| How experts tend to read historical texts: | How novices tend to read historical texts: |
| Seek to discover context and know content | Seek only to know content |
| Ask what the text does (purpose) | Ask what the text says ("facts") |
| Understand the *subtexts of the writer's language. | Understand the literal meanings of the writer's language. |
| See any text as a construction of a vision of the world | See texts as descriptions of the world |
| See texts as made by persons with a view of events | See texts as accounts of what really happened |
| Consider textbooks less trustworthy than other sources | Consider textbooks very trustworthy sources |
| Assume bias in text | Assume neutrality, objectivity in text |
| Consider word choice (connotation, denotation) and tone | Ignore word choice, tone |
| Read slowly, simulating a conversation between two readers, *"actual" and *"mock" | Read to gather lots of information |
| Resurrect texts, like a magician | Process texts, like a computer |
| Compare texts to judge different, perhaps divergent accounts of the same event or topic | Learn the "right answer" |
| Get interested in contradictions, ambiguity | Resolve or ignore contradictions, ambiguity |
| Check sources of document | Read the document only |
| Read like witnesses to living, evolving events | Read like seekers of solid facts |
| Read like lawyers making a case | Read like jurors listening to a case someone made |
| Acknowledge uncertainty and complexity in the reading, with qualifiers and concessions | Communicate "the truth" of the reading, sounding as certain as possible |