Be a historian

How to check a source

A source is anything from the past that tells us about it. It might be a book, a diary, a letter, or a pile of old bones.

A historian doesn’t just believe a source. A historian checks it, by asking three questions.

1. Who wrote it?

   Who was the writer? Did they have a reason to tell the story in a certain way?

   In episode 1, William of Newburgh says Geoffrey made up stories to make the Britons look good. The Britons were the people who lived in Britain long ago.

2. When did they write it?

   A source from the time comes from when something happened. A source written later comes from afterwards, sometimes hundreds of years afterwards.

   In episode 1, the pig bones at Durrington Walls are from the time people built Stonehenge. Henry wrote about Stonehenge more than 3,500 years later.

   In episode 2, Howard Carter’s diary is from the time: he wrote it on the day he looked into the tomb. His book came nine months later.

3. Were they there?

   Did the writer see it with their own eyes? Or did they hear about it, read about it, or make it up?

   In episode 1, Samuel Pepys rode to Stonehenge and saw the stones himself. Geoffrey set his story about Merlin hundreds of years before he was born.

A source can be real and still be wrong

Geoffrey’s book is real. He really wrote it, nearly 900 years ago. But he made up his story about Merlin and the stones.

In the 1190s, William of Newburgh said Geoffrey made things up. Historians today agree with William. Even so, people believed Geoffrey’s book for hundreds of years.

Pepys guessed right

Pepys wasn’t there when people built Stonehenge. But he saw big stones all over the hills near Avebury. So he guessed that Stonehenge’s stones came from there.

Scientists have now tested the stones. Pepys was right about the big ones.

A translation is a source too

Some sources were first written in another language, like Latin, Greek or the language of ancient Egypt. What you read is a translation: someone turned the words into English. That person can get a word wrong, or be unsure.

So ask: who translated it, and when? And do other translations agree?

In episode 2, Herodotus wrote “litron”, which is natron, a kind of salt. A. D. Godley’s English, from 1920, says “saltpetre”, which today usually means a different salt. And James Henry Breasted marked the word “mask” in the robbers’ confession, to show he wasn’t sure his translation was right.

Think for yourself

You can ask the three questions about anything: a book, a website, a video, or something a friend tells you. On a website or a video, ask one more: does it show where its information comes from? If it doesn’t, be careful.

Wikipedia is a good place to start. But look at where it got its facts: the small numbers in square brackets after a sentence lead to its sources. Then check those.

Check this podcast in the same way. Kate and Helen are voices made on a computer, so don’t just take their word for it. Every source is on this site, with a link. Read it, ask the three questions, and make up your own mind.