The opinions of historians are not, in themselves, good evidence of anything except the opinions of historians. In all your writing for this course, even in readings essays in which the topic is the ideas of a particular writer, you must think of the topic first in terms of evidence, and only then in terms of the opinions of the writer. In other words, you will not have done an adequate job if you quote only the opinions of the writer, without explaining the evidence behind those opinions. Credibility of Sources . It is not enough merely to find some sort of source.
Some sources are more credible than others.
Some sources are so lacking in credibility that they are useless. When dealing with primary sources, you must always keep in mind the interests and biases of the authors of those sources. Indian service agents, for example, wrote their reports to convey information about reservation conditions, but also with an eye toward making themselves look good to their superiors. To put it another way, the statements of past bureaucrats and politicians have to be considered with the same healthy skepticism that should be applied when considering the works of their present-day counterparts. Scholarly Sources .