Historical method

The historical method are the techniques and guidelines by which historians use primary sources and other evidence to research and then to write history.

 Guidelines 

Following Garraghan (in: A Guide to Historical Method, 168) puts six questions that should be answered as minimal standard for a sound historical method:

 When was the source, written or unwritten, produced (date)?
 Where was it produced (localization)?
 By whom was it produced (authorship)?
 From what pre-existing material was it produced (analysis)?
In what original form was it produced (integrity)?
 What is the evidential value of its contents (credibility)?

 References 

Gilbert J. Garraghan, A Guide to Historical Method, Fordham University Press: New York (1946).   .
Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History: A Primer of Historical Method, Alfred A. Knopf: New York (1950). .
Martha Howell and Walter Prevenier, From Reliable Sources: An Introduction to Historical Methods, Cornell University Press: Ithaca (2001). .
C. Behan McCullagh, Justifying Historical Descriptions, Cambridge University Press: New York (1984). .
R. J. Shafer, A Guide to Historical Method, The Dorsey Press: Illinois (1974). .

Related pages
Historiography
Historical linguistics
Scientific method

 Other websites 
Historical Sources Online by Marc Comtois
Philosophy of History  by Paul Newall
The Historian's Sources, online lesson by the Library of Congress
Federal Rules of Evidence in United States law

*
Category:Methodology
Category:Historiography