ANGELES UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION

Angeles City
COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES
Department of Social Sciences
====================================================================
Module 1: Thinking Like A Historian

https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-illustration-historian-occupation-vector-cartoon-illustration-image84580949

I. Learning Objectives:

1. Identify primary and secondary sources

2. Examine how these types of sources affect the grand narratives of Philippine History
3. Appreciate the value of these sources in reconstructing the past of humankind.

II. Pre-discussion Activity: Classification of Historical Sources

For the pre-discussion part, the activity will be a teacher- directed activity via online open
discussion. The discussion will focus on the following sets of questions: yourself the following
questions. You will put your answers in the “Discussion” page of Canvas.

1. Can you differentiate between what is truth and what is fake news?
2. Are you critical enough not to be misled by fake news?
3. How can you know about the past? Is it from hearsays or from reliable sources?
4. What do you think are the dangers of knowing things from sources that are not reliable?
5. Do you know the importance of sources in recreating the grand narrative of the past?

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 ANGELES UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION
Angeles City
COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES
Department of Social Sciences
====================================================================

III. Discussion:
A. What is History?
For the lesson presentation, watch the video lecture on the “Baul ng Lahi” YouTube
channel. This will provide information on the question “What is History?”

Video presentation link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vYzFpE6gQg&t=140s

The word “history” is derived from the Greek word istoria which
means learning. As defined by Aristotle, it was a systematic account
of a set of natural phenomena whether non-chronological (not in
order) or not. Eventually, the Latin equivalent scientia was used more
regularly to designate non-chronological systematic accounts of
natural phenomena. On the other hand, the word history itself was
now used exclusively to refer to accounts of phenomena, especially of
human affairs, in a chronological order.

History, which deals with the past, is primarily concerned with the reconstruction of it. The
complication here is that most events from the past are beyond recall, thus, historical knowledge
is limited due to incomplete records since humans do not always record what is happening around
them. For example, while you are reading this are you recording the time it took for you to finish
this? Are you writing down what are the things currently happening around you? Most probably
not. In history, only a part of what you’ve observed will be remembered. Then, only a part of what
you remember will be recorded. And then only a part of what you’ve recorded will survive after
decades, and lastly, only a part of what survived will the future historian talk about and some of it
may not even be credible.

Having said this, we can say that there is no such thing as a complete history or history-as-actuality.
There is only a history-as-record since we all based the past from the surviving records of it.
History then, is only the expressed part (what was written or said) of what was understood from
the credible part of the sources. Your task then is not to acquire the complete knowledge of the
past (since this is impossible). Rather, it is to recreate (not create) a very similar “image” of the
past from the sources available to you. But of course, not all sources are always credible.

So here enters the Historical Method, the process of critically examining and analyzing the records
of the past. Historiography, on the other hand, is the imaginative (but not too imaginative! You
can’t say that the waves were furious when Magellan arrived in the Philippines. Remember: Re-
creation, not creation.) reconstruction of the past from the data derived from the historical method.

B. Historical Sources
For the lesson presentation, watch the video lecture on the “Baul ng Lahi” YouTube
channel. This will provide information on the question of “What are Historical Sources?”

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 ANGELES UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION
Angeles City
COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES
Department of Social Sciences
====================================================================

Video presentation link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7NTW3n8luY

Sources are very important in history since without them, how can you reconstruct the past?
Sources are items that provide information or proof. Historical Sources are generally divided into
two: the Primary sources and the Secondary sources.

Primary sources are simply sources that are created during the time period in study. Creators of
primary sources are basically those who existed during the moment of writing or creating. For
example, 500 years from now, your output for an upcoming activity for Module 2.3 (editorial
cartoon) will be considered as primary sources about 2020 since it was created during 2020, by
someone who existed in 2020. Primary sources can be texts, eyewitness accounts, testimonies,
documents, autobiographies, artifacts (note that they are not the events themselves), and even
creative works (such as videos, artworks, films, etc.).

Secondary sources, on the other hand, are sources that are already interpreted and analyzed data
from primary sources. This means, unlike primary sources, they are not created during the time
period in question. They are created after the time period under study. It is created by someone not
present during the event which means they are often removed from the event itself. Examples of
primary sources are history textbooks, written analysis, criticisms, commentaries, encyclopedias,
etc.

As mentioned earlier, not all sources are credible hence, the need for Historical criticism. Before
a source can be used for history, matters about its form (where it is written) and content (what is
written) must be settled first. There are two kinds of historical criticism.

1. External criticism – this deals with the form and asks “Is this authentic?”
Is the document forged? Fake? Fabricated?
In order to determine a documents authenticity, the following are analyzed:
A. Date
B. Author’s handwriting, signature, and seal
C. Inconsistencies in writing style
D. Inconsistencies in reference to events
E. Origin of the document
F. Semantics
G. Clearness in meaning
Some examples of external criticism are the following:
1. Identifying whether the paper used in a document made in the 19th century
has aged according to the time period.
2. Identifying the origins of a historical artifact.
3. Identifying the previous owners of a historical painting.

2. Internal criticism - this deals with the content and asks “Is this credible? “Is what’s
written credible? Truthful?

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 ANGELES UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION
Angeles City
COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES
Department of Social Sciences
====================================================================

In order to determine a documents credibility, the following are analyzed:

A. Identifying the author (what are his attitudes? Is he reliable? His mental
process?)
B. The author’s willingness and ability to tell the truth (How near is he to the
event? Is he a competent witness? How’s his/her degree of attention? Is he/she
telling falsehoods consciously or not?
C. Corroboration of historical facts (Let’s read the other accounts about the
event. Are they the same? What are the differences and similarities?
Some examples of internal criticism are the following:
1. Understanding how an author’s background may have affected his perspective
towards an event he/she is writing about.
2. Comparing the information found in a historical document with other pieces
of evidence to see if the facts are substantiated.
3. Knowing an author’s reason or motivation for writing an account about a
particular event.

IV. Activity: Thinking Like A Historian

Background on the Tejeros Convention

During the initial days of the revolution, the

revolutionary forces in Manila under Andres
Bonifacio (the Supremo or Supreme Leader),
were experiencing a number of defeats. On the
other hand, the revolutionary forces in Cavite
were able to remove Spanish control initially.
However, after some time, the Spanish forces
were slowly regaining Cavite due to
reinforcements and thus, a convention was
called in order to discuss the defense of the
province. Unfortunately, the defense of the
province was not really discussed and the
attendees decided to focus on setting up a new An artist version of an event during the Tejeros Convention
government. In Cavite, there were two by Carlos Valino (1990) housed at AFP Museum
factions of the Katipunan (a revolutionary
movement against Spanish colonialism in the Philippines), the Magdalo (founded by Baldomero
Aguinaldo, cousin of the first Philippine president Emilio Aguinaldo) and the Magdiwang
(founded by Mariano Alvarez, father of Santiago Alavarez whose account you will read). The
Magdalo wanted to establish a new revolutionary government while the Magdiwang wanted to
retain the Katipunan as the revolutionary government.
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 ANGELES UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION
Angeles City
COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES
Department of Social Sciences
====================================================================

Before the elections, the attendees agreed to respect the results no matter the background of those
elected. One infamous event of this election was the feud between Daniel Tirona and Andres
Bonifacio. Upon Bonifacio’s election as Minister of the Interior, Tirona questioned his credentials,
stating that the minister must be a lawyer. Bonifacio was infuriated with this and there is a story
that said that he went for a Katipunero’s firearm and pointed it at Tirona in order to shoot him.
Deeply insulted, Bonifacio declared the elections as null and void. There were people who agreed
with him, but there are also those who did not. Those who did not later charged him with treason
against the new revolutionary government. He was later killed, along with his brother, by his fellow
Filipinos. An unfortunate reminder that in politics and power, there are no permanent friends and
allies, only permanent ambitions.

1. Read the following Documents to answer the worksheet provided at the end of the
module.
• Memoirs of the General by Gen. Santiago Alvarez
• The Seed of Discontent by Teodor Agoncillo

Note:
• If the links for the document would not work, you can access the documents on the
Files section on our RPH canvas homepage.
• The instructor will group the class for the output between 2 to 4 members depending
on the size of the class.
• Groupings could either be assigned randomly thru canvas or manually by the
teacher.

2. Do a group analysis of the document by answering the questions provided in the

worksheet on the last page of this module.

3. After completing the analysis worksheet, the assigned leader of the group will submit
the output on Canvas under the “Assignments” section through an assigned
submission portal under the module.

V. Post-discussion Activity:
For the post-discussion activity in this module, you are tasked to answer “MODULE 1
QUIZ” which can be accessed in the “Quizzes” section of Canvas or in the “Modules” section
under “Module 1: Thinking Like A Historian.” This is to determine your knowledge of Primary
and Secondary Sources.

VI. References:
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 ANGELES UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION
Angeles City
COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES
Department of Social Sciences
====================================================================
Agoncillo, Teodoro. History of the Filipino People, 8th ed. Quezon City: C&E Publishing, Inc.,
1990.

Gottschalk, Louis. Understanding History: A Primer on Historical Method. New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, 1950.

Lemon, M.C. Philosophy of History, 1st ed. London and New York: Routledge, 2003.

Torres, Jose Victor. BATIS: Sources in Philippine History. Quezon City: C&E Publishing, Inc.,
2018.

Appendix:

Module I: Thinking Like a Historian - Worksheet for Primary and Secondary sources on the
Tejeros Convention

Module 1 Worksheet: Thinking Like a Historian – Comparative Analysis between Primary and Secondary
Sources

Name(s): __________________________________________________ Section: _________________

__________________________________________________ Date: ___________________

__________________________________________________

Document Primary Source Secondary Source

Step 1: Identify Things

Title of the Document:
Which between the two is
Primary and which is
Secondary?

What kind of document is this?

Who wrote or created the

document? (Research at least
three significant information
about the author that can

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 ANGELES UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION
Angeles City
COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES
Department of Social Sciences
====================================================================
establish or affect his/her
credibility)

When was this document

created? (Date and the
prevailing condition)
Step 2: Understand things
Purpose:
Why did the author create this
document? What was the goal?
Message:
What information or ideas that
the document provides?
Step 3: Connect Things
What possible bias the author
manifested in this document
that can be attributed to his
identity?
After reading the documents,
what insights does these
historical documents convey?
Why are the documents
important? Why does the
documents matter to the grand
narrative of Philippine History?
Note: - The column width and height can be adjusted as needed.

- Text file format should be used for this output.