Historians research, analyze, interpret, and present the past of human societies. They analyse documents, sources, and traces from the past in order to understand the past societies.

Tasks

Tasks include -
(a) Researching, mostly by reasoning, into the general causes, principles and meanings of the world, human actions, experience and existence, and interpreting and developing philosophical concepts and theories;
(b) Consulting and comparing primary sources, such as original or contemporary records of past events, and secondary sources such as archaeological or anthropological findings;
(c) Extracting relevant material, checking its authenticity, and researching into and describing the history of a particular period, country or region, or a particular facet - for example economic, social or political - of its history;
(d) Conducting research in such fields as political philosophy, or past and present theory and practice of political systems, institutions or behaviour;
(e) Observing contemporary political institutions and opinions, collecting data on them from various sources, including interviews with government and political party officials and other relevant persons;
(f) Developing theories, models and methods to interpret and describe the nature of human experience and historical and political events and behaviour;
(g) Presenting findings and conclusions for publication or use by government, political parties or other organizations and interested persons;
(h) Preparing scholarly papers and reports.