Historical Sources, Chronology, and Skills of Historical Analysis
Overview
This domain tests method: how historians use sources, establish chronology, and evaluate evidence. Candidates should be able to distinguish primary from secondary sources and to identify bias and context.
Key concepts
- Primary vs. secondary: a primary source is produced in the period under study; a secondary source interprets it later.
- Chronology: BCE/CE conventions, centuries, and the difference between absolute and relative dating.
- Source criticism: authorship, audience, purpose, and reliability.
- Types of evidence: written, archaeological, numismatic, and epigraphic.
Traps
Students often treat a secondary source as primary, or assume that a written source is more reliable than archaeological evidence. Another trap is misreading century conventions (the 19th century is 1801–1900).
Rule of thumb
For any source, ask: who made it, when, for whom, and why? Then ask what it can and cannot prove.