MIDTERM REVIEWER

HISTORICAL CRITICISM
Also known as the HISTORICAL-CRITICAL METHOD

Historical criticism is a branch of criticism that “investigates the origin of text

in order to understand the meaning behind the text.”

PRIMARY GOAL: to discover the text primitive or original historical context and
its literal sense.

SECONDARY GOAL: to establish a reconstruction of historical situation of the

author and recipients of the text.

TYPES OF HISTORICAL CRITICISM

EXTERNAL CRITICISM (investigates the documents’ form)

INTERNAL CRITICISM (investigates the documents’ content)

EXTERNAL CRITICISM
This type of criticism looks for the obvious sign of “forgery” or
“misrepresentation”. This type of criticism tests the “authenticity or
genuineness of the sources”. It is interested in the writing styles of the
eyewitness and also analyzes the original manuscript (autograph); its
integrity, place and the date it was written. To ascertain if a particular data is
fabricated, forge, or fake, that source must undergo the test of authenticity.

TEST OF AUTHENTICITY
The FIRST STEP to test a source is to determine the date of document to see
whether it is anachronistic. Anachronism means out of time or order,
something that could not have been there at that particular time. It could be
a person, thing or idea placed in a wrong time. Being able to spot anachronism
is important because it helps us test the reliability of a source. If a source is
unreliable then we probably shouldn’t use it.
The SECOND STEP is to determine the author’s handwriting, signature or
seal. We can compare the handwriting of particular author to his other
writings. Obvious sign of forgery includes patch writing, hesitation as revealed
by ink blobs, pauses in the writing, tremor causing poor line quality and
erasures. The act of writing however a skill is learned through repetition until
it becomes a habit. Thus, there is natural variation in everyone handwriting.

The THIRD STEP is by looking for the anachronistic style. In this test we will
examine idiomatic expression. An idiom is an expression, word or phrase that
has a figurative meaning conventionally understood by native speakers. When
we say ‘break a leg’ we all know that it means good luck. We shall also
examine the orthography used in the documents. Orthography is a set of
conventions for writing a language. It includes norms of spelling, hyphenation,
capitalization, word breaks, emphasis and punctuation.

The FOURTH STEP is looking for the anachronistic reference to events. For
example, if the event cited in the document is prior to the actual event, then
the document must be forge or fake.

The FIFTH STEP is the provenance or custody of the document. Provenance

is the place of origin of earliest known history of documents. It traces the roots
of any source.

SEMANTICS AND HERMENEUTICS

Semantics is the linguistic study of meaning. In this test semantics determine
the meaning of the text and words of the source. We may ask: is the meaning
of the statements different from its literal meaning?

Hermeneutics on the other hand is theory and methodology of

interpretation. Hermeneutics is more than interpretation or method used when
immediate comprehension fails. In historical criticism we determine
ambiguities which are a word or expression that can be understood in two or
more possible ways.
INTERNAL CRITICISM
This type of criticism looks for deeper or more intense study of sources.
Usually historians first apply external criticism before undergoing the test of
credibility because of internal criticisms implicit character. It refers to the
“accuracy of the content of a document”. Internal criticism has to do with what
the document says. It investigates the content or substance of a document
and the author’s point of view. This type of criticism tests the source’s
credibility.

The FIRST STEP is the identification of the author. It determines if the witness
is reliable or if he is consistent by comparing his other works. In this steps
historian also examine the mental processes of the witness, if he is capable of
telling the truth, or if he is mentally challenge. Finally, we will look for his
personal attitudes, if he is telling something beyond what he saw or bragging
about it. Many historians use some kind of rubric to test the credibility of the
author.

The SECOND STEP in testing the credibility of the eyewitness is to determine

the approximate date.

The THIRD STEP in testing the credibility of the source is its ability to tell the
truth. Historians examine how near an eyewitness is to the event. Historian
also look for the competence of the eyewitness. Basically they look for the
background of the author like education, health, age or social status. The last
test for this step is the degree of the attention of the eyewitness. Whether the
sources witness the event only partly or if he witnesses the event from the
start to finish.

The FOURTH STEP is the willingness to tell the truth. If the eyewitness is
coerced, forced or somebody threaten him to tell something then his account
is not valid. The eyewitness wants to hide something for personal reason or
sometimes because of coercion.

The FIFTH STEP is to look for corroboration (evidence which confirms or

supports a statement, theory, or finding). This particular step rest upon the
independent testimony of two or more reliable sources.
CONTENT AND CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS

CONTENT ANALYSIS

Content analysis is a research tool used to determine the presence of certain

words, themes, or concepts within the text. Using content analysis,
researchers can quantify and analyze the presence, meanings and
relationships of such certain words, themes, or concepts in such texts.

CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS

A contextual analysis helps us to assess that text within the context of its
historical and cultural setting, but also in terms of its textuality (qualities that
characterize the text as a text). In other words, contextual analysis is:
“situating” the text within the milieu of its times and assessing the roles of
author, readers (intended and actual), and critics.

CONTENT AND CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF THE OF THE

PRIMARY SOURCE
BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR

The researcher must provide brief biographical sketch of the author or creator
of the primary source. Family background, educational attainment, religion
and many others shall be given priority in presenting the biography of the
author. Special attention must also be given to the first four steps of the test
of credibility explained in the previous discussion.

BACKGROUND OF THE SOURCE

 Basic background of the source shall be given attention, like the type of
primary source, how many parts or chapter, how long is the document.
 Locate where the primary source can be found (provenance)
 Find the time of the creation of the source.
 Determine the intended audience or the people the author wants to convey
their ideas with.
 Look for the purpose or motive of the source by understanding the historical
context.
 Do a background research and look at important historical event at the time
the source was made.
CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE IMPORTANT HISTORICAL INFORMATION
FOUND IN THE DOCUMENT

 Look for corroboration. Look also if your source agrees with information
from another source. They may not use the exact same word or they can
express the same information in different ways.
 Look for biases. There is a bias when a source’s information is unbalance or
prejudiced. There are two kinds of bias: either it is strongly positive
(strongly in favor of) or strongly negative (strongly against). If you’re
looking for a bias in written source, you’ll need to find word choices that are
extreme in their description.
 Analyze the historical perspective or a point of view the author describes
such event. To accomplish this, do a background check of the author
 Analyze the historical context of the document. It is the awareness that
sources were created at times which were different to our own. To
determine historical context, we must look when the source is made where
was it created, what event occurred at the time and then read the source
to identify specific language

CONTRIBUTION AND RELEVANCE OF THE DOCUMENT IN

UNDERSTANDING THE GRAND NARRATIVE OF HISTORY

Look for the cause and consequences of the primary sources. A cause is a
person or thing that makes something happens while a consequence is a direct
result of the cause. In this part of the analysis, look also for the turning point
or dramatic moment of change that was caused by the event or primary
source.

RELEVANCE OF THE DOCUMENTS TO THE PRESENT TIME

Look for the historical significance or what modern people consider to be

important from the past. There are many events in our history we may choose
but few people, events or ideas to focus on. Since significance is a decision
we make, it means different people can decide different things are particularly
the most important.

How to determine significance of the event?

 Novelty or when something is new or never been seen before.

 Applicability or when it is similar to the present
 Memory or how it has been remembered over time
 Effect or how people have been affected
IDENTIFICATION OF THE HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE
OF THE TEXT

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
The process used to evaluate what was significant about selected events,
people, and development in the past.

CRITERIA ON ASSESSING THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

RELEVANCE

 Is it important to people living at the time?

 Is something still relevant to our present lives even if it had only a passing
importance?

RESONANCE

 Who have been affected by the event?

 Why was it important to them?
 How were people’s lives affected?

REMARKABLE

 Was the event remarked on by the people at the time or since?

REMEMBERED

 Was the event important at some stage within the collective memory of a
group or groups?

REVEALING

 Does it reveal some other aspects of the past?

RESULTING IN CHANGE

 Does it have consequences for the future?

DURABILITY

 For how long have people’s lives been affected? A day, a week, a year, or
all their lives?
QUANTITY

 How many people were affected? Did the event affect many, everyone, or
just a few? A barrio, a town, a province, a country, or the entire race?

PROFUNDITY

 Was the event superficial or deeply affecting? How deeply people’s lives
were affected? How were people’s lives affected?

ISSUES ON ASSESSING HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

 Our views about historical significance are often shaped by contemporary
contexts and can be dependent upon our own values, interests and
knowledge.
 Historical significance is how we define past events that the current writer
of history deems important/ relevant.
 Historical significance is relative and varies from location, generation, or
sometimes to ideological or political orientation of the one doing the
evaluation or assessment.

LEVEL OF SIGNIFICANCE
Not at all significant

 No one need to remember the event.

Individually significant

 Only the descendants/family of the people involved should know the event.

Regionally significant

 Every individual in the region or a specific group should know the event.

Nationally significant

 Every citizen of the country should know about the said event.

Globally significant

 Everyone in the world should know the details about the event.
EXAMINATION OF THE AUTHOR’S POINT OF VIEW

DETERMINING THE AUTHOR’S PURPOSE

WHAT IS AUTHOR’S PURPOSE?

 The reason of the creation of the text.

PURPOSE DEFINITION EXAMPLES

TO PERSUADE The author wants you to Advertisements,
believe, do, or buy something. campaign speeches,
persuasive letters
opinions, etc.
TO INFORM The author wants to give you Contracts, law, essay, or
information or instructions. articles, instructions or
directions, reference
texts, letters, textbooks,
etc.
TO NARRATE The author wants to relate a History texts, nonfiction
story or recount past events. books, biographies,
anecdotes, newspapers,
etc.

TO DESCRIBE The author wants you to Stories, Poems, Drama,

visualize or experience what Songs, etc.
something or someone looks
like, or feels like.

TO EXPLAIN The author wants to tell you Instructions, directions,

how do something or step-by-step procedures,
something works. how-to-recipes,
operations manual, etc.
TO ENTERTAIN The author wants to amuse Novels, Stories, Poems,
you or for you to enjoy the Drama, Songs, etc.
writing itself.
An important thing to take note of when you are determining the author’s
purpose is the genre you are reading. You can usually identify the purposes
correctly, if you are also able to understand the genre.

COMBINATION OF PURPOSES

Sometimes a text has more than one purpose, but a combination of two or
more purposes:
 POLITICAL CARTOONS CAN BOTH INFORM AND ENTERTAIN
 NEWSPAPER EDITORIALS CAN INFORM, ENTERTAIN, AND PURSUADE
 TV COMMERCIALS MIGHT BE VERY INFORMATIVE OR VERY
ENTERTAINING BUT ITS PRIMARY PURPOSE IS TO CONVINCE AND
PERSUADE THE VIEWERS TO EVENTUALLY BUY THE PRODUCT.

WHY IDENTIFY PURPOSE?

When you understand why a source was created, it helps you think critically
about what information is present, what information is missing, and what you
can expect to takeaway from the source.

As a reader, knowing the purposes or intent that the writer has for
creating the piece of work helps you EVALUATE it better.

For example, if you know that an author is trying to persuade you, then as a
reader, you want to be cautious about believing everything they tell you. They
could be using faulty reasoning on you or tug at your heart strings to make
you believe what they say.

HOW TO IDENTIFY PURPOSE?

Step 1
first, ask, “WHY DID THE AUTHOR CREATE/ WRITE THIS TEXT?”

Step 2
If the author’s purpose isn’t obvious, ask “HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?”

Step 3
Look for clue words to find the author’s purpose.
CLUE WORDS

Compare: The author wants to show similarities between ideas

(both, similarly, in the same way, like, just as)

Contrast: The author wants to show differences between ideas

(however, but dissimilarly, on the other hand)

Criticize: The author wants to give a negative opinion of an idea

(judgement words: “bad”, “wasteful”, “poor”)

Describe/Illustrate: The author wants to paint a picture of an idea

(Adjectives: “red”, “lusty”, “morose”, “sparkling”)

Explain: The author wants to break down an idea on a simpler terms

(words that turn a complicated process into simple language)

Identify: The author wants to tell the reader about an idea

(text that identifies or lists, will name an idea or series of ideas
without providing much description or opinion)

Intensify: The author wants to make an idea greater

(text that intensifies will add more specific details to the idea)

Suggest: The author wants to propose an idea