M2 - Learner Manual

Verifying information is historical accounts is very important and can be done by cross referencing a variety of sources, included published articles, documents, and archaeological evidence. This can be done on-line or visiting libraries’, particularly State Library and State Archives. Tranby also has a Library of significance and importance that hold artefacts, videos, and recoded stories. This is also called source criticism.

Source criticism (or information evaluation) is the process of evaluating the qualities of an information source, such as its validity, reliability, and relevance to the subject under investigation.

Gilbert J Garraghan divides source criticism into six inquiries:

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

The first four are known as higher criticism; the fifth, lower criticism; and, together, external criticism. The sixth and final inquiry about a source is called internal criticism. Together, this inquiry is known as source criticism.

Please note that when researching Indigenous people and history, the researcher must be mindful of deceased persons. Indigenous people ask that people be mindful and respectful of the deceased person as well as material that may be researched.