Category: Learning Canadian History

As I have stated previously, in this history class we learned how to do history rather than just learn about history.  Throughout the semester we had many opportunities to ‘do’ history, such as the reading logs, the document analysis and the research paper.

In all honesty, at first I was frustrated with myself because I had absolutely no idea how to ‘do’ history, much less write a paper on it.  Despite this, I tried and most definitely made a lot of rough drafts of my work.  Trying to find a proper interpretation of the source you were analyzing was, at least for me, one of the most difficult parts.  I was quite concerned, especially in the beginning of the semester, that I would not make a proper interpretation of the source and be completely off from what it was actually trying to say.

However, as I gained more confidence my writing got stronger and I believe I was able to make better interpretations of the sources as the semester went on.  I guess being able to ‘do’ history just takes some practice.

At the end of semester, after we had done two major assignments for interpreting historical sources, I think I finally have a grasp on what “doing” history is.  For our final reading log, we had to write about what history is and how you do it.  This was my response to that reading log:

History is the study of events and people throughout a certain period of time.  It is analyzing documents, photos, government files, and many others in order to truly know what happened in that period.  History is taking an interpretation of events that took place and exploring what people did, felt and etcetera during a certain event.

            Throughout this course, I have learned new techniques for analyzing sources in order to get a proper interpretation and understanding of the particular source.  I have learned through this course that you cannot learn how to do history through a textbook.  In order to do history, you must simply take an interpretation of a source, analyze other sources to make sure you are on the right track and take on the mindset of a person in that era.

Comparing this response to what I thought history was at the beginning of the semester, I have learned a lot about history and how you do it.  My views have changed quite a lot as to what I believe history is and how it is done.

Throughout this course a major theme has been not learning about history, but ‘doing’ it.  At the beginning of the semester, I wasn’t quite sure what ‘doing’ history was.  I always thought history was a class where you sat in your chair and took notes while the instructor gave you lectures on what happens in certain periods of time.  This was what we did in high school for the most part.  At the beginning of the semester, this is what I thought history was and how you did it:

History is the study of the past and analyzing the way people react, think and work in certain situations.  You 'do' history by reading and studying different aspects of the past.  Whether these aspects are events, people or ways of life.  By analyzing, you can learn a lot about history.