0:11 [Music]
0:13 historical sources are central to your
0:15 study of the past and are important to
0:17 your success in history assessment
0:19 pieces therefore it is crucial that you
0:21 understand what historical sources are
0:23 and the various kinds and types they
0:26 exist in so what is a historical source
0:28 a source is something that provides you
0:30 with information about the historical
0:32 topic you are studying they can either
0:35 be written like books or websites or non
0:37 written like photographs or artifacts no
0:39 matter what you're doing in history
0:41 you'll use sources in order to find out
0:43 information from the past this could
0:45 mean simply reading a textbook or a
0:47 website or attempting to interpret
0:49 ancient artifacts either way these
0:51 documents and artifacts provide
0:52 information that is useful to your
0:54 historical studies and are therefore
0:57 considered sources there are two kinds
1:00 of sources primary and secondary the
1:01 main difference between a primary and a
1:03 secondary source is when they were made
1:06 in order to determine whether a
1:07 particular source is a primary or
1:09 secondary source you need to determine
1:12 it's time of creation if a source was
1:14 made during the historical period you're
1:16 studying it is considered a primary source
1:17 source
1:19 if the source was made after the time
1:21 period you're studying it is considered
1:24 a secondary source so what are primary
1:28 sources as stated primary sources are
1:29 sources of information that are made
1:31 during the historical period that you
1:34 are studying for example if you're
1:36 studying World War one any document
1:38 created at the time of the war would be
1:39 considered a primary source
1:42 alternatively a primary source is a
1:43 document that was made by someone who
1:45 lived through the events they described
1:47 even if they wrote down what they saw
1:48 several years later
1:51 for example someone could have lived
1:53 through World War one as a teenager but
1:55 only wrote down their experiences
1:57 decades later as a result their writing
1:59 is still considered a primary source
2:01 about World War one often primary
2:03 sources are the most difficult to find
2:05 but as a result are often the strongest
2:07 evidence you can use in your assessment
2:10 pieces there are some common types of
2:12 primary sources that you will be looking
2:14 at the most common are published
2:16 documents these are written sources that
2:18 were intentionally published to be read
2:19 by other people
2:22 examples of published documents include
2:23 books magazines news
2:26 government documents advertisements maps
2:29 posters and legal documents when reading
2:31 published documents please remember that
2:33 just because they are published does not
2:35 necessarily make them accurate or
2:37 reliable another type of primary source
2:40 is an unpublished document unpublished
2:42 documents are also mainly written
2:44 sources but were not originally intended
2:46 to be read by a wide audience and we're
2:48 typically only meant for the personal
2:50 use of the author examples of
2:53 unpublished personal documents include
2:56 letters diaries and school report cards
2:59 unlike published documents unpublished
3:00 records may be difficult to find because
3:04 few copies exist please be aware that in
3:06 some cases unpublished documents can be
3:09 collected and eventually published but
3:10 always keep in mind that they were not
3:12 originally intended for public
3:15 consumption a third type of primary
3:17 source our visual documents these are
3:19 sources that are predominantly images
3:22 and not words such examples of visual
3:24 documents include photographs films
3:27 paintings cartoons and posters since
3:29 visual documents contain more images
3:31 than words they require careful
3:33 interpretation to work out what message
3:36 they're trying to convey the final type
3:38 of primary source are artifacts
3:40 artifacts and man-made objects that are
3:42 usually uncovered by archaeologists
3:44 examples of artifacts are pottery
3:47 furniture clothing buildings and other
3:50 physical items from the past like visual
3:52 documents because there is no writing on
3:54 artifacts they require careful
3:56 interpretation to be used as evidence in
3:58 your arguments usually you can use
3:59 artifacts to corroborate or contradict
4:01 what your written sources say about the
4:04 past in contrast to primary sources
4:06 secondary sources are documents that
4:08 were made after the time period you are
4:10 studying and were created by people who
4:12 didn't personally experience the events
4:14 they described for example if you're
4:16 reading a history textbook about World
4:18 War one by author who didn't live
4:20 through the war it would be considered a
4:23 secondary source since secondary sources
4:25 can basically be written by anyone since
4:27 the time of the events you'll find that
4:29 some secondary sources are better than
4:31 others typically you should only use
4:33 secondary sources that are written by
4:35 qualified historians such as academics
4:37 as they are usually more alive
4:39 like primary sources secondary sources
4:42 come in different types the most common
4:44 type of secondary sources are books
4:47 books such as school textbooks often
4:48 have a lot of information about a
4:51 particular historical period another
4:53 common type of secondary source are
4:55 academic journal articles academic
4:57 articles the documents that are written
4:59 by University academics that are
5:00 published in academic journals for other
5:03 university academics to read since
5:05 academic journal articles are the result
5:07 of many years of research by specialists
5:09 in particular areas of history they are
5:11 some of the highest quality secondary
5:14 sources you can use however please be
5:15 aware that academic journals are written
5:17 for an academic audience so the language
5:20 can be very difficult to read at first a
5:22 third kind of secondary source our
5:25 websites there are countless numbers of
5:27 websites that discuss historical events
5:28 and people as a result different
5:31 websites vary widely and accuracy
5:34 reliability and relevance however very
5:35 few of them are created by qualified
5:37 historians or experts in their fields
5:39 therefore be critical of the websites
5:41 you find through a basic Google search
5:44 as most not of sufficient quality for
5:46 your essays if you choose to use
5:49 websites as secondary sources make sure
5:50 you only choose them from respectable
5:52 individuals or institutions such as
5:54 universities museums or government
5:57 archives so now that you know what
5:59 primary and secondary sources are and
6:01 what types they exist in let's look at
6:04 some examples to solidify your learning
6:06 the example sources we'll be looking at
6:08 will be providing information about the
6:10 ancient Roman city of Pompeii and Italy
6:12 which was buried as a result of an
6:16 eruption from Mount Vesuvius in AD 79
6:18 the first source is by Roman author
6:20 called Plenty the younger who wrote a
6:22 letter about the events to his friend
6:24 Tacitus in the letter he says that one
6:26 day between 2:00 and 3:00 in the
6:29 afternoon a cloud of unusual size and
6:31 appearance was rising from Vesuvius I
6:34 can best describe its shape by likening
6:37 it to a pine tree it rose into the sky
6:39 on a very long trunk from which spreads
6:42 and branches ash was falling bits of
6:44 pumice and rocks that were blackened and
6:46 burned and shattered by the fire the
6:47 buildings were being rocked by a series
6:49 of strong tremors and appeared to have
6:51 come loose from their found
6:53 nations and to be sliding this way and
6:55 that now even though plenty wrote this
6:57 letter many years after the events
6:59 occurred he was still an eyewitness of
7:02 the eruption therefore he is considered
7:03 a primary source of the eruption of
7:07 Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 a second example
7:10 is also a Roman author called cassia zio
7:12 who wrote a history book about ancient
7:14 Rome in which he mentioned the eruption
7:17 he describes the events as follows a
7:19 great fire suddenly flared up at the
7:21 very end of the summer Mount Vesuvius
7:25 had inexhaustible fountains of fire then
7:27 came sudden violent earthquakes first
7:29 huge stones flew up as high as the
7:31 mountain top then came a great quantity
7:33 of fire and endless smoke all the while
7:36 an inconceivable quantity of ash was
7:38 being blown out it buried two entire
7:41 cities Herculaneum and Pompeii now kasi
7:44 Ostia wasn't born until 81 fifty-five I
7:46 didn't write his historical account
7:48 until over a hundred years after the
7:50 events took place therefore he has
7:52 considered a secondary source for the
7:55 event as he describes a third and final
7:57 source are the archaeological remains of
7:59 the city of Pompeii itself an entire
8:02 Roman city buried in metres of Ash and
8:04 pumice the remains of countless
8:05 earthquake damaged buildings and
8:08 entombed human remains all corroborate
8:10 the information provided by Pliny and
8:12 Kassius Dyer the physical remains of
8:13 Pompeii date from the time of the
8:16 eruption in AD 79 so they are also
8:19 considered primary sources now you have
8:20 a better understanding of primary and
8:22 secondary sources and the different
8:24 types that can be sorted into I hope
8:26 that you feel more confident in your
8:28 studies if you need further explanations
8:31 examples and advice head over to history
