1. Historiography and primary source usuage By : Andrew J. Labdik For: EDUC 6305, Spring 2011

2. Two of the most important and controversial subjects in current historical research are Historiography and primary sources.

3. Historiography is the study of how the views ofhistorians change over time.

4. Students of history need to review these changes to have a grasp on the different views of events.

5. A good example is the ownership of slaves by some of the founding fathers of the United States.

6. In the past, historians credited this to the founders just following the law of the time.

7. More recently, historians have reviewed the writings of the founders and believe that they intended slavery to be outlawed eventually.

8. That example also raises another important aspect of historical research – the use of primary sources.

9. Primary sources are the first person accounts of events that happened in the past.

10. They are extremely important to understanding the past through the eyes of the people that lived through the events.

11. Even second hand accounts of events in the past, such as newspapers of the time, do not have the same credibility as an eye witness.

12. As a result, the research of historical events are greatly enchanced by the use of primary sources and this is stressed in modern history classes.

13. So in order to judge a book of its value to current historians, historiagraphy and primary source usuage are required.

14. Without doing this proper research, the book will fall into the category of popular history.

15. This means its based off of assumed facts and the headlines of newspapers.

16. While these books are adequate to understand an issue's background, a real historical work looks deep into historiography and primary sources