History Research Guide

Patrick Rael, Reading, Writing, and Researching for History: A Guide for College Students (Brunswick, ME: Bowdoin College, 2004)

Copyright 2004 Patrick Rael, Professor of History, Bowdoin College

This writing guide is a little old, but still offers lots of good information and tips to undergraduate researchers, including how to read a primary sources, how to read a secondary sources, how to become a "predatory" reader, and how to ask good questions.

Here are some observations I think will be useful as you select a topic to write about.

1.  Make sure you understand the assignment.

Read your syllabus or assignment prompts carefully.  Is the paper to be argumentative, informational, or is some other style of writing assigned? Are there due dates to have some of your sources found?  Do you need to clear your topic with your professor? If you've got questions, don't wait to get answers.  Talk to your professor as soon as possible!

2. Do some pre-research

Many students feel that gathering sources is the first step.  Stop.

Your first job is to read and gain some understanding of the topic.  Step away from Google and look for some encyclopedias on your topic.  Credo Reference is a database of nothing but encyclopedia articles so start there. Get the broad overview of your topic first.  Understand the terms that are used, the people who were involved, the consequences and the implications of this topic. Invest 30 minutes on this step and it will save you a lot of time later in the writing process.  These encyclopedia articles are tertiary sources, so they should not appear in your "Works cited" page, but they will get you started on the right path.

3. The best beginning source is a secondary book on your topic.

A book gives you the best overview of the topic and helps you see the natural ways the topic can be narrowed.  Sources are usually classified as either primary, secondary or tertiary.  A primary source is written by someone who has first-hand experience of the event or topic.  These are important, but they are ONE PERSON"S EXPERIENCE and they can lack analysis. A secondary source is written by someone who has many primary sources and condenses and interweaves them to provide some analysis on the topic or event.  Your professor or librarian can suggest some secondary sources for you to use.

4. Your topic idea should be about as broad as a book chapter

A writing instructor I knew gave her students this advice.  You can't really write about global warming or homelessness in a paper for a class.  it is too broad.  There are whole books devoted to the topic.  But open that book and look at the chapter titles.  How does global warming affect water quality in the U.S. Midwest?  What housing alternatives are being used for homeless veterans?  See how these topics have become more targeted?  

5.  It's not just answering the question, "What?"  It's about answering the question, "So what?"

You aren't just reporting on something or describing something.  That is why we have encyclopedias.  Your job is to tell us why what you are writing is important, how does it matter and to whom does it matter?  Why should we care?  A good strategy is to think of your research topic as a question and then lay out your thinking and evidence to answer that question in the writing of your paper.

6. Specific, narrower topics are easier to research than broad topics.

It is counter-intuitive, but true.  The more specific your topic, the easier it will be to select sources that pertain to your topic and discard those sources that are related but outside the scope of what you are writing.  See point 4.  When you narrow your topic, don't be afraid to be ruthless.  Can't find any sources now?  Talk to a librarian!

7.  At some point, you'll probably want to change topics.  Don't do it.

It is natural that at some point in the project you'll decide you've chosen a bad topic and want to start over.  What this usually means is that your topic is too broad.  As your learn and read more about your topic, it just naturally expands and become more complex.  It's not a bad topic, it means you are learning!  How can you narrow this topic to make it manageable again?  What aspects are most interesting to you?

8. Reading scholarly research is hard and it takes time.

You are at an disadvantage.  Experts write for an audience of other experts, not for you.  You need to spend some time getting knowledgeable your the topic you've chosen, which is why I insist on the pre-research step (Point 2) and a secondary book as your first source if at all possible (Point 3).  This will allow you to learn as you do your research and learning is the whole point, right?  Once you've got some background and context in your brain, then you can start reading scholarly articles and getting some meaning out of them.

9. Time management is a struggle.

Carve out time in your schedule each week to work on your assignment.  I've heard professors tell students to allow one hour of time per source they use, so if your paper requires 10 sources, you should allow 10 hours to locate and read those sources and take notes.  Writing the paper and putting information in your words will take even more time.  Do you think you work better under deadline?  I have my doubts.  Learning takes time.  Can you whip up a paper two days before it's due? Sure,but is it good and did you learn anything?

10. The Center for Academic Excellence  has writing tutors available.

Even for those who are excellent writers, it is a good idea to have another person look over your paper.  Are your sources cited correctly?  Is the writing organized clearly?  Make an appointment with a writing tutor at the CAE to get another point of view on your work.