Thinking Like a Historian

History is the study of the past in all its dimensions through the use of sources (written records, visual sources, material artifacts and oral testimony).   Like a good detective, historians want to uncover a particular truth or shed light on a certain issue by examining sources for evidence. This is what historians call historical enquiry and it involves a couple of key steps which may seem difficult at first but with practice will become more familiar.

Understanding Perspective

First, the validity of the source needs to be established: is the source what it claims to be? Is the creator a trustworthy or reliable narrator? Sources can be misleading in many respects. The creator of the source may purposefully omit information, embellish their story or make a mistake in their account. This means that firsthand accounts based on the same event can vary widely. It is the responsibility of the historian to understand as fully as possible the perspective of the source creator.

Understanding this perspective involves asking a set of questions to glean evidence from the sources that historians work with in order to make informed logical conclusions about what these sources tell us about past historical events. This process involves asking several key ‘W’ questions:

• What type of source it is? (written? visual? oral? primary or secondary?)
• Who created the source?
• Where and when was the source created?
• Who was the source created for?
• Why was the source created?

Understanding Context

The process of answering these ‘W’ questions provides the historian with context, that is, an idea of what kind of source they are dealing with and what kind of information they can expect to gain from understanding the source. For example, establishing where and when the source was created helps to evaluate if the source is reliable. This is because the more time and space there is between an event and the creation of the source, perceptions of the event may change and this can diminish the reliability of the source. While this is not always the case it is a commonly accepted idea among historians. To understand the relationship between the source creator and the historical event they write or speak about, a few additional questions need to be explored:

• What was going on in the place and time the source was created? It can be helpful to consult secondary sources (like a textbook or a class lecture) to learn more about the time and place the source was created.
• How is the source creator connected to the historical event being examined?
• What information or perspectives are missing from the source?

Historical inquiry means approaching each source with questions instead of an argument or point of view that you are trying to defend. Rather historians investigate, explore and engage with sources to understand what the source is saying and what perspective it has in relation to a past event. This approach to studying the past combines the skills of questioning and analyzing evidence with the art of storytelling to construct realistic and convincing interpretation of past events, why and how they happened and how they shaped the lives of the people who lived through them. 

Understanding Bias

Historical events often contain multiple perspectives, and each perspective is influenced by the personal experiences and beliefs of the person participating in the event.  Even the personal perspective or political leanings of the historian examining the evidence may influence how certain events are viewed and understood. This is called bias — an inclination or one-sided point of view of the past. Bias is formed over years of lived experience as well as human- and environmental interactions and thus will always exist. Bias in historical narratives can result in distorted representations of the past and impact public perspectives of historical events.

It is the task of the historian to examine every source and construct arguments about the past, responsibility and systematically using the skills discussed above to develop the ability to identify and classify bias when using historical sources. It is equally important for historians to identify their own personal bias, such as cultural influences and societal norms and values. Self-reflection, systematic questioning, peer review and acknowledgement of personal limitations are some of the ways that historians learn about the influences that shape their own thinking about the past. Ultimately, it is the task of every historian to convey the past in its full complexity, including spatial, temporal, political, social, economic and cultural contexts.

Meghan K. Bowe
Columbia College
Spring 2025