were obedient to him. He made his ordinances such as those which follow, so
that during the storms at sea, which often come on by night and day, his ships should not go away and separate from one
another. These ordinances he published and made over in writing to each master of the ships, and commanded them to be
observed and inviolably kept, unless there were great and legitimate excuses, and appearance of not having been able to do
otherwise.
Tuesday, the 20th September of the said year, we set sail from St. Lucar, making the course of the south-west
otherwise named Labeiche; and on the twenty-sixth of the said month we arrived at an island of great Canaria, named
Teneriphe, which is in twenty-eight degrees latitude; there we remained three days and a half to take in provisions and other
things which were wanted. After that we set sail thence and came to a port named Monterose, where we sojourned two days
to supply ourselves with pitch, which is a thing necessary for ships. It is to be known that among the other isles which are at
the said great Canaria, there is one, where not a drop of water is to be found proceeding from a fountain or a river, only
once a day at the hour of midday, there descends a cloud from the sky which envelops a large tree which is in this island, and
it falls upon the leaves of the tree, and a great abundance of water distils from these leaves, so that at the foot of the tree
there is so large a quantity of water that it seems as if there was an ever-running fountain. The men who inhabit this place
are satisfied with this water; also, the animals, both domestic and wild, drink of it.
Saturday, the 16th of March, 1521, we arrived at daybreak in sight of a high island, three hundred leagues distant
from the before-mentioned Thieves' island. This isle is named Zamal. The next day the captain-general wished to land at
another uninhabited island near the first, to be in greater security and to take water, also to repose there a few days. He set
up there two tents on shore for the sick, and had a sow killed for them.
Monday, the 18th of March, after dinner, we saw a boat come towards us with nine men in it: upon which the
captain-general ordered that no one should move or speak without his permission. When these people had come into this
island towards us, immediately the principal one amongst them went towards the captain-general with demonstrations of
being very joyous at our arrival. Five of the showiest of them remained with us, the others who remained with the boat went
to call some men who were fishing, and afterwards all of them came together. The captain seeing that these people were
reasonable ordered food and drink to be given them, and he gave them some red caps, looking glasses, combs, bells, ivory,
and other things. When these people saw the politeness of the captain, they presented some fish, and a vessel of palm wine,
which they call in their language Uraca; figs more than a foot long, and others smaller and of a better savour, and two
cochos At that time they had nothing to give him, and they made signs to us with their hands that in four days they would
bring us Umai, which is rice, cocos, and many other victuals.
To explain the kind of fruits above-named it must be known that the one which they call cochi, is the fruit which the
palm trees bear. And as we have bread, wine, oil, and vinegar, proceeding from different kinds, so these people have those
things proceeding from these palm trees only. It must be said that wine proceeds from the said palm trees in the following
manner. They make a hole at the summit of the tree as far as its heart, which is named palmito, from which a liquor comes
out in drops down the tree, like white must, which is sweet, but with somewhat of bitter. They have canes as thick as the leg,
in which they draw off this liquor, and they fasten them to the tree from the evening till next morning, and from the morning
to the evening, because this liquor comes little by little. This palm produces a fruit named cocho, which is as large as the
head, or thereabouts: its first husk is green, and two fingers in thickness, in it they find certain threads, with which they make
the cords for fastening their boats. Under this husk there is another very hard, and thicker than that of a walnut. They burn
this second rind, and make with it a powder which is useful to them. Under this rind there is a white marrow of a finger's
thickness, which they eat fresh with meat and fish, as we do bread, and it has the taste of an almond, and if anyone dried it he
might make bread of it. From the middle of this marrow there comes out a clear sweet water, and very cordial, which, when
it has rested a little, and settled, congeals and becomes like an apple. When they wish to make oil, they take this fruit, the
coco, and let it get rotten, and they corrupt this marrow in the water, then they boil it, and it becomes oil in the manner of
butter. When they want to make vinegar, they let the water in the cocoa-nut get bad, and they put it in the sun, when it turns
to vinegar like white wine. From this fruit milk also can be made, as we experienced, for we scraped this marrow and then
put it with its water, and passed it through a cloth, and thus it was milk like that of goats. This kind of palm tree is like the
date-palm, but not so rugged. Two of these trees can maintain a family of ten persons: but they do not draw wine as above-
mentioned always from one tree, but draw from one for eight days, and from the other as long. For if they did not, otherwise
the trees would dry up. In this manner they last a hundred years.
These people became very familiar and friendly with us, and explained many things to us in their language, and told
us the names of some islands which we saw with our eyes before us. *The island where they dwelt is called Zuluam, and it is
not large. * As they were sufficiently agreeable and conversible we had great pleasure with them. The captain seeing that
they were of this good condition, to do them greater honour conducted them to the ship, and showed them all his goods, that
is to say, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, ginger, nutmeg, mace, gold and all that was in the ship. He also had some shots fired
with his artillery, at which they were so much afraid that they wished to jump from the ship into the sea. They made signs that
the things which the captain had shown them grew there where we were going. When they wished to leave us, they took leave
of the captain and of us with very good manners and gracefulness, promising us to come back to see us. The island we were
at was named Humunu; nevertheless, because we found there two springs of very fresh water, we named it the Watering
Place of good signs, and because we found here the first signs of gold. There is much white coral to be found here, and large
trees which bear fruit smaller than an almond, and which are like pines. There were also many palm trees both good and
bad. In this place there were many circumjacent islands, on which account we named them the archipelago of St. Lazarus,
because we stayed there on the day and feast of St. Lazarus. This region and archipelago are in ten degrees north latitude,
and a hundred- and sixty-one-degrees longitude from the line of demarcation.
Friday, the 22nd of March, the above-mentioned people, who had promised us to return, came about midday, with
two boats laden with the said fruit cochi, sweet oranges, a vessel of palm wine, and a cock, to give us to understand that they
had poultry in their country, so that we bought all that they brought. The lord of these people was old, and had his face
painted, and had gold rings suspended to his ears, which they name Schione, and the others had many bracelets and rings of
gold on their arms, with a wrapper of linen round their head. We remained at this place eight days: the captain went there
every day to see his sick men, whom he had placed on this island to refresh them: and he gave them himself every day the
water of this said fruit the cocho, which comforted them much. Near this isle is another where there are a kind of people who
wear holes in their ears so large that they can pass their arms through them; these people are Caphre, that is to say,
Gentiles, and they go naked, except that round their middles they wear cloth made of the bark of trees. But there are some of
the more remarkable of them who wear cotton stuff, and at the end of it there is some work of silk done with a needle. These
people are tawny, fat, and painted, and they anoint themselves with the oil of coco nuts and sesame, to preserve them from
the sun and the wind. Their hair is very black and long, reaching to the waist, and they carry small daggers and knives,
ornamented with gold, and many other things, such as darts, harpoons, and nets to fish, like........., and their boats are like
ours.
The Monday of Passion week, the 25th of March, and feast of our Lady, in the afternoon, and being ready to depart
from this place, I went to the side of our ship to fish, and putting my feet on a spar to go down to the store room, my feet
slipped, because it had rained, and I fell into the sea without any one seeing me, and being near drowning by luck I found at
my left hand the sheet of the large sail which was in the sea, I caught hold of it and began to cry out till they came to help and
pick me up with the boat. I was assisted not by my merits, but by the mercy and grace of the fountain of pity. That same day
we took the course between west and southwest, and passed amidst four small islands, that is to say, Cenalo, Huinanghar,
Ibusson, and Abarien.
Thursday, the 28th of March, having seen the night before fire upon an island, at the morning we came to anchor at
this island; where we saw a small boat which they call Boloto, with eight men inside, which approached the ship of the
captain-general. Then a slave of the captain's, who was from Sumatra, otherwise named Traprobana, spoke from afar to
these people, who understood his talk, and came near to the side of the ship, but they withdrew immediately, and would not
enter the ship from fear of us. So, the captain seeing that they would not trust to us showed them a red cap, and other things,
which he had tied and placed on a little plank, and the people in the boat took them immediately and joyously, and then
returned to advise their king. Two hours afterwards, or thereabouts, we saw come two long boats, which they call
Ballanghai, full of men. In the largest of them was their king sitting under an awning of mats; when they were near the ship
of the captain-general, the said slave spoke to the king, who understood him well, because in these countries the kings know
more languages than the common people. Then the king ordered some of his people to go to the captain's ship, whilst he
would not move from his boat, which was near enough to us. This was done, and when his people returned to the boat, he
went away at once. The captain gave good entertainment to the men who came to his ship, and gave them all sorts of things,
on which account the king wished to give the captain a rather large bar of solid gold, and a chest full of ginger. However, the
captain thanked him very much but would not accept the present. After that, when it was late, we went with the ships near to
the houses and abode of the king.
The next day which was Good Friday, the captain sent on shore the before-mentioned slave, who was our
interpreter, to the king to beg him to give him for money some provisions for his ships, sending him word that he had
not come to his country as an enemy, but as a friend. The king on hearing this came with seven or eight men in a boat, and
entered the ship, and embraced the captain, and gave him three china dishes covered with leaves full of rice, and
two dorades, which are rather large fish, and of the sort above-mentioned, and he gave him several other things. The captain
gave this king a robe of red and yellow cloth, made in the Turkish fashion, and a very fine red cap, and to his people he gave
to some of them knives, and to others mirrors. After that refreshments were served up to them. The captain told the king,
through the said interpreter, that he wished to be with him, cassi, that is to say, brothers. To which the king answered that he
desired to be the same towards him. After that the captain showed him cloths of different colours, linen, coral, and much
other merchandise, and all the artillery, of which he had some pieces fired before him, at which the king was much
astonished; after that the captain had one of his soldiers armed with white armour, and placed him in the midst of three
comrades, who struck him with swords and daggers. The king thought this very strange, and the captain told him, through the
interpreter, that a man thus in white armour was worth a hundred of his men; he answered that it was true; he was further
informed that there were in each ship two hundred like that man. After that the captain showed him a great number of
swords, cuirasses, and helmets, and made two of the men play with their swords before the king; he then showed him the sea
chart and the ship compass, and informed him how he had found the strait to come there, and of the time which he had spent
in coming; also of the time he had been without seeing any land, at which the king was astonished. At the end the captain
asked if he would be pleased that two of his people should go with him to the places where they lived, to see some of the
things of his country. This the king granted, and I went with another.
This kind of people are gentle, and go naked, and are painted. They wear a piece of cloth made from a tree, like a
linen cloth, round their body to cover their natural parts: they are great drinkers. The women are dressed in tree cloth from
their waists downwards; their hair is black, and reaches down to the ground; they wear certain gold rings in their ears.
These people chew most of their time a fruit which they call areca, which is something of the shape of a pear; they cut it in
four quarters, and after they have chewed it for a long time they spit it out, from which afterwards they have their mouths
very red. They find themselves the better from the use of this fruit because it refreshes them much, for this country is very hot,
so that they could not live without it. In this island there is a great quantity of dogs, cats, pigs, fowls, and goats, rice, ginger,
cocos, figs, oranges, lemons, millet, wax, and gold mines. This island is in nine degrees and two-thirds north latitude, and
one hundred and sixty-two longitude from the line of demarcation: it is twenty-five leagues distant from the other island
where we found the two fountains of fresh water. This island is named Mazzava.
We remained seven days in this place; then we took the tack of Maestral, passing through the midst of five isles, that
is to say, Ceylon, Bohol, Canighan, Baibai, and Satighan. In this island of Satighan is a kind of bird called Barbastigly,
which are as large as eagles. Of these we killed only one, because it was late. We ate it, and it had the taste of a fowl. There
are also in this island doves, tortoises, parrots, and certain black birds as large as a fowl, with a long tail. They lay eggs as
large as those of a goose. These they put a good arm's length under the sand in the sun, where they are hatched by the great
heat which the heated sand gives out; and when these birds are hatched, they push up the sand and come out. These eggs are
good to eat. From this island of Mazzabua to that of Satighan there are twenty leagues, and on leaving Satighan we went by
the west; but the King of Mazzabua could not follow us; therefore, we waited for him near three islands, that is to say. Polo,
Ticobon, and Pozzon. When the king arrived, he was much astonished at our navigation, the captain-general bade him come
on board his ship with some of his principal people, at which they were much pleased. Thus, we went to Zzubu, which is
fifteen leagues off from Satighan.
Sunday, the 7th of April, about midday, we entered the port of Zzubu, having passed by many villages. There we saw
many houses which were built on trees. On approaching the principal town, the captain-general commanded all his ships to
hang out their flags. Then we lowered the sails in the fashion in which they are struck when going to fight, and he had all the
artillery fired, at which the people of this place were greatly frightened. The captain sent a young man whom he had brought
up, with the interpreter to the king of this island Zzubu. These having come to the town, found a great number of people and
their king with them, all alarmed by the artillery which had been fired. But the interpreter reassured them, saying that it was
the fashion and custom to fire artillery when they arrived at ports, to show signs of peace and friendship; and also, to do
more honour to the king of the country, they had fired all the artillery. The king and all his people were reassured. He then
bade one of his principal men ask what we were seeking. The interpreter answered him that his master was captain of the
greatest king in the world, and that he was going by the command of the said sovereign to discover the Molucca islands.
However, on account of what he had heard where he had passed, and especially from the King of Mazzava, of his courtesy
and good fame, he had wished to pass by his country to visit him, and also to obtain some refreshment of victuals for his
merchandise. The king answered him that he was welcome, but that the custom was that all ships which arrived at his
country or port paid tribute, and it was only four days since that a ship called the Junk of Ciama, laden with gold and slaves,
had paid him his tribute, and, to verify what he said, he showed them a merchant of the said Ciama, who had remained there
to trade with the gold and slaves.
Tuesday morning following the King of Mazzava, with the Moor, came to the ship, and saluted the captain on behalf
of the King of Zzubu, and said that the king was preparing a quantity of provisions, as much as he could, to make a present of
to him, and that after dinner he would send two of his nephews, with others of his principal people, to make peace with him.
Then the captain had one of his men armed with his own armour, and told him that all of us would fight armed in that
manner, at which the Moorish merchant was rather astonished; but the captain told him not to be afraid, and that our arms
were soft to our friends and rough to our enemies; and that as a cloth wipes away the sweat from a man, so our arms destroy
the enemies of our faith. The captain said this to the Moor, because he was more intelligent than the others, and for him to
relate it all to the King of Zzubu.
We turned backwards, passing between the island of Cagayan and the port of Cipit, taking a course east and a
quarter south-east, to seek the islands of Maluco. We passed between certain little mountains, around which we found many
weeds, although there was there a great depth. Passing between these islets it seemed that we were in another sea.
Having left Cipit to the east, we saw to the west two islands called Zolo and Taghima near which islands pearls are found.
The two pearls of the King of Burné, of which I have spoken, were found there, and this is the manner in which he obtained
them, according to the account which was given me of it. The King of Burné married a daughter of the King of Zolo, who told
him that her father had these two big pearls. He desired to have them, and decided on getting them by any means, and one
night he set out with five hundred prahus full of armed men, and went to Zolo, and took the king with his two sons, and
brought them to Burné, and did not restore them to liberty until they gave him the two pearls.
Continuing our course east and a quarter north-east we passed near two inhabited places called Cavit and Subanin,
and passed near an island called Monoripa, ten leagues distant from the before-mentioned islets. The inhabitants of this
island always live in their vessels, and have no houses on shore. In these two districts of Cavit and Subanin, which are
situated in the same island as that in which are Butuan and Calagan, the best cinnamon of any grows. If we could have
remained here only two days, we could have laden the ships with it; but we did not wish to lose time, but to profit by the
favourable wind, for we had to double a cape and some islets which were around it. Wherefore, remaining under sail, we
made a little barter, and obtained seventeen pounds of cinnamon for two big knives, which we had taken from the Governor
of Pulaoan.
Having seen the cinnamon tree, I can give some description of it. It is a small tree, not more than three or four
cubits high, and of the thickness of a man's finger, and it has not got more than three or four little branches. Its leaf is like
that of the laurel. The cinnamon for use which comes to us, is its bark, which is gathered twice in the year. Its wood and
leaves when they are green have the taste and force of the bark itself. Here it is called Cainmana, since cain means wood
and mana sweet.
Having set the head of the ship to north-east, we made for a large city called Maingdanao, situated in the same
island in which are Butuan and Calagan, in order to get precise information of the position of Maluco. Following this
course, we took possession of a bignaday, a vessel similar to a prahu, and being obliged to have recourse to force and
violence, we killed seven out of eighteen men who formed the crew. These men were better made and more robust than all
those we had seen hitherto, and they were all chief men of Mindanao. There was among them a brother of the king who said
that he well knew where Maluco was. Afterwards, following his indications, we left the north-east course which we held, and
took a south-east course. We were then in 6° 7' N. latitude and thirty leagues distant fom Cavit.
Making for the south-east we found four islands, named Ciboco, Birabam Batolac, Sarangani, and Candigar.
Saturday, the 26th of October, about nightfall, whilst coasting the island of Birabam Batolac, we met with a very great storm,
before which we lowered all our sails, and betook ourselves to prayer. Then our three saints appeared upon the masts and
dispersed the darkness. St. Elmo stood for more than two hours at the mainmast head like a flame. St. Nicholas at the head of
the foremast, and St. Clara on the mizenmast. In gratitude for their assistance we promised a share to each of the saints, and
we gave to each an offering.
 At last, when it pleased Heaven, on Saturday the 6th of September of the year 1522, we entered the bay of San
Lucar; and of sixty men who composed our crew when we left Maluco, we were reduced to only eighteen, and these for the
most part sick. Of the others, some died of hunger, some had run away at the island of Timor, and some had been condemned
to death for their crimes.
From the day when we left this bay of San Lucar until our return thither, we reckoned that we had run more than
fourteen thousand four hundred and sixty leagues, and we had completed going round the earth from East to West.
Monday the 8th of September, we cast anchor near the mole of Seville, and discharged all the artillery.
Tuesday, we all went in shirts and barefoot, with a taper in our hands to visit the shrine of St. Maria of Victory, and
of St. Maria de Antigua.
Then, leaving Seville, I went to Valladolid, where I presented to his Sacred Majesty Don Carlos, neither gold nor
silver, but things much more precious in the eyes of so great a Sovereign. I presented to him among other things, a book
written by my hand of all the things that had occurred day by day in our voyage. I departed thence as I was best able, and
went to Portugal, and related to King John the things which I had seen. Returning through Spain, I came to France, where I
presented a few things from the other hemisphere to Madam the Regent, mother of the most Christian King Don
Francis. Afterwards, I turned towards Italy, where I established for ever my abode, and devoted my leisure and vigils to the
very illustrious and noble lord, Philip de Villiers Lisle Adam, the very worthy grand master of Rhodes.
⁠
The Chevalier,
⁠ ANTHOYNE PIGAPHETE.

EXERCISE 2.1 Give a concise explanation /discussion on the following items.

1. What is the primary reason of the author in writing the document? How was it produced?
2. What is the main theme of the document? Explain briefly.
3. What specific information of importance is provided in the text? Explain its importance to
the understanding of the study of Philippine history.
4. What light does it shed on people, their politics and economy, religious and cultural
practices? Analyze the text.
5. What is your personal evaluation on the impact of the document in the understanding of the
16th century people and their culture in the island?

SUGGESTED ACTIVITY
The students will make a document analysis by identifying remarkable facts presented in the
document. After doing so, they are going to make an outline out from these pieces of information. They
are expected to make a logical judgment and conclusion from the text.
1. Write an outline of the interesting points in the document. Avoid the use of meaningless
comments (this is an “interesting document”) and personal form (I, me, my).
2. When specific information is raised, and inferences are made on one or more paragraphs, cite
it specifically in a parenthesis (…) or have them quoted and provide the number (#) of the
paragraph.
3. The analysis must be typed or handwritten.
4. The cover page includes, name, date submitted, title (The First Voyage Round the World
by Antonio Pigafetta) and course title (Readings in Philippine History).
 5. The source or site consulted shall be put on a separate bibliographical page.

Lesson 2
"Mga Tala ng Aking Buhay"
Autobiography of Gregoria de Jesus wife of Andres Bonifacio

(This is a translation of the "Mga Tala ng Aking Buhay", an autobiography by Gregoria de Jesus, the wife of Andres
Bonifacio. This translation was done by Leandro H. Fernandez, a University of the Philippines History Profesor, and
published in the June 1930 issue of the Philippine Magazine, Volume XXVII, No 1. The original copy of the document was
furnished to Hernandez by Jose P. Santos.)

Autobiography of Gregoria de Jesus

I am Gregoria de Jesus, native of the town of Caloocan in Rizal province. I was born on Tuesday, May 9, 1875, at
number 13, Zamora Street, then Baltazar, a place where thousands of arms used in the revolution were buried, and where the
Katipunan leaders met to make the final arrangement for the outbreak. My father was Nicolas de Jesus, also a native of this
town, a master mason and carpenter by occupation, and an office holder during the Spanish regime, having been second
lieutenant, chief lieutenant, and gobernadorcillo. My mother was Baltazara Alvarez Francisco of the town of Noveleta in
Cavite province, a niece of General Mariano Alvarez of (the Katipunan center of) Magdiwang in Cavite, the first to raise the
standard of revolt in that province.

I attended the public schools and finished the first grades of instruction, equivalent to the intermediate grades of
today. I still remember that I was once a winner in an examination given by the governor-general and the town curate and
was the recipient of a silver medal with blue ribbon, a prize bestowed in recognition of my little learning. To enable two
brothers of mine to continue their studies in Manila, I decided to stop studying and to join my sister in looking after our
family interests. Often, I had to go out in the country to supervise the planting and the harvesting of our rice, to see our
tenants and laborers, or to pay them their wages on Sundays. Also, now and then I did some sewing or weaving, and always
assisted my mother in her house work.

When I was about eighteen years old, young men began to visit our house, and among them was Andres Bonifacio,
who came in company with Ladislao Diwa and my cousin Teodoro Plata, then an escribano, but none of them talked to me of
love, since parents in those days were extremely careful, and girls did not want people to know that they already had
admirers. The truth, however, was that my parents had for about one year already been informed of Bonifacio's courtship
although I knew nothing about it. Three months thereafter, just as I was beginning to like him, I learned that my father was
against Bonifacio's suit because he was a freemason, and freemasons then were considered bad men, thanks to the teachings
of the friars. Six months later I had earnestly fallen in love with him, and my father, though opposed at first, in the end gave
his consent because of his love for me and because I told him the whole truth.
 In deference to my parents, we were married in the Catholic church of Binondo in March, 1893, with Restituto
Javier and his wife as sponsors. But the week following, we were remarried in the house of our sponsor in what was then
Calle Oroquieta before the katipuneros at their request, since they gave no importance to the Catholic ceremony. I remember
that there was a little feast, attended, among others, by Pio Valenzuela, Santiago Turiano, Roman Basa, Mariano Dizon,
Josefa and Trining Rizal, and nearly all the dignitaries of the Katipunan. That very night I was initiated as a member of the
Katipunan3 and assumed the symbolic name "Lakambini" in order to obey and practice its sacred principles and rules.

After staying about one week in Mr. Javier's house, we decided to look for a residence of our own and we found one
on Calle Anyahan in front of the San Ignacio chapel, and after that I began to do all I could for the propagation and growth of
the K. K. K. (Kataastaasan Kagalanggalang Katipunan) of the A. N. B. (Anak ng Bayan). For this reason, certain belongings
of the Katipunan, such as the revolver and other weapons, the seal, and all the papers, were in my custody, since in those days
Emilio Jacinto, the Secretary of the Katipunan, lived at our house.

He (Emilio Jacinto) was in charge also of the printing press used by the Katipunan and was the first to print the
Kartilla and the "ten commandments" that were drawn up by Andres and himself, who were like two brothers, so much so
that they worked together in all the balangay. Andres was the author of the first regulations or ten commandments, Emilio
Jacinto of a later one (i. e. the Kartilla), so that it could be truthfully said that Andres was the author of the idea; but because
of his affection for and in deference to Emilio Jacinto, the Kartilla written by the latter was made to prevail and put into effect
by the katipuneros. Bonifacio's decalogue was never published and I am told that the same now is in the collection of Mr.
Pepe Santos, son of the late Don Panyong Santos.

Those days were extremely full of danger for us since the sons of the nation, already chafing under bondage, rose to
a man and quickly swelled the ranks of the K.K.K., and every night our house was nearly filled with men who came to listen
to the voice of the fatherland, among whom were Enrique Pacheco with his two sons, Cipriano and Alfonso, Tomas Remigio,
and Francisco Carreon, members of the Supreme Council of the Katipunan, and others who later joined in the "cry of
Balintawak". Often these people remained till dawn busy administering the Katipunan oath. Once or twice a month, those in
charge of the propaganda met, and consequently the printing press, managed by Emilio Jacinto, was busier than ever and he
was obliged to devote his whole day to this work, and I nearly clothed myself with the katipunan documents that were so
danger ous to keep in those days. It is useless to conjecture what would have been my fate had those papers been discovered
on my person and the fate of those liberty-loving sons of the Philippines whose names were inscribed on them, for it
sometimes happened that a mere denunciation would cause many deaths. Many times on receiving some warning that the
house would be searched by the police (veterana), irrespective of the hour, I would immediately gather all the papers, the
arms, and the seal, and order a quiles and in it without eating-for this often happened at noon or at eight o'clock at night —I
would go driving till midnight along the bay front of Tondo and the streets of Binondo in order to save our countrymen from
danger. The thing that grieved me, however, was the fact that there were among our friends some who instead of protecting
me refused to give me help and even kept away from me upon finding that I was carrying dangerous things. News was then
transmitted not by telephone but verbally from one man to another, and in this way, I knew whenever the danger was over
and I could go back home for some rest and peace.

The time passed and after more than a year I was about to become a mother. Andres Bonifacio temporarily moved
me to my parents' house where I had been born, and there, too, our eldest child saw the first light of day, a boy, whom we
christened also Andres Bonifacio and whose godfather was Pio Valenzuela. After two months, I returned to Manila, and
before the end of the year we were victims of a fire in Dulong Bayan, which occurred on Holy Thursday, and caused no little
trouble. We were forced to move from one house to another until one day our child died in the house of Pio Valenzuela, on
Calle Lavezares, Binondo. In this house we lived together for a while; then we moved to Calle Magdalena, Trozo. By this
time, a close watch on the Katipunan was already being kept by the Spanish government.

Having extended (the association's activities) to all parts of the Archipelago so that some of its secrets had already
been divulged, we returned to Caloocan. But because we were closely watched, most of the men, including Andres
Bonifacio, after a few days left town, and then the outbreak began with the cry for liberty on August 25, 1896. I was then
with my parents, but when I learned that I was about to be apprehended I decided to leave and did so at once at eleven o'clock
at night, with the intention of returning to Manila under cover, through the rice fields to Loma. I was treated like an
apparition, for, sad to say, I was driven away from every house I tried to enter to get a little rest. But I learned later that the
occupants of the houses I visited were seized and severely punished and some even exiled-one of them was an uncle of mine
whom I visited that night to kiss his hand, and he died in exile. My father and two brothers were also arrested at this time.

My wandering continued and by four o'clock in the morning I reached Lico Street, now Soler, and went to the house
of an uncle of mine, Simplicio de Jesus, sculptor, but near a police station, and after five hours I left there in a carromata to
look for a safer place to live. I found a refuge in Calle Clavel and there, with my sister-inlaw, Esperidiona Bonifacio, I stayed
quietly for a month under the name of Manuela Gonzaga. Being a member of the Katipunan, however, and hearing the
country's call, I decided to come out of hiding and left for the mountains on November 1, 1896. My husband met me at San
Francisco del Monte, and we proceeded to the historic mountain of Balara where the sons of the country had their
headquarters, between the towns of Caloocan and Mariquina, from which place we entered Cavite province.

My second husband is Julio Nacpil. He was secretary to Andres Bonifacio and the one given command of all the
troops in the north, which put an end to the fighting in Montalban and San Mateo. We met again as he retired to Pasig, fell in
love with each other, and were later married in the Catholic Church of Quiapo, December 10, 1898. The Philippine
revolution at an end and peace restored, we made our home with the well-known philanthropist Dr. Ariston Bautista and his
wife, Petrona Nacpil. With us also lived my mother-in-law, and brothers and sisters-in-law. Together we lived like true
brothers and sisters, born of the same mother. By my second husband I have eight children, two of whom, Juana and Lucia,
are now dead, and six, Juan F., Julia, Francisca, Josefina, Mercedes, and Caridad, are living. They were all sent to school by
Dr. Ariston Bautista, who also made it possible for my son (Juan F.) to complete his studies, and who treated me like a
daughter and sister while he lived.

With respect to the controversy between Bonifacio and Aguinaldo which originated from the troubled elections held
in Tejeros, and the persecution of and the cruelty committed against our family by the Aguinaldo faction, which culminated
in the execution of Bonifacio, I will say nothing here, since (an account of) the same can be read in a letter of mine to Emilio
Jacinto, which, according to General Pacheco, is now in the collection of Jose P. Santos.

Further, with respect to what I know regarding the Katipunan, I will say, so that all may know, that I was the first to
translate or decipher the (Katipunan) acts in code which Emilio Jacinto sent to me in Pasig with a piece of bone extracted
from his thigh when he was hit by a bullet at an engagement in Nagcarlan, Laguna. I was then in Pasig, now a part of Rizal
province, and it was there that I deciphered the Katipunan acts already referred to.

The first printing press, the revolver and other weapons, the seal, and other articles were all bought by the supreme
council, although gifts were also received from Messrs. Francisco and Valeriano Castillo, men of the right spirit, patriotic,
and of high ideals, who, when informed of the aims of the Katipunan, immediately purchased a bigger printing press in order
to rush the printing of the Kartilla, the newspaper, and the rules (of the society). So Emilio Jacinto, Aguedo del Rosario, and
Alejandro, Cipriano, and Marciano Santiago from Polo, Bulacan, worked together (in the printing office) while Macario
Sakay and other leaders took charge of the distribution and attended to errands. Some people consider him (Sakay) a bad
man, who in the end became a bandit, but I know (literally "saw") that he helped the Katipunan a great deal. Macario Sakay
was a true patriot and I can hardly believe that he ended his life on the gallows.

I went through a number of adventurous experiences during the revolution. I had no fear of facing danger, not even
death itself, whenever I accompanied the soldiers in battle, impelled as I was then by no other desire than to see unfurled the
flag of an independent Philippines, and, as I was present in and witnessed many encounters, I was considered a soldier, and to
be a true one I learned how to ride, to shoot a rifle, and to manipulate other weapons which I had occasions actually to use. I
have known what it is to sleep on the ground without tasting food the whole day, to drink dirty water from mud holes or the
sap of vines which, though bitter, tasted delicious because of my thirst. When I come to think of my life in those days,
considering my youth then, I am surprised how I stood it all, and how I was spared.

As I remember it, the punishment given those who failed to obey the precepts of the Katipunan, for example those
who committed adultery, was to summon them immediately their guilt became known, and to admonish them to respect
women as they respected themselves. The admonition was read to them in these words: "If you do not want your mother,
wife, or sister abused, you should likewise refrain from abusing those of others, for such an offense is fully worth three lives.
Bear in mind always that you should never do to others what you do not want done to you, and in this way (i. e. observing
this rule of conduct) you may count yourself an honorable son of the country."
 With respect to gambling, he who was found guilty upon investigation by the balangay prosecutor, was dropped
from the society (and was not reinstated) till he changed his conduct. Every one thus admonished or punished, then, changed
his behavior.

At the request of Mr. Jose P. Santos to whom this account of my life is dedicated, I conclude by giving our youths of
whom he is one, the following counsel or advice in the form of decalogue:

1. Respect and love your parents because they are next to God on earth.

2. Remember always the sacred teachings of our heroes who sacrificed their lives for love of country.

3. Do not squander time so that you can show good example to others.

4. Acquire some knowledge in the line or field of work for which you are best fitted so that you can be useful to your
country.

5. Remember that goodness is wealth.

6. Respect your teachers who help you to see and understand, for you owe them your education as you owe your
parents your life.

7. Protect the weak from danger.

8. Fear history, for it respects no secrets.

9. Greatness begins where baseness ends.

10. Promote union and the country's progress in order not to retard its independence.

Here ends this short account of my life written in my leisure moments when alone and free to commune with the
past so that all its contents are true to the facts.

GREGORIA DE JESUS
Caloocan, Rizal,
November 5, 1928.

Source:

Autobiography of Gregoria de Jesus, Philippine Magazine, Volume XXVII, No 1, June 1930 (from the collection of the
University of Michigan Digital Library, 2005)

ACTIVITY 2.2: Analyze the Author’s Purpose

An author’s purpose is the reason/s an author has for writing. Authors usually do not tell their
purposes, or reasons for writing. You have to figure them out. Read the autobiography of Gregoria De
Jesus and find out her purpose/s for writing. Determine also the author’s main arguments. Watch
out for the clues within the text itself. Write your findings, observations and analysis in an essay
format.
 Lesson 3
Speech of Her Excellency Corazon C. Aquino
President of the Philippines
During the Joint Session of the United States Congress
[Delivered at Washington, D.C., on September 18, 1986]

(The speech presented in this lesson was obtained from an official gazette which is an official journal of the
Republic of the Philippines. This speech was delivered by the late President Corazon C. Aquino in the U.S. Congress,
Washington DC, on September 18, 1986, six (6) months after her assumption into office as president of the Republic of the
Philippines.
Included here is the full content of President Corazon C. Aquino’s transcript of speech and the link where the video
can be found.)

“Three years ago, I left America in grief to bury my husband, Ninoy Aquino. I thought I had left it also to lay to rest
his restless dream of Philippine freedom. Today, I have returned as the president of a free people.

In burying Ninoy, a whole nation honored him. By that brave and selfless act of giving honor, a nation in shame
recovered its own. A country that had lost faith in its future found it in a faithless and brazen act of murder. So, in giving, we
receive, in losing we find, and out of defeat, we snatched our victory.

For the nation, Ninoy became the pleasing sacrifice that answered their prayers for freedom. For myself and our
children, Ninoy was a loving husband and father. His loss, three times in our lives, was always a deep and painful one.

Fourteen years ago, this month was the first time we lost him. A president-turned-dictator, and traitor to his oath,
suspended the Constitution and shut down the Congress that was much like this one before which I am honored to speak. He
detained my husband along with thousands of others – senators, publishers and anyone who had spoken up for the democracy
as its end drew near. But for Ninoy, a long and cruel ordeal was reserved. The dictator already knew that Ninoy was not a body
merely to be imprisoned but a spirit he must break. For even as the dictatorship demolished one by one the institutions of
democracy – the press, the Congress, the independence of the judiciary, the protection of the Bill of Rights – Ninoy kept their
spirit alive in himself.

The government sought to break him by indignities and terror. They locked him up in a tiny, nearly airless cell in a
military camp in the north. They stripped him naked and held the threat of sudden midnight execution over his head. Ninoy
held up manfully–all of it. I barely did as well. For 43 days, the authorities would not tell me what had happened to him. This
was the first time my children and I felt we had lost him.

When that didn’t work, they put him on trial for subversion, murder and a host of other crimes before a military
commission. Ninoy challenged its authority and went on a fast. If he survived it, then, he felt, God intended him for another
fate. We had lost him again. For nothing would hold him back from his determination to see his fast through to the end. He
stopped only when it dawned on him that the government would keep his body alive after the fast had destroyed his brain. And
so, with barely any life in his body, he called off the fast on the fortieth day. God meant him for other things, he felt. He did
not know that an early death would still be his fate, that only the timing was wrong.

At any time during his long ordeal, Ninoy could have made a separate peace with the dictatorship, as so many of his
countrymen had done. But the spirit of democracy that inheres in our race and animates this chamber could not be allowed to
die. He held out, in the loneliness of his cell and the frustration of exile, the democratic alternative to the insatiable greed and
mindless cruelty of the right and the purging holocaust of the left.

And then, we lost him, irrevocably and more painfully than in the past. The news came to us in Boston. It had to be
after the three happiest years of our lives together. But his death was my country’s resurrection in the courage and faith by
which alone they could be free again. The dictator had called him a nobody. Two million people threw aside their passivity and
escorted him to his grave. And so began the revolution that has brought me to democracy’s most famous home, the Congress
of the United States.
 The task had fallen on my shoulders to continue offering the democratic alternative to our people.

Archibald MacLeish had said that democracy must be defended by arms when it is attacked by arms and by truth when
it is attacked by lies. He failed to say how it shall be won.

I held fast to Ninoy’s conviction that it must be by the ways of democracy. I held out for participation in the 1984
election the dictatorship called, even if I knew it would be rigged. I was warned by the lawyers of the opposition that I ran the
grave risk of legitimizing the foregone results of elections that were clearly going to be fraudulent. But I was not fighting for
lawyers but for the people in whose intelligence I had implicit faith. By the exercise of democracy, even in a dictatorship, they
would be prepared for democracy when it came. And then, also, it was the only way I knew by which we could measure our
power even in the terms dictated by the dictatorship.

The people vindicated me in an election shamefully marked by government thuggery and fraud. The opposition swept
the elections, garnering a clear majority of the votes, even if they ended up, thanks to a corrupt Commission on Elections, with
barely a third of the seats in parliament. Now, I knew our power.

Last year, in an excess of arrogance, the dictatorship called for its doom in a snap election. The people obliged. With
over a million signatures, they drafted me to challenge the dictatorship. And I obliged them. The rest is the history that
dramatically unfolded on your television screen and across the front pages of your newspapers.

You saw a nation, armed with courage and integrity, stand fast by democracy against threats and corruption. You saw
women poll watchers break out in tears as armed goons crashed the polling places to steal the ballots but, just the same, they
tied themselves to the ballot boxes. You saw a people so committed to the ways of democracy that they were prepared to give
their lives for its pale imitation. At the end of the day, before another wave of fraud could distort the results, I announced the
people’s victory.

The distinguished co-chairman of the United States observer team in his report to your President described that victory:

“I was witness to an extraordinary manifestation of democracy on the part of the Filipino people. The ultimate result
was the election of Mrs. Corazon C. Aquino as President and Mr. Salvador Laurel as Vice-President of the Philippines.”

Many of you here today played a part in changing the policy of your country towards us. We, Filipinos, thank each of
you for what you did: for, balancing America’s strategic interest against human concerns, illuminates the American vision of
the world.

When a subservient parliament announced my opponent’s victory, the people turned out in the streets and proclaimed
me President. And true to their word, when a handful of military leaders declared themselves against the dictatorship, the people
rallied to their protection. Surely, the people take care of their own. It is on that faith and the obligation it entails, that I assumed
the presidency.

As I came to power peacefully, so shall I keep it. That is my contract with my people and my commitment to God. He
had willed that the blood drawn with the lash shall not, in my country, be paid by blood drawn by the sword but by the tearful
joy of reconciliation.

We have swept away absolute power by a limited revolution that respected the life and freedom of every Filipino.
Now, we are restoring full constitutional government. Again, as we restored democracy by the ways of democracy, so are we
completing the constitutional structures of our new democracy under a constitution that already gives full respect to the Bill of
Rights. A jealously independent Constitutional Commission is completing its draft which will be submitted later this year to a
popular referendum. When it is approved, there will be congressional elections. So within about a year from a peaceful but
national upheaval that overturned a dictatorship, we shall have returned to full constitutional government. Given the
polarization and breakdown we inherited, this is no small achievement.
 My predecessor set aside democracy to save it from a communist insurgency that numbered less than 500.
Unhampered by respect for human rights, he went at it hammer and tongs. By the time he fled, that insurgency had grown to
more than 16,000. I think there is a lesson here to be learned about trying to stifle a thing with the means by which it grows.

I don’t think anybody, in or outside our country, concerned for a democratic and open Philippines, doubts what must
be done. Through political initiatives and local reintegration programs, we must seek to bring the insurgents down from the
hills and, by economic progress and justice, show them that for which the best intentioned among them fight.

As President, I will not betray the cause of peace by which I came to power. Yet equally, and again no friend of
Filipino democracy will challenge this, I will not stand by and allow an insurgent leadership to spurn our offer of peace and
kill our young soldiers, and threaten our new freedom.

Yet, I must explore the path of peace to the utmost for at its end, whatever disappointment I meet there, is the moral
basis for laying down the olive branch of peace and taking up the sword of war. Still, should it come to that, I will not waver
from the course laid down by your great liberator: “With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the rights
as God gives us to see the rights, let us finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall
have borne the battle, and for his widow and for his orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace
among ourselves and with all nations.”

Like Lincoln, I understand that force may be necessary before mercy. Like Lincoln, I don’t relish it. Yet, I will do
whatever it takes to defend the integrity and freedom of my country.

Finally, may I turn to that other slavery: our $26 billion foreign debt. I have said that we shall honor it. Yet must the
means by which we shall be able to do so be kept from us? Many conditions imposed on the previous government that stole
this debt continue to be imposed on us who never benefited from it. And no assistance or liberality commensurate with the
calamity that was visited on us has been extended. Yet ours must have been the cheapest revolution ever. With little help from
others, we Filipinos fulfilled the first and most difficult conditions of the debt negotiation the full restoration of democracy and
responsible government. Elsewhere, and in other times of more stringent world economic conditions, Marshall plans and their
like were felt to be necessary companions of returning democracy.

When I met with President Reagan yesterday, we began an important dialogue about cooperation and the strengthening
of the friendship between our two countries. That meeting was both a confirmation and a new beginning and should lead to
positive results in all areas of common concern.

Today, we face the aspirations of a people who had known so much poverty and massive unemployment for the past
14 years and yet offered their lives for the abstraction of democracy. Wherever I went in the campaign, slum area or
impoverished village, they came to me with one cry: democracy! Not food, although they clearly needed it, but democracy.
Not work, although they surely wanted it, but democracy. Not money, for they gave what little they had to my campaign. They
didn’t expect me to work a miracle that would instantly put food into their mouths, clothes on their back, education in their
children, and work that will put dignity in their lives. But I feel the pressing obligation to respond quickly as the leader of a
people so deserving of all these things.

We face a communist insurgency that feeds on economic deterioration, even as we carry a great share of the free world
defenses in the Pacific. These are only two of the many burdens my people carry even as they try to build a worthy and enduring
house for their new democracy, that may serve as well as a redoubt for freedom in Asia. Yet, no sooner is one stone laid than
two are taken away. Half our export earnings, $2 billion out of $4 billion, which was all we could earn in the restrictive markets
of the world, went to pay just the interest on a debt whose benefit the Filipino people never received.

Still, we fought for honor, and, if only for honor, we shall pay. And yet, should we have to wring the payments from
the sweat of our men’s faces and sink all the wealth piled up by the bondsman’s two hundred fifty years of unrequited toil?

Yet to all Americans, as the leader of a proud and free people, I address this question: has there been a greater test of
national commitment to the ideals you hold dear than that my people have gone through? You have spent many lives and much
treasure to bring freedom to many lands that were reluctant to receive it. And here you have a people who won it by themselves
and need only the help to preserve it.

Three years ago, I said thank you, America, for the haven from oppression, and the home you gave Ninoy, myself and
our children, and for the three happiest years of our lives together. Today, I say, join us, America, as we build a new home for
democracy, another haven for the oppressed, so it may stand as a shining testament of our two nation’s commitment to freedom.

VIDEO: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZnnvbKyNCQ[/youtube]

Transcript of the speech: retrieve from https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1986/09/18/speech-of-president-corazon-aquino-during-the-

joint-session-of-the-u-s-congress-september-18-1986/

Exercise 2.3 Speech of Corazon C. Aquino

Give a concise explanation/discussion on the following items below.
1. What can you say about this line in the speech of Corazon C. Aquino: “… and so began the
revolution that has brought me to democracy’s most famous home, the congress of the
United States”? Which concept in this line is important to you? Why?

2. What did Corazon C. Aquino mention in her speech pertaining the aspiration of Filipino
people? What are the specific lines for this? What do you feel about these lines?

3. In the video, how many times the former President Corazon C. Aquino have been applauded
by the members of the U.S. congress? Mention the lines she said for which she received an
over whelming applause.

Activity 2.3 Rhetorical analysis

Rhetorical analysis is a form of criticism or close reading that employs the principles of rhetoric to
examine the interactions between a text, an author, and an audience. It's also called rhetorical criticism or
pragmatic criticism.

Rhetorical analysis may be applied to virtually any text or image—a speech, an essay, an advertisement, a poem, a
photograph, a web page, even a bumper sticker. When applied to a literary work, rhetorical analysis regards the
work not as an aesthetic object but as an artistically structured instrument for communication. As Edward P.J.
Corbett has observed, rhetorical analysis "is more interested in a literary work for what it does than for what it is."
(Richard Nordquist, 2019)

Sample of rhetorical analysis

In this critical essay, student Heather Glover offers a concise rhetorical analysis of the sonnet "Africa" by Jamaican
American writer Claude McKay. McKay's poem originally appeared in the collection Harlem Shadows (1922). Heather
Glover composed her essay in April 2005 for a course in rhetoric at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah,
Georgia.
Africa’s Loss of Grace
by Heather L. Glover
Africa
1 The sun sought thy dim bed and brought forth light,
2 The sciences were sucklings at thy breast;
3 When all the world was young in pregnant night
4 Thy slaves toiled at thy monumental best.
5 Thou ancient treasure-land, thou modern prize,
6 New peoples marvel at thy pyramids!
7 The years roll on, thy sphinx of riddle eyes
8 Watches the mad world with immobile lids.
9 The Hebrews humbled them at Pharaoh's name.
10 Cradle of Power! Yet all things were in vain!
11 Honor and Glory, Arrogance and Fame!
12 They went. The darkness swallowed thee again.
13 Thou art the harlot, now thy time is done,
14 Of all the mighty nations of the sun.

Keeping with Shakespearean literary tradition, Claude McKay’s “Africa” is an English sonnet relating the short but
tragic life of a fallen heroine. The poem opens with a lengthy sentence of practically arranged clauses, the first of which
states, “The sun sought thy dim bed and brought forth light” (line 1). Referencing scientific and historical discourses on
humanity’s African origins, the line alludes to Genesis, in which God brings forth light with one command.
The adjective dim demonstrates Africa’s unlighted knowledge prior to God’s intervention and also connotes the dark
complexions of Africa’s descendants, unspoken figures whose plight is a recurrent subject in McKay’s work.
The next line, “The sciences were sucklings at thy breasts,” establishes the poem’s female personification of Africa
and lends further support to the cradle of civilization metaphor introduced in the first line. Mother Africa, a nurturer, raises
and encourages the “sciences,” actions that foreshadow another brightening of the world to come in the Enlightenment. Lines
3 and 4 also evoke a maternal image with the word pregnant, but return to an indirect expression of the African and African-
American experience: “When all the world was young in pregnant night / Thy slaves toiled at thy monumental best.” A subtle
nod to the difference between African servitude and American slavery, the lines complete an encomium of Africa’s success
before the advent of “new peoples” (6).
While McKay’s next quatrain does not take the drastic turn reserved for the final couplet in Shakespearean sonnets,
it clearly indicates a shift in the poem. The lines transform Africa from the enterprise’s champion to its object, thereby
placing the Mother of Civilization into an antithetically lower position. Opening with an isocolon that stresses Africa’s
changing position--“Thou ancient treasure-land, thou modern prize”--the quatrain continues to demote Africa,
placing agency in the hands of “new peoples” who “marvel at thy pyramids” (5-6). As the cliched expression of rolling time
suggests the permanency of Africa’s new condition, the quatrain concludes, “thy sphinx of riddle eyes / Watches the mad
world with immobile lids” (7-8).
The sphinx, a mythical creature often used in caricatures of Egyptian Africa, kills anyone who fails to answer its
difficult riddles. The image of a physically and intellectually challenging monster risks undermining the gradual degradation
of Africa that is the poem’s theme. But, if unpacked, McKay’s words reveal his sphinx’s lack of power. In a demonstration
of anthimeria, the word riddle acts not as a noun or verb, but as an adjective that invokes the sense of perplexity usually
associated with riddles or to riddle. The sphinx, then, does not invent a riddle; a riddle makes a confused sphinx. The
“immobile lids” of the dazed sphinx frame eyes that do not detect the mission of the “new people"; the eyes do not move
back and forth to keep the strangers in constant sight. Blinded by the activity of the “mad world,” a world both busy and
crazed with expansion, the sphinx, Africa’s representative, fails to see its imminent destruction.
The third quatrain, like the first, begins by retelling a moment of Biblical history: “The Hebrews humbled them at
Pharaoh’s name” (9). These “humbled people” differ from the slaves mentioned inline 4, proud slaves that “toiled at thy
monumental best” to construct an African heritage. Africa, now without the spirit of her youth, succumbs to a lowly
existence. After a tricolonic list of attributes linked with conjunctions to convey the magnitude of her former excellence--
“Cradle of Power! […] / Honor and Glory, Arrogance and Fame!”--Africa is undone with one short, plain phrase: “They
went” (10-12). Lacking the elaborate style and obvious devices contained throughout the poem, “They went”
powerfully understates Africa’s demise. Following the pronouncement is another declaration--“The darkness swallowed thee
again” --that connotes discrimination of Africans based upon their skin color and the failure of their “dark” souls to reflect
the light offered by the Christian God inline 1.
 In a final blow to Africa’s once shining image, the couplet offers a scathing description of her present state: “Thou
art a harlot, now thy time is done, / Of all the mighty nations of the sun” (13-14). Africa thus seems to fall on the wrong side
of the virgin mother/tainted whore dichotomy, and the personification formerly used to sing her praises now condemns her.
Her reputation, however, is saved by the couplet’s inverted syntax. If the lines read “Of all the mighty nations of the sun, /
Thou art the harlot, now thy time is done,” Africa would be rendered a wayward woman worthy of scorn because of her
licentiousness. Instead, the lines state, “Thou art the harlot, […] / Of all the mighty nations of the sun.” The couplet suggests
that Europe and America, nations enjoying the Son and the “sun” because they are predominantly Christian and scientifically
advanced, pimped Africa in their quests to own her. In a clever positioning of words, then, McKay’s Africa does not fall from
grace; grace is snatched from Africa.

Sources
McKay, Claude. "Africa.” Harlem Shadows: The Poems of Claude McKay. Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922. 35.

Format: 4-5 paragraphs with 5-7 sentences each, type written or hand written. Paper heading
should include the student’s name, course and year and class time.

Grading rubrics:
First paragraph: Begin with introductory line to gain the reader’s attention (something of
interest regarding the speech, context, audience or theme). Provide a thesis statement introducing the
primary purpose of your paper, significance of the speech or personal interest you had in the speaker or
subject matter. Concisely preview the points that will be covered in your paper.
Second paragraph: Discuss the CONTENT of the speech. What was it all about? Also include
the CONTEXT element of the speech like time frame, audience, purpose, subject matter and etc.
Third paragraph: Discuss the VERBAL DELIVERY. Was the speech informative? Was it
persuasive and meaningful to the Filipino people?
Fourth paragraph: CONCLUSION. Signal your closing with signpost such as “In Summary”,
“Finally”, “In Review”, “In Conclusion” etc. review your main points and end it with a closing
thought. Provide your overall impression of the speech.

Lesson 4. WORKS OF JUAN LUNA AND FERNANDO AMORSOLO

Historical paintings are visual representations of concrete happenings on the life of the people in
a specific period. The idea about certain events and people is communicated or expressed aesthetically
through art with form, technique and style. Essentially, these paintings are instrumental to the
visualization of the reality which stands equally with texts, photos, caricature and films.
The students will be exposed to determining and seeing the balance between history and
imagination. The artwork itself will be scrutinized and examined as to how it shows the reality
contextually.
Juan Luna and Fernando Amorsolo paintings are presented in this lesson and subject for analysis
and discussion.
 Juan Luna (1857-1899) is best known for impressive rendition of classical subject in his
academic works. This works includes historical scenes and portraiture, however, subsequently he turned
to realism depicting social inequalities. In this lesson, the “Spoliarium” and “The Persian Life” are
Luna’s paintings presented for the analysis of the students.
Fernando Amorsolo (1892-1972) delight people of his impressionistic technique depicting idyllic
country scenes, beautiful maidens, and colorfully dressed peasantry planting or harvesting rice. The
paintings are significant in the development of the formation of Filipino notions of self and identity. In
this lesson, the “Antipolo Fiesta” and the “Palay Maiden” paintings are presented for analysis

SPOLARIUM 19TH CENTURY-JUAN LUNA

This is the most valuable oil-on canvass painting with a size of 4.22 meters x 7.675 meters, making it the largest paintings in
the Philippines. It won first gold medal in 1884 as an entryto the prestigious Exposicion de Bellas Artes in Madrid.
Source: Retrieve from: https://driftwoodjourneys.com/the-historical-triumph-and-social-relevance-juan-lunas-spoliarium/

The Parisian Life, 1892

The Parisian Life, also known as Interior d'un Cafi, meaning (inside a café) is an 1892 oil on canvas impressionist painting by Filipino
painter and revolutionary activist Juan Luna.

Source : Retrieve from: http://www.pantasyarista.com/2013/07/parisian-life-two-coincidences-fated.html

Palay Maiden,1920
(Dalagang Bukid)- Fernando Amorsolo
The painting portrays a provincial Filipina beauty or Dalagang Bukid during a rice harvest and dressed in and enveloped by
the colors of the Philippine flags.
Source: Retrieve from: http://masterpieces.asemus.museum/masterpiece/detail.nhn?objectId=10429

Antipolo Fiesta, 1947 by Fernando Amorsolo

This oil painting on canvass depicts a rural scene where a group of people are shown celebrating a fiesta in Antipolo.
Source: Retrieve from: http://www.fernandocamorsolo.com/mfca_erratum/index.html
Exercise 2.4 Paintings
Explain and discuss the following items below.
A. Situate art object in historical context.

1. What do you know about the period of the painting? Include in the discussion following:
biographical data of the artist, information about how the painting was receive in its time, and
important social, political and economic constructs of the time.
2. What are the qualities profound in the painting that shows the skill of the artist in replicating
reality?
3. What evidences can you provide to support your main claim on the important depiction of the
painting?

Activity 2.4 Explore: Compare Famous Paintings of Luna and Amorsolo

The students will search online for two paintings, one from Luna and the other one for Amorsolo.
They will discuss the ideas portrayed in the paintings.
Juan Luna
Title of the Painting Elements/Principles Meaning/Message

Fernando Amorsolo
Title of the Painting Elements/Principles Meaning/Message
THE POLITICAL CARICATURES
The understanding of politic and society in a certain period of time can be known and understood not
only through text but also through cartoons or caricatures. A political caricature is a type of drawing that
is used to present a comment, opinion, or criticism on a particular event, person, and situation. It is also
known as editorial cartoon found in a newspaper. In this part of the chapter, there are five (5) political
cartoons to be analyzed. These are derived from the book entitled Philippine Cartoons: Political
Caricatures of the American Era, 1900-1941, by Alfred McCoy and Alfredo Roces, Copyright 1985.

Caricature 1- A New Wrinkle in the Art of Thrieving

Caricature 2. Why the “Aparcero” Rebels

Caricature 3. Public Post is not a Hereditary crown

Caricature 4. Uncle Sam Riding a Chariot

Caricature 5. El Turno de Los Partidos.

Exercise 2.5 Interpretation of the caricature. Fill-out the table correctly the table as asked.
TEMPLATE
Caricature Objects/people that Meaning of each Important clues Political or social
Title you see symbol(objects/people) issues presented
#1

#2

#3

#4

#5
Exercise 2.6 Political Caricatures
Explain and discuss the following questions below.
1. What is the cartoonist viewpoint in caricature 2? Explain
2. Do you agree or disagree with the cartoon? Why?
3. How will you able to interpret the cartoon?
4. What is the cartoonist trying to point through exaggeration?
5. What is the irony in the caricature? What idea does in intend to emphasize?

Activity 2.5. The students will develop publicly campaign that is designed to influence government policies on:

1. Land for the Landless

2. Quality Education

References:

Aquino, C. (1986). “Restoring Democracy by the Way of democracy”. In

http:/www.coryaquino.ph/index.php/works/article/353b89aa-f2dc-11df-b3cf-001617d76479. Retrieve 18 May 2017.

Candelaria JL. and Alporha V. (2019). Readings in Philippine History. 1st edition, Rex Book Store, Manila, Philippines

Ligan, V., Apsay, l., Espino, L., Porras, CH., Salinas, E., and Lemana, J. (2018). Readings in Philippine History.
1st edition, Mutya Publishing House. Malabon City.

McCoy, A., and Roces A, (1985). Philippine Cartoons: Political Caricatures of the American Era, 1900-1941. Quezon City:
Vera-Reyes
Pigafetta, A., and Stanley,H.E.J.(1874) The First Voyage Around the world, by Magellan. Retrieve from:
http://archive.org/details/firstvoyageround00piga

Solmerano, E.T., Palencia, M. and Galicia R. (2018) Readings in Philippine History, 1st edition. Fastbooks
Educational supply Inc.