Sumber Primer

Merupakan sumber yang belum ditafsir dan diolah oleh sejarawan

Bahan yang berbentu kerta, fosil, artifak dan keterangan lisan
Bersifat asli
Menurut Muhd Yusuf Ibrahim: Merupakan kumpulan sumber bahan yang boleh kita
rujuk, tetapi keadaannya masih asli dan belum lagi ditafsirkan serta terdapat di
institusi-institusi tertentu.
Menurut Jan Vermeer dari Perpustakaan Universiti Yele:
A primary source is firsthand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic
under investigation. The nature and value of a source cannot be determined
without reference to the topic and questions it bis meant to answer. The
same document, or other piece of evidence, may be a primary source in one
investigation and secondary in another. The search for primary source does
not, therefor, automatically include or exclude any category of records or
documents. (http://www.library.yale.edu/refer/primsrcs.htm.)

Menurut Louise Gottschalk dalam buku beliau Understanding History :
A primary source is the testimony of an eyewitness, or of a witness by any
another of the senses, or of a mechanical device like the dictaphone that is,
of one who or that which was present at the events of which he or it tells
(hereafter called simply eyewitness). A primary source must thus have been
produced by a contemporary of the events it narrates. It does not, however,
need to be original in the legal sense of the word original-that is, the very
document ( usually the first written draft) whose contents are the subject
discussion for quite often a later copy or a printed edition will do just as
well; and in the case of the Greek and Roman classics seldom are any but
later copies available.







Ciri-ciri sumber Primer
Sumber yang belum di tafsir dan di ubahsuai kandungannya
Tidak di terjemahkan dalam bahasa lain. Contoh, Inggeris kepada Bahasa Malaysia
sukar diperolehi dan terhad

Tafsiran Sumber
satu proses penting dalam kaedah sejarah
tafsiran sumber dilakukan dengan adanya kritikan keatas sumber dan dokumen
tafsiran sumber juga dilakukan untuk mengenalpasti siapa penulis dan dari mana
sumber itu dihasilkan.
Menurut John Cannon :
The historian is not a chronicler of the past events but an interpreter of the
past and his success or failure depends to a considerable extent upon the
balance he success in striking between himself and the past. (John Cannon,
The Historian at Work)

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