What is Historical method?
The '''historical method''' are the [[:wikt:technique|technique]]s and guidelines by which [[historian]]s use [[primary source]]s and other evidence to [[research]] and then to [[historiography|write history]]. == Guidelines == Following Garraghan (in: ''A Guide to Historical Method'', 168) puts six questions that should be answered as minimal standard for a sound historical method: # ''When'' was the source, written or unwritten, produced (date)? # ''Where'' was it produced (localization)? # ''By whom'' was it produced (authorship)? # ''From what pre-existing material'' was it produced (analysis)? #''In what original form'' was it produced (integrity)? # ''What is the evidential value'' of its contents (credibility)? == References == *Gilbert J. Garraghan, ''A Guide to Historical Method'', Fordham University Press: New York (1946). {{ISBN|0-8371-7132-6}}. *Louis Gottschalk, ''Understanding History: A Primer of Historical Method'', Alfred A. Knopf: New York (1950). {{ISBN|0-394-30215-X}}. *Martha Howell and Walter Prevenier, ''From Reliable Sources: An Introduction to Historical Methods'', Cornell University Press: Ithaca (2001). {{ISBN|0-8014-8560-6}}. *C. Behan McCullagh, ''Justifying Historical Descriptions'', Cambridge University Press: New York (1984). {{ISBN|0-521-31830-0}}. *R. J. Shafer, ''A Guide to Historical Method'', The Dorsey Press: Illinois (1974). {{ISBN|0-534-10825-3}}. ==Related pages== *[[Historiography]] *[[Historical linguistics]] *[[Scientific method]] == Other websites == *[http://users.ids.net/~marcom/historint/hi-methodnotes.html Historical Sources Online] by Marc Comtois *[http://www.galilean-library.org/int18.html Philosophy of History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050905120345/http://www.galilean-library.org/int18.html |date=2005-09-05 }} by Paul Newall *[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/learn/lessons/psources/pshome.html The Historian's Sources], online lesson by the Library of Congress *[http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/rules/fre/rules.htm Federal Rules of Evidence]