Chapter 1 : An introduction to History .
What is History ?
-History is the record and the study of past human events that have shaped the world is today .
Why Study History ?
-Understanding change and how our society came to be .
-Learning from Past successes and failures .
-Understanding and respecting one another .
-Developing our critical thinking skills .
Chapter 2 : Reconstructing the Past
What are sources ?
-Sources are collections of evidence or proof .
-Historians study various sources to help them reconstruct or put together an accurate picture of the past .
-Sources can be divided into 2 groups : Primary sources and Secondary sources .
Primary sources are informations provided by people who were involved in historians events or who witness the event .
Secondary sources are the records of people who did not participate directly in or witness the events they described .
These are the study of the investigation of primary sources .
sources can be further divided into four groups :
i written evidence : offical records , newspapers , personal letters , folk stories , messages carved in stones .
ii Pictorial evidence : Paintings , Posters , Photographs , Maps .
iii Oral evidence : Spoken words of eye-witness , usually recorded on tap and put in writing .
iiii Artefacts : Items used by people of the past , eg tools and jewellery .
Primary sources is the original text or material .
Secondary sources is where the poeple write about or comment on a topic .
examples are : biographs , Writing about literary or philosophical texts , Politicals or historial events , Dissussions of issues .
Evaluating evidence
Three 3cs test :
-Credibility
-Consistency .
-Corroboration .
Credibilty - historians first ask if the people who provided the evidence is trustworthy .
Consistency - Historians ask whether the evidence is consistent by considering if it contains statements that have similar meanings .
Corroboration - It is something that is said or reported meanings to provide information to support it .
Contextual knowledge = eg 1 . Jap good . 2.Jap no good .
= 3 . Jap no good .
Fact = information that is true .
Opinion = What a person believes to be true . whic other poeple may not agree with .
Propaganda = Ideas and news meant to influence the way people think and behave .
Even if the evidence is not a fact , historians can make use of them to show people in the past though .
The language of Time
Chronology = the arrangments of past events starting with the events that occured first .
How to know which year is which century : eg .
2008 + 1 = 21
2008 = 21st century .
Periods = Differents blocks of time .
Century = 100 years .
Dynasties = A dynasty is the line of rulers who belong to the same family .
Archaeology = the study of the objects or remains left behind by peope of the past .
hope the notes for chapter 1 and 2 can help you :D
i will post the rest of the chapter when i am free :D
JIAYI !