1 Module 1 - Introduction to History: Definition, Issues, Sources and

Methodology
2 Module 1 - Introduction to History: Definition, Issues, Sources and
Methodology

PROGRAM OUTCOMES

The College of Teacher Education:

At the end of the program, the graduates should be able to:
a. explain the English language system, history and development comprehensively;
b. communicate effectively, fluently and creatively using the English language in any cultural and social
setting;
c. facilitate learning of the English language; d. Work efficiently in any setting across the globe;
e. display proficiency in job placement interviews;
f. participate in discussion with various language systems; and
g. produce well-written texts for research, academic and professional purposes.

COURSE TITLE

History 100 – Readings in Philippine History

COURSE DESCRIPTION

It is a three unit-course which analyses Philippine history from multiple perspective through the lens of
selected primary sources coming from various discipline and of different genres, students are given
opportunities to analyze the authors background and main arguments, compare different points of view, identify
bases 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 the Philippine
political, economic, cultural, social, scientific and religious history. Priority is given to primary materials that
could help the students develop their analytical and communication skills. The end goal is to develop the
historical and critical consciousness of the students so that they will become versatile, articulate, broadminded,
morally upright and responsible citizens.

COURSE OUTCOMES (CMO)

In this course, you should be able to:

1. evaluate the primary sources for their credibility, authenticity, and provenance;
2. analyze the context, content, and perspective of different kinds of primary sources;
3. determine the contribution of different kinds of primary sources in understanding Philippine history;
4. develop critical and analytical skills with exposure to primary sources;
5. demonstrate the ability to use primary sources to argue in favor or against a particular issue;
6. effectively communicate using various technique and genres, their historical analysis of a particular
event or issue that could help others understand the chosen topic;
7. propose recommendations/solutions to present-day problems based on their understanding of root
causes and their anticipation of future scenarios;
8. display the ability to work in a team and contribute to a group project; and
3 Module 1 - Introduction to History: Definition, Issues, Sources and
Methodology

9. manifest interest in local history and concern promoting and preserving our country’s national patrimony
and cultural heritage.
Lesson 1

Introduction to History

INTRODUCTION

History has always been known as the study of the past. Students of general education often dread the
subject for its notoriety in requiring them to memorize dates, places, names, and events form distant eras. This
low appreciation of the discipline may be rooted from the shallow understanding of history’s relevance to their
lives and to their respective contexts. While the popular definition of history as the study of the past is not
wrong, it does not give justice to the complexity of the subject and its importance to human civilization.

This module is divided into two lessons:

Lesson 1 – (Introduction to History) it tackles about the introduction of history, from its meaning
and the main sources that tells the value of history.
Lesson 2 – (Evaluating the first Primary and Sources in the Philippines) a continuation of the first
lesson which is now analyzing products which talks about our history, and justify whether
they are primary sources or secondary sources or even a tertiary sources.

PRE-ASSESSMENT

Activity 1. True or False. Write TRUE if the statement is true. Otherwise, write FALSE in the space provided.

__________ 1. History is the study of the past.

__________ 2. Historical sources that were not written should not be used in writing history.
__________ 3. The subject of historiography is history itself.
__________ 4. History has no use for the present, thus, the saying “past is past” is true.
__________ 5. History is limited to the story of a hero versus a villain.
__________ 6. Only primary sources may be used in writing history.
__________ 7. There are three types of sources: primary, secondary, and tertiary sources.
__________ 8. External criticism is done by examining the physical characteristics of a source.
__________ 9. Internal criticism is done by looking at a source’s quality of paper and type of ink,
among others.
__________ 10. The historians are the only source of history.
4 Module 1 - Introduction to History: Definition, Issues, Sources and
Methodology

LESSON MAP

History

Practice of
Historical
Verifying the
Sources
Authenticity

Primary Secondary Tertiary External Internal

Sources Sources Sources Criticism Criticism

Studying history requires a reliable bases and this should be verified. Aside from analyzing the sources which
consist of the primary and the secondary, as well as there is also the other one which is the tertiary source.
Together with this, to study a certain history for the verification there is also the so called as the external and
the internal criticism.

Lesson Learning Outcomes

In this lesson, you should be able to:

1. evaluate primary sources for their credibility, authenticity and provenance;
2. comprehend the meaning of history as an academic discipline and to be familiar with the underlying
philosophy and methodology of the discipline;
3. identify primary and secondary sources;
4. differentiate primary and secondary sources; internal and external criticism; and
5. Write your own history by using primary and secondary sources.

CONTENT

ENGAGE Explaining Facts

Explain. “Facts cannot speak for themselves.”

• Indicate how the different sources and criticisms give an impact on this statement and how does this
sources relevance to its credibility, authenticity and provenance of a certain facts.

________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
5 Module 1 - Introduction to History: Definition, Issues, Sources and
Methodology

________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

EXPLORE

HISTORY

• History was derived from the Greek word historia which means “knowledge acquired through inquiry
or investigation.”
• History as a discipline existed around 2,400 years and is as old as mathematics and philosophy.
• Historia in classical Latin which defined as the account of the past of a person or a group of people
through written documents and historical evidences.
• History became an important academic discipline. It became the historian’s duty to write about the
lives of important individuals like monarchs, heroes, saints, and nobilities.
• History was also focused on writing about wars, revolutions, and other important breakthroughs.
• Traditional historians lived with the mantra of “no document no history.” It means that unless a written
document can prove a certain historical event, then it cannot be considered as a historical fact.

But as any other academic disciplines, history progressed and opened up to the possibility of valid historical
sources, which were not limited to written documents, like government records, chroniclers’ accounts, or
personal letters. Giving premium to written documents essentially invalidates the history of other civilizations
that do not keep written records. Some were keener on passing their history by word of mouth. Restricting
historical evidence as exclusively written is also discrimination against other social classes who were not
recorded in paper. Nobilities, monarchs, the elite, and even the middle class would have their birth, education,
marriage, and death as matters of government and historical record.

These loopholes was recognized by historians who started using other kinds of historical sources, which
may not be in written form but were just as valid. A few of these examples are oral traditions in forms of epics
and songs, artifacts, architecture, and memory. History thus became more inclusive and started collaborating
with other disciplines.

Questions and Issues in History

Indeed, history as a discipline has already turned into a complex and dynamic inquiry. This dynamism
inevitably produced various perspectives on the discipline regarding different questions. These questions can
be answered by historiography. In simple terms, historiography is the history of history. History and
historiography should not be confused with each other.

History is the study of the past, the events that happened in the past, and the causes of such events.
6 Module 1 - Introduction to History: Definition, Issues, Sources and
Methodology

Historiography, the object study, on the other hand, is history itself. Thus, it lets the students have a
better understanding of history. They do not only get to learn historical facts, but also they are also provided
with the understanding of the facts’ and the historian’s contexts.

Positivism is the school of thought that emerged between the eighteenth and nineteenth
century. This thought requires empirical and observable evidence before one can claim that
a particular knowledge is true. Positivism also entails an objective means of arriving at a
conclusion. In the discipline of history, the mantra “no document, no history” stems from this
very same truth, where historians were required to show written primary documents in order
to write a particular historical narrative. Positivist historians are also expected to be objective
ad impartial not just in their arguments but also on their conduct of historical research.

Postcolonialism is a school of thought that emerged in the early twentieth century when
formerly colonized nations grappled with the idea of creating their identities and
understanding their societies against the shadows of their colonial past. Postcolonial history
looks at two things in writing history: first is to tell the history of their nation that will highlight
their identity free from that of colonial discourse and knowledge, and second is to criticize the
methods, effects, and idea of colonialism. Postcolonial history is therefore a reaction and an
alternative to the colonial history that colonial powers created and taught to their subjects.

The Annales School of History is a school of history born in France that challenged the
cannons of history. This school of thought did away with the common historical subjects that
were almost always related to the conduct of states and monarchs. Annales scholars like
Lucien Febvre, Marc Bloch, Fernand Braudel, and Jacques Le Goff studied other subjects in a
historical manner. They were concerned with social history and studied the history of
peasantry, the history of medicine, or even the same scholars. They advocated that the people
and classes who were not reflected in the history of the society in the grand manner be
provided with space in the records of mankind. In doing this, Annales thinkers married history
with other disciplines like geography, anthropology, archeology, and linguistics.

History and the Historian

An exact and accurate account of the past is impossible for the very simple reason that we cannot go
back to the past. We cannot access the past directly as our subject matter. Historians only get to access
representation of the past through historical sources and evidences.
Therefore, it is the historian’s job not just to seek historical evidences and facts but also to interpret
these facts.
Historical research require rigor. Despite the fact that historians cannot ascertain absolute objectivity,
the study of history remains scientific because of the rigor of research and methodology that historians employ.
Historical methodology comprises certain techniques and rules that historians follow in order to
properly utilize sources and historical evidences in writing history. Certain rules apply in cases of conflicting
accounts in different sources, and on how to properly treat eyewitness accounts and oral sources as valid
historical evidence.
7 Module 1 - Introduction to History: Definition, Issues, Sources and
Methodology

Historical Sources

Historical sources can be classified between these which categories depends on the historical subject being
studied.
❖ Primary Sources are those sources produced at the same time as the event, period, or subject being
studied.
Ex.
Archival documents, artifacts, memorabilia, letters, census, and government records.
❖ Secondary sources are those sources, which were produced by an author who used primary sources
to produce the material. In other words, secondary sources are historical sources, which studied a
certain historical subject.

Both primary and secondary sources are useful in writing and learning history. However, historians and
students of history need to thoroughly scrutinized these historical truths. The historian should be able to
conduct an external and internal criticism of the source, especially primary sources which can age in centuries.

❖ External Criticism is the practice of verifying the authenticity of evidence by examining its physical
characteristics; consistency with the historical characteristics of the time when it was produced; and the
materials used for the evidence.
❖ Internal Criticism is the examination of the truthfulness of the evidence. It looks at the content of the
source and examines the circumstances of its production. It looks at the truthfulness and factuality of
the evidence by looking at the author of the source, its context, the agenda behind its creation, the
knowledge which informed it, and its intended purpose, among others

EXPLAIN Exploring Concepts

Instruction. Answer the following questions after reading the content of this lesson.

Follow up Question:

1. Why do we have to understand these concepts in history?

_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
2. What do we have to comprehend primary and secondary sources?
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

3. Do you think external and internal criticism is important in studying or analyzing history? Explain.
8 Module 1 - Introduction to History: Definition, Issues, Sources and
Methodology

_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
4. What is the difference between a primary, secondary and tertiary sources in studying history?
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

TOPIC SUMMARY

At the end of this lesson, you have learned that:

• History is a part of a person’s life.

• Before we become a Philippines today, we have undergone such great events in the past.
• Establishing the present you should know the reality behind history and there comes sources both the
primary and secondary.
• Primary Sources are those sources produced at the same time as the event, period, or subject being
studied.
• Secondary sources are those sources, which were produced by an author who used primary sources
to produce the material. In other words, secondary sources are historical sources, which studied a
certain historical subject.
• External Criticism is the practice of verifying the authenticity of evidence by examining its physical
characteristics; consistency with the historical characteristics of the time when it was produced; and the
materials used for the evidence.
• Internal Criticism is the examination of the truthfulness of the evidence. It looks at the content of the
source and examines the circumstances of its production. It looks at the truthfulness and factuality of
the evidence by looking at the author of the source, its context, the agenda behind its creation, the
knowledge which informed it, and its intended purpose, among others

REFERENCES

• Candelaria, John Lee P., Alphora, Veronica, C. Readings in Philippine History. Quezon City: Rex
Printing Company, Inc. 2018
• Ariola, Mariano M., Parajas, Rowena P., Readings in Philippine History. Manila: Unlimited Books
Library Services and Publishing Inc. 2018