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← Unit 1: Historical Thinking & Inquiry

CHC2D · Unit 1 test review

Historical Thinking & Inquiry: Test Review

Everything for the Unit 1 test on one page: the key facts from all 3 lessons, the mistakes that cost the most marks, and a practice test that points you back to the lessons you need.

Key facts

The Four Concepts of Historical Thinking

  • Ontario's four concepts of historical thinking: historical significance, cause and consequence, continuity and change, and historical perspective.
  • Significance is argued with criteria (impact, duration, what it reveals, relevance today) and can differ from one group to another.
  • Causes can be long-term, short-term or the trigger; consequences can be intended or unintended, short- or long-term.
  • Continuity and change compares two points in time; change is not always progress, and a turning point is where the direction or speed of change shifts.
  • Historical perspective means understanding people in the context of their time and avoiding presentism, without excusing injustice; people at the same time often disagreed.

Sources and Evidence: Primary, Secondary and Oral, Credibility and Citation

  • A primary source was created at the time or by a participant or witness; a secondary source interprets the past later. Which one a source is depends on your question.
  • Oral histories and oral traditional knowledge are valid evidence: in Delgamuukw (December 11, 1997) the Supreme Court of Canada said they must be placed on an equal footing with written documents.
  • Judge credibility by author, date and context, purpose, audience, bias and perspective, and corroboration with other independent sources.
  • A biased source is still useful: it is evidence of what its creator believed or wanted others to believe.
  • Trace images to an archive, use reverse image search, and look for signs of manipulation or AI generation before using them as evidence.
  • Chicago-style notes and bibliography are common in history; MLA or APA is also acceptable if used consistently.

The Historical Inquiry Process and Where It Leads

  • Four types of inquiry questions: factual (what happened?), comparative (how similar or different?), causal (why, and with what results?) and evaluative (how important, successful or justified?).
  • The inquiry process: formulate questions; gather and organize; interpret and analyse; evaluate and draw conclusions; communicate. It is not a straight line.
  • Strong inquiries use evidence from multiple perspectives and note which voices are missing.
  • A strong thesis takes a clear, debatable position; each point needs evidence plus analysis, and a counter-argument should be addressed.
  • Historical inquiry builds the Ontario Skills Passport essential skills (reading text, writing, document use, computer use, oral communication, numeracy, thinking skills) used in many careers.

Where marks get lost

  • Treating significance as fame. A famous event is not automatically significant; argue with criteria such as impact, duration and what it reveals, and ask "significant for whom?" (The Four Concepts of Historical Thinking)
  • Giving a single cause. Most events have several causes working together; separate long-term causes, short-term causes and the trigger, and explain how they interacted. (The Four Concepts of Historical Thinking)
  • Assuming change always means progress. Some changes made life worse for some groups, and many things stayed the same even during dramatic periods. (The Four Concepts of Historical Thinking)
  • Presentism: condemning or mocking people in the past for not knowing what we know now, instead of first explaining their context. (The Four Concepts of Historical Thinking)
  • Going too far the other way and excusing injustice because "everyone thought that way". Usually people at the time disagreed, and some protested. (The Four Concepts of Historical Thinking)
  • Thinking primary sources are automatically true. A recruiting poster, a government report or a soldier's censored letter is from the time but may be one-sided or incomplete. (Sources and Evidence: Primary, Secondary and Oral, Credibility and Citation)
  • Throwing out a source because it is biased. Bias tells you whose perspective you are seeing; the source is still evidence of that perspective. (Sources and Evidence: Primary, Secondary and Oral, Credibility and Citation)
  • Treating oral histories as less reliable than documents by default. Courts have recognized them as evidence, and written records have their own gaps and biases. (Sources and Evidence: Primary, Secondary and Oral, Credibility and Citation)
  • Using an image found online without tracing it to an archive. Composite, colourized, mislabelled and AI-generated images circulate widely. (Sources and Evidence: Primary, Secondary and Oral, Credibility and Citation)
  • Mixing citation styles, or giving a website address with no author, title or date. Pick one style and include the details a reader needs to find the source. (Sources and Evidence: Primary, Secondary and Oral, Credibility and Citation)
  • Asking a question with a one-word answer ("When did the Depression start?") as your main inquiry question. Use comparative, causal or evaluative questions to drive an argument. (The Historical Inquiry Process and Where It Leads)
  • Collecting only sources that agree with you, or only one group's perspective. Look for other perspectives and for evidence against your view. (The Historical Inquiry Process and Where It Leads)
  • Summarizing sources one by one instead of synthesizing them into a judgement. (The Historical Inquiry Process and Where It Leads)
  • Writing a thesis that is a fact or a topic announcement. A thesis must take a position someone could reasonably dispute. (The Historical Inquiry Process and Where It Leads)
  • Forgetting to record sources while researching, then being unable to cite them. Tag every note with its source as you go. (The Historical Inquiry Process and Where It Leads)

Practice test

18 questions from across the unit. Each one shows the lesson it comes from.

  1. The Four Concepts of Historical Thinking
    1
    Which question mainly uses the concept of continuity and change?
  2. The Four Concepts of Historical Thinking
    2
    Which statement is the clearest example of presentism?
  3. The Four Concepts of Historical Thinking
    3
    What is the name for judging the past only by today's values and knowledge?
  4. The Four Concepts of Historical Thinking
    4
    A historian says: "The 1923 Chinese Immigration Act is one of the most important events of the 1920s for Chinese Canadian families, even though many older histories barely mention it." Which idea about significance does this show?
  5. The Four Concepts of Historical Thinking
    5
    Which of these is an unintended consequence?
  6. The Four Concepts of Historical Thinking
    6
    Which response best shows historical perspective without excusing injustice?
  7. Sources and Evidence: Primary, Secondary and Oral, Credibility and Citation
    7
    Which of these is a primary source for studying the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike?
  8. Sources and Evidence: Primary, Secondary and Oral, Credibility and Citation
    8
    Match each credibility question with the feature of a source it examines.
    Who made it, and what did they know?
    Why was it made?
    Who was meant to see or read it?
    Do other independent sources agree?
    Whose point of view is shown, and whose is missing?
  9. Sources and Evidence: Primary, Secondary and Oral, Credibility and Citation
    9
    A recruiting poster from 1915 shows smiling soldiers and calls the war a great adventure. What is the best way to use it as evidence?
  10. Sources and Evidence: Primary, Secondary and Oral, Credibility and Citation
    10
    Which statement about oral histories is most accurate?
  11. Sources and Evidence: Primary, Secondary and Oral, Credibility and Citation
    11
    Put these steps for checking a suspicious online "historical photo" in a sensible order.
    1. 1Decide whether to use it, and cite the archival original if you do
    2. 2Check the archive record's creator, date and place against other sources on the event
    3. 3Follow its earliest appearance back to an archive record, such as one at Library and Archives Canada
    4. 4Notice that it has no creator, date or archive listed
    5. 5Run a reverse image search to find where it first appeared
  12. Sources and Evidence: Primary, Secondary and Oral, Credibility and Citation
    12
    Match each source with the question it would be primary evidence for.
    A 1931 census table
    A Le Devoir editorial from 1917
    A survivor's statement to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
    A 1960s magazine article about the First World War
  13. The Historical Inquiry Process and Where It Leads
    13
    Match each inquiry question with its type.
    When did Newfoundland join Canada?
    How did the experiences of Japanese Canadians and German Canadians differ during the Second World War?
    Why did the Winnipeg General Strike break out in 1919?
    How successful was the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in protecting equality rights?
  14. The Historical Inquiry Process and Where It Leads
    14
    Which is the strongest thesis for an essay on the 1917 conscription crisis?
  15. The Historical Inquiry Process and Where It Leads
    15
    What type of inquiry question asks "how important", "how successful" or "to what extent"?
  16. The Historical Inquiry Process and Where It Leads
    16
    A factual question asks about the provisions of the Chinese Immigration Act, which barred almost all Chinese immigration to Canada until 1947. In what year was it passed?
  17. The Historical Inquiry Process and Where It Leads
    17
    In an argument, what is the job of analysis?
  18. The Historical Inquiry Process and Where It Leads
    18
    Which is the best example of using historical skills as an informed citizen?

Endless drill

Fresh numbers every time, for the calculation questions in this unit.

Endless drillnew numbers every time

Generating a problem…

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