General heuristics [ LHIST1430 ]

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- Presentation and application of documentary research procedures (the problem, finding documentary resources and locating the documentation, material and intellectual treatment of the information).

- Presentation of the principal works of synthesis and working tools and introduction into handling them, situating them in the various historiographical currents, particularly repertories of historical bibliography not limited to one period of history.

- Presentation of a typology of principal sources.

By the end of this instruction, students will have been introduced to documentory research, keeping a twofold imperative in mind : that of analysing various aspects of a given problem, on the one hand; that of recourse to documentation providing acquaintance with the problem, on the other hand. The course is intended to systematically develop in the student the dialectic between problem analysis and recourse to documentation.

The examination is oral. It involves a question bearing on a documentary procedure and an exercise in handling and research using the basic tools. Should he so desire, the student may prepare in advance a question related to a theme he chooses.

The course is comprised of theoretical lectures, as well as exercises to be done individually or during organized exercise meetings.

- introduction to documentory research in history

- Definition of working tools useful in history (statements of questions, encyclopedias, bibliographies, data bases)

- Presentation of principal works of synthesis

- Presentation of a typology of principal historical sources.

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 Teaching materials : Student notes. A syllabus, giving the bibliographical references of essential works, is provided. Teaching : Exercises (15 h) help the student master an approach to general heuristics.