means establishing the historical reliability of a document.

means providing the authenticity and provenance of a source.

When was the source produced?

Where was it created?

By whom was it made?

From what pre-existing material was it created?

What is the value of its contents?

In what original form was it produced?

They perceive the Essential Principles of source Criticism

___(e.g. finger prints) are more credible than ____(e.g. statement or letters).

_____ may be forged or corrupted. thus, its reliability depends on the strong indicators of its originality.

The _____ the materials is to the event it tends to describe, the more it can give an accurate description of it.

___ sources is more reliable than the ___ sources, which is more reliable than the ___ sources.

If several independent sources contain the same message, the ___ of the source is ___.

Sources tend to provide some kind of ___. These tendencies should be minimized or supplemented with opposite motives.

If the witness or source has no direct interest in crating bias, the credibility of the message ___.

Primary sources not intended for general audience, less reliable than contemporary sources e.g military and diplomatic dispatches journals, diaries, or memoirs, and personal letters.

Primary sources meant for the general audience.

Statistics about the economic, census, and vital matter which have firsthand importance and required proper evaluations.

Expressed in editorials speeches pamphlets, letters, to the editor, but authenticity must be corroborated by other evidence because it may not always reliable.

Reveals the stories of legendary heroes and tells about the aspirations, superstitions, and customs of the people. If utilized, historians must possessed a thorough knowledge of the history of the period and distinguish legendary versus authentic element.

Primary sources such as instruction documents, stenographic and phonographic records, business and legal papers, and autobiographies.

Place where primary sources are kept.

such as appointment notification, direction from foreign office to the ambassador.

such as bills, journals, leases, wills and tax records.

which have very little chance of error. They are non-prejudicial but need ascertainment of its authenticity.

reliability depends upon the agency from which it originated and the newspaper in which publish.

it is written at the close of life when the author’s memory are fading and are therefore, not very reliable.

possess incriminating material and are less reliable.