Historical method
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Historical method is the collection of techniques and guidelines that historians use to research and write histories of the past. Secondary sources, primary sources and material evidence such as that derived from archaeology may all be drawn on, and the historian's skill lies in identifying these sources, evaluating their relative authority, and combining their testimony appropriately in order to construct an accurate and reliable picture of past events and environments.
In the philosophy of history, the question of the nature, and the possibility, of a sound historical method is raised within the sub-field of epistemology. The study of historical method and of different ways of writing history is known as historiography.
See also
- Antiquarian
- Archaeology
- Archival research
- Auxiliary sciences of history
- Chinese whispers
- Historical criticism
- Historical significance
- Historiography
- List of history journals
- Philosophy of history
- Recorded history
- Scholarly method
- Scientific method
- Source criticism
- Unwitting testimony
