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METHODOLOGY OF HISTORY

CORE COURSE ? 2

B.A. HISTORY II SEMESTER

(2011 ADMISSION)

UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT School of Distance Education

Calicut University P.O. Malappuram, Kerala, India 673 635

232

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UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT SCHOOL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION

Study Material

BAHISTORYII SEMESTER CORE COURSE 2

METHODOLOGY OF HISTORY

Prepared by: Unit-I, II&III

DR.N.PADMANABHAN Associate Professor P.G. Department of History C.A.S.College, Madayi P.O.Payangadi-RS-670358 Kannur District-Kerala

Unit-IV

Sri. P.ABDUL GAFOOR Assistant Professor P.G.Department of History Govt. Arts & Science College Calicut-18

Scrutinised by: DR.N.PADMANABHAN

Associate Professor P.G. Department of History C.A.S.College, Madayi P.O.Payangadi-RS-670 358 Kannur District-Kerala

Layout :

Computer Section, SDE

? Reserved

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UNIT CONTENT

I

HISTORY AS A DISCIPLINE

PAGE

05- 95

II

TOOLS OF WRITING HISTORY

96-125

III

ELEMENTS OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH

AND STUDY

126-152

IV

TECHNIQUES OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH

153-167

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UNIT-1 HISTORY AS A DISCIPLINE

Throughout the world, studying history is an essential element of good liberal arts education.Knowledge of history is indispensable to understanding who we are and where we fit in the world.As a discipline, history is the study of the past.In other words, historians study and interpret the past.In order to do this, they must find evidence about the past, ask questions of that evidence, and come up with explanations that make sense of what the evidence says about the people, events, places, and time periods under consideration.Because it is impossible for a single historian to study the history of all people, events, places, andtime periods, historians develop specialties within the discipline.

Historians may study the history of particular groups of people (e.g.women's history or AfricanAmerican history), they may study particular events (e.g. history of the Vietnam War or the Crusades), they may study the history of a single country or region (e.g. Pacific Northwest history or Chinese history), or they may confine their interest to a limited time period (e.g. early American history or Medieval history).

In addition to limiting the scope of their historical study, historians also take different approaches to their inquiries. For example, they may decide to look at the cultural or social relationships between the people they are studying, at the intellectual or religious debates within a particular society or group, at the political or economic history of a country or region, or at the history of the environment or science and technology during a pivotal time frame. Because different historians take different approaches to their research and writing, and because individual historians bring different perspectives and different questions to their work, historical interpretations are constantly changing and evolving.

The study of history is therefore dynamic and forever new.Far from being the study of facts and dates, understanding history means understanding how to read and interpret the past.It is through reading and interpreting our various pasts that we can know and understand the present and the future.

Why study History?

People live in the present. They plan for and worry about the future. History, however, is the study of the past. Given all the demands that press in from living in the present and anticipating what is yet to come, why bother with what has been? Given all the desirable and available branches of knowledge, why insist--as most American educational programs do--on a good bit of history? And why urge many students to study even more history than they are required to? Any subject of study needs justification: its advocates must explain why it is worth attention. Most widely accepted subjects--and history is certainly one of them--attract some people who simply like the information and modes of thought involved. But audiences less spontaneously drawn to the subject and more doubtful about why to bother need to know what the purpose is. Historians do not perform heart transplants,improve highway design, or arrest criminals. In a society that quite

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