2. Match the words on the left with their definitions on the right:

3. Find the words in the text for the definitions given below:

1) ____________ advanced and detailed study of a subject, so as to learn new facts.

2) ____________ a person`s ancestors considered as a group.

3) ____________ to keep something in good condition for a long time by some special treatment.

4) ____________ worth a lot of money or very useful.

5) ____________ any thing or place from which something comes, arises, or is obtained; origin.

6) ___________ to enter the armed forces or a course of study.

7) ___________ the separation of a person from military service.

8) ___________ the act of leaving one`s job, career, or occupation permanently, usually because of age.

4. Give Russian equivalents for the following word combinations and pay attention to the use of prepositions:

1. Study the following words and phrases:

2. Read the text and choose the most suitable heading from the list A-H for each part of the text:

A Evaluate whether the information in the document is primary or secondary information.

B Compare the document to others of the same type from the same location and era.

C Determine what type of document you are analyzing.

D Learn whether your document is an original.

E Consider why the document was created.

F Familiarize yourself with the handwriting of the time and place from which your document originates.

G Determine who authored the document, and who may have contributed information.

H Consider the era in which the document was created.

How to analyze a historical document

Historians and genealogists often use old documents to gather information about the past. Evaluating old records is an effective way to learn about the past, and it's often one of the first skills historians and genealogists learn. Here are some tips for how to analyze a historical document.

1 _______________ You might be looking at a will, a pension file, an obituary, a news article, or any number of other document types. Knowing what you're looking at helps you develop an approach for handling the information the document contains. For an obituary, for example, you will want to find out whether the item appeared in a newspaper or a different publication, whether it was written by the publication's staff or a paid placement, and whether there were other newspapers in the same time and place that might cover the same person differently. For a military pension file, you'll want to find out up front which side of a war the soldier served on, since that will have a significant impact on the breadth and depth of the materials you should expect to find in the file. Understanding the background behind the document before you begin to work with it will enhance your ability to extract useful information in your analysis.

2. _______________ A census record, for example, is created primarily to count the number of people in a particular location for taxation and representation purposes. You might find useful information in a census that can be used for another purpose, like genealogical research or social studies. However, understanding the original reason a document was produced helps determine how accurate the information it contains may be for secondary purposes.

3. ________________ Primary information is given by someone with firsthand knowledge; secondary information is not. Both types of information can appear in the same item. For example, a death certificate will contain the doctor's explanation of the cause of death. This is primary information, since the doctor was present during or shortly after death. The same death certificate will usually include the date and place of birth of the deceased. This is usually secondary information, since the person giving the information is typically someone who was not present at the birth of the deceased. Generally speaking, historians consider primary information to be more reliable than secondary information.

4. _________________ Consider whether those individuals may have had accurate information, and whether they may have had biases or reasons to provide information that was not accurate or truthful.

5. ________________ This will help you interpret terms that may be unfamiliar or whose meanings have changed over time. For example, the word "infant" generally refers to a baby under the age of 2 today, but in the documents from the British colonies in the 1700s, "infant" meant anyone under the age of 21.

6. _________________ Wills, for example, often contain standard language that is other wills of a particular time and place. If your document contains different language than the norm, that might indicate a unique situation or circumstance.

7. _________________ If you obtained it from a repository (such as a library or archive), ask the staff if it is an original document. If you own the document or received it from a lay person, have a qualified professional review it to determine whether it's an original. Local historical societies and colleges can often help with this. Documents that have been transcribed, abstracted, copied or otherwise derived from the original may contain errors. Work with original documents (or photographic copies of documents) whenever possible to ensure accuracy.