Tok Presentation
Why did we choose this topic?
We think that knowing the past is an important thing – to understand what is happening and to prevent the “same” mistakes from the past. However, there is a slight problem in our knowledge of past. And that’s why we asked this question: …..
Real-life situation
You might be thinking…why did they choose this topic? Isn’t it obvious that what we know really happened? Are they trying to show us some stupid conspiracy theories or what?
So here comes the real life situation. It is no made-up situation because, unfortunately, it happened to me recently.
I was reading sources for my EE. The second source I read basically overthrew/contradicted my whole research question. I am writing about a ruler in medieval Japan who brought peace which lasted 250 years and how he accomplished this peace. As I read the second source, it stated that the one that actually established the peace was not this ruler, but the one before him. With this newfound information my whole EE practically fell apart.
So, I had two contradictory sources and a load of questions:
How it could be possible for such a contradicting sources to exist? And how do we know which one is true and which one isn’t?
Sources
Okay, now let’s get back to our knowledge of past. Where do we get it from? Well, there are different sources that together help us gather our historical knowledge. We can categorize them into two groups: primary and secondary.
Well, I hope you all know what primary and secondary sources are, but if you don’t let me say it really briefly. Primary sources are those that were created by people who witnessed the events that are under study and secondary are sources, which are build upon (analyze and interpret) primary ones.
Now, let’s try to make a list of the sources so that we can demonstrate how some of them can become unreliable.
Primary Secondary
Diaries Journal/magazine article
Pottery (physical stuff) History textbook for schools
We think that knowing the past is an important thing – to understand what is happening and to prevent the “same” mistakes from the past. However, there is a slight problem in our knowledge of past. And that’s why we asked this question: …..
Real-life situation
You might be thinking…why did they choose this topic? Isn’t it obvious that what we know really happened? Are they trying to show us some stupid conspiracy theories or what?
So here comes the real life situation. It is no made-up situation because, unfortunately, it happened to me recently.
I was reading sources for my EE. The second source I read basically overthrew/contradicted my whole research question. I am writing about a ruler in medieval Japan who brought peace which lasted 250 years and how he accomplished this peace. As I read the second source, it stated that the one that actually established the peace was not this ruler, but the one before him. With this newfound information my whole EE practically fell apart.
So, I had two contradictory sources and a load of questions:
How it could be possible for such a contradicting sources to exist? And how do we know which one is true and which one isn’t?
Sources
Okay, now let’s get back to our knowledge of past. Where do we get it from? Well, there are different sources that together help us gather our historical knowledge. We can categorize them into two groups: primary and secondary.
Well, I hope you all know what primary and secondary sources are, but if you don’t let me say it really briefly. Primary sources are those that were created by people who witnessed the events that are under study and secondary are sources, which are build upon (analyze and interpret) primary ones.
Now, let’s try to make a list of the sources so that we can demonstrate how some of them can become unreliable.
Primary Secondary
Diaries Journal/magazine article
Pottery (physical stuff) History textbook for schools